Fed Up

Not really sure what else to call this post.
Insomnia is playing a major part of my life at the moment. Here I am at 2.11am not even really feeling that tired, just fed up. I have to be up at 5.45 for work as I'm starting at 7am.
I'm not functioning the way a real person should. What am I to do?
Another trip to the doctor, and for what? More drugs.

Other than that, home is good. Family is happy. I'm totally addicted to Facebook and I'm not really even sure why! Truthfully, I haven't seen most of the school people in over 16 years, our similarities are we sat in a classroom all those years ago and read books, learned maths and did science experiments together. Work friends I see most days anyway! Oh well its an excuse not to do anything else.

A super huge positive - Mark got STUDENT OF THE WEEK I'm one proud mama. Its for good bookwork - but to be honest I think it was his turn. This week is the only week all year that the boy did not bring home a school newsletter, how am I supposed to scrap it.

That would mean I was scrapping, which I am not cos I'm playing on Facebook and talking to Kathryn and Ella on Skype! Hmmm, I need to readjust I think.

Sorry for the ramblings of an overtired 34-year-old. That saying is not only for 2 year olds!!!

Overuse of exclamation marks Christy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Another little cool cookie.

1. YOUR ROCK STAR NAME: (first pet & current car) Goldie Patrol

2.YOUR GANGSTA NAME: (fave ice cream flavor, favorite cookie) Chocolate Tim Tam

3. YOUR “FLY Guy/Girl” NAME: (first initial of first name, first three letters of your last name) C.Lan

4. YOUR DETECTIVE NAME: (favorite color, favorite animal) Green Dog

5. YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME: (middle name, city where you were born), Dawn Lahr

6. YOUR STAR WARS NAME: (the first 3 letters of your last name, first 3 letters of your first) Lanchr

7. SUPERHERO NAME: (”The” + 2nd favorite color, favorite drink), The Pink Coke Zero

8. NASCAR NAME: (the first names of your grandfathers) Arthur James

9. STRIPPER NAME: ( the name of your favorite perfume/cologne/scent, favorite chocolate bar) LuLu Boost

10.WITNESS PROTECTION NAME: (mother’s & father’s middle names ) Anne Brian

11. TV WEATHER ANCHOR NAME: (Your 5th grade teacher’s last name, a major city that starts with the same letter) Bell Boston

12. SPY NAME: (your favorite season/holiday, flower). Spring Tulip

13. CARTOON NAME: (favorite fruit, article of clothing you’re wearing right now + “ie” or “y”) Raspberry Cargoie

14. HIPPY NAME: (What you ate for breakfast, your favorite tree), Yogurt Elm

15. YOUR ROCKSTAR TOUR NAME: (”The” + Your fave hobby/craft, fave weather element + “Tour”),The Scrapbook Storm Tour


Clever!

Making me laugh.

Who does this best? Its my boy.

Yesterday he had his first cricket training. They got heaps of goodies as its "Milo Have A Go" promotion, and Cricket Australia is sure focusing on kids. He got a tshirt, hat, cricket bat and ball, drink bottle, sweat bands, badge. It was like Christmas for the boy. Anyway that isn't what made me laugh.

We stopped at Coles on the way home and bought my cheat dinner (Roast Chook) and going back to the car he said to me "Do you remember when I was a little boy and I thought nipples were called NIBBLES". I nearly wet myself on the spot. #1 a nine year reminiscing about when he was young. #2 why does he recall bizarre things all the time. #3 Yes he did think they were called nibbles and it freaked me out each time he said it which was frighteningly often.

I laughed so hard I snorted, he cracked up too... well I guess you had to be there.

:)

Cool

What do you think?

Did I mention??

What a gorgeous bod my little boy has.

We went to the beach with friends of ours on Sunday, they have a son just a year younger than Mark and he is very much a little boy - and I reckon he has a version of ADHD he is so disagreeable, when I see this kid I know we have no problems with Mark. Anyway I noticed Mel looking at Mark then she said "Wow Mark has a nice... ummm" and I said "Body?" yes she agreed, he has a six pack stomach and isn't too skinny or fat.

Just plain gorgeous I reackon

Just gorgeous

Mark and Sheena in the bath together.
Got out Mark's dolphins from when he was a baby and Sheena loves them.
That is me at the side there supervising the kids.

I'm over it.

What is it exactly???

COUGHING.

I have coughed for almost two weeks and the last 5 days have been horrible. Went to the doc on Sunday morning, who took a throat swab (it was karma getting me back for all of those NG tubes I place) and has given me a few days off work. Got the phone numbers of all of my patients from the clinic and canceled them yesterday. Had a super dooper coughing fit yesterday to the point of throwing up... aren't you glad I shared that tidbit of information.

So today, I have been resting.

Mark started back at school and he's all enthusiastic. Wore his new white shirt uniform and he looks gorgeous. Saw the ladies from OOSH and its nice to see them again.

Jamie had an interview for a job in Melbourne, but unfortunately not this time. Still looking for other jobs.

Must head off and rest some more :)

Home and its hot.

Welcome home to Newcastle. Had a lovely holiday with my mummy, daddy, little sister and Sheena the Punk Rocker.

Nice to see Jamie again, and he was slightly domesticated, did some washing, did some cooking, put the dishwasher on! Wonders never cease.

Today, Mark and I went shopping in the morning, got Jamie some new shorts (gee this is an exciting post) because our 4WD got broken into. Both of our cars had windows smashed in less than a month. But one was at home and the other at the boat ramp, so we don't need to move urgently. Mark got some new uniforms. I got some cupcake tins to foster my obsession - shall be cooking tomorrow, tis to hot today.

Mmmmm

Today my current dream was fulfilled.

I was in cupcake heaven. There is a tiny little shop at the Prahran Market called "Crabapple Bakery" and it only sold cupcakes. I had a dainty one called "Strawberry and Vanilla", Mum had a "Lemon Delight" Dad had "Lumberjack Cupcake" which obviously was a lumberjack cake with coconut icing. Mark had a "Halloween Cupcake" with bright purple icing and a jaffa and other lollies on it.

Well worth the trip and not quite as exxy as I was expecting.

Glenrowan

Day #2 of the holiday started off in the motel, we had a continental breakfast in the dining room (again Mark thought he was a king!). Off on the road again.

We stopped in a town called Glenrowan - the heart of Kelly country. As a rule I'm against the idolisation of Ned Kelly. I don't understand Australia's fascination with a cop killer and bush ranger. To be truthful, I didn't pay much attention at school. I don't know the Kelly side of things - why he turned to bushranging etc. But its a continual fascination. Somewhat like my Law & Order shows on tv which raise up murderers to cult level, the media's love of serial killers and Jack the Ripper, its all on a par. Anyway I have digressed.

During Year 3 in school there is a course on Australian history which includes the bushranging time and the king of the bush rangers is Ned Kelly. Glenrowan was where he lived and the shootout was in Glenrowan, the whole town is a celebration of his life and crimes.

We went to one of the museums and saw lots of "ye olde worlde" artefacts.

Here is another montage of photos of our day (quarter of a day) at Glenrowan.

Holiday Day #1

Mark, Mum, Dad and I left Newcastle on Monday morning after the grandfinal weekend!
We drove all day, traffic in Sydney was very good (thankyou for being a public holiday).
Nothing to report on the trip almost at all... very boring actually.
We spent the night in a motel in Albury, it was very nice, Mark loved it so much. He felt like a king.
This is a tiny montage to dinner out in Albury.

New Skills

Jamie showing Mark the correct way to push a mowe

Going out on his own

The look of satisfied concentration.

Yes you saw it here first, Mark is mowing the lawn! My little bloke is growing up and starting to do "man chores".

We had a very productive Saturday, the room is nearly done (do I sound like a broken record?), the vacuuming for the whole house is done. My bathroom is clean.

Tomorrow I'm going to Lollypops with some girls from work. Very excited about that. Need to get some scrapping done as well.

Happy Birthday to Me

I shall commence this post with a portrait I took of me and Mark today. I wanted to do a family portrait, but Jamie wouldn't play. Yes I agree Mark has big feet!

Today - well now its officially yesterday was my birthday. I'm now the glorious age of 34!
Luckily I don't feel that age, but hey what does feeling 34 feel. I'm still younger than my mum was when she had me! Quite amazing that. So fertility wise I'm not yet on the shelf (no you didn't just hear that Mum). I'm only 4 years into my career and its all going well. Two weeks time I'm on holidays, can't wait for that.

My new year to me resolutions...
Take care of myself.
Not *worry* about my legs so much.
Have some fun (starting by going out with the girls on Sunday)
Prevent dementia by exercising for half an hour 3 times a week.
Think about learning a new language - which one???

The Good, the Bad and the Very Very Annoying.

Good.

Sunny day.
Shortland Festival Day
Gardening.
Hanging out as a family.
Laughing with Mark.
Jamie has made me a customised banner

Bad.

The boat engine won't start.
The house is still a mess.
I think I'm sunburned.

The Very Very Annoying.

The computer room isn't painted yet - but almost.
The banner is a little bit short.

Ooops

I can't believe what I did today.

I left the iron on

Luckily the house is still standing, luckily all the insurances are paid. Luckily I found it now and not in the morning.
I ironed my work shirt at 6.30am and found it still on at 6.15pm. There was a heat emanating from the ironing board.

Challenging

Read this today and think its great!

Genetic Counselling:

"I'm very sorry, I have the results of the genetic tests and they have confirmed our suspicions that your foetus is what we call...Normal.
Some people prefer the terms "Ordinarily Challenged" or "Normal Syndrome". The syndrome can be easily identified by a complete lack of any interesting genetic characteristics. I know this will come as a shock to you, buy you should be aware of what this is likely to mean.

If your foetus manages to survive the rest of the pregnancy and the birth, which is becoming more common these days, he or she will face some daunting challenges. Children who suffer from normalcy are prone to heatlh and psychological problems. It is almost certain that the growing child will suffer a seemingly endless stream of viruses. They will frequently damge themselves, and sometimes others, from their excessive energy.

Their relentless demands will put a strain on your existing family and, of course, your relationship with your partner will suffer, and possibly end in a painful and acrimonious separation. Any children you already have, even if they also suffer from normalcy, will be jealous of the newcomer and all their extra attention. Many siblings are liable to be psychologically scarred by the new arrival.

I need hardly mention the financial consequences, although disastrous, they will be nothing compared to the emotional turmoil your life will suffer.

After a while, you may be lucky and find they can be kind and loving young children. They may find some temporary happiness in things such as music, dancing, food or playing with toys.
But if they survive early childhood, a Normal child is almost certain to grow into a Normal adolescent. Your years of sacrifice will be thrown back in your face as they become disobedient, wild and reckless. Unable to find happiness and contentment, they will treat you with contempt until they manage to leave home. Even then the suffering will continue as they will often return to try and extract money. They will blame you for their own faults and leave you bitter and twisted.

They may well become criminals, over a quarter of Normals will have trouble with the law, many will spend time in jail. Many will have problems with alcohol or drug abuse. Normal marriages are often unhappy and short and over half end in divorce.

Even if they become successful this is likely to be because of the often observed tendency of Normals towards excessive greed. The chances of them sharing their success with you are remote and they will tend to see you as an embarrassment.

Finally, Normal people are likely to die before their time. 23% will die of cancer, 33% of heart disease. Hundreds every year in this country alone are so distressed by their condition that they take their own life. I'm sorry to say that many will have had a lonely, painful and pointless existence.

I am afraid that Normal Syndrome is a genetic condition that affects every cell of the body, and so is impossible to cure."

By Anon. (In the printed version there's a warning at the top to say that this is intended to make a serious point in an interesting way and is not meant to offend anyone, except possibly a few doctors).

I'm doing a lot of blog surfing these days. Thanks for letting me into your lives people.

Saturday evening.

Mark is having a sleep over at Billy's house. Billy rang this arvo and said "Hello, is that Mark's mum? Can I please talk to Mark?"
Next thing the phone was handed to me, and Mark said, "This needs to be a mum to mum conversation!!" OH DEAR.

I double checked the boys would go to bed, and made the boy have a shower and off to Billy's he went. Very excited he was too.




A leg update.

AWFUL. Dr Singh has changed my meds, so now I'm on Sinemet and tapering off the rohypnol. Not happy Jan. What does this mean? I'm not sleeping, terribly cranky and the worst is.... the pain, ache, itch and annoyance of restless leg syndrome is back with 24 hour vengeance. I have a reflex test on Monday afternoon, so that should be interesting.

Pictures

Starting the undercoat. This was the wall where the plaster (Gyprock) was replaced and had to be smoothed so it doesn't look like four pieces stuck together.


More undercoating.


The half finished kennel. Just needs the roof, inside walls, insulation and air conditioning installed. They like it in the rain that is for sure.


Charlie is not very impressed!!



Cleaning off the dirt.



Skye looking for a way out


Our hydrobath. Makes washing dogs a pleasure... Sort of in the background you can tell I've got a pigtail, my tiger stripes are only barely noticable too.

Monday Musing.

• I hate passwords - you can't use the same one for everything, but you need to have a few, so trying to remember what one for which program is quite tiresome.

• Its really raining here

• I'm on Facebook. If its a fad, I'm there!

• Only 14 days to my birthday.
  

Some News.

No not pregnant yet!

Its only 17 days until I turn 34.

Yes I still get excited about my birthday, is that a crime.

Father's Day this Sunday, we got Jamie a new computer room chair, similar to the old one but without his *ass groove*.