Category Archives: Family

Jingle Bells, Santa Smells

Posted on December 19, 2005 | Comments Off on Jingle Bells, Santa Smells

I have nothing against Christmas Carols, really, I don’t. Though I am otherwise unwaveringly secular, and refrain even from singing hymns on the rare occasions I am present in a church, I quite like Christmas Carols. They put a bit of pep in my step and make shopping centres at Christmas time (almost) bearable. But I do have a limit. And my limit, it has been breached.

Given that I spend an unfortunate amount of time in public restrooms, what with pregnancy and the diminutive bladder of a 3-year-old to contend with, I think I am qualified to make the statement:

CHRISTMAS CAROLS PIPED INTO PUBLIC TOILETS ARE OVER-STEPPING THE LINE PEOPLE!!!

Apart from that little peeve o’mine, festive goings-on have been low-key but enjoyable this year. We have A REAL TREE. Yes, a real, living tree died for our amusement this year 😛 Though I feel slightly guilty in a tree-hugger kind of way, I have to confess, I love the smell of pine in the house. We’ve gone back to breakable ornaments this year, as Finn is not particularly grabby, and understands ‘gentle’. We figure it will be back to the more durable set next year, with a 6 month old around. The unbreakables are red and gold, not my preferred colour-scheme. This year we added some purple into our blue and silver mix, and the tree looks great. There are some photos hiding out on my camera, I’ll get to posting them some time. The gift wrapping is all in purple and silver, and looks faaaabulous! My hand stitched ornaments have not yet emerged, but I had planned to prop them against cards on the mantelpiece – someday I’ll have enough to do a whole tree, but not yet.

We waited an hour in the middle of the night (almost) to see the Myer Christmas windows, because that, apparently, is what you do when you have a child. The display was, well… okay, I suppose. Some newfangled Christmas story I’ve never heard of. Finn was somewhat underwhelmed – I think the anticipation was more enjoyable than the actual event. (Like Christmas as a whole, I’ve always found!) He was much more excited the night we drove around seeking Christmas lights – the Boulevard in Ivanhoe always has wonderfully lit houses, but we found others in pockets about town. I enjoyed that a whole lot more too.

In other news, there isn’t any, really. Still tired, tired, tired, tired, tired. Not a whole lot of stitching going on, though I have made some progress on Chatelaine’s Xmas freebie mandala garden, which was begun shortly after last Christmas. Again, I will post a picture… sometime. Along with a pic of my framed WFS, which now awaits some appropriate wall-colour upon which to hang. Moving into 2nd trimester, hoping for a serious energy injection any day now…

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Posted in Family, General Ramblings, Pregnancy

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An Awww Moment

Posted on December 13, 2005 | 2 comments

You know, I think Christmas is cancelled. Because quite frankly, how could anything top today? Finn and I were exploring a new (to me) fabric shop with equal amounts of glee – he running madly beetween the bolts of fabric and probably irritating every other shopper, and I discovering wonderful embellished fabrics and trims in this little shop I had ignored for so long. When he came up to me, and announced…

“Mum, you’re gorgeous!”

So as you see, I need no more from my life, Christmas cannot possibly live up to that!

Eh. Pity he’ll grow up to be a teenager and will forever more think his Mum is a complete dag :giggle:

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Posted in Family, General Ramblings, The Kids

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Alien Child

Posted on December 1, 2005 | 4 comments

I was planning to show you our first pic of BabeMkII. But decided I shouldn’t, because frankly, I wouldn’t want to scare you. You might think I was planning to give birth to Alien Child!

Seriously. We got a tragic picture of Finn at the first scan, too. Why are the ultrasound techs (or in this case, the doctor) so uninterested in getting us a good picture? Sigh.

But. We saw fingers (5, on at least the hand we saw. Good sign, right?!), and a heartbeat, and what little else you can see at 11 weeks. It was all rather cute. Apart from the Alien-Child-ness of it all :giggle:

BBJam
So, instead of showing you a work in progress, let me present a HD instead. Ta Da! Blackberry Jam is done, done, done. It was a lot of fun… mostly. Perhaps with the exception of all that backstitching. Which made me stall for a while, but yesterday I finally decided to buckle down and finish. So click through for the whole kaboodle, and enjoy!

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Posted in Counted Stitchwork, Family, Finished, Pregnancy

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Morsels

Posted on November 17, 2005 | Comments Off on Morsels

Morsel 1
So apparently by the time I posted last night, the ‘incompetents’ had actually won the match on a penalty shoot out and “we’re” going to the World Cup. Yay us. Aussie Aussie Aussie, Oi Oi Oi. There. No one can accuse me of being un-Australian now 😉 The most amusing thing for me is that OtherHalf fell asleep and missed the excitement. Ha!

Morsel 2
We have a washing machine! The guy who installed it raved on about the brand as he ran me through the workings of this new model. I rolled my eyes. I must say though, I am honestly happy with the larger size, despite what we’ve been through to get it. It seems the company will only honour the original warranty, which expires in August ’06. That’s what I expected, but it would have been nice to have a few months added to the warranty in compensation, if not an entirely new warranty for the new machine. But hey.

Morsel 3
Last week’s SBQ. I can’t really flesh it out enough to be a post of it’s own, so:

When comparing large projects versus small projects, which do you get more excited about finishing?

Without a question, it’s large projects for me. I like finishing small projects, for sure, and they certainly make the numbers add up faster. But for me, nearing the end of a large project (and I’ve only finished two) brings a tangible excitement, and once I’ve actually finished, I find I can’t tear my eyes away from it for at least a week!

Morsel 4
Want to know what made my day today? I retrieved a man’s walking cane for him as I waited in a checkout line… and he responded with “Thank you, my lady”. My lady! That is 500% better than ma’am. Which I hear all too often… and it’s been far too long since I heard a ‘Miss’. I say we return to ‘milady’, and to hand kissing and jousting for favours, too! What fun :giggle:

Morsel 5
What didn’t make my day today was a $50 parking fine. OK, my own fault, I deserve it. I thought I looked at the parking sign, but I somehow saw only the time restriction, and not the fact it was paid parking. D’uh! I was at a perfectly wonderful toyshop while unwittingly parking illegally, but somehow my toy shopping expedition feels a little tarnished now 🙁

Morsel 6
Lastly and leastly, though I answered her already, the answer to Cathy’s question of a few posts ago is that I am due June 20th. Just reached the 9 week mark this week. I would put a countdown over on the side bar there, but I don’t want to be tempting fate just yet, no no no.

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Posted in Counted Stitchwork, Family, General Ramblings, Memes, Pregnancy

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The Occasional Blogger

Posted on November 16, 2005 | Comments Off on The Occasional Blogger

Have been in a bit of a funk lately. I seem to have developed a case of the baby-blues – only about 7 or 8 months too early. Having been sick (non-pregnancy related, I’m lucky enough not to get morning sickness), not to mention all of the stresses of last month, has caused me to slip into my own private doldrums. But the good news is, I am clawing my way back out, I have a bit more energy this week, and in the meanwhile, I’m stitching, which is a capital-G Good Thing.

I also received a most lovely RAK from Tami Lynne on The Wagon yesterday – Legends of the Dragons, which just cheered up my day no end. And today I bought myself and the babe-to-be this stunning book (this is the US cover art – as is so often the case, it has a much nicer cover over here :giggle: ). This book is just lovely. Everyone should go and buy a copy – kids or no kids – buy it for yourself as a meditation aid or something. The artwork is gorgeous, and I am in love with the beautiful simplicity of the book. Yes, it is ‘just’ a kids’ ABC book, but trust me on this!

In further good news, after much grinding of teeth and waiting on hold, I got through to someone with half a clue on the washing machine issue today, and it would appear that we are getting a new machine at 8am tomorrow! Stay tuned… hopefully a happy dance and much laundry will happen in the very near future.

Oh… and look out for a retrospective post sometime in the next few days – dated November 11, which was our 5th wedding anniversary (no, we won’t ever forget 😉 ). I thought I’d pull out a couple of photographs and a recap of ‘the day’ for you.

But now… must go to bed. OtherHalf (usually completely uninterested in Sport apart from that involving cars), is swearing at the incompetence of the Australian Soccer Team. Fer crying out loud – am I the only person in Australia who hasn’t got on this bandwagon?!

PS. I just noticed my blog is not adjusted for Daylight Savings time. How interesting! Will do something about that when I get a chance…

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Posted in Family, Pregnancy

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Stale BBQ Shapes

Posted on November 9, 2005 | 11 comments

We live in a suburb with no laundromat.

I find it incredibly odd that we have no laundromat in our suburb. Or in the next suburb. Or the next! I had to drive 3 suburbs over just to do my washing tonight.

From that, you may also deduce that the problems with our washing machine are ongoing… after two months :grr: I’ve been sparing you the endless spleen-venting over that, and you should be thankful. Today, however, we finally received news that the company will now replace the machine – with a newer and larger model, what’s more. Hoo-bloody-ray, at last. I expect it will take them another week or ten to deliver it though.

Anyway, back to the laundromat. With the help of a phone call from OtherHalf, who unlike me had the presence of mind to look it up in the yellow pages, I found our ‘nearest’ laundromat, and threw a week’s worth of washing in the biggest machine they had. Super-duper-hooper machine, that one. I want one!

Then I made a hasty retreat as there were two weird guys in there that I did not wish to be near. There are always creepy guys in laundromats. Why is that? Anyway, I sat in my car and stitched a little on my Christmas exchange (it’s nearly done, hooray!) When daylight grew scarce, I sat in my car and ate stale BBQ shapes.

I ate BBQ shapes because I’m pregnant and I crave junk food. The fact that they were stale had nothing to do with laundromats or pregnancy, but it did serve to make me want never ever to eat another BBQ shape :ill:

…

…

And that, my friends, is the most roundabout way for anyone to anounce a pregnancy to the world. Don’t you think?!

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Posted in Family, Pregnancy

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House Happiness

Posted on October 19, 2005 | 3 comments

🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

That’s all for now… moving makes Mel tiiiiiiiiired!

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Posted in Family

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I’m All Grown Up

Posted on October 11, 2005 | 7 comments

Happy Birthday Me 🙂

Finn decided I was in fact turning 88 :giggle: So sweet.

I feel that at 30, I should probably feel like an adult. Normally, no, but this week, with pressures from all directions, I think I do. Reached my goal of no grey hairs though!

Because of said pressures, there will be no big celebrations. I’m not a big one for parties even on a good year, but this year it’s just impossible to stop and breathe, let alone party. I’ll be spending this evening writing sql and php, and if I get a chance, a Usability report. Joy :yuk:

However – once the next few weeks are a mere memory, I plan to sit down with my brand new Will & Grace DVDs (Seasons 1 & 2)… and STITCH! That will be sweeeet 😆

…

PS. I decided I was not allowed to be miserable and stressed on my birthday (well, not all day anyway), so Finn and I trundled up the street for coffee and cake. Orange flourless cake, to be precise. Ooooh. My body, having become accustomed to high protein, low fat over the last 3 months, has a little bit to say about that kind of abuse. But heck, it was worth it! Now… I hope Mum doesn’t decide to bring cake over later :giggle:

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Posted in Family, General Ramblings, Postgrad Study

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I Am Me

Posted on October 2, 2005 | 1 comment

With all the hoops we’ve been jumping through with banks lately, in order to get our home loan approved, our day-to-day banking switched over, and what have you, I’ve become rather accustomed to undergoing the 100-point identity check. Upon meeting someone new, rather than say “Hi, I’m Melanie”, I’m just as likely now to just to whip out the driver’s licence, Medicare card and birth certificate:giggle:. It’s got me musing about how we prove we are who we are. Particularly since I’ve run into a few little… um… “issues”. For the purposes of illustration here, let’s say my middle name is “Krispy”, my married last name is “Kornflakes”, and my maiden last name is “Krunchy”.

(Ah, but how do you know those aren’t really my names?!)

Anyway.

Issue #1: Bank accepts birth certificate as part of 100-point check. Bureaucrat in State Revenue Office does not accept birth certificate, as birth certificate is in name “Melanie Krispy Krunchy”, not “Melanie Krispy Kornflakes”. Well duh, I wasn’t born married. Offer Marriage certificate as evidence these two are one and same. Instead, must attend police station to have “Change of Name Statement” witnessed, even though I am not changing my name, have actually been known as “Melanie Krispy Kornflakes” since y2K. Learn lesson, and do not use birth certificate again in 100-point check.Issue #2: Bank will not accept Certificate of currency of insurance because said certificate bears only “Melanie Kornflakes”, omitting vital “Krispy”. Return to insurance company to request addition of “Krispy” to certificate and resend to bank. Curse OtherHalf, whose lack of middle name I have previously always poked fun at!

Issue #3: Post Office responsible for forwarding of mail requests maiden and married names, ‘just in case’. No space for maiden name on form. Insert “Krunchy” in parentheses after “Kornflakes”. Confirmation arrives in mail, citing “Melanie Kornflakes Krunchy” as a member of household (ok, totally my fault, and let’s not go into missing “Krispy” on this one). Phone Post Office concerned that confusion will arise, and no mail for Melanie-Anyone will be forwarded to new address. Informed that should have filled form in with both “Melanie Krunchy” and “Melanie Kornflakes” persons. Oh fer crying out loud. I am now two people?!

Don’t you think that just sometimes, it would be easier to undergo fingerprick-DNA-analysis a la Gattaca, to prove your identity? At the very least, it would probably be easier to be known by a number our entire lives, rather than having to hoop jump because of middle and married names. Oh, OK, or not change our name when we marry. But that’s a whole other issue-filled post and I just don’t want to go there! I like my married name 😉

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Posted in Family, General Ramblings

Dread October

Posted on October 1, 2005 | 1 comment

It’s October. I’ve been trying not to think about this month. Things will be scary this month. Not just on Halloween. And not only because of the big three-oh (and no, I’m not really worried about turning 30, I am actually a little peeved about not having the time to celebrate). What comes after is far more worrisome:

  • Big scary birthday on the 11th (dinner with friends on the 8th is the closest I’ll come to celebrating until November)
  • Big scary uni deadline on the 13th (Usability Eng)
  • Big scary uni deadline on the 15th (Web Database Apps – and group work, what’s more:ill:)
  • Big scary house settlement on the 17th(… please, please, please let all go well)
  • Moving day on the 19th (less scary, providing 17th goes smoothly)
  • Big scary uni exam on the 27th (Usability Eng)
  • Big scary uni exam on the 29th (Web Database Apps)

Bet you can’t guess what I’ve got planned for the 30th of October! (Here’s a hint: a visit to Lush shall be in order) 😆

In other news… There have been the most niggly little delays on all the house paperwork, which are driving me to distraction. Take now. Now, the loan documents are in, or on their way back from, Brisbane. Brisbane! As in: the opposite end of Australia to us. Now, this could partly be explained by the fact that our home lender of choice is in Perth… a different opposite end of Australia (bet you didn’t know we had so many ends down here!) In Perth, they might be excused for not knowing that there is a similar sounding suburb in Brisbane to the one we live in here in Melbourne. They might be excused for stuffing it up once. But not twice. No.

Oddly enough, the first time the documents actually arrived here. Incorrect suburb name, correct postcode. Eagle eye that I am (I wish now I weren’t), I spotted the error. I thought it was excrutiatingly minor (being the address we are about to vacate, not the one we’re purchasing), but that I should check with them anyway, as we are talking legal signyourlifeaway contracts here. I phoned the bank, the error was ostensibly corrected, and yes, new documents must be printed and sent out. Waiting. Waiting. Waiting.

After what seemed like too long, I phoned our mortgage broker to ask him to chase down the documents. It was he who shortly thereafter informed me the documents were/are in Brisbane. The error was not corrected. In fact the postcode was “corrected” to reflect erroneous Brisbane suburb. Crap.

So now, 16 days out from settlement, the documents should once again be winging their way to us. Hopefully the corrected documents this time. Or else I will scream 🙁

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Posted in Family