Just Nicky

Snotville June 25, 2008

Finn and I took Leila to the doctor this morning. I thought I was being a little paranoid because I was concerned about her throat from all the coughing she’s been doing. Seems I wasn’t paranoid, just a little misguided (not the first time ). Our Princess has a middle ear infection in both ears and a chest infection. Her throat is fine.

So now we have antibiotics for 10 days, no childcare for at least a week, staying out of the wind (not easy around here), using a hairdryer to dry her hair when its washed (I think she might just have dirty hair for a while) and a follow up appointment in a week. Oh joy. Thank god its almost school holidays…

Finn and I both have colds too, so I stopped by the supermarket to pick up a few bits and pieces that might be handy and nice to have. I walked out over $100 lighter. I can’t wait for Aldi to open in the new shopping centre.

AND! On my way out of the doctor’s surgery he commented that I was pregnant!! I laughed and just said “No, just fat with poor posture.” but that does it. Exercising starts now …

soon …

once I’m over my cold …

when Leila’s better …

when the gym opens in the new shopping centre …

one day.

Copycat

From the twinkle:
1) What were you doing 10 years ago:
working in my first software testing job at Telstra, living in Northcote with Mark, going to lots of Deborah Conway gigs.

2)What are the five things at the top of your “to do” list:
a) give the kids their breakfast
b) get some washing done
c) get to Leila’s doctor’s appointment on time
d) find happiness the flylady way
e) do the kinder stuff I keep putting off

3) What are five snacks you enjoy:
a) cups of tea
b) scotch finger biscuits
c) raisin toast
d) lollies
e) chocolate

4) Name some things you would do if you were a millionaire:
buy a new, slightly larger, environmentally friendly house on acreage, buy two really swish new cars, invest some money for the kids, go back to uni fulltime, go on a big trip with Mark and the kids when they’re a bit bigger.

5) Name some places you have lived:
south oakleigh/east bentleigh, farrer (ACT), malvern, st kilda, box hill, fairfield, richmond, northcote, point cook

6) Name some bad habits you have:
spending too much time phaffing on the internet, procrastinating, getting snappy with the family when I’m tired, impulse buying

7) Name some jobs you’ve had:
receptionist, bank teller, car insurance claims officer, general insurance underwriter, telemarketer, call centre operator, software tester, test manager, technology manager, mum, kinder president

Sticking to Goldfish June 23, 2008

What do the goldfishes dream ? by mrtambourine

The ‘tank of death’ has two new occupants. I’ve named them Cling and Clang.

They are little Fantail goldfish. One is mostly orange with black spots and white/clear fins, the other is mostly white with a couple of orange patches and black spots. I’ve tried to take photos of the them, but these little guys are very quick movers and are only 2-3cm long, so it’s really difficult to get a clear shot. You’ll have to make do with this lovely shot I found on Flickr.

I was looking for Orandas, but I wanted two fish because one on it’s own seems kind of sad and the shop we went to didn’t have any really little ones. Instead they had a tank full of baby Fantails. I chose my two because they have nice fat little bodies and their tails are already looking lovely.

Thus far they seem to be pretty happy in their new home. I’ve moved the tank into the front loungeroom so I don’t see them all that much. I make a point of visiting them two or three times a day to make sure they’re okay. They don’t seem to mind at all and are starting to come to the glass to look back at me.

D is for… June 17, 2008

Dyson_DC14_Full_Kit_Upright_Vacuum871Detail by techville

a new vacuum cleaner.

Sleep deprivation notwithstanding, I went and bought a vac on sale at Hardly Normal this morning. I probably shouldn’t have, but I did. Its the same model as the one in the picture, but ours is grey with a little yellow on it, which pleases Finn.

From the small patch I’ve tried it on so far, it works better than its predecessor, which pleases me. Immensely. I won’t have time today to do more with it, but I’m looking forward to doing the whole house. I’m looking forward to vacuuming. That’s gotta be worth a new vacuum cleaner.

Tired June 16, 2008

I am tired.

Leila has woken at 3am for 4 or 5 nights in a row (I can’t remember) and it’s starting to wear. A couple of times her nappy had overflowed and she needed new pjs, sleeping bag and sheet. Last night I think she was having trouble breathing through her stuffed up nose (she has ANOTHER cold) and one night she seemed to have been wrestling with a teddy bear and becoming quite cross about it.

It’s not just me who is affected. Mark is woken by her carrying on as well and on one of the nappy overflow nights both he and Finn got up to help out because Leila was yelling so much about having her clothes changed when she really just wanted to play. Things start to unravel when we are all tired.

Already this morning I’ve asked Finn to leave me alone about half a dozen times. He wants to talk at me and I want half an hour to eat my breakfast and read some blogs before I get into the day. Each time I remind myself that he’s not doing anything wrong and that I am tired, but I can feel my patience thinning.

The other thing that happens when I’m tired is that I view things much more critically than I normally would and tend to be overwhelmed by negatives. The house looks filthy to my jaundiced eye this morning and I’m sorely tempted to buy a new vacuum cleaner because that will be the magic bullet that will fix everything (Hardly Normals has Doysons on sale at the moment which is particularly tempting). I know that is pure fantasy, of course, which doesn’t help at all.

A good night’s sleep will make a huge difference to all of this, but I have no guarantee of that at the moment. I really hope that Leila will sleep through tonight, but whether she does or not is in the lap of the gods. While they make their minds up I’m going to rely on tea and vitamin pills to keep me going and hope I don’t yell at Finn too much.

The family that plays together June 13, 2008

The family that plays together by Nicky P

No, Leila’s controller is not plugged in. She just thinks it is.

Do not sell this woman a Siamese Fighting Fish June 11, 2008

They’ll be putting up a sign at our local Aquarium shop soon with my picture on it saying “Do not sell this woman a Siamese Fighting Fish”.

Andrew died last night.

I am at a complete fucking loss for what went wrong this time.

I think I’ll stick to goldfish.

Third Time Lucky June 10, 2008

Andrew by Nicky P

This is Andrew, my new Betta. The name tag on his little jar at the shop said ‘Andrew Gaze’. I didn’t like the name, but it’s stuck in my head now and I can’t think of anything else so Andrew he is.

I’m following some advice from a person on the dog forum who has a Betta in the same type of tank. She’s taken the lid off and only runs the filter every couple of days to clean things up a bit. Her fish has lived happily in that arrangement for quite a while, so I’ve got my fingers crossed for Andrew.

So far Andrew seems quite happy, although he refused to swish around the tank and show off his fins for the camera.

The face of evil June 8, 2008

Dog cruelty charges that shocked Bendigo

‘Evil’ is one of those words that gets over-used and inappropriately used, but it feels entirely correct to me in this case.

I first heard about this via the dog forum that I read. At the time forum members who lived in the Bendigo area suggested that it was well known who the culprit was but a lack of hard evidence prevented him from being charged. It seems that evidence has since been found. I’m dying to check the forum to see what people are saying, but it’s down for maintenance so I’ll have to wait.

A picture of one of the dead wolfhounds was printed on the front page of the Bendigo paper and someone put it on the forum as well. It was graphic and made me feel ill. I know the paper was criticised for publishing it, but it helped bring home the horror of what this man did and I think it may have made the general public take these crimes seriously.

What he did to that dog was a cold calculated act aimed to cause a slow, lingering death - the kind of thing one would have to think about carefully to do successfully. In other words, I don’t think this guy’s just a nutter, he’s a particularly heinous nutter and I sincerely hope he spends a long, painful time in jail.

RIP Lola June 4, 2008

The Lone Chook by Nicky P

Our chooky girl left us during the night. I knew it was a distinct possibility, but I really wasn’t prepared to find her this morning.

When I thought about her life recently I realised that she’d probably been ill for quite a while and we’d just assumed she was going through a flat patch or a long moult. I feel bad that I didn’t pick up on it earlier.

Mark came home from work because he didn’t have any classes this morning. He buried Lola and has planted my little fig tree on top of her. We’ve explained to Finn that she will become part of the soil and help feed the tree and make it healthy. I’m not sure he completely understood what we were getting at so I imagine there’ll be a lot more questions over the next few days and weeks.

We’ll miss Lola.