Mixed Bag

A few general observations and such before I go away for a week and have a glorious holiday for the first time in a year.

• I've been sick. Man Cold* sick. Some dodgy Monkey gave it to me, and I'm Not Impressed, especially since he gets the good drugs and I get nothing. I think I'll be better by Monday, when we leave, but in the meantime: WAAAA!

• Spudly can now be seen moving around! I oughta sell tickets. This is most definately the weirdest thing I've ever experienced in my life. I feel like I'm in Alien.

• I had really bad reflux last night and had to "sleep" propped up for the first time. And I was hoping to get away with no dodgy tummy stuff happening. Hmph. Perhaps it was the packet of Mint Slice biscuits I had for dinner...

• I found a really cool bug in my strawberry patch today. Anyone know what it is? I know its a beetle. But what kind of beetle?

Its our second wedding anniversary on Tuesday, so we're heading off to the spot where we started our honeymoon and go back to every year. We have a self-contained cottage on the clifftop overlooking private wetlands. Its quiet, very secluded, and the only sounds you can hear are the frogs and birds of the lagoon. I can not wait.

When I get back, I might write a post on how a Monkey and a Panda got together.

I wont send a postcard. And as much as I dig you all, I'm glad you wont be there.





* Man Cold: a type of upper respiratory infection that is essentially very mild and short-lived, but the sufferer is convinced nonetheless they are going to die.

And So The Family Saga Continues...

I had to take my father to see his specialist on Wednesday. This time he had another memory test to check whether the Aracept is working and improving his memory or not.

The answer is not.

Only one point of difference from 4 months ago, and that was in the negative direction. He's also lost 5 kilos in the past 8 weeks, which is quite a concern. He gets to stay on the meds for another 8 weeks to see if he's a "late responder" but the Doc is not optimistic. Nor am I.

I briefed the doc on the situation at home, and with my wiley and tricksy Panda ways managed to convince the doc of the necessity for him to take responsibility for convincing my mother they need help. I've told mum the doctor wants to speak to her next Wednesday morning, first thing. I havent told her what about. And the best thing about my plan: I'm going to be away and uncontactable all next week, so she cant ring me up and abuse me after she gets off the phone from him.

I also told her that I would not be able to guarantee my availability to take dad to further appointments from now on.

As much as it pains me in one way to do it, I have successfully managed to extricate myself from the untenable situation of taking full responsibility for people who dont want to be helped.

Now I just have to ensure I dont get sucked back in. Although, with a Monkey on my team, I dont think thats going to happen.

Dominate The Subversive Paradigm!

You're an agitator! Your kids have grown up on the
front lines of rallies and pickets, and chances
are that you boycott at least one company for
its bad business practices. Your kids are
learning what matters to you and how they can
change what matters to them.


What kind of a freaky mother are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

I Know You Have An Opinion

So let me have it.

New Poll time: which way does the toilet paper HAVE to hang?

Not that I'm a Pedantic Whackjob or anything (that's Monkey Boy's job), but I like mine to hang forwards. Easy access when you need it.

Oh My God! They Read My Diary!

Yes folks, I'm bored today.

How did they know I had a huge crush on MJF???

Your 80s Heartthrob Is

Michael J. Fox

Who's Your 80's Heartthrob?

What I Did On My Weekend

In lieu of anything interesting to say, here's a photo essay on how we spent our weekend.

Monkey Boy recently retrieved his Lego from his parents place. They think we wanted it for Spudly.

They were wrong.

Battle Dragster. Note the rather excessive amount of weaponry. I think one of the guns was labelled a Cheese-Gathering Torpedo. There's a little man with a slopey brick for a head behind the blue canopy.




Assorted vehicles for backup. You never know when you will need a wacky tricycle or a Headless Hotrod.




Its a helicopter. It has guns and goes woketa woketa. Apparently.

Disabled Battle Segue. Mr Spastic previously had only one hand, but through the miracle of medical technology (and finding a spare hand on the floor) he had a donated hand reattached. As yet he doesnt have much feeling in it, so he fires the rocket launcher with his good hand.

Space Pirate on his Hovercraft Space Pirate Radio Station, which plays nothing but Take On Me by A-Harrrr.

Mr Teapot Rotor-head controls the whole fleet, and shoots flames out of his head. Handy.

I Almost Forgot

Spudly LOVED The Bangles gig, of course. Especially the really heavy bass that makes your chest vibrate. I got lots of kicking through that! And I had my very first random drive-by belly grope after the gig. The woman was very nice and all, but it was weird. And so it begins.

The next morning we had our antenatal appointment at the hospital. Which they kept us waiting almost an hour for. Grrrr. Results of the ultrasound were as normal as you can get, which is disturbing, for me anyways. I will have another ultrasound at 32 weeks to check on the low-lying placenta, but I have been assured both by the hospital and by Google University that a low-lying placenta at 20 weeks is extremely common and they do move. I believe them. I will not worry. I will instead look forward to another opportunity to have a look at the Spudster.

My blood pressure has gone down down down...to Funky Town. 100/50. This seems ridiculously low to me, but apparently this just happens between 18-28 weeks. It explains the lightheadedness and dizziness and such. Must drink more water.

I was given the all-clear to use the Birthing Unit, which is fabuloso. We spent another half an hour around there to make another appointment for 4 weeks time, but got a tour out of it. V. pleased that their birthing philosophy gels exactly with mine: that is, birth is a natural event that the body knows how to do and not something for the medicos to get all uppity about.

Spudly is kicking many times a day now, which is very comforting. Well, the kicks in the cervix or further around the back arent quite so comforting... I've discovered he reacts very quickly to chocolate. Every single time, he's kicking away within 10-15 minutes of me eating some. I have decided therefore to have some medical emergency chocolate in the house at all times, for those occasions when I am panicking about not having felt him kick in a while. Purely for emergencies. You understand.

So, nothing happening in the medical department for another month. In the meantime, Monkey Boy finishes his prac. teaching placement next week (that is, the Friday coming up) and the week after that we GO AWAY for our 2nd anniversary holiday, back to the place we started our honeymoon, for 4 whole days of peace and quiet and relaxation and canoeing and canoodling. Yeh-heh.

I Stand Corrected

Not about the divineness of The Bangles. This was never in doubt.

About the Johnny Depp-ness of previous lovely pirate image.

Lala (and Monkey Boy): you were right. Seems I was taken in by some bloody Pommy lookalike.

Forshame!

To make up for this indiscretion, I now provide the following for your enjoyment...




Now thats how you do pirating. Mm-mmm. They can unbuckle my swash any time.

Spudly's First Gig

The delightful V bought me a very lovely birthday present. Tonight she pays up.

We're Going Down to Adelaide to Do Something....*





The question is; should I go the big Susannah Hoffs hair or not? I have the earrings. From 1985. Sad, I know.

Monkey Boy has already been muttering displeased things about His Son being forcefully exposed to Crap 80s Music.


*If you know the song I have horribly misquoted, I will love you forever.

Letting the Team Down

MOGADISHU, Somalia, Nov. 5 (UPI) -- The Seabourn Cruise Lines ship "Spirit" was attacked by pirates off the coast of Somalia early Saturday morning but escaped capture.Two boats carrying between eight and 10 pirates armed with machine guns and rocket-propelled grenade launchers attacked the "Spirit," which had 150 passengers and 160 crew members on board, CNN reported.

Pirates in a tinny? Pirates with rocket-propelled grenades and bazookas? Where's the really big hats and the eye patches? And the cannons full of forks? And the swords? I dont see any swashbuckling going on.

Pirates these days. They have no idea. These guys are just giving pirates a bad name. Havent they heard about the Pirate Code?

They need a few lessons from this chap...




Now HE'S a pirate!

Check Out My Assets!

My blog is worth $15,807.12.
How much is your blog worth?

There's another Poll over there

Having resoundedly won the last Vox Pop, I now graciously retire undefeated in the House of Panda Philosophical Debates World Series. Panda: 2 Monkey Boy: 1

You are, of course, all correct. You CAN look at something you cant see. You cant see air, but you are looking at it. You cant see the individual molecules of your computer screen, but you're still looking at them. Monkey Boy is just daft when he says you cant look at something you cant see. That's what you get for swinging from trees and eating bananas all day I guess.

So, the new Poll. We've decided to keep Spudly's name a secret. (Hint: Its not Spudly. Except to my mate M, who insists its an excellent name and will continue to call Spudly Spudly.) Well, when I say secret, of course I mean I've told two people already. But one of those was my therapist, so that doesnt count. The other was told not to disclose on pain of death. We figure that telling people is just opening ourselves up to unwelcome comments on our choice, and protestations about not including any "traditional" family names in there somewhere. Do not fret, my friends: we have not decided upon Mykynzy.

What would y'all do? Spill the beans or keep it a secret?

And The Verdict Is....

Ultrasound Day. 19week poser shot. How d'yall like my new op-shop $12 outfit?

Check out how much the pudding has grown in 3 days.

And now from the inside:

• Fingers and toes all accounted for (we both were couting them as they waved around).
• Brain present.
• Heart functioning properly.
• All bits measuring 19 weeks.
• Size of head 6.5cm x 4 cm, which is the size of Spudly's entire body only 6 weeks ago.
• Personality: subversive. Did not want to co-operate or face the right way.
• Placenta: low-lying at 1.6cm fromthe cervical opening. I will not panic. I will not panic. Its still early days and it can (and more than likely will) move up by the 8th month. I am, however, Googling placenta praevia.

And the thing everyone wants to know.....

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ITS A BOY!!