Tales from the South

Live Below the Line 2011

2011-04-21T10:18:00.003+10:00

All my food (almost) for the month of May, because I'm Living Below the Line for charity.

　
Cadbury drinking chocolate 450g 4.00 -a 2for1 that was cheaper than the cocoa and extra sugar
Wheat biscuits 1.12kg 2.91
White sugar 1kg 1.50 -Savings brand has disappeared :(
SR flour 1kg 0.95
Cordial to make 10L 3.76 -luxury
Strawberry jam 500g 1.39
Salt 500g 0.79
Marg 500g 1.09
Onions 1kg 1.64
Bread 4 loaves 4.36
Spearmint lollies 150g 1.79 -for donating platelets. Hard to explain succinctly!
Parmesan 100g 1.72 -luxury
Milk powder 1kg (10L) 5.99
Frozen vege mix 1kg 1.59 -It's got peas, but I can survive
Frozen potato chips 1kg 1.99 -same price as a kilo of potato, but already chopped and frozen
Frozen beans 1kg 1.79
Custard powder 350g 0.95
Chipolata sausages (16) 560g 3.45 -The cheap 3-star mince was absent
Penne 500g and spaghetti 500g 1.18
Soy sauce 500ml 1.20
Tomato paste 500g 1.49
Baked beans 420gX4 2.76
2Min noodles 5pk 1.09
Vegemite 150g 2.99 -luxury
Italian herb mix 35g 2.06 -taste! woot!
Rice 2kg 2.99
Eggs 12 2.41
59.83
Take 10% for the sale -5.98
-------
53.85
remaining fruit and veg money: 08.15
　
Bought them yesterday because Coles were having a 10% off sale. Just as well, because a lot of the home brand things I planned to buy were... MISSING!!...)

Divided up the vege mix, beans and (chopped) onions into 31 ziplock sandwich bags. About half a cup of veges a day for $4. Put the bread in the freezer. Labeled EVERYTHING! Asked hubby to please not eat my home brand crap. He says "No problem!" hehehe.

Talked to two staff girls in the supermarket about it, too. They both said, "Let us know how it goes" and I said, "Yep, when I come in to buy my apple and 2 bits of broccoli..."

My little brothers

2009-02-17T23:02:00.006+11:00

I pinched this from the defence force's web site. It's a picture of some of the Army Reserve guys helping with the bushfire disasters. The second (from the left) is my brother Matt, and the 4th is my brother Simon.

They're helping with the cleanup in Marysville, a town where my Auntie and Uncle (and many other people) lost their house.

My messy little life

2009-01-18T21:03:00.004+11:00

I’ve just been reading through a blog called http://dyeliciousaddictions.blogspot.com/ and I’m feeling quite unsatisfied with how unorganized my life is! This woman seems to have a perfectly dusted home, two kids and still has time to dye and cook and sew and knit perfect little garments for her girls and everyone around her!

Me? I have rubbish in every room, and about 100 different projects on the needles. The one I was doing today… I’m not even sure what it is, yet. It started as a scarf for Australia Day, until I realized that Byron is very rarely going to need an Australia Day Scarf, so it’s becoming a “late night at the fireworks” hat. I think.

It’s nearly 9, and Nathan’s gone to bed already, as he’s back to work tomorrow. He’s still getting up at 5am. The kids are both asleep by now, usually. Jasmine is a little harder to get to bed, but Byron will go after his milk at about 7:30. Sometimes you hear him playing in his cot a little, but that’s quite fine.

Why am I such a mess? I don’t even get around to brushing my hair some days… forget dusting the furniture! The vacuuming might get done once a week, if I’m lucky, and half the time it’s Nathan who has done it!

Maybe I should get onto the list I made myself and stuck to the cupboard wall.

Yes, I’ll do that tomorrow.

Right now, I’m going to spend 5 minutes cleaning the lounge room and then sit down and knit on the Vivian. It’s my goal to finish it for my 33rd birthday, though it’s looking tricky. I keep getting distracted by Australia Day knits and Hand-dyed baby socks. Sigh.

P.S. I'm not going to apologize for how long it's been since blogging, because I've been blogging on Knitterings. Click on my profile and you'll see Ü

P.P.S. This tickled my funny bone.

2008-10-10T23:40:00.004+11:00

What a mischievous pair they're going to be in a few years!

Byron is still "telling himself off". The other day he started growling "By RIN" (a lot like I would if I saw him tipping juice on the floor). He thought that was hilarious. Today I was on the couch, and Byron was just out of sight at the kitchen table. I realized he was saying, "Byron! Byron!" and when I looked, sure enough, he'd snagged the camera and was pressing buttons, which he's not allowed to do. I took it off him, and not 5 minutes later, heard him saying "Sit down!". Sure enough, he was standing on the kitchen chair, waiting for me to notice and tell him the same thing! Later, I heard him say, "No No!" or something, and when I looked he'd covered Jasmine (completely) with her blanket. He thinks he's pretty cute. Well, ok; he is!

Jasmine is smiling so much that I think her cheek muscles have grown. She's lost a bit of her beerbelly, and has discovered her hands in a big way. They are great to suck, and can pick up "Smooch" (thanks, Melissa; she's a favorite!) and suck on her, too. They can whack the rattley ring that her mummy hangs in front of her. Soon they will be able to whack Byron back when he tries to pull her off mummy's lap.

Here they are watching "Fruit Salad" (The Wiggles). Byron is doing the actions.

Watching TV again... Playschool, I think. Holding hands. Awww!

2008-09-15T11:31:00.002+10:00

On August 26, we tried Controlled Crying with Byron, where you leave him crying in his cot for 3 minutes, then 5, 7, 9, etc. until he's asleep, calming him down briefly in between. We got up to 15 before he conked out, exhausted, on top of his covers! Over an hour of angry screaming (and I'm sure even my family will have trouble imagining Byron doing that) ... he was quite croaky the next day.

I started my tally again, and he has woken up in the night 3 times in the last 20... the last was September 6! We didn't even have a repeat the second night; his little spirit was broken. lol!

Jasmine has been sleeping really well at night. She was grizzly as the evening wore on. Don't know why it didn't occur to me that she might want to go to bed before me. So now she goes to bed around 9, and sleeps for 6 or 7 hours. Then she'll drink and go back to sleep. What a good baby!

As for me, I'm doing some spring cleaning, today. I've taken a bag of old clothes out to the car, ready to drop in a charity bin, and I've emptied and repacked all my drawers. Always feels nice to Spring clean.

Babies

2008-08-26T14:19:00.004+10:00

Byron had started sleeping through the night at a most convenient time. It was great! Well, a week ago (on the 21st) I'd just had my 6th night of getting up to Byron in the last 27. 6 out of 27 is pretty manageable. But that night was the first of 6 so far. Now it's 11 out of 32, and last night was one of the worst. Here's more or less what I wrote in Jasmine's little book:

2030 Gave Byron a bottle. In bed. I had a shower. Jasmine unsettled so gave her a big drink. B cried as I finished.
2220 Sat down in the lounge room with B. Asleep in about 5 min. Put in bed, but he woke straight up.
2230 Got him up. Gave panadol. Tired but waking when I moved and crying as if worried that I'd put him back to bed.
2300 Put him in bed by 11 (crying straight away) and sat in my room for a few minutes to see if he'd settle. He had seemed almost asleep, but I think was woken by small noises as I left his room. Up again. Went to sleep straight away on my lap, but lightly. Waking lots as if to check I was still there.
2330 Finally left him asleep in bed. Finally went to bed myself.
0300 Jasmine crying. Changed and fed.
0330 In bed 5 minutes. Byron crying again. Gave 200ml bottle.
0350 Byron back in bed.
0540 Byron woke just as Nathan left for work. Tried sleeping with him in our bed. He would settle for a few minutes, then grizzle and try to move around.
0630 Sat with him in the chair in J's room. Hard to keep him quiet. Jasmine still asleep.
0640 Changed nappy and put him in bed. Crying, but not as hard as I thought he would.
0644 Still grizzling. Bits of crying, bits of quiet.
0700 I give up. I'll put his pants on and make pancakes. Jasmine will soon be awake anyway.

Notice how much time I spend with the 7-week old baby? Hardly any. But something is bugging Byron, and I wish I knew how to fix it. That list doesn't show how frustrated I was or how much I just wanted to smack him!

Worked out I got about 4hrs 45 in bed, spent 30 minutes with Jasmine and about 3 hours with Byron. I put him into bed 6 times (not including putting him in ours).

Anyway, I was cross with him all morning (being tired and grumpy). I ended up falling asleep with Jasmine on my chest while he was watching “Raggs” on TV and running around. (He keeps climbing onto the kitchen chairs, then crying coz he's stuck.) I woke up at 11:45 (about half an hour later) with a stiff neck, and no Byron in sight. It was worryingly quiet... but then I spotted his stripey top under my feet. He'd laid himself down on the blanket (which I put there for that reason) and fell asleep. So I had a peaceful hour of snoozing/knitting. Then I fed Jasmine, and came into the computer room and turned on the computer. A minute later Byron came wandering in. He's had lunch, and now he's watching Hi 5 while Jasmine sleeps.

Nathan said yesterday that I should have a bath as soon as he comes home. I don't feel stressed now, but it will be nice. I've been reading the Narnia books again! (I think this is the eighth time, but it's been years.)

Byron is saying so many words... he will have a go at copying anything he feels like. He's quite good at “shower” because that's the latest thing (Nathan is giving him a few showers between his weekly bath, which he seems to like). But he'll try anything: See ya, bus, Blue Bear (boo bear), Playschool (pay soo), Hi 5 (ha fah), tea, door, food (foo), bikkies, rain rain rain, toast (tohs), milk (meh), ice, dryer, outside... he'll even say “no no no” when he's doing something he shouldn't, like reaching for my knitting! His favorite is probably “Jas-em”, followed closely by “more?”. I've been teaching him the sign for “finished” for 2 weeks (since Evan suggested it at MOPS) and he's doing it, after a fashion, while saying "shi shi". Didn't go to MOPS today, though I wanted to, because Byron's got a snotty nose. He talks fairly constantly, and chats on the “phone” as though he knows exactly what he's talking about.

He'll also do things when asked. I test him out, sometimes, and am surprised by how much he understands. I've said, “go and play me a song on the xylophone” and “there it is, over there... no, behind you, under the bouncy...” and “pick that up and put it on the table” and “go find Blue Bear and bring him to me” and “hey, there's the bus; go look out the window” and he's done it straight away. Cute. Today he was brushing his hair while giggling “with” his reflection. He's quite fond of his reflection. Hehe.

Jasmine is getting quite responsive. She'll stare at you and grin back at you, poke her tongue out at you, and look at the colorful things around her play pen (Bo is hanging on one side, and the curly phone cord is holding up a string of rings that bounce). Unless she's got tummy pains she's very settled and good, though still prefers to sleep while being cuddled (and preferably walked around with) at times. I love it when you start to see their little character developing. It's not much more than the odd grin, of course, but it's the beginning of all the many cute things to come.

Suppose I should go do some cleaning...

See, she's still alive

2008-07-01T03:03:00.002+10:00

Not that she has anything to report, other than that it's 3am and she can't sleep.

I have been looking after Byron and trying to sleep through the day, getting more and more uncomfortable as I get fatter, and running out of hobbies. I can no longer read, knit, or play on the internet much if Byron is awake. He gets annoyed with me for ignoring him... or takes advantage of my lack of vigilance and climbs the bookshelf or something. I can't even nap during Play School. lol. So it's a bit annoying that I have insomnia when he is sleeping so well.

Not too many weeks to go. Then I'll have a new hobby for him to be cross about... playing with another baby!

Congratulations to Pam, who had her little boy the other day. They said in church it was the night before, so I guess it was the 28th. So glad she had a boy (and not just because I knitted her a blue-ish hat)... boys are great. I'd like all boys, except that I'm sure I'd like a girl just fine too. But all boys would be fun. Pam called her little man Eamon Henry (although I don't know how she spelled it) and I hope to meet him some time in the next few months.

Hannah's was first, though. Samuel was born ages ago, and I only found out weeks afterwards (nobody tells me nuthin) when I said to Kelly "I wonder when Hannah's baby will be born?".

Uh oh... the boy's awake. Better go give him a bit of milk and see if he'll go back to sleep. He woke up before (at 11:30, because of the wind outside, I think) and went back to sleep hugging his knitted Blue Bear tightly. LOL. Betty would be pleased about how much he loves it!

Oh, I'm so slack!

2008-02-19T15:36:00.002+11:00

In my defense, of course, I've been keeping Byron's blog updated over the last... er... few months. I haven't been doing much that doesn't involve him, quite frankly. And the older he gets the more time he seems to take up!

Our new baby is coming in July, and it will have lots of little friends. My cousin Sonia is having her fifth, my friend Pam is having one, and her sister is having twins, my friend Hannah is having one, too, and of course, Nicole Kidman. There will be babies everywhere!

My brother's family has gone to Melbourne, where they're all doing school (except Ben and Ezra). My sister's coming back from America in about a month. I've read a few books. That's it... the rest is baby stuff.

hehe.

New Blog

2007-08-15T21:07:00.000+10:00

I had a bit of free time this morning, and so I made Byron a little blog for some of his pictures Ü

Link is on the right→

Byron's say

2007-07-26T15:03:00.000+10:00

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HP7

2007-07-23T15:01:00.000+10:00

Because of feeding Byron, I didn't exactly get to the bookshop at 9am last Saturday, but I did join the queue at about 9:30 with my pre-paid ticket, Byron in the Baby Björn. It took about 10 minutes to get my book, even though everyone had pre-paid tickets. (There were a lot of people; the line was right out the door.)

It also happened to be Mum's birthday, so I went and spent the morning up there, catching up with my Auntie, Uncle and cousin, who stopped in. I wanted to stay and chat, but I really wanted to go home and start reading. LOL. I finally got home at about 1:30, put my feet up and my chocolate next to me, and started reading "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows".

Byron was very considerate, and slept most of the rest of the day. But, of course, I couldn't read all the time, so I didn't finish it until Sunday afternoon. Most of my theories were right, especially about Snapey, so I was happy. he he. Quite a few of the main characters died. There was even a birth, which I wasn't expecting! lol. And there was a lot of information that I didn't quite take in, I think, especially when I was feeding Byron in the middle of the night, and reading half-asleep. So I'm reading it again. Nathan's going to read it, so I'll have to let him have it when he wants, but he's in no hurry, so I think I'll have it read again before he starts.

Unlike last time, I haven't got any burning questions or theories to get off my chest. Most of them are answered and explained. There was even a short chapter at the end telling a bit about their lives 19 years in the future, which was interesting. There were a lot of funny bits, even though it was generally a bit grim. I like the way Fred and George immediately start joking about George's ear, which was cut off. And how Ron keeps referring to his book on how to understand girls... he he. I liked "Auntie Muriel" lol! She reminded me of Umbridge. And it was a bit enlightening to see all Professor Snapes memories, though I'd guessed most of that.

Anyway, I do ramble. Byron's asleep, so I might go back to reading HP7 again. Ü

2007-07-04T16:56:00.000+10:00

2007-07-04T16:43:00.000+10:00

I've been out with Byron a bit lately, to Wendouree Village with the pram, to central square with the carrier, to church a few times, to a few First Birthday parties. I also was going to walk around the lake with Esther, Ruth and Hannah, but it's been canceled three times. But I'm going to start going round the lake with them and the babies each week. Byron seems to love the carrier and I find it really comfortable.

Nathan and I took Byron to get his photo taken professionally. The photographer had obviously photographed kids quite a lot, because he coaxed a few cute smiles out of him. Now that Byron is 6 weeks old (last Thursday) he has been smiling quite a bit, but the photographer was impressed with how responsive and alert he was, and how easily he got him to smile. Well, that's what he said... I guess it doesn't do to tell paying customers that their child isn't as advanced as other children he sees... LOL! Afterwards we went to Macdonald's (while the photographer organized a preview page for us) and then Nathan picked up the A4 page (with 'thumbnails' of our photos; we get two free) and we drove to Simon and Esther's. We were only going to stay a short time, but Byron was really quite relaxed, so we stayed for quite a while, playing Dutch Blitz with Hannah and Giles and Adam and Ruth. There was a lot of bad food, too, which was nice. He he.

I have been in a cleaning mood; I've pine-o-cleaned everything but the floor (which needs it the most, but the mop broke). I cooked a cake and biscuits, and made a little card for Zara, the newest neighborhood baby. We visitted her the other day. Tally tells me the labor was relatively easy and was less than 4 hours! Lucky her. That's what I'm going for next time, a quick and easy birth. Ü. She was 7lb 9, and has really cute chubby cheeks. I can tell already that she'll be teaching Byron how to make fertilizer bombs in the shed (Tally says all farm kids know how... lol) She just looks mischievous. he he.

Byron's weight was up to 4.2 kilos a week or so ago, which is 9lb 4. Yesterday he was “playing” with his toy dog. I sat it where he could reach, and he worked out how to move his hands to touch it. Then he kept grabbing at it to pull to his mouth, but he couldn't quite manage that! He was staring at it, and even smiling at it a bit. He he. He's smiling quite well, now, so long as he's comfortable and happy. Last night was another good night. The night before was a restless night. He cried for several hours, probably with colic, and finally went to sleep around 12 or 1 (when Nathan put him to bed). I got up two or three times, which is not bad, but the two nights before he had slept from his last feed (midnight or 1am) until I had to wake him up 6 hours later!! He's done that a few times over the weeks, but I have to admit, I thought that two days in a row might mean he'd start doing it more often. Oh well! Occasional good nights are better than none.

He's been mostly sleeping in his little chair all day. So cute.

I've been trying to look up that "baby whisperer" on the internet, to try and find out what different cries mean. I can hear the different cries, but I don't know what they mean. Oh well. He doesn't actually cry too much, so I'm lucky anyway. Ü

Moody mama

2007-06-21T12:56:00.000+10:00

My workmates wouldn't believe it if I told them, but I've been quite grumpy at times these last weeks! lol.

Well, the mood I'm in tends to directly reflect how much sleep I got the night before, so I'm feeling quite good today. Byron's had one feed since his morning one, and now he's just starting to cry again (now that I've got lunch in the microwave and I've turned on the computer... how does he know!? Lol) He's been snoozing all morning, though.

I've been out with him a bit lately, to the shops with the pram, and another time with the carrier. I also was going to walk around the lake with some other mums and bubs yesterday, but it was so wet we went and had hot chocolate instead. I'm going to start going round the lake with them and the babies each Wednesday. Byron seems to love the carrier and I find it really comfortable.

Well, the microwave's beeped (ages ago) and I'm typing one-handed again Ü ...so much for playing on the internet for a while. At least I've seen "Heroes" taped from last night, and I had time for breaky and a shower before he cried again! lol. I've watched the entire 4 seasons of "Star Trek: Enterprise" these last 2 or 3 weeks... about 100 episodes! Kept me entertained while feeding Byron... until I got more addicted and watched them all avo... he he he. Hated the last one, though, but... well, what does a stupid hollodeck know about what really happened in the past?

Bit sad that I've run out. I'm back to reading "Harry Potter".

Byron

2007-05-23T13:59:00.000+10:00

.He's 6 days old already, and I just can't seem to find the time even to check emails! So here's a quick update for anyone who checks this blog and doesn't already know...

Our little boy, Byron, was finally born, 8 days overdue, and after a 20-hour labor. All 3 of us are recovered and well, and adjusting to life as a slightly bigger but very different family. Nathan has gone back to work today, so Byron and I are living the quiet life today, and are just about to have a sleep... in fact, I think he's started without me...

The short story: I went in to see the midwives clinic, as I've been doing every Tuesday, being 6 days overdue. They found my blood pressure to be a little high, so they decided to keep me in hospital overnight for observation. Before long they had decided just to induce me and get it over with. lol.

Needless to say, I didn't sleep much, and labor started properly the next morning. I won't go into any details (so don't worry) but I will say that I ended up having an epidural drip at midnight, and Byron was born at 6:15am on Thursday, May 17. He weighed 3270 grams (which is 7lb, 3.5oz in the old measure) and was bruised all over his poor little face!

Nathan went home to catch up on some sleep, and I had a pretty nice sleep myself. After lunch he came back in and we rang all the relatives (except for Matt, who's phone was off or something, and Kelly, because we only had a $5 phone card). Nathan told all of them that there was a new baby, and he wasn't giving out any more details except in person! Gave me a laugh, and also enticed everyone in the family (but Kelly) to come in to visit us that day!

The only problem we ran into while in hospital was that Byron turned out to be rather more of a sleep-lover than a milk-lover. He refused to 'eat' quite a bit, and got a little dehydrated. But he was doing well enough to still go home on the 19th, after some checkup blood tests, and once he was home he started eating quite well. He had gone down to 3020g by Monday, and today he is back up to 3150. All good!

Today he got his first piece of mail... a huge box all the way from Auntie Kelly in America! So I decided that, if Kelly has already had time to post a parcel from California and put pictures of Byron on her blog, it was high time I sat down and wrote my own!

Now we're going to have a bit of a sleep...

Still waiting... sigh.

2007-05-12T13:27:00.000+10:00

I am actually getting a bit sick of sitting around on the couch all day, knitting, reading or playing polka. I don't really have the energy to do anything useful, or it's too awkward. I'm not sick of waiting for this baby to be born. I do feel a bit like everyone is impatient with me, though! People keep telling me to hurry up, as if I can do anything about it. lol.

Got a bunch of (neutral colored) 0000 clothes yesterday, which I bought from ebay. They are all as good as new, and I unpacked them and put them in the drawers. All cute! People say not to buy too many, but I got about 20 things for $24, and since they're neutral they'll do for future kids as well as this one. We've got a second hand cradle and pram, a brand new cot, the car seat in the car, the drawers full of clothes and the change table full of stuff. There are about 400 nappies in the cupboard (for 4-8 kilo "infants"), as they were a good price, and we bought a lamp and CD player for the bub's room. It's going to be sleeping in the parents' lounge for starters, which is next to our room.

We've also been letting the answering machine get all our phone calls. Saves me from having to say, "yes, I'm still here". It's a bit frustrating... feels like people are trying to find out if I might be in labor. It's bad enough that people at Nathan's work might know, if I have to call him there.

Well, I might go have some lunch, and then get back to either reading or polka. I'm reading the 4th HP book again (which is looking a tiny bit battered, now!). I should be finished it by now, but I keep falling asleep on the couch or something silly. The other day I had to take the car to be fixed, because stones from a resurfaced road had broken a headlight. I picked a servo right near the mall, and then I sat in Starbucks for 2 hours, reading "Goblet of Fire" on a soft leather couch in front of their fireplace. Very comfortable! Had a sausage roll for lunch and two of their hot chocolates. Nathan's idea! He didn't want me to be uncomfortable walking around the street. As it was, the car wasn't ready at 2, so I spent a while walking around in Lincraft anyway. I've also been playing "Texas Hold'em" online with Nathan's xbox. I like playing the free games and winning him a bit of (pretend) money (as I have to play on his profile). Think I've won him about $10,000 so far, like a good little wife. he he.

Whingings

2007-04-11T13:02:00.000+10:00

he he.

I haven't really got anything to whinge about, being on holidays and about to get a new bub to play with and all. But life is a little bit dull.

There are things I could do with all this time I have, but I don't have the energy. I can't be bothered walking around the shops, and I don't really want to spend the money or use the petrol. The garden could use a good weeding, but I have "bending down" issues at present. I couldn't be bothered dragging out craft stuff. The one thing that is out (the jumper I'm knitting) is frustrating me, because after finishing it with a fancy edge, I found that it makes the edge (along the bottom of my jumper) stick straight out horizontally, so I'm going to have to cut that off and try again. Sigh. Oh well; no hurry, I guess, as it will be a bit tight for the next month.

Pregnancy forums are entertaining places to go on the internet. If you're having a comparatively good pregnancy, as mine seems to be, everyone else's complaints make you feel much better about your niggling little complaints. They do go on about "do's and don'ts" a lot, though. I decided at the beginning to only listen to my doctor's advice, and to politely listen (and then ignore) everyone else's. he he. My doctor is pretty down-to-earth. His advice was

Try to avoid soft cheeses and salami and food that looks dodgy.
Don't have long boiling baths or sit in the sauna all day.
Nothing in excess. Just use your common sense.
Try not to worry too much.

Well, he didn't say "dodgy" but that was the gist.

People give you weird advice. Don't touch valium tablets. Don't eat salty food. Don't eat flake or salad. Don't put your feet up. Don't put your arms up. Sigh. I had a milo at work once and got a lecture about weight gain. Ü Actually, I kind of enjoy ignoring people's advice. He he.

My stomach is sticking out much more, now, though I still get the odd comment about looking "compact". Funny word to use, and doesn't seem at all right to me. I have trouble putting on socks. I've been trying to do a regular bit of exercise, in preparation (kind of) for doing more after the baby is born. I usually just walk 1km on my treadmill. By 700 or 800m my stomach aches, no matter how slow I go. So I'm feeling a bit whaley. lol.

I never was a good sleeper, so it's not bothering me to get up a few times a night, and I don't imagine it will bother me to get up for the baby, either. I sleep really lightly, and usually wake up many times, turn over and go back to sleep. The actual getting up is a bit tricky now! And by the end of the night I have sore hips and/or back, so I can't be bothered trying to sleep in. My back has been surprisingly good, though. It aches a fair bit if I do a lot of walking around, like if I wander the shops or do a lot of cleaning. But if I do the usual (sitting down all day Ü) it feels fine. All the bones in my pelvis feel a bit stretched, which is normal, and the tight skin on the front of my tummy feels stretched at times. That's about it.

No reason to whinge, really. I'm just getting a bit sick of being pregnant. Feels like I've been pregnant for a year and a half. I'm sick of talking to people about it. I'm sick of seeing all the baby stuff around our place being unused. I've sorted and resorted the baby clothes. I'm tired of trying to find something to do while I wait and wait...

4 weeks to go today! I hope it will be a bit early rather than late.

Holidays again

2007-03-18T20:41:00.000+11:00

I am lazy, aren't I? My sister is writing every week, and I haven't written in my blog for over a month! Of course, her life is a bit more exciting at the moment: new country, new job, new family, other side of the world and all that... And me? I'm on holidays again, with no plans to work until at least the end of the year.

Yay!

I finished last Sunday, and in the 4 weeks I worked the boss gave me 10 late shifts on my favorite familiar ward. So it was only 2 or 3 days a week, and I only had 2-in-a-row once. Some of the shifts were quite busy, and some I came home from sweaty and sticky and stressed and aching. But I do love my old ward!

We also finished the 4 baby classes. It was good to go, and I learned a few things. But most of it is just common sense, so by the end I was happy to give up the inconvenience of sitting in the heat on uncomfortable chairs for 2 hours.

We've got all the baby stuff sorted out, I think. I'll probably need a few more fat clothes soon, but there's no point buying them yet. We bought a cot and a baby seat: just about the only new things we have bought! Nathan's mum bought us a change-table/bath, which I love! It's great because it matches the room it's in (being blue and green) and it has lots of shelves for all the little nappies and creams and lotions and ... well, it's covered in baby paraphernalia. But it took me 2 days to put it together!! "Self" tapping screws...Hmm! Gran gave us a Baby Bjorn carrier, which I pulled out of the box yesterday and worked out. It seems simple enough. My Auntie Sandie gave us her old pram, which is nice (for a second-hand pram). Steers really easily. I took it out on the grass and gave it a good scrubbing!

My nieces have both had birthdays. One was 2 and one was 7. I bought the 2 year old drawing stuff and stickers, which kept her amused for a while. She's very cute! I bought the 7-year-old a new tamagotchi (as the other was broken) and I bought myself one, too, as she wanted, so they could be "friends". My tamagotchi, Fred, was dead in 2 days. Lol! I accidently left him at Mum and Dad's place. Mum assures me that if I do that with the baby, they will look after it until I remember! Now I have Freda, and she's still alive so far Ü

Up early again

2007-02-12T04:13:00.000+11:00

I'm getting sick of trying to find something to do in the middle of the night! It's about 4:15, and I've been up since 1 or so, as I was sick of lying in bed.

Of course, at 3pm yesterday I was falling asleep at the computer, so I had to go to bed. Silly screwy sleep patterns. Bet they fix themselves just as the baby is born...

I sat down a few weeks back and made a baby list. I went through the magazine that Ruth gave me ages ago and wrote down all the things I thought I needed, and put it on the computer, so I could tick off things as I got them (and hopefully not forget something vital like a baby car seat!) Then it was too hard to resist the temptation to cross off a few things! So I did a little shopping in the baby aisle of Big W. I just got creams and lotions and baby wraps and stuff.

The most annoying thing about knowing the sex of the baby is that it doesn't really help anyone. In particular, I can't go to the mall and buy all those cute boy's/girl's clothes that I like, in case someone I know sees me at the checkout and guesses. Auntie Sandie suggested going out of town to shop... like the Pumpkin Patch factory outlet in Melbourne. lol! Good idea, though PP is probably still too expensive that way.

I had to restrain myself because I knew I had a baby shower coming up. Now that was fun! It was last Saturday, and there were actually a few people there. (I wondered if anyone would come Ü) We played a few little games (fun and nothing silly or embarrassing) and ate quite a bit of rubbish. He he. And there were presents!! I know it's kind of traditional to take a gift to a baby shower, but I was thinking that (if anything) they'd be small presents like a little toy teddy or a little all-in-one suit. Instead I went home with bags and bags of stuff, plus some borrowed stuff, plus a big plate of Mum's slices! Couldn't get over how nice everyone was!

Nathan and I had our first antenatal class last Monday. We're going again tonight. The class was ok, though we had to sit on uncomfortable chairs for 2 hours. The midwife talked about normal labor and what to expect, when to come in to hospital, etc. She said that it's normally about 12-14 hours from the time that contractions are 10 minutes apart, and that all contractions are quite painful. Sigh. I had the idea that they only got painful near the end, and mostly just because the muscles were so tired. I hope she was exaggerating. I mentioned this unhappy info at the baby shower, and everyone started telling stories about how it's not always that long, and certainly not that bad, which made me feel a bit better. Of course, I don't suppose I'll trust what that midwife says again, but I'd rather believe my friends, thanks!

Auntie Sandie is giving us her pram and a bag (to cart around all those spare nappies and toys), which is extremely good of her! Simon and Esther offered one of their two prams, but Esther is still using them both, and Nathan was keen to have our stuff organized. Plus, Auntie Sandie's is probably in better nick. And it means she will come and visit me when she brings it down Ü. Favorite auntie. She used to spoil us good!

I can see the baby kicks now! Nathan hasn't... every time he looks or tries to feel a kick, that naughty little thing stops kicking! Probably thinks it's funny. We have been trying to come up with some names, but it is difficult. We don't seem to like anything the same!! Poor kid will have to choose its own name when it's old enough to decide.

Nathan's mum asked (at the baby shower), "So, are you choosing boys' or girls' names?" lol. I told her both (as we are) and that she wasn't very subtle. She just laughed... and then promised Esther that she'd let her know if she ever found out! Next time we're not going to find out the sex and it will be much less stressful! It's difficult not to say "he" or "she" sometimes. A girl at work is convinced that it's a boy because she thinks she heard me say "he"! (I muttered something like "Stop that..." and then explained to her "...is kicking me". She thought I said "He's kicking me.") Anyway, opinions are pretty much 50/50 and vary depending on all the "old wives' tales" that they know of. Ü

I've had one bank shift on 4 South and have 2 more booked this week. All afternoon shifts, thankfully. It was good to be back. I do love nursing!

Well, I'd better get back to bed and try and get 3 more hours of sleep. Nathan and I are leaving at 8:30 (he says) to go looking for cots and car seats. It will be fun, though I'd prefer to be awake if possible.

Month off

2007-01-21T14:48:00.000+11:00

I went in to the midwives clinic at the start of the month, and the midwife said my stomach measurement was 27cm instead of 22, and that I should see the doctor there in a fortnight. I came back in on the 17th and saw the doctor. She said she thought my stomach was only 25cm on that visit (instead of 24) which was fine. But I don't think she knew what she was doing... She listened to my tummy with the ultrasound machine for all of 10 seconds... to MY pulse instead of the baby's - lol - and that was it. Anyway, all's well, so I'm back to the midwives clinic in another month after a blood test to see if I have gestational diabetes.

While I was in the hospital I thought I'd visit the staff on my old ward, so I went in to say hi. I'm a bit sick of people saying I don't look very pregnant yet, or I haven't got much of a tummy yet. That just means I look heavier, rather than heavier for a reason! Sigh. I mean, I'm obviously a bit fatter, but I'd like it to be obvious that I was pregnant, not just fat.

Shouldn't complain, I guess. Next time I'll have triplets, and I'll look like I'm about to bust for the last 5 months, and I'll get sick of people saying, "Haven't you had them yet!?"

Anyway, the boss told me that she'd tried to look me up on the bank list (on her computer) to give me a shift, but I wasn't on the list. I thought, "That's odd; I've been calling regularly to give them my availability. You think they'd let me know if I wasn't on the list..." So I went to the office to see about this little anomaly in person.

My plan was to have my week off work, including Christmas and our camping trip and then go back on the bank list at the start of the year. But I haven't had one single call since, which is a bit unusual. So the boss of the nurse bank looked me up and said, "Oh, it says you're terminated..." After a bit of looking into it (and a few more days of waiting) I found out from HR that I wasn't terminated (as in "sacked") but that when I resigned from my limitted tenure job, someone resigned me from the hospital instead. Someone filled in the wrong form, she said, though I'd written on my letter that I planned to continue on the bank.

Now I'm waiting for her to call me back to let me know if she can just change it back or if I have to reapply again. She was supposed to call on Friday, and when I rang on Saturday and left a message noone called me back. It's a bit frustrating. By the time they work it out I'll be too fat (hopefully Ü) to work...

Oh, well. I can't actually bring myself to be too cross about having 4 weeks off. I'm just a little annoyed, as my few days a week of wages was going to be useful. I've been finishing off some knitting instead.

Rain Rain

2007-01-01T16:59:00.000+11:00

In the last half an hour (and it was no more, because I timed it) we had more rain bucketting down than I think we've had all year! Our drains were overflowing, the downpipes were squirting water out of the joint a foot off the ground, and the water flow was washing gravel off the driveway in rivers. Sometimes it was hailing at the same time, 2-3mm hailstones. We have an aggie pipe across the north side of the house to drain running water aside from the slab, but it was overloaded, and the water was 10cm deep against our house, according to the watermark on a bucket there. Luckily our slab is a fair bit higher than that (thanks to council termite regulations).

Nathan said we should check the guinea pigs, and I put on my raincoat (!!) and checked Poppy and the babies in the box in the Mt Cobaya hutch... poor things were drenched, running around in at least 2cm of water (up the shallow end), and unable to get out because the doorway was tilted down, and therefore flooded nearly to the top in that spot! Nathan hoisted it up onto a flat spot on the hill. All the other ones were ok, though the boys were a bit wet. Guess they were caught outside unexpected. Plus, I must have forgotten to fasten down the roof on one of the hutches; it was blown 10 meteres away.

All the land around us was in puddles. Bizarre! This morning Nathan was hoisting buckets of spa water outside to water his little sequoias, and now the whole place looked drowned. Mind you, when Nathan was moving the guinea pig box he scraped the dirt, and it was dry a centimeter below the surface! But that will soak in a bit.

The annoying thing is that I won't have to water my vege patch (with the new watering system Nathan built me) for a few days! Every day since he finished it it's rained! lol.

Camping 2006

2006-12-31T18:45:00.000+11:00

I hope you all had a great Christmas! I had lunch with my family and dinner with Nathan's family, one of the nice benefits of being married, especially when your MIL is a good cook. There was a lot of really good food!! Needless to say, I ate more than my squished tummy actually wanted, but it was still a good day. It was fun watching all the nieces and nephews open their new toys, and I was given a few nice things, too. Mainly chocolate and books!

On Tuesday 26th we got up and packed all our stuff into the car. It was a squash! The tent doesn't pack into a very small space; we got a large one that can fit 8 people... for future family use, and a big esky that takes up a lot of room.

I fixed up the guinea-pigs: There are 6 females/babies in the big new hutch Nathan built for me, 3 girls in the 2 hutches down on the green grass over the septic line, and 8 boys running around loose on the same grass. They have huts to go into, but they don't leave the septic line grass, because it's long (and they can hide in it) and it's the only green grass for miles! lol. Nathan gave his galah (Velvet) lots of water and seeds. My mum said she'd come out on the Thursday to make sure they all had water.

Simon and Esther and the kids turned up at about 11:30am. They had so much stuff in their Kia they said they considered leaving one of the kids behind to make room. He he. We all headed off to Port Fairy, stopping in Warnambool for lunch.

We went camping at Port Fairy last year, too, but it was quite different. For one, it was hot enough to swim in the ocean. It was also hot enough (and close enough to the river) to be infested with mosquitoes!

This year it was a little cooler, but still pleasant. We were at a different camping ground, a much nicer one, as it happened. It was smaller, but there were a lot of things for the kids to do. There was a Jumping Pillow, which was this enormous inflatable pillow, anchored into the ground, which 15 kids could easily jump on at once, just like a trampoline. That was very popular! There was a playground next to it, so that the little kids (like my nephew Ben) could play on it when the older kids on the Jumping Pillow were a bit rough. There was a recreation room with pool tables and video games, which we didn't have any time for, and a mini golf course. Nathan and I played some mini golf; he's much better at it than I am! There was a heated indoor swimming pool, which we all tried, but it wasn't as warm as I would have liked. Poor Ezra, who is 16 months old (and therefore didn't do much exercise in the pool except get carried around) was so cold he was shivering. Pity, because he would have loved it if it was warm enough. I spent lots of time in the tent, reading a book Matt had loaned me. It was a novel about a time traveller who goes back to the time of the Bubonic Plague (accidently!). Very interesting and graphic.

We also went to the beach, but it was too cool to swim. We walked out to the lighthouse on the mutton bird reserve instead. The kids went wading at the edge of the ocean and collected a jar of blue shells.

The first two mornings there was a riot of squarking: about 200 cockies live there, and they go for a screech around the camp at about 6am! Lasted about half an hour each day. I was up and showered both times, as I found it a bit hard to sleep. They didn't turn up on the last morning; don't know why. They are fun to watch, actually. A lot of them jump onto the very tip of a gumtree branch, which, of course, bends, and they are left hanging upside down by their claws. It doesn't seem to bother them at all; they just hang there, nibbling the ends off the branch. Or they just hang there with their wings out, relaxing, looking like white bats!

There are empty paddocks nearby, and Ben and Tim and I would have breaky early, then go off in search of rabbits. We saw 6 on the last morning. It's hard to keep a 3 and 5 year old quiet, but I figured all the people trying to sleep in tents were already awake after the cockies!

We packed up on Friday morning and headed back home. Had fish and chips for lunch and checked on the pets, then we unpacked, cleaned up, and sat on the couch the rest of the day! It was lots of fun camping with the kids, but they're pretty tiring at times. Abby (6) and Tim (5) were old enough to entertain themselves a bit, or play Uno with Uncle Nathan, but they'd also misbehave at times Ü. Ben (3) didn't misbehave unless he was very tired and didn't want to go to bed, but he could entertain himself... by wandering off! He tells the funniest little stories. Ezra (1) is very cute. He's blonde, grins at everything, waves at everyone, and likes to explore. You have to keep your eye on him! He's pretty well behaved, and usually only cries when his older siblings take something off him, and then only for 10 seconds until he is distracted by a feather on the ground or Nathan throwing him the pink tennis ball or something. Ü

Happy New Year, all!

Christmas Eve

2006-12-24T17:58:00.000+11:00

Today is Christmas Eve, which means I finished work yesterday! It also means Christmas is tomorrow. Ü

We had our "20 week" ultrasound last Monday, which was quite interesting. The baby's moving around quite a bit, and was well behaved this time, but we still got a good look. The sonographer had to measure so many different things, it took half an hour anyway. We found out the baby's sex, and now we have to try and keep it a secret! I was pretty happy, though. I had the slightest twinge of disappointment, I confess, but only until I realized that it was because I wanted both! Can't have both with one baby, of course, so I was just being ridiculous.

I had a dream two nights ago where someone at work found out what we were having and told everyone! I was SO angry that I couldn't go back to sleep for about 3 hours! So please don't try and trick me into saying anything, ok?

Tomorrow we're going to my parents' for lunch and Nathan's mum's for tea. In the last few months it hasn't taken much to fill me up, but lately I've noticed I can eat a heap. Maybe it's because the baby has abandoned the squishing of my stomach for the stretching of my belly... it's starting to stick out a bit more, now. I still don't feel like it's changed much, but that's probably just because I see my stomach every day.

I have to cook a chicken for lunch, but luckily I'm not the only one! So there'll be some nice food, too: ham and lamb and stuff. Can't wait to see all the kids with their presents; that's fun! We'll go to church tonight instead of tomorrow, and sing carols for a bit. Tomorrow I'll sleep in, and then cook some chook.

On Boxing Day we're heading off to Port Fairy again. We're camping with Simon's family, which should be even more fun than last year (as Ezra will be running around, too, and it's a slightly more fun caravan park). Hope the weather will be warm enough to swim; it's turned cool the last few days. I bought fat bathers and shorts and a top, so I want a chance to use them.

Well, better go. I'm getting another Sim Grandchild soon... he he.

Midwives clinic

2006-12-06T18:05:00.000+11:00

Had my "first" appointment at the midwives clinic yesterday. That is, I've had one where I had to do paperwork, and one where the doctor checked my blood tests, but this was the first one at the midwives clinic. I was going to join the primary care midwives program (PMCP) where you see the same midwife on each visit, and then she's there for your birth. But apparently I can't join it now, because it's booked out, and I didn't do my paperwork for it. 6 weeks ago, when there were spaces, I said I'd like to join it, but noone gave me any papers to fill in! Oh well... The midwives at the clinic seem friendly enough.

This one asked me how things were going; told her my stomach was sore at times, as though it were being stretched by... er,... someone inside. She said that's perfectly normal, and, of course, that is exactly what's happening. Then she took my BP (perfectly normal) and listened to my stomach with the u/s probe. I heard his fast little heartbeat for a second, and then 'whoosh'... "Oh," she said, "I had it nice and clearly, but the baby turned!" After that, every time she thought she'd found the heartbeat, he would 'whoosh' around again! Funny! She said he was a very active little thing, but I can't feel anything definite yet. Apparently it feels like bubbles moving, but I felt that before I was pregnant, too. Don't know what's bubbles in the guts and baby doing backflips. Nice to know that he is doing backflips, though.

I've finally finished my 6 days in a row, and now I have 3 off! Can't believe what a tired old granny I've turned into! I used to do 6 days all the time. And it's not like I'm working that hard; Brooke, my extremely organized preceptee, hardly needs me (and doesn't want my help) at all. She feels confident because I've let her do everything herself, something most nurses struggle to do, she says: they always start interfering when it gets busy. (I struggle, too, because I feel guilty, but I try not to help too much!) But now I only work 2 of the next 8 days, and then I have 5 in a row, two off, two on, and I'm finished! (Louise couldn't give me the week after Christmas off, so, as we've booked in our holiday, I had to resign again; she didn't mind at all, but told me I had to name the baby Louis or Louise!)

Am still reading silly "Don Quixote"! It's so silly that I don't feel too compelled to read it often. Thus, it's taking forever. I stopped for a while to read "The bronze Horseman", which Liz said was a good look at Russia during the second world war, but turned out to be a mushy romance and the first of a series! How many half-read series am I waiting to finish now! He he. Never mind.

Well, I must go clean the kitchen. Then, when the sun's a bit lower, I'll drag 4 or 6 buckets of grey-water down to the garden. I've got a row each of corn, lettuce, pumpkin, cabbage and tomato, in 5 ditches covered with mulch. So far so good, but watering them is a chore. Then I'll move the guineas. There are 17 now. I had Luna, Lupin, Lily, Padma, Parvati, Minerva, Poppy, Hokey, Seamus, Dean, Charlie and Heidi. Then Poppy had triplets, Fred, George and Snape, and Heidi just had 2, which I called Nick and Myrtle. Think I'll have to sell some soon!

One of my nurse-friends, Tam, has just started again, after being in England for 6 months. She says I'll call my baby either Harry or Harriet!

Ultrasound

2006-10-23T11:08:00.000+10:00

Discovered that the main reason for this 12 week ultrasound, according to what the doctor wrote on the radiology slip, was to take "nuchal fold measurements". It's a test to see whether the baby is likely to have Down Syndrome. Today, the sonographer said it was a bit difficult to get the measurement, and could I come back next week. I don't care about the nuchal fold at all, as I would be happy to care for a baby with Down Syndrome if God saw fit to give us one. But it's cool to see it on the screen, so I booked in for another scan next Monday.

Today she just took measurements, and Nathan and I got to see the baby, which was great! He looks pretty comfy in there, and wasn't inclined to move at all, little couch potato, but his heart was racing along, so all seems well. The sonographer gave us a fairly hopeless photo, considering we'd seen rather better ones on the screen, but maybe I'll get a better one next week.

Books!

2006-10-21T15:43:00.000+10:00

The other day I was reading some blogs, and I read that my old friend, Tab, http://www.pzy001.blogspot.com/, is working her way through a "100 best books" list. There are a lot of different lists, of course, but this was a pretty classic list. http://www.listsofbests.com/list/5883

I had a look at what she's read so far, what she owns, and told her about some I'd read. So far, on this particular list, I've read:
1. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (Mark Twain)
19. The Count of Monte Cristo (Alexandre Dumas)
21. Cyrano de Bergerac (Edmond Rostand)
42. The Hunchback of Notre Dame (Victor Hugo)
43. The Illiad (Homer)
45. Jane Eyre (Charlotte Bronte)
58. The Odyssey (Homer)
63. The Pilgrim's Progress (John Bunyan)
67. Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen)
74. Robinson Crusoe (Daniel Dafoe)
76. The Scarlet Letter (Nathaniel Hawthorne) - he also wrote an interesting sequel to Pilgrim's Progress called "The Celestial Railroad"
86. The Three Musketeers (Alexandre Dumas)
95. War and Peace (Leo Tolstoy)

Only 13 out of the 100! Anyway, I don't plan to read everything on the list, as some of them look quite boring. But I felt a bit inspired to add to my little library, and so I drove in to "Angus and Robertson" and spent a chunk of my spending money on 12 new books!

7. Animal Farm (George Orwell)
20. Crime and Punishment (Fyodor Dostoyevsky)
26. Don Quixote (Miguel de Cervantes)
28. Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (Robert Louis Stevenson)
36. Great Expectations (Charles Dickens)
52. Les Miserables (Victor Hugo)
53. Little Women (Louisa May Alcott)
90. Treasure Island (Robert Louis Stevenson)
93. Vanity Fair (William Makepeace Thackeray)
100. Anna Karenina (Leo Tolstoy)
and
Lovely Bones (Alice Sebold)
Nineteen Eighty-four (George Orwell)

I also recently bought "The Catcher in the Rye" by J. D. Salinger, so I have 13 books to read! That is, after I finish my library books. I'm currently reading McCaffrey's "Acorna" series, which is 5 books. Sigh. Not enough time!

Anyway...

I've finished my 8 week contract, but Jackie (the temporary boss) has got me a few more weeks at 4 days a week... until January 14! That will be about as much work as I want, and even though I can't just cancel a few days if I want (as I could on the bank) I know I'll be on my favorite ward every day. Besides, I'm bound to get a bit of energy back soon.

I'll have to apply for holidays after Christmas, so I'm free to go camping. Hope I don't have to work Christmas. We did that last year, and it was fun! Also had to change the roster to accomodate my appointments on Monday and the Show next month. We're taking Abby and Tim again, which will be great.

Today I've done some reading, some knitting, refilled the guinea-pig's straw and water, and weeded a bit of the garden. Found 3 new babies today, belonging to Poppy. Called them Fred, George and Snape. Fred and George are almost identical. Snape is almost completely black... but not completely! He he. Now there are 15 of them down there. Minerva, Poppy, Padma, Parvatti, Charlie, Seamus, Dean, Lupin, Luna, Lily, Hokey, Fred, George, Snape and Heidi. Hmm. Really must rename Heidi one day.

Tomorrow Simon and Esther are coming around for lasagna, so I'd better go and do some tidying up. On Monday Nathan and I go in to look at the Jelly Bean for the first time. Hope everything is ok!

Here is a baby pic!: Adam and Ruth's son, Scott, born on the 16th, I think. Isn't he cute?

More work

2006-10-14T11:17:00.000+10:00

Just as I'm getting near the end of my contract, Jackie said she's trying to get me 2 weeks' more work. I have to appreciate it, but more truthfully, I was looking forward to working a bit less. Plus, just as I finish the hospital accreditors are coming; they roam around asking questions and checking up on us, and I was hoping to avoid working that week! Never mind! At least I'll be on my favorite ward instead of being hassled by the bank coordinator to work in some ward I'm unfamiliar with.

I'd say my nausea has settled down quite a bit, but it keeps popping up. It's not so constant, now, just comes and goes. I was dry retching as I drove to work the other day (great timing; too late to call in sick!), though I felt fine once I got there. Today I feel crook, too, though I'm banking on it not lasting... I'm going to work at 1pm.

I did a bit more walking on the treadmill, and then it petered off again. Stupid nausea. Plus I've been tired, still. Got home from work yesterday and went to bed at 4-ish. It's supposed to settle down in the second trimester, which is apparently "week 13". I'm currently week 10, so I might be lucky and feel better in a few weeks.

Anyway, I'm glad everything's going well, especially since everyone knows now!

At the moment, I'm waiting for my friends Adam and Ruth to have their first baby. I'm sure he'll be very cute! In my Sims game they had a son called Joseph, who married my daughter Ruby. When I wrecked my game and made up a new one, I accidently married him off to my second daughter, Pearl. Oops!

Well, my biscuits are cooked, and now I just have to lick the bowl. Bad food seems to help my nausea! Especially MacDonald's fries... sigh.

Jelly Bean Babe

2006-09-28T10:19:00.000+10:00

I'm pregnant! Yay!

For our 7th Anniversary, Nathan and I went to the GP for our first pregnancy checkup. We're about 8 weeks pregnant, and he says everything seems good. So we decided we may as well tell everyone. It's traditional to wait until 12 weeks, I think, but I wanted to make sure the families knew first.

Technically my doctor was the first person we told, and the pathology ladies probably guessed what my blood test was about. But if I'm not seen going to the antenatal clinic by someone I knew, the blood bank nurses will soon be onto me anyway. I go to the blood bank every two weeks, and they must be getting suspicious that I have now missed 8 weeks, particularly as I'm up to 97 donations...

So Nathan and I sat at the kitchen table and rang the parents and siblings. We couldn't reach Seona, but we told all the others. I rang Seona the next day. We'd decided that if we told family we may as well tell everyone, so we said that it wasn't a secret. The next day at work a woman I hadn't seen for over a year congratulated me... she'd heard on the Mum-line! I kind of wished then that I'd said "wait a couple of days" because I haven't gotten around to telling some of my good friends yet, but oh well! It's nice to have good gossip about you being spread around!

I visitted my parents place yesterday, and soon after Esther and Abby arrived. Abby (6) was prompted to tell me that I should have a baby, so I could say "Guess what? I am having a baby!". She was stoked, but only if it's a girl... he he. I think there are enough boys in her life! I told the kids that the baby was as little as a jelly bean, which they thought was bizarre, and that it wouldn't be born until May. Abby asked me to ring her when the baby is born; I don't think she can comprehend "next May" and assumes it will be about two weeks or so! Unluckily for Abby, I've been thinking of the baby as "he". I certainly don't mind whether it's a boy or girl, though. Nathan would still like triplets... lol.

Well, I'm keeping pretty well. I've been really, really tired, especially after work, which is worrisome, because Brooke, my 3rd year student/slave, has been doing all my work for the last 5 shifts. What will I do when she goes? I've also been nauseous every day since about 6 weeks. Just a little tiny bit nauseous; not enough to have a sicky but enough to annoy me. I tend not to feel like eating anything, and then when I get hungry, I feel rotten, and have to make myself eat something. I like cold toast.

Nathan's started doing housework as well as all his outside jobs, which makes me feel like such a slacker! I've been falling asleep on the couch, which I rarely ever did before, so he knows I'm not making it up. He he. He's looking after me well.

New Tready

2006-09-13T10:33:00.000+10:00

My new little treadmill was pretty good value for money, I've decided, after the first day. The first day was a bit of a trial.

First the delivery van pulled up with a 120kg box in the back. The lone delivery guy says to me, “Well, we put it in the truck with a forklift; I'm not sure how we're going to get it out...” Well, gee, what was he expecting me to do about it? Get my forklift out of the garage? Talk about thinking ahead! In the end I had to help him wrangle it inside. Luckily it was only going a few meters from the front door.

Then he left, and I had to try and get all the bits out of the box. Or rather, get the box out from under the machine, as I certainly couldn't lift it out. Then I realized that I had about 10 bits and about 20 bolts and washers with absolutely no assembly instructions. And it looked nothing like the one I'd ordered. Sigh! After a few hours of studying the picture, I worked out how it should go. I was so proud of myself! Then I realized that there was supposed to be a cord going through one of the bars from top to bottom... I was going to have to pull everything apart again to do it!

I gave up and went shopping for a bit, and later on Nathan gave me a hand to finish it. What a good hubby! The instruction book was not written by someone who speaks English well, but it's a pretty easy machine to figure out.

I've got it set up near the TV. I "walked around the lake" while watching "The Matrix". I walked about 7km while reading a chunk of "Where the Heart is". I tried a set program which included a 5-minute run that almost did me in. I've done quite a few k in my socks, and now I'm having a few days off because I have blisters! lol.

Work has been really tiring, especially since I just can't seem to go to sleep. How I manage on 4 hours a night for a week I don't know; my theory is that the sleep I do get is concentrated REM. I do seem to have a lot of vivid dreams. Luckily we have students to do all our work for us!

No, I'm over students this week. I appreciate their help and all, but I just can't get my day organized when I have to let them do everything. Their teacher says, "let them do it all and try not to help them; just answer their questions and supervise." But they're a bit frustrating.

My virtual trip is up to 1791km, so I'm still in the middle of the dullest patch of road in Australia. The WA border is coming up in about 60km, I think. I don't even think there are any houses here! I've done a fair bit of exercise since my last blog, but it takes much longer to walk than ride.

Now I'm off to watch a movie and knit!

More exercise

2006-09-05T23:02:00.000+10:00

Yesterday I spent a heap of money (for me) on Ebay and bought a treadmill! Well, it wasn't as expensive as even the cheapest one at the local sports store, so I think it will be a good deal. They're sending it to me from Melbourne, but I'm not sure when it will arrive.

When it comes I'll be able to add my walking k's onto the trip around Australia. Since I restarted I've only ridden 50km on my exercise bike, mainly due to being a bit weary. I don't think I've had one night in the last week where I've had more than 4 hours of sleep. Stupid restless legs! I make up for it by falling asleep on the couch in the middle of the day.

We've rearranged our lounge room a bit. With quite some effort, we moved one of our new recliners into the other lounge room, where the two old chairs were. Nathan's finished his four ornament shelves in there, complete with brackets made by the blacksmith at Sovereign Hill, five ornaments and a bit of dust. And his mum has recently finished all our curtains. So now it looks like a proper lounge room and not just a spare room for the clothes horse!

I sat in there the other night, when Nathan was asleep and I was up reading at 2am. I had the heater on, my feet up, my milo on the table next to me, and a book. It was great! I've finished reading "The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy" again, plus the 3 books that come after it. (They were bound into one book called "The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy: a trilogy in four parts") Funny book. Ridiculously hilarious. Oddly witty. Now I'm reading a wierd but interesting science fiction one borrowed from a nurse I work with.

Nathan's got a new xbox game, which he's playing now. I actually haven't played the Sims 2 for some time... too much working. I have managed to marry off my eldest daughter to Adam and Ruth's son, Joseph, though. Hehe.

Speaking of kids, congrats to my old friends Tim and Marnie, who are having another cute baby next February. You guys should consider moving back here; there are nice blocks for sale right across the road from us, you know...

The Big Trip

2006-08-28T10:55:00.000+10:00

Years ago I bought a recumbent exercise bike for $80. My goal was to lose weight, as usual (lol), and to make it interesting I planned a virtual trip around Australia on it. I downloaded a stack of maps and directions from a travel site, pasted them into a book, and kept a record of all the kilometers I rode on it.

Of course, I didn't lose much weight, so my motivation kind of stalled. I got half way to Perth (a little over 1700 km), and then the bike just sat there, gathering dust.

Nathan bumped the little computerized bit a while back, and broke it off, and yesterday he designed and built a little metal bracket in his shed and fixed it, better than new. Inspired, I cleaned off all the dust and old tape (which used to hold the computer bit on) and got out my old "The Big Trip" exercise book. I did 5k last night and 5k this morning, and I'll update you all on here when I pass a major milestone. The WA border is next, I think, in about 150k. There aren't many towns about!!

In other virtual news, I managed to screw up my Sims game, and after deleting and installing 3 times, I was so pleased to get it working, I decided not to try and reintroduce the old saved games. They're still there, but I'm not going to try and put them back again... So I've started an all new neighborhood! I'm going to have my original kids, but they won't have all their previous skills and stuff. Oh well...

Back at work

2006-08-21T17:14:00.000+10:00

Well, I was going to start work on August 14, but I ended up caving in to the guilt and working on Sunday night (after being rung 4 times in the previous week to "please work, even though you're not supposed to be on, because we're desperate") Louise also rang to give me some work for the week on my old ward, so I've worked Sunday (13th) night, Tuesday morning, Thursday night, Saturday morning, Sunday afternoon and this morning. All on my old oncology ward!

In fact, I could probably have the rest of this week off!

I was a bit nervous that I would have forgotten everything, until someone asked a question in the first handover, and the answer popped straight into my head from nowhere! Now I almost feel as though I never left, except that I now remember why I love nursing so much. From now on I hope to do at least a few days a week, even when (if) I have kids. It's a very satisfying job!

Now I'm off to party with my little nephew Ezra, who turns one today!!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, EZZIE!

Speaking of nephew's, my SIL Seona sent me a picture of Timothy wearing the little aran jumper I spent countless hours knitting! Cute, eh?

Rubies and Pearls

2006-07-29T08:48:00.000+10:00

It's a funny coincidence. Yesterday I was talking to Kelly on the phone, and we got talking about the Sims 2, which we've both started playing recently on our computers. We found out that:
Kelly's sim has a daughter called Pearl and she was considering calling her next daughter Ruby.
My sim has a daughter called Ruby, and I was considering calling my next daughter Pearl!

Bizarre!

The good news of yesterday is that I got the job I applied for! First someone from the nurse bank called to give me an interview (as long as you're qualified, you're bound to get in to the nurse bank, as they're often desperate). Then Louise rang. She asked when I could come in for an interview, and then she said, "Well, not really an interview, more of a talk about details." Then she asked me how many days a week I'd like to work, as she's trying to do the roster. ;-)

This job is an 8 week job, and I said I'd work full-time if it suited her, but she said 0.84EFT would suit her better (which is 4 days a week). That actually suits me better, too; I just needed an excuse to not work full-time! She also said she was very glad I had applied, which is nice! Probably just means noone else did... lol! She said Jacqui was in the background, nodding, because she likes working with me (and vice versa). I'm going to be replacing Jac, while she does Louise's job, because Louise is going on LSL. Jac's a great boss.

Also did my tax return (and Nathan's) on the internet yesterday, which turned out to be pretty easy. Can't believe we've paid an accountant for the last 6 years. Between us, we had 2 group certificates and 4 deductions. Simple!

Well, I'm off to play the Sims 2 again. See if I have a Pearl...

The end is near

2006-07-15T14:47:00.000+10:00

The end of my holidays, that is. I'm starting work again in about 4 weeks, providing I'm needed, of course. I applied for the nurse bank, which should be easy enough to get onto, but I'm not looking forward to that. Not only do they tend to ring you at 6am to see if you can work at 7am, but they could send me anywhere in the hospital. I'm in an oncology rut! I've worked in medical/oncology so long I feel like I've forgotten everything else. Access a port for a three-year old in emergency? No worries. Take blood out of someone's foot. Not a problem. Explain tumor lysis syndrome to a 25 year old with Hodgkins? Piece of cake. Reason with a psycho morphine addict? Sounds like fun. But I wouldn't know what to do with a post-splenectomy or a kid with a fever or someone in traction. I hate going to a different ward and feeling like a student again!

I also applied for an 8 week full-time job, which is on my ward. The boss is going away for 8 weeks, so there's a temporary gap. I didn't want to work full-time, but it's not really fair for me to refuse if Nathan has to. But I think I can handle full-time for 8 weeks. Of course, I might not get the job, in which case it's just what God wants, anyway; I'll leave the details up to him.

Simon and Matthew are off at Kapooka, enjoying the fresh air, exercise and new experiences of Army Reserve boot camp for a month. Simon's spending his birthday there, today, but I don't have his address, so I couldn't even send a card.

Happy birthday, little bro!

I hope they're having fun!

Meanwhile, I've been doing the usual. I spend half the day reading, do some cleaning, move the guinea-pigs, go for a walk, and then do some knitting. I am knitting myself a jumper, which I started last year some time, and I'm on the last sleeve. I'm aiming to get it finished before I go back to work, although it might not fit me. I weighed myself the other day, for the first time in months, and I've gained a few kilos! Well, I suppose that's what happens when you read all day, and I'm up to my 36th book for the year. I have resolved to get myself a decent treadmill, if Nathan will allow me the space, and I can save the money. I can walk and read, without going outside and getting cold, wet, hot, sunburned or abducted, any time of the day or night. And if I can put it in the lounge somewhere, I'll be able to walk and watch TV. Maybe jog in the adds.

"Villette" was my 36th book, but I had to stop half way through, because of a printing error. Pages 63-96 were there... twice. Pages 97-129 were missing altogether. Neither does the library have another copy present, so I decided to read "The Three Musketeers" instead. It's quite funny, though their moral stance on marriage was a bit poor in general. Then I'm going to read "Cyrano de Bergerac", which is written like a play, but looks funny. I flicked through it briefly, and found this bit, where a bunch of poets become inspired by the cake they're eating. One bursts into recipe-rhyme:

Beat, until it mercy begs,
Two dozen eggs,
When the consistency's like silk,
Add a cup of lemon juice,
Then introduce
Two tablespoons of almond milk

And so it goes on for two more verses, all rhyming, which is not bad work, as it was originally a french rhyme. I just laughed.

Nathan is currently on holidays. He spent all the first week in his shed, making something for the front of his buggy. He's also planted about 100 of his seedlings along the fence. What a hard-worker! Of course, his idea of fun is freezing in the shed, or going through Halo 2 on legendary again (which he's also done). At least he sleeps in sometimes!

I didn't watch any more of the FIFA world cup. I stayed up late to watch each match the Aussies were in, but when we lost to Italy I was a bit disgusted (I thought the refereeing bad and the timing of the winning penalty terrible). But I was glad that Italy won the World Cup, because all of us Aussies know that we should have beaten them! He he.

Well, I must go see what happens to Lady de Winter! The duke's just been killed by poor Felton, and now the 4 musketeers are trying to save the young Madame Bonacieux...

Snow!!

2006-06-28T14:16:00.000+10:00

Well, okay, bubbles.

Kelly and I took Abby and Tim to Sovereign Hill yesterday, to see the School-Holiday Snow! It's created with machines perched on some rooftops which blow a whole lot of froth down from the sky; it does look quite a bit like snow, enough to thrill the kids.

We went in at openning time (10am) and started wandering around. Tim's first mission was to get to the top of the poppet head (which he stubbornly calls "the Eiffel Tower") because his mum "never lets him" (ie. she can't be bothered carrying Ezra up all the stairs). We looked through the battery, which was broken today, thus quiet, and Tim was very interested in how it all worked. We headed to the main street to see the first "snow" and buy Cheap lollies, and then down to see the "lolly making" exhibit. Then the kids went into one of the old houses, where there was a nice fire burning, to listen to some stories. At 12 we headed up to the boiler house, because Nathan was cooking us 4 pototoes for lunch. But they weren't ready, so we decided to see the Gold Pouring demonstration instead. Afterwards, we picked up our potatoes and headed for the kiosk tables. When our butter-drowned spuds were gone, we walked back up to the boiler house, where Nathan let Abby and Tim come behind the barriers and blow the 1pm whistle. They each had a go; Nathan said he'd gotten permission for a 1:01pm whistle, too! Then Abby and Tim listened (very patiently) to the Stoked Tour, which is "how steam works" for kids. It was a little over their heads, perhaps, but then again, one should never underestimate the understanding of children.

After that long talk, it was time for cakes! We found the bakery and picked out some good sugary stuff to restore our energy levels. We did some gold panning, watched a silly but funny play in the old theater and went 9-pin bowling. We visitted the school and tried to write with the old pen-and-nibs and inkpots. Tim wrote every combination of "T" and "I" and "M" you could imagine without actually writing "TIM". Abby mainly drew pictures, and was as pleased as punch when the "school-teacher" told her they were good. We also lost Tim for a bit, which was... er... not part of the plan; he was singularly unaffected (for such a normally timid kid). Someone had taken him to the office, and one of the 'soldiers' walked around with him a bit until he found us. I asked him if he'd had fun, and he said "yeah" and that he just thought he would wander off!

They were pretty tired by the end of the day, and so was I! But they were very well-behaved, and I think they had a lot of fun. As I left, Tim was trying to explain to his Grandpa the sound that the whistle made when he pulled the rope; funny!

Timothy James

2006-06-17T12:45:00.000+10:00

He was finally born (2 weeks overdue) on Thursday, June 15, weighing 8lb 1oz, and 50cm long. He's very cute, of course, and he was wide awake when we visitted him yesterday. I gave him the little jumper I'd been knitting the last few months, and Seona said she'll send me a photo of him in it... when he's big enough to wear it! I made it to fit a 3 month old, but he looks so tiny it's hard to imagine it ever fitting ;)

Seona and Chris said they've known it was a boy, and they had told Michael (who's 3). It was a secret, but the funny thing is, Chris said, that if anyone had asked Michael about the baby, he would have said, "It's my new brother, Timothy, in mummy's tummy!" He actually told Nathan, but Nathan didn't understand Michael's 'version' of 'Timothy' (except in hindsight), so the secret was safe! Michael is apparently struggling a little to reconcile this 'baby' with the brother he was going to play cricket with the instant he was home!!

Countdown

2006-06-12T11:18:00.000+10:00

I've got two more months left of my holiday, and then, we decided, I'd go back to work. So I'm going to talk to the boss this week, and see if she's got any spots for me. Ideally I'd like a part time job, but working on the nurse bank will be just as good. I'm aiming to go back in mid-August. Hopefully I won't have forgotten everything!

I heard the name "spironalactone" the other day (a common drug) and I couldn't remember what on earth it did! Not until the next day, and that has me a bit worried...

Anyway, if the boss is willing to hire someone who's brain has gone soft, I'll be fine.

80 months

2006-05-25T13:04:00.000+10:00

I realized that today is a funny sort of anniversary; I have been married 80 months! Woo hoo!

Not that we take much notice of anniversaries anyway, but I didn't have anything much else to write about...

It's amazing how slack you can get, after working so busily only a few months before. I remember being so busy that I didn't feel like I had the time to work and do the dishes. Now I do all my housework and spend hours every day doing what I like. I've never had a holiday like this before... it's great! I wish I could stop feeling guilty! Nathan works pretty hard, but he can't have half a year off. Well, not at the same time as me, I guess. I've been knitting a jumper: a very fiddly one. Wish I hadn't started it now; it's taken so much of my time up. Doesn't seem like a good use of so many hours. Especially when I could just buy one from a shop! Oh well. Only one sleeve to go, so I can't stop now. I've been mainly reading. Wish I'd kept track of all the books I've read this year; I can add up about 30 in my head, but I must have forgotten some. Just went to the library this morning to get half a dozen more. Should keep me entertained for a few weeks.

Had a wierd dream about work last night. I'd gotten a new job as at a restaurant (not as a waitress, though) and the guy who was my boss was also giving me chemo. I had to hook it up myself, though, and walk around the restaurant with an IV pole for 5 days each month. It was something like Herceptin, but the IV tube went down my throat. Then one of my uni teachers was there asking me questions about it, as she had a special interest [in real life Gabe had breast cancer]. Mum and Kelly had breast cancer, too, but they weren't in the dream. Couldn't get over how well I felt! lol! What a stupid dream...

Have been meeting people from work in the supermarket a bit lately, and getting emails from another nurse who's working in London now. Maybe that's why I was thinking about work... I met one nurse at Coles who very sneakily asked me if I was still going to the blood bank. It was sneaky, because I suspect it was her subtle way of asking if I was pregnant. And she is a sneaky one! Of course, she did write me an email saying she'd dreamed I was pregnant, and in my reply I was careful to avoid "confirming or denying" it. Ha ha. I wish I had have said from the beginning: "None of your business" to everyone's baby queries. Might start. It's just annoying that people ask at all. Anyway...

I'm going to the blood bank at 1:30. Donation number ninety-something. I forget.

Aaaaa... Mum just brought me in some little quiches. I put one straight in my mouth and it burned! It's Thursday again, so I'm sitting up at Mum and Dad's on the computer. Dad usually tapes "Prison Break", which is good of him. I miss it because of our Wednesday night bible study. I do all my little jobs and pick up Nathan after work. Today's jobs were buy a picture frame, swap some library books, drop a form in to the bank, go to the blood bank, get groceries, watch "PB" and buy "Cyrano..."-whatever it's called. I've decided to spend some of my spending money improving my library. Couldn't find that book, though, so I've reserved it at the library. Might go buy some other classic after the blood bank. One year I had a new year's resolution to read a classic every month. I read "The count of Monte Cristo" by Dumas, and "War and Peace" by Tolstoy. Read Homer's "Iliad" and "Odyssey" and Tolkien's "Silmarillion". The Iliad was one of the hardest books I'd ever made myself read! I think I bought a pretty difficult translation, though. I saw one in the bookstore today that looked readable. But after that, and "War and Peace" (also a drag) I let myself read the Austin books (again!) and after that I decided that Rowling's were all "classics"! He he.

Spent some of my birthday money on a book of poetry. But I should have some more classics. When I've finished these library books, I'm thinking of reading "The Count of Monte Cristo" again. That was good.

I should buy a lotto ticket! If I won, I'd be able to stay home. I could buy a fancy treadmill, and walk and read all day. We could extend the house, and I could have a huge library! A library with a treadmill in it! And 10,000 books...

sigh

Better get off the internet and get drinking. Got to be at the blood bank soon.

Bludge Camp

2006-04-01T19:32:00.000+11:00

Nathan and I have been to bludge camp this week! The most work we did was setting up the tent, and for most of the remaining time at Jubilee Lake, we read books! I didn't take enough books, and when I finished HP2 I was a bit bored! Nathan is reading Lord of the Rings, so he didn't finish it in 2 days... He kindly let me read it when he got sick of me sighing with boredom... LOL!

Jubilee Lake (near Daylesford) is quite small, and I walked around it 3 times. Only takes about 20 minutes, if you walk slowly. It was in the bush, nice and quiet... well, there were lots of noisy galahs squarking in the morning, so it was just like home ;-) .

When we got back home, we grabbed some groceries, then kidnapped Abby and Tim. We took them to a few playgrounds and fed them pizza and sugar and all that... so much fun to spoil kids. Nathan decided they were tired and sent them to bed at 7:30, and we sat on the couch reading and listening to them talk in bed. They're so funny! Tim, who had seen car lights whiz by, was trying to explain the difference between a "shooting star" and a "shooting car"!

The next day we watched cartoons, went to another playground and played Spyro. The kids were both too scared of the baddies to play much. They wanted to run Spyro around, but if they saw a baddie (or "baby" as Tim kept calling them) they'd beg Uncle Nathan to help them. ("Help, Uncle Nathan, the baby's going to squash me!!") Nathan tried and tried to get them to be brave enough to fight them (you just have to push "B" and "X") but they couldn't! Finally (after about an hour) Abby was brave enough to attempt it, and she was immediately contemptuous of Tim's fear... so funny. No sympathy at all! He he.

They cooked tea, which was fun, and ate it all, and were very proud of themselves. And we took them home, because we were a bit tired. We are old fogies!

Nathan has been relaxing, playing the xbox and reading the book. He keeps commenting on the differences between the book and the movies. He has a good memory for detail. I guess that's why he never feels the need to read anything more than once. Whereas I'm reading HP for the 7th time, and I'm still finding things I hadn't noticed, or had forgotten.

Tomorrow is my birthday. Yay! Well, I'll be 30, so I don't feel like I can call myself young anymore, but I haven't felt young since before I worked on the oncology ward... I suggested the HP4 movie for my birthday present, as it just so happens to have been released 2 days ago in Australia :-) -hopefully Nathan bought it for me, but if not, I have $30 in my wallet so I'll get it anyway. May as well collect the lot...

I should go do something useful. Maybe I'll read a bit more. He he.

Nathan's holidays

2006-03-20T22:16:00.000+11:00

Nathan is on holidays. Woo hoo! Now I don't have to feel guilty every time he goes off to work and I'm lying in bed!! Of course, he's still working! Today he started re-staining the outside of the house. Spent all day up the ladder! Well, now he's sitting on the couch, reading "The Hobbit", so he's relaxing a little...

I have been knitting instead of reading, so I still haven't finished "Lord of the Rings". It's been sitting on top of the drawers in my room, collecting dust for about a week! I suppose I haven't read it since before Kelly came to stay. She's on holidays from her childcare course, so she stayed in our spare room for 3 nights. We spent most of the time playing "The Sims 2" on Nathan's x-box, which was a lot of fun, and very lazy!

Kelly has been crocheting a poncho-type top for herself, out of some thick, knotty wool. She started a square while she was here, and by the time she left she had enough to cover a bed (slight exaggeration). I started a new baby jumper, and got about 5 square cm of ribbing done. Sigh. Oh well, I'm trying something a bit more tricky, so I have to take my time and concentrate!

Tomorrow I'm getting up early to see a -8 iridium flare. If you don't know what that is, you should check out http://www.heavens-above.com/ It's a flash in the night sky caused by the sun reflecting off the dish of an iridium satellite. Sometimes it's almost 100 times brighter than Venus at its best, but only for a second.

We might go away camping while we're both on holidays. It depends on the weather... whether we get organized before his 2 weeks are up!

Sunday Roast

2006-03-13T18:02:00.000+11:00

Hmm, maybe that title's a little bit inappropriate! But I was thinking of my guinea pigs, who almost got roasted in their little hay beds in the bushfire last night...

Yesterday (Sunday, March 12) we had a hot day, and we spent the morning at Sovereign Hill (as I mentioned in the last post). I had planned to turn off the internet and read "Lord of the Rings" (in truth, to go to bed and have a "nanna nap", as Nathan's mum calls it). But a big bushfire started in the nearby towns, Snake Valley, I think. It was about 20km across, and travelling 30-50 km/hour straight towards us! At about 2:30 some fire trucks went by, so we saw there was a fire. But a bit later Nathan pulled me outside to look; the afternoon sky was filled with smoke, and by the time it got dark there was an eerie orange glow to the south west. It was quite exciting, but a little scary!

My husband and I packed our car and left when they said on the radio "Either leave right now, or prepare to stay and defend your homes". Our place is pretty good, firewise, that is, the grass is short, there are no trees near the house, and the firetrucks can easily get in and around our land. So we left Velvet (the galah) at Nathan's mum's, slept at Mum and Dad's, and came back in the morning.

Fortunately, it started to rain at about 1am, which helped the firefighters a lot. Nathan and I drove back home at 8:30 in the morning. The fire had gotten close to us... the edge of the black grass was less than 2k away. There were 6 houses burned down, so we have been very lucky. God looks after us.

Well, today is Labor Day, and we are having our All-Day Halo 2 day. The first people came at about 10:30, and there are currently Matt, Jason, Nigel, Austy and Chris playing Halo with Nathan. Dr Matt and his 2 boys were here before, but they had to go out; Dr Matt is coming back later without the boys (much to their disgust!! Lol!) A couple more people are expected later. I'm having the occasional game, though I do get impatient with being slaughtered all the time... I've just been fiddling around doing some calligraphy.

Sovereign Hill

2006-03-12T14:08:00.000+11:00

Even though it's one of Nathan's days off, we visitted Sovereign Hill today, and took along all his family. We signed in at the staff entrance at 9am (an hour before the park opens) and got our visitor ID badges, then headed up to the boiler house. It was already 25 degrees outside, so the boiler house' thermometer said 35. We were just in time for the safety valve check. At 90 PSI the safety valve lifted with an explosive hiss and steam filled the rafters. It was loud! When the pressure was back to 80 PSI the valves closed, and Nathan told us all about the boilers and lines, how it gets cleaned, what the various little engines did, about the old-time boilers, what to do in an emergency (apart from pray!) and all sorts of information that he's probably given tourists for the last 9 years. It was really interesting, and I think I understood most of what he said!

Then the safety valve of Boiler 2 went off, louder than the first! We continued on to the engine room and then the battery, with Nathan explaining everything as we walked. Michael was fascinated by all the big, greasy wheels and the roaring fire and the noise!

At 10 the park openned, and we went to the kiosk for a drink. Then we all wandered around for a couple of hours, buying lollies, checking out the shops, climbing the Poppet Head, listening to the little street band and panning for gold. Michael patted the horses, pumped the water pump and dipped a candle into colored wax.

I took a few pics, and put some of them on the website (see "Links" at the right). I was trying to get a half-decent family pic, but without resorting to "okay, everyone, look here and say, 'cheese'"; naturally I didn't get one! The three on the website are of Michael.

Nathan is revacuuming the floor (which I did yesterday!!!) because we're having a Halo Day tomorrow. People will be coming from about 10am, hopefully, and staying as late as they want, playing Halo 2. It's Labour day, an appropriate holiday to spend playing!

Then on Tuesday my sister's coming to stay a few nights--to play with my calligraphy stuff, she says! And to watch movies and chat and bludge... should be fun.

iHasta la vista!

Waffle

2006-02-20T12:23:00.000+11:00

Oh, I am such a slacker! I haven't written in this for ages, because I have so little to say!

I confess I have not felt bored since I started my big holiday. Each day I do my FlyLady list, and then I have a bit of free time, which I normally use for craft, the internet or reading. My exercise this month is to hit 10,000 steps a day on my pedometer, or rather 70,000 a week; I do more some days and less others. Yesterday was Sunday, the end of the week, and I had to go for a 2 hour walk to get my steps up! I'm also doing my Pilates DVD each week (50 minutes). The annoying thing is, when I exercise more I'm hungrier, so I'm not losing weight. Oh well; good for the old heart, I guess.

Actually I have trouble deciding what to do some days. I have been cross-stitching and watching the Winter Olympics, though they are mostly on in the evening. I'm reading a nice fat book, though mostly in bed... can't seem to find time for it otherwise. I'm practicing a bit of calligraphy, too, and I have my calligraphy stuff all spread out on Kelly's desk (which we are babysitting). I'm in the middle of knitting a jumper, though I want to start a few other knitting projects. I'm determined to finish this jumper first... well, maybe not determined. We'll see! Lol! I'd like to finish it before Winter, but there are other projects I want to do before then. I haven't had time for knitting anyway, as I've got too many other things I like doing!

We had a Halo night on Saturday, which is always fun. About 10 people came, and most stayed until about 2am. I played a bit, although I do get sick of being slaughtered all the time! Spent most of the night making a little present for my dad... Also made a few other presents recently.

When I was working, I could spare a bit of time for craft, though it felt very wasteful to sit and do calligraphy for 3 hours when the dishes weren't done. Now I have a reasonably clean house and lots of time for fun!

I'm starting to feel like Never going back to work. I know I'll have to, though not full-time, but I guess it doesn't hurt to dream ;-)

...told you I had nothing to say. It's just waffle...

Catch up

2006-01-26T00:18:00.000+11:00

Had a great day today, catching up with people. The only one I haven't really seen is Nathan!

Esther called me at about 11, and Kelly, she and I went to the craft market, then Spotlight, then Mum and Dad's. I think we spent 4 hours wandering craft shops ;-) which is easy to do. The family had a bbq, but I left because I was already going out for tea. I bought myself a new t-shirt (as my shirt was a bit scruffy) so I wouldn't have to go home, and went to GC's instead. It was a dinner for me, on my "retirement"!

Lots of people from work turned up! Well, they'd reserved the table, of course, and there were 12 people there: Louise (the boss), Wendy (formerly we worked on the "Blood transfusion" portfolio together, in light of which she's given me a job one day in February!), Liz (patchwork queen), Lynn (whose house I went to last week for a good-old Craft Day), Lyn (one of my favorites in charge, who's just started working only 2 days a week), Debbie (fellow movie-goer), Nola (who paid for my meal and a glass of champagne!), Steve (who's on holidays but came anyway), Gail (still having treatment for cancer but looks fantastic), Fiona (a former grad who's not even on our ward any more), and Jacqui (who worked a late shift and then came after work for a drink... until 11:30!)

It was so great chatting to them all, especially Gail. It was wonderful to hear about the annoying new computer program they have to use, the doctors that annoy them, the conversations with dementia patients ("I am Thor!!" one said today, with an imaginary lightning bolt in his fist!) and all the stuff that goes on at work. I laughed and laughed and laughed. But it did remind me how much of the stressful stuff I've already forgotten. Some days I think to myself, "I miss work", but it's the people I miss, not the politics, early mornings, angry visitors and 10km of walking up and down the hall each day.

I don't think I'll ever have to work there full-time again, and that makes me feel good!

Yesterday I read a book from 5 am to 1 am. I stopped to go for a walk and to have meals. I did a little housework. But I spent most of the day reading until I finished the book! This is the life.

Tomorrow I'm going into town, as I do every Thursday, but I have barely any jobs to do, so I'm going to see a movie (Nanny McPhee), which Debbie recommends, and get the groceries.

Everyone at dinner kept commenting on how relaxed I look. Probably because I've lost all those stress wrinkles and I'm not frowning and moaning all the time ;-)

..oooO................
..(.....).............
...\...(..Oooo........
....\__)..(.....).....
............).../.....
...........(__/.......

Camping

2006-01-01T14:19:00.000+11:00

We finally used our tent!

Nate has been trying to organize a day at the beach, and on Christmas we organized to go camping with Simon and Esther and all the kids. So on Wednesday, 28th we loaded up the car. Mum and Dad arrived with Abby and Tim, who were going to come with us, and Simon, Esther, Ben and Ezra arrived soon after. We drove all the way to Port Fairy, stopping for lunch, and found our site (which someone had camped in!) Then we were given a better site, and we popped up the tents. It was hot work!!! And we didn't have to look after 4 kids age 5 and under!

Then we wandered across the road to where SUFM beach mission was setting up for their first night. It was a little unorganized; apparently they didn't have many volunteers that year. And the mozzies were swarming! I thought I slapped them pretty quick, but I still have 6 bites on my arms and legs.

Abby was a bit disappointed that we didn't go to the beach right away! She's the only one who'd been to the beach, at 10 months of age, and she was kind of excited!

We had tea in our tent, as we have a little front area we could all sit in with a little table, and we could limit the number of mozzies allowed in (like Bouncers). Then, when the kids were asleep, the four of us adults played Canasta until after 1am.

After taking the kids to Beach Mission again, we had lunch and headed to the beach. It took 5 minutes to walk there! There was lots of grass, lots of flat, nice sand with shells here and there, and little waves that came in a fair way on the flat beach. Out further, there were bigger waves; just big enough to push you all the way in on a boogey board, but not big enough to push you under. I held Ben's hand, and we went in up to about his knees. He was so excited about the waves! He'd scream, then laugh, and grip my hand tight. We stayed there quite a while, until the poor boy started shaking with cold. It was a nice warm day, and you'd be pretty much warmed up by the time you walked to the towels. He wanted to go straight back in, but his lips were a bit blue!

Tim was another story, of course; he lasted about 30 seconds before he ran. Simon and I looked around, after we'd been in the water for about 2 minutes, and Tim was gone. (I tell you, it was not the first time either of us lost a kid we were keeping an eye on! Those tackers are quick!!) When we spotted him, he was heading up the ramp, presumably on his way back to camp! He spent most of the afternoon digging and building, though by the end of the day he was wading in up to his knees for short periods (to clean shells.) I was proud of him!

Abby was braver, of course, and went out a bit further with her dad and her Uncle Nathan. Uncle Nathan tried to teach her to boogey board, but it was a bit much for a 5 year old... she gave it a good try, however, and thought "swimming" with Uncle Nathan a bit of a high-light.

When Esther and Ezra came with the car (after his "lunch") she set up a little tent, and he laid in it the rest of the day. He's only a few months old, after all. Esther had a bit of a swim later, but keeping track of the kids, as I said, was rather a full-time job.

I had a good go on Nate's boogey board; the waves were great! I got lots of sore muscles and just a bit of sunburn, but it was definitely worth the trip, just for that swim.

After tea, when the kids slept, we four finished off the Canasta game we'd started. The boys won :o( but we had lots of fun, and didn't finish so late. And in the morning we packed up and were gone by 10-ish. We stopped in to see Auntie Sandie and Callan in Warnambool on the way home. Once Nathan and I had dropped Abby and Tim home, we dumped our luggage and watched 3 DVD's; we felt wrecked! It was still boiling. It's only just started to cool off this afternoon (Jan 1) after a bit of rain.

New Year! I stayed up until after midnight, but not to see in the new year; I was playing the Sims 2, and didn't even realize it was 2006 until about 1am as I went to bed. However, I got up at 8:30, which I'm planning to do most days, and had a healthy breaky, made my bed, did my hair and gave the kitchen a quick clean. I did all the things on my FLY list for Sunday, and now it's Free Time until I cook dinner. I weighed a bit less this morning than I did on last Jan 1. But hopefully I'll be quite a bit lower by the end of my holidays.

Well, I might go play Sims 2 again. It's a bit of fun!!

Happy New Year!

I am so relaxed!

2005-12-26T15:54:00.000+11:00

Today is Boxing day, and I have been on "holidays" for TEN days. I'm so relaxed.

Yesterday was Christmas, of course, and we got up about 9-ish. Nathan gave me an X-box game, Sims 2, which is what I wanted (and I have been playing it all morning!). We had lunch at Nathan's mum's place, and I got a bunch of games and chocolates and books. I helped Sarah open presents on her first Christmas, which was fun, but she wasn't really interested after a few -- she just wanted to play with the ones she'd unwrapped and the "old" favorites in Grandma's toybox! Then we drove off to my parents' place for "leftovers" and more present swapping. Got given more nice food as well as a heap of good craft stuff. I did what I said, and gave little presents to those who were not my "Kris Kringle", just home made chocolates. I spent many sweaty hours making those over a frypan of boiling water and jars of chocolate buttons! But I'm not whinging... it was a lot of fun!

I have 5 more days of holidays, and then I'm going to get into my plans for 2006. Mostly it's just a cleaning plan thanks to FlyLady.com and Esther (who put me onto that site). I'm going to be very organized, keep the place clean, exercise and lose weight, garden, finish cross-stitches, etc, and make Nathan happy that I'm not wasting my time (though he says, "Make sure you don't do too much; you're supposed to be relaxing"). I've been getting emails from FlyLady.com for a few months, but I haven't been "cleaning my sink" every day, that's for sure!! Anyway, I started reading some today, and getting myself motivated. You're not supposed to jump in the deep end; you're supposed to start organizing your routines slowly, but I figure I used to work 40 hours a week; I can manage.

I've got my FlyLady journal all worked out, with things to cross off each day. It's not set in stone, of course; I'm sure I'll be changing things and adding stuff as I go. Hopefully I can stick to it.

This week we are going camping! Nathan's been trying to organize a day at the beach post-Christmas, especially with my bro, Simon, and family. But yesterday it turned into a 2-night camping trip, and Esther organized it this morning and rang me with the details! How exciting! We bought a tent earlier in the year, and a air-mat and an esky. But we haven't had the chance (holidays/weather) to use it yet. Now we are both off for this week, so is Simon, and we're off on Wednesday! It'll be fun. I'd better find my bathers!!

I spent about 6 hours on the x-box this morning, playing the Sims 2. Now Nathan and his brother (who gave me an excellent astronomy book yesterday) are playing good old Halo 2. I'm going to fiddle on the internet until I'm bored, then read my latest book again. It's one of 6 (a series) borrowed from a lady at work, but I'm not sure I like it yet. The main character is angry and not very likeable... intentionally so, but it's hard to feel sorry for his situation so far! It's about a leper called "Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever"... anyway, it is intriguing.

The Movie Gals (Tammy and Debbie) from work are going to ring me some time and we're going to see "Narnia". I'm looking forward to it, as I've read the books many times. (More than Harry Potter; probably 7 or 8 times). I can't believe how many people haven't read it!! It's a classic! Hmm, I guess I don't understand people who don't read.

That reminds me of something funny. Nathan sometimes says and does things in the night that he can't remember the next day. It's so hillarious! The other night he sat bolt-upright and grabbed me by the arms, like I was an intruder! He didn't let me go for a minute! I think I scared him by rolling over! ROFL! Anyway, recently he sat up (I was reading) and said I was "incredible" or something very nice like that, because I read so much. He's funny; he'll sit up, look at you, chat and answer questions, but he's just a bit vague and you know he's not going to remember it the next day. He was going on about how I was amazing, and I couldn't stop giggling. He was looking right at me, but for all intents and purposes was asleep. Then he rolled over and started snoring quietly. Isn't that funny?

Well, enough rambling... I've got 3 hours to kill before my corned beef in the Hot Pot is ready for other veges.

iHasta la vista!

Paranoia

2005-12-13T23:44:00.000+11:00

I swear, I hear the following at least five times a day each:

"How many more days to go, Tammy?"
"Not long to go now..."
"What are you going to do in your time off?"
"You must be excited!"

I'm getting paranoid. I think my workmates are more excited than me...!!

I have 3 shifts to go. I don't know what I'm going to do with my time off. I'm looking forward to having a few weeks off, but I've had lots of second thoughts! We worked out the budget the other day, and things will be much, much tighter on only Nate's wage. I'm only going to be able to spend about $5 on people's birthday presents next year, and there is no way I'm going to be able to convince Nathan we can afford a bit more spending money each week. I'm thinking my holiday isn't going to be much fun. I can't afford to go to the movies more than once a fortnight. I can't even really afford to drive into town. I need to cut back my showers and baths. I have to find a way to slash about $50 off the weekly grocery bill. I'll be sick of this house in 2 weeks! Not only that, but most of my friends are nurses I work with. (Nurses don't seem to have much time for any other type of friend! It took me about a month to catch up with Adam and Ruth a while ago; only the most dedicated friends survive that sort of neglect!) I'm going to miss the people I work with. I'm going to miss having a bit more money. I'll have time, but for what? I'm good at my job, and it makes me feel important; like I'm a useful citizen of the world.

I would rather cut down my hours. It would be great to do 2 shifts a week. I don't know. But I can't say all this stuff to Nathan. He got a bit cross last time I mentioned worrying about money, only a little bit, but he said I have to stop worrying. I don't want him to feel like he doesn't earn enough, or he doesn't make me feel important. It's a guy thing, I guess, to feel you are capable of looking after your wife. And when we have kids, it'll be harder! I'm fairly worried about that!

It's weird, me worrying, because I don't usually let worry bother me. It's something I'm good at, now: looking at the big picture, not stressing about small stuff, trusting God. Maybe it's just that people keep going on about it so constantly...

Well, I have many things, and I'll never lack what I need. I've gotten used to this DINKs business, and I've forgotten how easy it is to live on much less. Back when I had $4 a week pocket money, I used to sponsor a girl, and I still had everything I needed and more. And I know I have lots of projects here that I never seem to have time for. I need time for the garden, for that big cross stitch, for all those little baby clothes I want to try to make, for FLY cleaning, for reading, for practising Spanish and brushing up on sign language. There are a thousand books at the library I need time for, and my bil Jason has about 100 I want to read, too. I need to do so much in the garden. I really need to do more exercise. I'd love time to write stories. I'd like to make a webpage (like I used to have). I'd love to study completely different stuff; astronomy, physics, psychology, mythology. I haven't read through the Bible in ages.

Perhaps this holiday is going to be productive, in a very different way than I'm used to.

I wonder why change bothers us so much?

This year we changed our Christmas traditions a bit. We're doing a family "Kris Kringle" or whatever you call it when you only buy one present. I hate that! I'd rather spend $5 on everyone than $40 on one person. It's wierd not giving your sister or your Dad a present at Christmas! Seems wrong... I plan to be wicked ;-) and give everyone a little present (he he he!!) I love wrapping them and making cards!

I'm breaking a tradition myself. We never send Christmas cards to people... behavior like that could get out of hand! Once you start sending someone a card, it seems rude not to include a dozen others, and then it seems rude to ever stop sending them. But a nurse at work gave another nurse a card, and Maree was pretending to be offended she didn't get one, too. So I told her I'd give her a card, her and noone else (so she could brag; she's a funny girl!!). Made it today, which made me late for work (which isn't good, as I was in charge :-} but only a few minutes!)

I'm starting to ramble, and I'm starting to get cold. I probably should get to bed! I was going to get up at 6 for an early shift tomorrow, but one of the nurses was looking at the roster, and mentioned in passing that I was on a late shift. I said, "No, I'm not; I have an early, and she said, "yes, look, you're on a late!" Lucky for me! It would have been embarrasing to turn up at 7am and get sent home!

Today I planted 6 pumpkin seedlings (thanks, Matt!) and I'm hoping God will protect them from rabbits this time! I put some protectors on them, too, but God controlls rabbits better than me. I love pumpkins!

Ack; when my spelling deteriorates and my typing goes south (this isan attmept at a sendtence without using the deleelt key, ... the dleete key probably gets used more thatn "e" on my keybourd) it is time to go to bed!!!!

Knitting baby stuff

2005-11-17T02:16:00.000+11:00

I know I haven't written for yonks, and I have nothing much to say. I'm certainly not knitting baby stuff for myself... well, I might keep whatever I don't give away if it doesn't look too warped... but I'm not pregnant or anything.

I've got 6-and-a-half days off! That's because I have two weekends, and RDO and a night off (or something). I am between day-shift and night-shift. So I'm sort of staying up half the night to prepare, because I go to work at 9pm tomorrow (ie, Thursday, 17th Nov). I have to be in charge of night shift for 2 weeks. That just means if someone has to wake up a Consultant at 2am, that Someone is Me.

These last 6 days have been spent reading (I'm reading an old war story; it's stupid but bizarrely intriguing), knitting (I have progressed from scarves to baby boots and jumpers) and watching TV. Very relaxing. Well, until you realize that you've spent 4 hours knitting with the wrong size needles and the whole thing is going to be a funny shape. I'm knitting my first jumper (baby-sized). It's a bit longer and thinner than it's supposed to be; hopefully it'll come together ok...

We spent Sunday afternoon with Abby and Tim; we took them to the show! It was quite a lot of fun. We walked around for ages, looking at the animals and the circus. Tim was afraid to go on the Ferris Wheel. The poor kid was clutching onto me at the gate, saying in a shaky, quiet voice, "I don't want to go on this ride", but after the first 10 seconds he changed his mind! They went on the Dodgem Cars, the jumping castle with a huge slide, the merry-go round; they played the clowns (putting the balls in their mouths), the lucky tickets, and catching the ducks with a hook. Abby had a go of popping balloons with darts, but Uncle Nathan had to help her with that. We bought them soft drink, donuts and a big tub of fairy floss. Uncle Nathan played the lucky tickets until he won a big toy for them (he was determined), which I had to fix as soon as we got home (cheap rubbish!), and I'm sure Esther will have to fix a bit more! Tim insisted on one more ride on the ferris wheel before we left!!!

Then we had rubbish for tea: mini spring rolls, meatballs and puffy dogs, followed by icecream with topping, marshmallows and M&M's. They watched cartoons before bed, and slept from 9pm to 6am. Tim said he dreamed about the ferris wheel! I made toast while Nathan slept in, and they watched a bunch of cartoons that they seemed to know quite well. We had leftover spring rolls, etc, for lunch. They each had a bath (because our bath is somehow different and exciting) and then watched Shrek 2. Nathan is sick of that movie, but they always want to watch it!! We finished off the fairy floss. All that sugar! But that's my job as an Auntie, and I wasn't about to slack off! Abby was trying to hint that they could stay another night, or even "100 nights", but we took them home with a bit of a sigh of relief! Children are full-time noise, and when you're not used to it... Esther says you get used to it as they grow up, which is good to know. But having them over for the night made me realize I don't want to have kids... for about 24 hours.

I've been trying to save my money, because the budget is being slashed next year (as I'm not working.) Sigh! There are pros and cons to marrying a Scrooge. We've paid a good chunk off our mortgage. But my spending money is about to be slashed to around what I used to get for pocket money as a teenager!

Oh well. Que sera sera.

The two remaining female guinea-pigs, Heidi and Winky, are hugely fat, and I can't believe they are still pregnant! Unfortunately the date now precludes the paternity of Sirius, which means I won't get black scruffies (sigh!). Hagrid is the father of all, which should be interesting. Hagrid was a Rex (think Pom-pom), so the babies should be rather cute. The current male, Charley, is black and white, so I may get a black-ish scruffy one day. We'll see. I separated the girls this avo, because it occurred to me that they might have their babies the same day, and I'd find a mass of babies, and not know which was whose.

We got to spend a bit of money on Tuesday, which is always fun. Actually we just chose a clothesline, lawnmower and security door, but we did buy a new set of pots! I've had rusty cheapo ones for years, so now I have a shiny good set. I'm excited, so I must be metamorphosing into a housewife.

(\__/)
(='.'=)
(")_(")

Well, it's 2:48am. I have to think of something else to do. I'm bored! After only one week! Maybe I should do some housework.

Hmm. I'm a bit cold. Maybe I'll just go to bed...

Big News

2005-09-21T15:08:00.000+10:00

At the end of this year, I was planning on cutting down my hours at work. It's been a bit of a hard year; the oncology is finally getting me down at times.

So it's finally done! I've spoken with the boss, and cut back my hours. Woo hoo!

To zero! I actually resigned!! Aaagh!

It was Nathan's idea, and he wanted me to resign almost more than I did. He's looking forward to having a wife that he sees sometimes ;-)

I'm really looking forward to trying out this "housewife" thing. I won't have to get up early. I'll have time for hobbies. I won't have to think about sick people. I'll only have to go to the hospital to donate blood. I'll always be able to go to family birthday teas. I can invite the kids to our place more often. I can waste a day at the library. The house will be neat. The guinea pigs will know me. The garden can get weeded. I'll be off for the Summer!

So I finish on December 18, which is a little cheeky, as it was my turn to work Christmas this year!

Getting used to one wage will be difficult, and I can't help feeling guilty for not contributing. I've worked full-time almost all my 6 years of marriage, and now I'm slacking off for a few months. Oh well. I think I can live with it!

If I get bored (very bored!) I plan to rejoin the nurse bank and work a few shifts a week. The boss said she'd give me work whenever I wanted to come back, which is nice. But I'm sure I'll find plenty of things I'd rather do at home...

Everyone at work knows, and they've been very nice! Telling me they'll miss me, telling me I'm doing the right thing, and (most of all) telling me what a fantastic husband I have!! When they ask me why I'm resigning, I tell them I'm having a rest while I can.

I am very sick of people saying "You won't be back; you'll get pregnant" and "So you're having kids next year?" and "Are you pregnant?"...you have no idea. It's nobody's business. Nobody's but mine, and it's really irritating when people are so nosy. That's my little whinge of the day, and I feel much better! I should be used to it by now, because people have been asking me about that for years. But it's annoying. It's one of the reasons I'm resigning instead of cutting down my hours. I can't go a week without someone asking if I'm pregnant yet (no exaggeration) and I don't want to be put in a position (when I am pregnant) of having to say so before I'm ready, or lying. Last year one of the nurses on our ward had an early miscarriage (one of the reasons you don't tell everyone too soon) and everyone on our ward knew. And this year we all knew about Coll's pregnancy before she'd told her family. I don't want that. And it would be horrible if you knew you couldn't have kids, but people kept bringing it up all the time.

Well, I have about 87 sleeps till I resign. How wierd will it be? Being a nurse has been part of my identity for seven years!

I have given up my holidays. I had 4 weeks off in November, but I didn't think it was worth having such a long holiday. So I gave them up, and now I get paid for them instead. So I'll resign before Christmas with 5 weeks of holiday pay. Nathan thinks we might get a couch. Woo hoo! I've been after a new couch for years!

New stuff

2005-08-30T14:00:00.000+10:00

A little while ago Nathan reminded me that he had some money set aside. It was a fortnightly budget allowance for petrol (for driving to Melbourne when he was having Tai Chi lessons there.) It had added up before we'd made decisions and changed the budget, but I'd completely forgotten about it.

So he told me that we were going to buy a tent!

We drove into town yesterday and bought a Queen size airbed, a HUGE esky and a tent that's big enough for 8 people! Can't wait to go camping now... well, I suppose I can wait for better weather!!! ;-). We thought about a light and a camping stove. But we have torches, and you can cook anything in the microwave. When we have a little camping trip we'll be able to figure out what else we really need.

We're going to set up the tent next week to make sure we can :) and that all the parts are there. Then we can just go camping whenever we like, for the weekend or a few days here and there; whenever we have time off together. Plenty of room if we end up having 8 kids. We can just close in the front part (the 'living room') and sleep there, and put all the kids in the other room. And when the oldest is about 12, we can make them all live in the paddock, and we can have the house back.

He he.

Well, this is my 5th and last day off, so I'm going to go and enjoy it! Might watch "Sense and Sensibility" again. I bought it recently, and I've watched it a few times on my days off (3? 4?). I've been doing a bit of cleaning and cooking. We even had Simon's whole family (of six) for tea on Friday, which was great! I annoyed my sleeping little nephew for ages with my camera flash.

Ezra

2005-08-21T23:13:00.000+10:00

Simon rang me at about 9:30 this morning... with a baby howling in the background! So it wasn't too hard to guess what he'd been doing all night! Ezra Jonathan was born at 9:08am and he weighed 8lb 11oz. (A bit under 4kg). Then Nathan and I went off to church, where I sat reading Ezra instead of listening (to remind myself who he was).

I had to work, but Nathan met me at 2:30, because I have a break then. Spent my whole break waiting with Nathan and Kelly, as Ezra was stuck in the nursery, being a bit hypoglycaemic (2.6).

Saw him for a second as I left, though, and also spent my dinner break holding him while he slept. Gorgeous! Pity I can't put up pictures, but I'm sure Kel will (see the "shooting star" blog link).

Had a good day at work. It was quiet (so to speak...) and the little old lady who was crying "IhateyouIhateyouIhateyouIhateyou!!!" last week was singing about how much she loves us all now. Literally singing! So funny! ;-)

Busy little bees

2005-08-09T15:32:00.000+10:00

What a day for the last day of the week! I've just finished work, and I'm sitting in the hospital library recovering...

We had 2nd-year nursing students, who were spending their first day ever in a hospital. They have 2 weeks with us, which will be fun! 2nd-years are so keen. But it took me 90 minutes (instead of the usual 15) going through everyone's charts and medications with Danyelle. And then there were discharges.

Discharging patients home from a medical-oncology ward can be complicated, to say the least. They have services to organize, a dozen family 'issues', pain, nausea, and a sudden, last minute temperature.... normally. When an oncology patient is going home, we usually end up spending an hour or so on phone calls and paperwork and chasing doctors. It's amazing, actually; no matter how many people you send home, you'll always find a new and interesting complication to take care of!

My complications today were as follows: 1. Hospice organizes Home Oxygen for patients, but not for Keith, who lives in Ararat. 2. Morag can go to Maryborough hospital between 1 and 2, and then she'll have her 2pm peritoneal dialysis; but what happens when Advanced Medical Transport is an hour late? 3. Keith can make the trip home without extra O2, but what about when he's sitting in Pharmacy and his daughter, who's taking him home, gets stuck in the elevator?

My third patient harassed me all day about when the doctor was going to let him go home. He's allowed to go home. He doesn't need anything. But the doctor wants to see him first, and she is busy elsewhere! As I left he was sitting by the door with all his bags, still waiting at 3:30.

My fourth patient went on day leave for a few hours, which is not as tricky as sending someone home, but he had a list of things to be done before he went... right when I was supposed to be having lunch.

Then one of my old favorites died. Beattie was expected to die soonish, as her kidneys had stopped working, but it felt a bit sudden. Just this morning she was telling me how much she likes her doctor and how well his gray hair suited him, etc. ;-) So I helped wrap her for the mortuary and talked to her grandson.

We had 9 discharges and a death today, which is a bit of work for a 23-bed ward. And by the time I left 6 of those beds had been filled with new patients! I'm afraid I neglected my poor student for the last half of the shift, but she said she had fun...

Now I have 2 days off! I'm going home to sit and read my current Eddings book (which I got for free ;-) with the Harry Potter one) or work on my silly present for my new niece or nephew.

I love weekends.

The Eighth day

2005-07-23T11:30:00.000+10:00

It is my eighth day off in a row!! Tomorrow I go back to work, of course, but I have had a very good little rest.

I spent a bit of Friday sleeping, but tried to keep awake so I would sleep at night. On Saturday morning (the 16th) I lined up at the bookstore with 40 other nutcases to get "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince", which I spent the rest of the day reading. Finished it before I went to sleep, of course (only a short book). Then I read it again, over the next couple of days. I've been reading, watching DVD's and knitting! What a life! I've done a bit of exercise; my feet are all ablister!

Now I'm going to waste a bit of time on Harry Potter theories! If you haven't read the books, it'll make no sense. If you plan to, you probably won't want to read on...

I was very impressed with the book! It was completely different from any preconceived ideas I might have had. I was both surprised (with very unexpected plots) and pleased with myself for guessing things right. I even guessed who the Half-blood Prince was, though that was just luck! I knew it was his book from the beginning. I certainly guessed Harry's eventual love-interest, as I had been telling Nathan for years. He thought Harry and Hermione... well, he hasn't finished the book himself, yet, but he's far enough into it to realize what's going on... What happened in the end was necessary, of course, but I think the separation will be as permanent as his "lifelong" ban from Quidditch.

Poor Professor Snape! I am convinced that he is still on the side of good, but now noone believes him. What a sad life he's had so far! Dumbledore made him promise to kill him before Draco could do it, and it must have taken a lot of courage. He had to make the unbreakable vow (with Bellatrix watching) but probably planned to just die. Why did Dumbledore trust him? I'm guessing it has a lot to do with Lily Evans. Slughorn says she was as good at potions as Harry (this year); what if Sev and Lily shared his ideas, his book? And why was the memory Harry saw one of Snape's worst if the war with James and Sirius was an ongoing thing? Maybe because this was the day he insulted Lil and lost her friendship...

As for the locket/fake horcrux that Dumbledore wasted his life getting; that is very unfortunate! I think Sirius underestimated his brother's intelligence; he's certainly the mysterious "RAB". The real locket will probably be the one they found cleaning headquarters, the one they couldn't open. Let's hope Kreacher saved it!

I thought the name Ginny chose for her puffskein was a bit dumb, really; until I realized that Arnold is an anagram of Ronald! I nearly fell out of my chair laughing! She really seems to be able to read Harry's mind; must be a bit of that Life-saving connection going on...

It'll be a couple of years before book 7 comes out; hopefully Moldywart will kick the bucket, Snape will be justified, the Idiot will kiss poor Hermy at last, and Harry will end up as the DADA teacher or something. Happily ever after, and all that jazz.

Well, I'm reading Jane Austen again, now, as it seems silly to read "HBP" again just yet! I'm reading "Emma".

ZZZzzzzzz

2005-07-15T02:24:00.000+10:00

Here I am at work (naughty naughty!). It's almost 2am, and for the first time in these 2 weeks I'm struggling to stay awake! One nurse is on a break and the other is reading the paper. It's quiet. Blessed Peace and Quiet!

It's been an interesting week. I've been feeling increasingly edgy and impatient with everyone! I really am thinking that I need a break from all this. My friend Ruth had a 6 month break last year, then went back to work. That's what I need!

I actually yelled at a patient last night! First time ever… Of course, he wouldn't have heard me if I didn't yell, as he was yelling himself, and I was just telling him to calm down. He was yelling about how we were abusing him and thought he was stupid, that we didn't trust him, that he was going to discharge himself, that we'd stolen from him, etc etc, all because we locked his tablets in the drawer. We're supposed to do that, as any wandering dementia patient could pick them up and take them (or visiting children in the daytime) and such was the nature of the tablets that swallowing a handful could be fatal. But he would not be reasoned with. Indeed, he would not be quiet at all! Sigh! Then at 3 am a girl came up to our ward and cried and carried on like a 3 year old, completely unreasonable and childish, keeping all the other ladies in the room (and the men in the next room) awake. She wanted a shower and didn't like that we said no!

Then there's the main night shift nurse who slowly gets under your skin and drives you CRAZY! She will not stop whinging! And her favorite subject is "All the things that day staff don't do". Honestly, she has not one clue how busy day staff are.

Now I can see myself and hear myself. I'm whinging and moaning quite a bit myself. And I'm driving myself mad. I hate this! I hate the way I seem to have lost my patience.

Well, I have 5 and a half hours to work. Then I sleep half the day and go to Pizza Hut for my brother's birthday. Then I have 8 more days off!!! Hopefully I'll be a bit more patient after that.

Take a deep breath, Tam!

Night Shift

2005-07-10T16:22:00.000+10:00

I love night shift! I tend to be unable to sleep until about 2 or 3 am anyway, so my body clock is right for it. And night shift is such a bludge!

Here's what we do: We have Hand-over, where the afternoon boss tells us about the patients. Then the three of us go from one end to the other, checking what needs to be done at 10, which is medications and obs (blood pressures, etc) for most people. We have 23 patients if the ward is full, so it takes until about 11pm. Then we take a third of the charts each and update them for the next day. We record and clear all the IV pumps and do a couple of IV antibiotics at midnight. We read through the patients' histories to make sure we know what's going on. Then we amuse ourselves from about 1am to 5am! We have an hour break each. Through the night we have to check on the patients regularly, answer the buzzers, and chase the dementia patients back to bed :-} but it's normally quiet. The other night I spent 4 hours reading my book!

I only have 2 weeks of night shift, which is 4 nights on, 2 off and 4 on. I'm between my 2 nights off, but I stayed up reading last night because it's easier on the poor old body clock. Got up about 2pm starving, as I hadn't had anything to eat since the fried eggs at 3am.

Last night shift was frustrating, because the nurse in charge wouldn't stop whinging about things the day staff hadn't done. Obviously they'd had a very busy shift, and couldn't get doctors to see patients because the doctors were busy as well. Noone's fault. But I had to bite my tongue to stop from telling her to "SHUT UP!!!" She's the kind of person who is always "right" and everyone else is wrong.

Think I need a break from nursing. All the little things are eating away at my patience and tolerance. I'm getting grumpy and cross with people, and I hate that! The last thing I need is for all my positive attitude to be leeched out just before I have kids. Poor kids!

Waiting for a ride

2005-06-30T16:21:00.000+10:00

Here I am in the hospital library, waiting for a ride home.

Last night after work I went to the blood bank. (They asked all the plasma donors to give whole blood, so they must be really short.) I'm up to number 73, now, and it took 5:52 (beat that, Matt!). After the blood bank I went to Mum and Dad's for tea (yes, I was invited...) because they are leaving (in fact, they would have left by now) to go to Darwin in the caravan for 3 months.

Needless to say, it was late when I was driving home.

My car has been misbehaving lately. The battery light would occasionally flick on and off as though the alternater connection was a bit dodgy. But last night the headlights got dimmer and dimmer and dimmer.... Finally, I pulled over, barely able to see the road in front of me. I turned off the headlights; they wouldn't go back on. Then I turned off the car. The engine wouldn't start or even turn over. There I was in the dark (no moonlight), far out of town, no mobile, cold and alone!!!

Well, it wasn't that bad. As it happens God was nearby ;-)

It takes me 20 minutes to drive from my parents' house to my house, which is 10-15 minutes out of town. Guess where I ran out of power?

In front of my neighbor's house!

So I just walked up the road and brought Nathan back with me. Our neighbor, Graham, helped, and we pushed my car home.

Today at work I rang the auto electrician bloke Nate recommended, and he's going out to fix it tomorrow afternoon. Nathan drove me to work this morning, and is picking me up when he's finished, and we'll have to organize something for tomorrow, too. Then I'll be back on the road.

We're thinking of replacing my car! Woo hoo!

Told the girls at work today I'm thinking of having a break from work before having kids; kind of like the Long Service Leave I won't get to have. They reckon it's a good idea. I also told them that Nathan wants me to get Christmas off, and I should quit if I don't (I think he was joking!). They said I should roster myself on, then show Nathan the roster so he would tell me to quit. ;-)

I have been playing on the internet, trying to find out if "The Sims 2" is coming to the x-box at all. I still don't know! If I remembered this morning, I would have brought "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban", which I'm reading. Finished the Wheel of Time books up to number 10. There are more to go, but I have to wait!!! Now I'm reading the HP series again (6th time) in preparation for the next book "Half Blood Prince" due out in a few weeks.

Well, I'd better get down to the front entrance to wait for Nathan. Told him I'd be there.

Sad tales from the South

2005-06-13T22:32:00.000+10:00

"The South", as well as referring to the hemisphere, also refers to my ward - a medical oncology ward. There are two types of wards: medical and surgical; We don't have much to do with surgery, but we take care of everything else, from earaches to dementia! And we specialize in cancer.

Lots of people think working on a cancer ward would be terribly depressing, but it's not. You make friends with people and their families over the months or years, and most of them think your fantastic for finding ways to solve their many little challenges.

But I failed miserably on Sunday. To start with, I only had 2 hours sleep (damn insomnia!). I had 4 patients, but I spent my whole morning with a young lady who found out this past month that she has cancer everywhere. She had lots of pain, and she had lots of morphine, but the pain wouldn't ease up. She would fluctuate from being just about unconcious to rolling around on the bed saying, "Please... there must be something you can do!!?"

Do you know what it feels like to stand there helpless while someone begs you for help?

The boss and I gave her so much morphine that her breathing slowed down, and I had to stop it for a while; nothing was helping. I pestered the doctor all morning, bless him! And after 8 long hours, right at the end of my shift, we sent her to another hospital where they can treat spinal cord compression. (That's where tumors, or cancer-related broken spine bits, press on your spinal cord, causing horrible back pain and eventual permanent spinal injury).

Years ago we did "Primary Nursing", which means one particular nurse will look after particular patients whenever they are in hospital. Familiarity is good for patients when they come in regularly. But I ended up the primary nurse of a very sick woman, who was on our ward for many weeks with excruciating, uncontrollable pain. It was the worst time in my whole nursing life... She would writhe and scream and all of us nurses just wanted to cry, but I had to look after her every day. We actually paralyzed the woman on purpose in a semi-successful attempt to numb her a bit!

Sunday's patient just reminded me of that time all over again! By the end of the day I was sad and sick and miserable and exhausted. I drove home, hugged my hubby, hopped into the shower, and sat on the tiles crying my head off.

Today the boss rang to see how she's going in the new hospital, and it seems they are making some progress. She doesn't have spinal cord compression after all, which is good! I had a much better day after a good sleep, so I could go back to work smiling again.

;-}

Time off

2005-06-06T21:52:00.000+10:00

I am lucky enough to be on a 5 day break! Of course, I am still full-time, so that means 2 weekends and an RDO all put together. What that also means is that I'll pay for it with long weeks! (Two 7-day weeks are imminent) I have been using my time off very productively... reading, mostly! I have been doing constructive things, too: today I spent a few hours on the internet and did some calligraphy (a poem by an Aussie bloke called Leon Gellert!)

Saturday we caught up with Adam and Ruth and Simon and Esther. We went Ten Pin Bowling! Hopefully we'll catch up with them more often, because I don't seem to know many people outside of work!

Ruth tells me that she had 6 months off work, and I'm thinking that is a great idea. I could pretend to be a housewife (cook and clean and all that bizarre stuff I don't have much time for!). I suppose I'll work until I go off on Maternity Leave in the distant future... Nice to dream, though.

Anyway, nurses get 6 weeks a year, so in November I'm having 4 weeks off! Woo hoo!

And I am taking 3 "Professional Development Days" and days off together in July, and because it's the end of a night-shift stint, I ended up with 9 days off! Well, I have to sleep the first day through, of course, but the rest will be used to read!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hmm, best get off the internet, I think. I've been on for a few dollars now, and Nathan just poked his head in and said, "Are you still on the internet?"

We're not immune

2005-05-26T10:58:00.000+10:00

All the nurses on my ward have been a bit miserable this last week or so. Because Gail has got cancer.

Gail's a woman in her 50's, but you've never met someone with more "teenager" energy; she refuses to act her age! She wears her hair in short, bleached spikes. She laughs and jokes about everything! Even this.

I think it was on the 13th that we were all called into the boss's office. Never a good sign... but none of us expected to see Gail sitting there, on her day off, looking grimly cheerful. She greeted us with, "well, I've got breast cancer... and not a good one either." Something like that, although I can't remember it clearly; I felt a bit numb.

Damn it, but we know too much about cancer sometimes. Gail's had a sore hip, and we all knew before the bone scan that it had spread to there. Once breast cancer has spread, even a little, it's incurable. You may survive a few sick years, but you'll lose the fight eventually. We know too much about bone pain, brain tumors, liver failure. I don't want to go to her funeral!

Even so, I hadn't given up hope for her until I visited her after surgery on Tuesday. It was such a twisted, nasty tumor that the surgeon couldn't get it all. And not only has it spread to her hip, but both legs, two ribs and two parts of her spine. It's aggressive and it's everywhere...

The funny thing is -- and I've seen it a thousand times, but I wasn't prepared to experience it -- that she is coping with this better than all of us on the ward. She's joking with the doctors, eager to get back to work, trying to get us to draw up a "visiting Gail" roster... Of course she's upset. But she's at peace with it.

And the good thing is, she's gotten to thinking. She's talking casually about life-after-death, and catching up with Paul (a nurse on our ward who died suddenly 2 years ago). She's considering what she believes.

So I'm praying a lot for Gail. I just hope I can be a bit of help.

Complaints

2005-05-08T22:33:00.000+10:00

A doctor came in laughing last night, and sat at the desk. He told us he'd just been talking to the sister of one of our patients (who somehow got his number) and she is going to make a complaint about me. I didn't think that was particularly funny!

He said that she was angry because she'd visited her sister for 2 hours, then driven home, then immediately rang our ward to see how her sister was. (Huh???!). The nurse with whom she was angry (me) told her "She's just the same".

The doctor thought that was hilarious, especially since the woman had first told me she'd just gotten home after visiting her for 2 hours. What else was I supposed to say, after all?

Apparently she then asked the doctor how her sister was, and he somehow managed to restrain himself from saying "Just the same"!

Work has been lovely this weekend. Just like a weekend should be! I'd rather be on holidays, but I have missed chatting to all the friendly staff on our ward. So it's good to be back.

The End

2005-05-02T15:42:00.000+10:00

It's nearly the end of my holidays! I have to work 6 months before I get any more (sook sook).

I'm typing on Matt's computer this time, listening to "The Goons", who are funny but terribly distracting!

I've been shopping today, but most of my holidays have been spent reading. Nearly finished the fourth "Wheel of Time" book. Nathan's brother, Jason, tells me there are two books in the series yet to be written. AAAAGH! I finally got some new Blundstones. The other ones lasted me about 8 years, and the soles (on the inside) were falling apart. I threw them in the bin outside the shoe shop!

I don't want to go back to work!! I've been thinking too much about how nice it would be to work 2 days a week. I read one Courier in the last week, and recognized 4 names in the obituaries... and that's not unusual! I think oncology nursing is finally starting to get me down.

M'eh! I'm whinging because I've got nothing to report! Next time I might have exciting stories from the South: crazy people and the things they do... and maybe a bit about the patients, too!

Holidays!

2005-04-23T13:31:00.000+10:00

I'm on holidays!!!!!

I've left my poor grad to fend for herself... poor Sarah! Not only was it her first week of nursing, but she somehow managed to not get any hospital placements in her third year. How can a Uni be so stupid?? Anyway, I had four days with her, supernumeri. The first day she followed me around. The next three days I gave her the key and told her to come and ask me anything and everything (which she did). I tried not to "help" by doing her work for her; it's not as easy to do nothing as it would seem! I felt very guilty. But at least she has a bit of confidence that she can handle a full patient-load on her own. She'll be fine.

Anyway, on Friday I started my holidays: 19 days off! I have done very little!!!! I've weeded most of my tiny hexagon garden, the one with herbs and strawberries. I've read 2 of the "Wheel of Time" series by Robert Jordan (about 8 to go). I've done another level in my single-player Halo 2 mission. (I'm playing on Heroic instead of Legendary. Heroic is hard enough for me, but I think Nathan is ashamed of me - he he!) I've played on the internet, played with my new overlocker, played with my guinea-pigs. I've shopped, watched movies, cleaned the house. I'm bludging 95% of the time! It's great!

Tomorrow after church Nathan and I pick up our oldest niece and nephew to stay at our house overnight. Aparently they are very excited! We're going to make pizza, watch cartoons and look for shooting stars. Don't know what else. Tim will want to play "Crash Bandicoot" on Nathan's x-box. He's actually better at it than Abby.

Well, I have to get on with my bludging (so much of it still to do!). I tell you, much as I love work, I am aching to cut my hours back! But a lot more has to be slashed from the mortgage yet...

Work work work

2005-04-05T11:05:00.000+10:00

Yesterday work was horrible. Just busy, but I'd only managed 3 hours of sleep the night before, and I had four patients with much to do, and a student to 'babysit', for want of a better word! Where did my patience go? I used to love having students, but lately I have been finding them such a trial! I'm getting old and grumpy, I suppose. I did turn 29 the other day...

I am longing for the end of the year, when it might be possible for me to cut back my hours. I have been full-time for most of the last six years, and nursing is not an easy job. It is a tennuous "might" because it largely depends on what can be subtracted from the mortgage this year. Not much has been subtracted so far this year, as we have been saving for necessities such as the long driveway and fences. Hopefully we will be able to start taking chunks of the M this month!

At the end of the year I hope to slash my hours to 4 days a fortnight! Just imagine... weekends on and the week off! Nate would be happy for me to quit, I think, but I want to keep my registration and my friends. Two days a week! I can hardly imagine it.

Gran and Jason gave me money for my birthday, and so I'm starting on the "Wheel of Time" series, which contains 10 books so far. Perhaps they will keep me amused until June or July. Then I'll read the Harry Potter books again and Number 6. I'm looking forward to reading "The Half-Blood Prince" but at the same time it will be frustrating to finish it and know I have a 2-year wait for the conclusion!! I'm just finishing "Emma" now, and then I'll have four of this new series... I wonder if book 10 is the last one?

My birthday went quietly. The highlight of my day was going to an old favorite restaurant in Geelong called Jokers. It was busier and noisier than I remember, being a Saturday night in which Geelong was playing the Eagles on the big TV behind me! I felt a bit sorry for all the families and couples I saw, of whom almost every male was watching TV instead of talking to their wives! But the food was fantastic, and it was great to go out with Nathan. I caught up with my family last night, and they gave me some very nice presents.

Well, today I face a late shift, which is not normally so busy, and tomorrow an early, which is the last of the week. I think I'll survive...

Good Friday

2005-03-25T18:04:00.000+11:00

After a long week and a particularly stressful last day (!!) I'm having the weekend off. Friday, Saturday and Sunday, which is particularly nice (as I mostly do work on the weekend) and especially so, since this is the Easter Weekend.

I finished reading "Persuasion" in bed this morning (eating Nacho shapes and Chilly Philly), then got up, cut up an old tablecloth and did some patchwork, played "Urbz in the city" for a while, and put on some music via the x-box. So it's been a bludge!

I did put washing on, fill the dishwasher and clean the kitchen... a bit. So I don't feel guilty. Except about eating 2/3 of a whole Chilly Philly.

Nathan is cooking me tea (!!) - pasta ;/ ...

Last night we invited friends to the 'Service of the Shadows' - a church service about the death of Jesus. It was really quite well-prepared. I wondered what they thought of it (as they're not regular church-goers) but they seemed to... not mind it. Afterwards we all came back to our place and played Halo 2 and ate pizza ;)

And so I was unstressed. It occurred to me as we were waiting (1hr40min) for the pizza that I'd missed breakfast, lunch and dinner! Haven't done that for a while! I won our 'plasma sword' game, which is probably because it's a 'quick-trigger' type of game and I had a lot of pent-up negative energy!!

I'm looking forward to Sunday. We're having tea with Nate's family, and I can't wait to see Sarah. I've seen her twice... the day and the day after she was born. I can't believe Nathan hasn't suggested to go and visit her in this whole last month! He did when Sarah's older brother was a baby. Maybe girls are not that interesting to boys. Or maybe he finds babies boring and just didn't realize it until Michael!

Tonight we play the next level on our Halo Cooperative game (legendary). Should be fun.

I'd better go check on the pasta, which is cooking alone as Nate has a shower. [sigh] ;)

G'day!

2005-03-21T22:13:00.000+11:00

Welcome to my blog!

I picked my blog name (Alrischa) after the alpha star of the constellation Pisces. I like Astronomy! I don't believe in astrology at all, of course, but technically I'm a Pisces. Of course, that means nothing, but I think it's funny that astrologists fuss over which star sign one is born under... when they've got all the dates wrong! My birthday (April 2)falls 'officially' under Ares. But, according to my Starry Night software, the sun was in Pisces when I was born. So there you go. Precession happens.

Starry Night also tells me that it's "Alrescha" but that name was taken, so I went for one of the (many) alternate spellings. It means "ropes".

I live out of town in a 'house of sticks' my hubby and I built on our 5 acre block. We moved in 7 months ago. Our driveway is finally done (before the Muddy Season! Phew!) and our front fence is next. Don't ever build a house. It's hard!!!

I have 6 guinea pigs (currently) named Mocha, Pirate, Heidi, Winky, Scratchy and 'baby'. 'Baby' was born on March 14, and remains nameless. I need my oldest niece to visit... it takes her 3 seconds to think of a name.

I have no kids. Not yet. I want a boy called Joshua Nathan, as I dreamed I was pregnant with him more than 10 years ago. Nate doesn't like the name. Not yet! I like a lot of girl's names, so I'll have to pick my favorite at the time.

Before we have kids we need to pay a bit more off our mortgage. It's just easier with two full-time jobs. But my job is making me very tired lately! Today was so busy... I would have a bath, but I don't have a book to read. I just read all my Harry Potter books for the 5th time, so it seems a bit silly to start them again. Don't feel like reading anything else. Can't have a bath without a book, though; that would be boring!

Okay, the bath is running and I'm reading Persuasion.