Just Nicky

Cling & Clang July 25, 2008

Cling & Clang 1 by Nicky P

I’ve finally managed to get some half decent photos of Cling and Clang. They’re still not great but you can at least see two fish, sort of in focus. I haven’t decided which is Cling and which is Clang but it really doesn’t matter since they’re not going to answer to their names.

I’ve moved their tank back to the kitchen bench after realising one day that I’d forgotten to turn their light on and that their plant was dying, possibly due to lack of light. The tank now has 2 new plants in it and is looking nice and green. There’s no algae in there yet and when it does start to form I might move Lloyd in to look after it.

It’s impossible to tell from the photo how big Cling and Clang are so you’ll just have to believe me when I tell you that their bodies would be no more than 2-3 centimetres long and they have grown since I got them.

BillyBob and Lloyd

BillyBob and Lloyd by Nicky P

Our little gang of goldfish have been doing really well and everyone is healthy and growing. The tank looks really nice and it’s lovely to have happy fish after our early dramas.

One of the side effects of a happy, healthy tank is algae. There’s nothing really wrong with it, except that it’s a little hard to see our lovely fish through algae coated glass. So I bought a couple of snails to eat it.

One died but the other survived and has been busily doing his thing around the tank for a while now. I’ve called him Lloyd because it seemed to suit him. I don’t doubt that Lloyd has been doing his level best to eat as much algae as possible (he’s grown which suggests that he’s eating well) but he just hasn’t been keeping up with it.

Yesterday Finn and I headed off after swimming to pick up a couple more snails to help Lloyd out. The first shop we went to didn’t have any. The second one had plenty, but the staff seemed averse to actually helping us so we left empty handed. Finally we went to the aquarium shop. They didn’t have any snails but the guy there suggested that a sucking catfish will eat more algae than a snail so BillyBob came home with us.

He’s settled into the tank very nicely. The goldfish were very curious about him at first and wondered whether he might be edible, but they’re used to him now and leave him completely alone.

Socks for me July 23, 2008

Socks for me by Nicky P

These are my latest socks. A pair I’ve been meaning to knit for myself for ages. I used 2 skeins of Live2Knit’s sock yarn, which I’d had for a couple of years and was dying to knit up.

I originally intended to knit them from the toe up but just couldn’t get any of the cast on methods to work for me. I’ve done it before so I don’t know why I just couldn’t get my head around it this time. In the end I knitted from the cuff down and made them shorter than I normally would so that I could be certain of having enough yarn. I just realised while photographing them that I’ve made one heel flap and little shorter than the other. I have no idea how I managed that but it has no effect on wearing them so I’m going to ignore it.

The pattern is here. My 2 pairs of jaywalkers are still my favourite handknit socks (I recently had to darn the heels of one of them so I could keep wearing them), but I quite like these new ones too.

Bits and Pieces July 7, 2008

I had a blog post in my head but it’s gone. I still have the urge to blog, though, and that should not be ignored, so here’s a rundown of the bits and pieces floating around in my head.

The cyst on my back: The actual removal was a small job and I’m not sure I really needed to be in a hospital for it, but I was. There was four and a half hours of waiting when I went from top of the list to bottom because I refused a general anesthetic. I managed to read all of Judith Lucy’s book in that time. I had a local anesthetic andlLess than hour after being wheeled off to the operating room I was back in my clothes, scoffing sandwiches and tea and waiting for my family to come and get me. I had a headache for the rest of the day due to going without food or tea for half a day and sitting in a hospital bed reading and watching telly with my head at an odd angle. Hospital beds are about the most uncomfortable things in the world.

I’ve been banned from reaching, pulling, lifting, etc. so I’ve been doing very little around the house. In the last couple of days I’ve started picking up the baby again because I miss holding her. There’s been very little pain from the incision, just a lot of itching from the adhesive dressing and the occasional sharp stab.

Other people’s houses: Thus far I’ve been into 3 of the other kinder committee members’ houses. One of them is exactly the same design as our house, just the other way around which was kind of disorienting. The one thing these houses had in common is that they were all much cleaner and tidier than mine. I’m working on not obsessing about this too much and telling myself that they all seemed a bit impersonal by comparison with our place.

School holidays: The holidays have been a welcome break from routine for all of us. Second term was a long one and became a grind. Mark has been working quite hard looking after us all during my ‘incapacity’, but I aiming to pick up more of the slack this week. We’ve slept in a bit most mornings and I’ve loved not having to fall out of bed and begin the battle to get two children fed, dressed and out of the house to kinder or childcare. By the end of the week, though, I’ll be happy to jump back into the routine for third term.

Okay, I think my head is empty now.

Time Outs July 4, 2008

Found via Girl Detective:

This excellent blog entry details a parent’s battles with his recalcitrant three year old and how the war was won. He links to this article in Slate which is also excellent.

I now have a bit to think about when it comes to discipline.

Socks for Finn and his dad July 1, 2008

Socks for Finn and his dad by Nicky P

I’ve done some sock knitting for the first time in ages. 2 balls of Moda Vera Socks yarn from Spotlight yielded a pair for Mark, a pair for Finn and almost a pair for Leila. I’m tempted to get some more to knit a pair for my dad. I owe him a few since I once promised him a pair of hand knitted socks for every birthday, fathers day and christmas until he dies and I haven’t kept up with the bargain in the last couple of years.

I’ve got some sock yarn from Live 2 Knit that I’ve been waiting a couple of years to use. I just have to master casting on for toe up socks since I only have 2 small balls of the stuff. First, though, I need to finish Helena from the latest Knitty.

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.