June 30, 2009
timberrrrrr
a week or so ago i noticed a big branch had come off and was resting on another branch of a gum tree i walk under in our street. it was also only a few metres above power lines. so after forgetting to do anything about it numerous times, and after a conversation with my mother-in-law about who to call, i rang the SES today.
the lady i spoke to, paula, was very polite and took all the details. she said it was put into their system for someone local to come and look at. she also recommended i call energy australia to let them know about it too, as it is over powerlines and if it did fall, it would be their and council's issue, rather than SES.
so i rang energy australia (using their overseas/VOIP number so it didn't cost me anything extra, stupid 13-numbers). the man i spoke to, sean, was also very polite and friendly. he also took all the details and said he had put it in the system as an urgent job.
i was suitably impressed with both experiences of customer service.
a short time later, a lady from the Hornsby SES branch rang me for more details. i said i had spoken to energy australia and she said since they were treating it as an urgent job, that she'd leave it to them. fair enough.
now there are orange flashing lights, a crane and spotlights in our street.
i'm glad there is now less of a possibility of a big-ass gum tree branch falling on my head one day as i walk to the post office.
job well done jenny.
June 29, 2009
regular unleaded please
all the new petrol options are confusing me.
today i accidentally put premium unleaded in duckie (thankfully only $8.02 worth).
i just want normal unleaded. not something with ethanol (which a few years ago there was uproar at petrol stations putting ethanol in petrol, and now it's the go?!), or octane, or some numbered unleaded. what is the usual one?
thankfully the shell in hornsby still has the old pumps. my old favourite in thornleigh is all new fangled. i drove straight through a few weeks ago because i didn't know which to get! how embarrassing.
so please... enlighten me! because this doesn't seem to help me either.
the next day
sunday wasn't all that much better. he only fed three times (instead of his normal six). it seems he is also teething, so that doesn't help matters.
he's also not been sleeping well at night. up a few times and refusing to feed. then fussing for ages. so we're all a bit sleepy.
today he has fed twice so far, but it has taken a bit of convincing.
poor little guy. it's so hard when you have to guess what the problem is.
meanwhile, howie isn't any better. more vomiting and diarrhea this morning. so he's off to the doctor this afternoon. hoping there will be some sort of answers, rather than "keep eating plain foods" "it will pass".
thankfully i'm feeling better. at least that's one of us.
June 27, 2009
hard slog
today has been a bit hard.
it started at 12:30am when oscar woke up. he wasn't due for a feed and wasn't crying, so i left him be. problem was he wasn't going back to sleep. eventually, an hour and a half later, he did start crying, so i got up and fed him. he had a good feed.
he then woke up at 6:45am. i left him be til 7am. but when i went to feed him, he wasn't interested and cried. i offered a few times, but no deal. eventually i put him to bed at about 8:30am i guess. he slept for 1.5 hours.
meanwhile howie was still sick - sitting on the toilet rather than leaning over it. first time he hasn't vomited in four or five days. but he felt awful. that is pretty sucky. at some stage i also suddenly became nauseous. i had a bit of a cry because i do very much didn't want to be sick.
oscar awoke again ll happy and smiley, but again not interested in eating. he was a bit upset at times, but playful at others. he may have gone back to sleep again - i can't remember. eventually he had a 15 minute feed at 12:30pm after been coaxed with being syringe fed milk first, but wasn't interested in having the other side. but at least he had something. it was his first feed in over 10 hours. back to bed he went soon after.
next woke, again didn't want to feed. soon enough back to bed.
next woke and we eventually got him to feed after some playtime, and the syringe feeding again. he had almost 30 minutes all up. thank goodness.
back to bed for another hour or so. i thought he might go longer but no.
woke at 7pm, and wasn't interested in eating. took a bit of convincing, and somehow it worked and he had about 20 minutes all up. then it was into bed where hopefully we won't hear from him for a good number of hours.
i'm exhausted, not just because of worrying about him and howie, but i've also felt queasy myself today and didn't sleep well last night (obviously). so i am hoping for a good night.
it's just crazy how different babies react to their immunisations. and there is very little information out there about the way oscar is reacting - with refusing to feed.
hopefully tomorrow is a better day. and he is all fixed by Monday. i don't really feel like making another visit to the doctor and sitting in that waiting room.
June 26, 2009
June 24, 2009
June 23, 2009
mr and mrs!
a big congratulations to jo and victor who are now man and wife - twice over! jo, you are stunning!
(poached from steve's facebook album)
so very exciting!
wish we could have been there! but hoorah for the internet and people who upload photos quickly.
June 21, 2009
June 20, 2009
arena tour
us and the noobs went to see ross noble last night at acer arena. it was a birthday present for debbie. what an awesome present. for her. and us. i was pretty excited because ross is so great.
so the noobs picked us up after the small one was put to bed and the parentals set up with the projector. once at acer we took our seats on the floor. the background music was cool. sounded a bit hayseed dixie-ish. perhaps it was. soon enough the big screens lit up with people from the audience. that was pretty funny at times. much better warm up than some lame second-class comedian.
joshy and sam visited us briefly, as before we knew it, out popped ross right next to our seats, and up on to stage. the next few hours were full of laughter, confusion, chaos, fun and silliness. lots of silliness. he's a pretty clever guy in his style of comedy, weaving everything together.
and as an aside, his daughter's name really is elf (short for elfie).
after the show finished, and question time as well, we headed out the doors back to the car park. it took a while to get out - as always. and by the time we got home it was after 11:30pm. oh so late! my normal bed time at the moment is between 8:30-9:30pm. oscar woke at 3:20am and then 6:45am (which i accidentally fell back asleep and didn't get up to him for half an hour. oops). so pretty tired today. i don't think i'll be going out at night again for a while yet.
June 19, 2009
toothie pegs
today's dental appointment cost $1470. ouch. two fillings, and prep for an onlay. i go back next week to have the onlay put in. and i was told i'd need another onlay eventually on one of the teeth she filled. that's not news you want to hear.
so presently one side of my mouth is very numb. and the temporary onlay is like a piece of chewing gum. i'm going to have to be very careful with what i eat and how i eat it over the next week.
June 17, 2009
oscar's first meal
this morning oscar had his first experience of "solid" food. there wasn't all that much solid about it - two teaspoons of rice cereal and 20ml of milk. it was pretty runny.
he got a brand new bib, which he perhaps thought was the meal
this looks promising (and he insisted on helping)
hmmm not so sure now
not looking too impressed
but happy enough
and he did eat most of it (besides what ended up on his face, hands, high chair and bib - plus a couple of little splats on his clothes and floor)
so good work oscar!
we'll see how the coming days go with it. in a few days we'll start experimenting with veggies.
June 15, 2009
twins
if you had twins, particularly identical twins, would you dress them in the same outfits and do their hair etc the same?
June 14, 2009
error
the other day my good friends at barry smith sent me a letter telling me now is the time to upgrade my car. to a new holden i presume.
but the best bit was that with that letter, was another piece of paper. at first i thought it was a survey for me to fill in. but after reading it properly, it was the script for the follow up phone call asking me about upgrading. so that was a little bit funny. i wonder if they accidentally sent similar to everyone on the upgrade list. whoopsie daisies!
for the record i'm not interested in upgrading for a long time, and if i do, it probably won't be a holden. not that i'm jumping ship and going to ford, but i think we'd like a hybrid next time around. and holden doesn't have one.
i still long for the fcx clarity. so way cool.
June 12, 2009
roaming free. well, not free.
today i joined the 21st century.
we bought an e-tag.
i don't plan on using toll roads anymore than i normally do, and i'll be sad to not hand over my $2.20 on the M2 anymore - "have a nice day!". but it will be handy when we go to melbourne in a couple of months. and handy in general.
it was funny when deciding between the roam version and the rta version. i really don't care since the cost is the same, but howie had two deciding factors - what noise the tag makes (that it be the least boring noise) and that it look the coolest. unfortunately neither website provides a sound bite of the noise, but the rta one makes a "trill". but howie picked roam, because it looks cooler.
speaking of looking cool, howie today admitted that he was glad we bought the pram we did, rather than a three wheeler which would have been cool. yay for a tick for practicality!
June 11, 2009
breaking out the winter woolies
it was a bit cold this morning. thankfully (and amazingly!) oscar slept from 7:40pm til 6:40am so i didn't have to experience the crispness of 4am. 7:20am was cold enough when we ventured out into the dining room. the gas heater told me it was 6 degrees.
i'm pretty glad i don't live anywhere super cold. how do people cope? how do people with babies cope?
it is nice that the sun is shining though. even if there's little warmth to it.
meanwhile, it's a shame that everything i wear has a button front. i don't know if i'll get that super snuggly warm feeling of winter clothes this season. maybe on occasion.
June 08, 2009
teeth
oscar : his first tooth broke through today
jenny : actually enjoys flossing. so much so she bought 200 metres of it today
howie : nothing to report
happy and sad
yesterday oscar and i went to a family lunch in celebration of debbie's upcoming birthday. it was yummo.
oscar seemed to have a lot of fun as well. he and auntie debbie had some quality time
he had a jolly good time with his rubber duck, telephone rattle and a bunch of coasters
you may notice that only oscar and i went. that is because howie has been unwell yesterday and today. i am very sad for him coz it's not just his "usual" diarrhea. he is vomiting as well. so that sucks. on top of his headaches and fatigue he isn't having a good time. if you are a prayer-er, would you mind praying for him?
June 05, 2009
decay
i've had a pretty good run with my teeth. but my genetics don't encourage me.
i went to the dentist today for a checkup, after my last visit. the temporary filling is going ok, but there is more decay. as well as now in the tooth that is right up against it. and in one up above it too. it seemed a bad neighbourhood to be in in my mouth village.
so $255 later after today's clean and xrays, of which i got $171 back, i've been to told to floss all the time (i rarely floss, naughty girl).
and i'm back again in two weeks for a 75 minute appointment to do two fillings and an onlay (i think, or an inlay, one of them). and then another appointment the following week to check on that work.
my thinks i shall be parting with a fair bit of money.
poop.
June 04, 2009
i wasted $3.60 today
we went to mother's group this morning, at one of the cafes in westfield. we were 30 minutes late, and no one was there. silly me ordered before realising that. the coffee machine was broken, so i just got a cup of english breakfast tea instead of a chai.
$3.60 for one tea bag and a small pot of hot water. that's an expensive tea bag.
then oscar and i sat at a table and enjoyed each others company while i regretted not having any of the other mum's numbers.
fortunately all the other mums turned up 10 minutes later, i anticipation of the fixed coffee machine. it wasn't fixed, but they stayed and got various chocolate drinks.
so i didn't feel like such a nigel after all. phew!
and now i have some phone numbers.
June 02, 2009
Tax System… Explained In Beer
Suppose that every day, ten men go out for beer and the bill for all ten comes to $100.
If they paid their bill the way we pay our taxes, it would go something like this…
The first four men (the poorest) would pay nothing.
The fifth would pay $1.
The sixth would pay $3.
The seventh would pay $7.
The eighth would pay $12.
The ninth would pay $18.
The tenth man (the richest) would pay $59.
So, that's what they decided to do.
The ten men drank in the bar every day and seemed quite happy with the arrangement, until one day, the owner threw them a curve.
"Since you are all such good customers," he said, "I'm going to reduce the cost of your daily beer by $20." Drinks for the ten now cost just $80.
The group still wanted to pay their bill the way we pay our taxes.
So the first four men were unaffected.
They would still drink for free. But what about the other six men? The paying customers?
How could they divide the $20 windfall so that everyone would get his fair share?'
They realized that $20 divided by six is $3.33. But if they subtracted that from everybody's share, then the fifth man and the sixth man would each end up being paid to drink his beer.
So, the bar owner suggested that it would be fair to reduce each man's bill by roughly the same amount, and he proceeded to work out the amounts each should pay.
And so the fifth man, like the first four, now paid nothing (100% savings)
The sixth now paid $2 instead of $3 (33% savings).
The seventh now pay $5 instead of $7 (28% savings).
The eighth now paid $9 instead of $12 (25% savings).
The ninth now paid $14 instead of $18 ( 22% savings).
The tenth now paid $49 instead of $59 (16% savings).
Each of the six was better off than before. And the first four continued to drink for free. But once outside the restaurant, the men began to compare their savings.
"I only got a dollar out of the $20,"declared the sixth man
He pointed to the tenth man," but he got $10!"
"Yeah, that's right," exclaimed the fifth man. "I only saved a Dollar, too. It's unfair that he got ten times more than I!"
"That's true!!" shouted the seventh man. "Why should he get $10 back when I got only two? The wealthy get all the breaks!"
"Wait a minute," yelled the first four men in unison. "We didn't get anything at all. The system exploits the poor!"
The nine men surrounded the tenth and beat him up.
The next night the tenth man didn't show up for drinks, so the nine sat down and had beers without him. But when it came time to pay the bill, they discovered something important. They didn't have enough money between all of them for even half of the bill!
And that, boys and girls, journalists and college professors, this is how our tax system works.
The people who pay the highest taxes get the most benefit from a tax reduction.
Tax them too much, attack them for being wealthy, and they just may not show up anymore.
In fact, they might start drinking overseas where the atmosphere is somewhat friendlier.