Just Nicky

Christmas Part One December 25, 2007

We are family by Nicky P

Today we had Christmas lunch with Mark’s family and it was nice. I know the word ‘nice’ sounds lame, but it really was.

The nicest thing about it for me were the kids. Now that the boys are four they’re at just the right age for Christmas. There’s excitement about presents, playing together well (and not so well), eating stuff you wouldn’t normally eat and more presents. It’s kid heaven.

With the 3 little girls following hot on the boys’ heels we have many more years of ever-increasing fun to look forward to. I can’t wait…

Buddhist Thought for the Day

Let your love flow outward through the universe, To its height, its depth, its broad extent, A limitless love, without hatred or enmity. Then as you stand or walk, Sit or lie down, As long as you are awake, Strive for this with a one-pointed mind; Your life will bring heaven to earth. - Sutta Nipata …

Buddhist Thought for the Day December 18, 2007

The first step of the Eightfold Path is Right Views, which means Knowledge of the Four Noble Truths….

The Four Noble Truths

1. The Noble Truth of Dukkha - stress, unsatisfactoriness, suffering;
2. The Noble Truth of the causal arising of Dukkha, which is grasping, clinging and wanting;
3. The Noble Truth of Nirvana, The ending of Dukkha. Awakening, Enlightenment. “Mind like fire unbound”;
4. The Noble Truth of the Path leading to Nirvana or Awakening.

I like this woman’s thinking

There is no pleasure in having nothing to do; the fun is in having lots to do and not doing it - Mary Little

I have no idea who Mary Little is, but I like the way her mind works.

Buddhist Thought for the Day December 13, 2007

While the Tathagata, in his teaching, constantly makes use of conceptions and ideas about them, disciples should keep in mind the unreality of all such conceptions and ideas. They should recall that the Tathagata, in making use of them in explaining the Dharma always uses them in the semblance of a raft that is of use only to cross a river. As the raft is of no further use after the river is crossed, it should be discarded. So these arbitrary conceptions of things and about things should be wholly given up as one attains enlightenment. -Buddha…

Mission Accomplished

Christmas Shopping Season 2007 by alleghenykiski

I headed out today and joined the Christmas shopping fray (and, no, this isn’t going to be a rhyming post) and bought ALL of Finn and Leila’s Christmas presents from us and Santa. I was tempted to do it in a series of little trips but decided that band aid approach was bit. Rip it all off in one go. So I am tired and a bit footsore. I have a headache and my tinnitus is screaming. But it is done. (more…)

Cockroach

Bugs @ Melbourne Museum by indovic

I got a wee bit of a start to see a cockroach scuttling under the dryer as I went to put the cats in the laundry last night. I’m aware that Melbourne has experienced something of a cockroach plague in the last couple of years, but this was the first one I’ve seen in our house.

Even though I know that the Melbourne cockroaches are natives and not the nasty, dirty little buggers found elsewhere, the sight made me feel a bit icky. Mark obliged by aiming a can of flyspray under the dryer to dispatch the critter, but I still felt uncomfortable and I think that led to me having difficulty getting to sleep. I couldn’t help making plans to pull the dryer and washing machine out and scrub the laundry down before coating the place in insecticide.

Sitting up for a while cheating at Scrabble against strangers was so calming that I ended up sleeping until about 10.30 this morning, leaving Mark to wrangle the munchkins off to childcare.

While I was up I did some reading up on cockroaches and it seems the reason we haven’t seen them sooner is our chook. She is one of their main predators. I must have a word to her about pulling up her figurative socks - where there’s one cocky there may be more.

The downside of being social December 10, 2007

The downside for me of being in any setting where there are lots of people talking and music playing is that I end up essentially deaf.

My tinnitus tends to increase in volume to match the ambient sound. To hear people talking to me I need to watch their faces intently and concentrate on what they’re saying. This means that I can only really follow a conversation with one other person because it’s difficult to follow multiple threads. I generally rely Mark to fill in the blanks.

After a while the tinnitus becomes louder than the ambient sound and is almost all I can hear. At this point I think of myself as functionally deaf. I can’t really hear what anyone is saying and depend on lip reading (which I’m not very good at) and the loudness of people’s voices to get me by. By this stage I’m also starting to get really tired - which is probably why the tinnitus gets louder. And this is when I need to go home.

All of the above is not to say that my hearing ruined my enjoyment of last night. Not at all. But, as always, I would have liked to be able to talk to people more and I would have liked to be able to stay longer. It is what it is, though, and I just have to live with it.

The Babysitter

27 November, 2007 by jojof

Our outing last night would not have been possible without the excellent babysitting services of Joanna.

She did a great job of wrangling, feeding and putting the little critters to bed and even had the dogs and cats under control too.

Thank you.

Mazeltov!

If you want to go to a good wedding, go to a Jewish wedding. Last night was lovely. Quite simply the best wedding I’ve ever been to.

The bride and groom were gorgeously, radiantly happy. They positively glowed.

I’m very, very happy and honoured to have been a part of that moment in their lives.