Eeeee! A snowdome kit! Thank you, Soulsis! <huggle>



The cubs' and their father gave me a copy of Pixar's Cars DVD, and mum made me a cushion:



Flamingos! I like flamingos... :)

We had xmas dinner at a pub/restaurant this year - Terminus Hotel in Healesville. This was my dessert. Tiramisu mousse and a chocolate butterfly. Mmmm...



The rest of the meal was delicious, as well, and it was lovely not having to cook and wash up. Mind you, we did that all on Boxing Day anyway when we met Soulsis and her chicks at Mum's.
Been a busy few days, driving hither and yon, I'm ready for a rest now. <g>

Egad, xmas is 2 days away! I do believe I'm almost ready, while the cubs are almost manic with anticipation. They know they're getting Hornby model railway bits but their father refuses to be tricked by their subtle <snort> questions and won't tell them what. <g> They'll just have to wait...

Eep! My phone's headphones broke! I checked though and it's all still under warranty so today I nipped in to the shops - nice and early, before the last-minute chaos really got started - and got another set. For free! Happy now.

I was trying to quantify exactly why it is I've never much liked the Top Twenty sort of music. With a few notable exceptions over the years, I've found that listening to the mainstream stuff (or 'hits and memories', which is old Top Twenty anyway) is like drowning in beige. Really really uninteresting. Give me Indie any day, at least that sounds alive.

Speaking of shudder worthy, Joules found this site a wee while ago... Worst Album Covers of All Time. Go and look - it'll make your eyeballs bleed, I promise! The most disturbing one for me is 'Julie's 16th Birthday'. I dunno, looks like there's some unsavoury coercion going on there...

Can't remember where I found this, but, ye gods!
"...He growled in a venimous whisper..."
Bwahahahahahah! Would a venimous have larger than normal fangs for a rodent? <snerk>

And finally - tee hee hee. My Peculiar Aristocratic Title is:
Her Most Serene Highness Lady Lutra the Lackadaisical of Walk On Water. That's quite lyrically appropriate, methinks.
(There was a thingy on the Smart Bitches site a couple of days ago. The above was my second attempt as the first wasn't terribly inspiring.)

Anyway, chances of me doing another update in the next day or so is remote, (far more likely to put photos up at Flickr. Link at the top of the page...) so Happy Solstice! Happy Holidays! Eat well, stay safe and remember to say 'thank you' even if you don't like what you got. <g>

<blink> The S cub told me tonight that for next year's xmas list he's going to wish for super powers. He was serious.
(I should mention that both the cubs still firmly believe in Santa Claus - despite my gentle hints to the contrary.)

"Fashion" spotted today at the shopping centre: short, filmy shift things belted over black leggings. <rolls eyes> Let's party like it's 1986...

Heh, in the second last week of their second last year, the cubs finally have the proper sports uniform. That must be some sort of record.

It's taken me 6 years but I've finally realised that school concerts are not for the enjoyment of the audience, they're for the children. The kids have a great time... the rest of us just have to smile and clap like it's the best thing we've ever seen.
And this year's xmas concert was made even more special for me because I got an effing huge cramp in my leg. My own fault, I'd been sitting on the ground for a couple of hours without moving and I'd let my legs get cold.
It was agony - the muscles in my calf and my shin were cramping, as well as the ones across the top of my foot threatening to join in for good measure. It didn't matter how I stretched my leg something seized. Fortunately the cubs' father was there and he knows how to deal with cramps. He got my leg straightened out enough that I could stand, and from there it was just a matter of slowly working the muscles back under control.
I would've been embarrassed - writhing and moaning on the ground, making a spectacle of myself - if I hadn't been in so much pain. I swear, it was like childbirth: the awful inevitability of pain and knowing you can do nothing but ride it out. <g> It feels like I pulled a muscle in my calf; that'll take a little while to heal. Let that be a lesson to me! Take my slippers next time if it's going to be cold!

<suspicious> And how long will it be 'til I have to sign in to Blogger through Google...?

I got home this morning, from dropping the cubs at school, to find our front lawn being mowed by a professionally equipped person. It transpires that one of our house-proud neighbours organised the service - probly cos he finally got fed up with my laissé faire attitude to gardening. <sigh> I'm sort of used to the neighbours tackling the lawn for us themselves, but this... this was unsettling, and it took me most of the day to work out why. I have no problem accepting acts of kindness from friends and family. They're there for me, I'm there for them, it's reciprocal, it's what kin does. When non-kin are kind I get nervous cos I don't know what's expected of me. Probly paranoid, but, I like to have some idea of what the reckoning will be - and I don't believe for an instant that there won't be a reckoning of some sort. Even if this time it's just me being guilted into taking care of the garden myself. Heh, it'll be less traumatic if all I have to do is pay the bill.

Only two weeks 'til the end of the school year. Tch. I swear it was October only 3 days ago.

Sometimes, I just can't resist the lure of the merchandise...

Fortunately I think I can get a bigger memory chip thingy for my phone. 256 mb really isn't enough, not when I've joined 3's music club which means I can d/l items for $1.50 each instead of $3. That's cheaper than itunes! Excited? Oh yes... :) It's fun to browse the music lists - the new stuff is kind of patchy (considering I pretty much only listen to/am interested in indie) - but there's some really interesting older stuff lurking about.
Like tonight I checked what they had for Adam & the Ants, just cos, and - blimey! - not just the 'hits' I expected but the B-sides of those singles and tracks from the Dirk Wears White Sox album. See? I need space so I can nab all this good stuff.
[Currently listening to Beat My Guest which was the B-side of Stand and Deliver. (Shame on me I had to look that up. Tch, call myself an Antperson? Heh, not for a good few years, though I still think the logo would make a cool tattoo... I did remember all on my own however that another song I nabbed - Physical - was the B-side for Dog Eat Dog. {and poking around for the lyrics I find that Nine Inch Nails covered it! Neat, have to track that down as well. Bet it's a real sleazy version. Hee})]
In the past couple of days I've also grabbed copies of Kate Bush's Sensual World single (gorgeous!); Starlight - Superman Lovers; Rip it Up - Jet; Belleville Rendezvous from the soundtrack; Dear God - XTC and Chris Rea's Let's Dance. That'll do to go on with, don't want to blow out my phone budget. <g>

December 1st we put the xmas tree up and now KittenKong has something else to threaten to get my attention. <shakes head> Little madam.

Eeep. The Snupin Lurve Secret Santa has started. The entries are apparently being drawn from a hat and posted at random so I have no idea when my piece will go up.

And I finally got to watch 2001: a space odyssey. Wow. My gods, the detail - it really deserves to be seen on a big screen. (preferably as a double with Alien. <g> The fantasy and the - likely - reality of space travel.)
The ending didn't make a lot of sense but, from memory, neither did the book, and I was surprised at how visually dated it wasn't. Well, dated, but only on a very superficial level. There was a lot of tech that's familiar now. Need to see it again...

Last night one of the cubs had scared himself sleepless with thoughts of 'what if' (what if the house burnt down? etc). His brother cheered him up by reading him some of their favourite Thomas stories. I think he was embellishing them with funny voices and rude noises. That would explain the shrieks of laughter... :)

Night before last I dreamt I was getting ready to travel to America. I only had a short time to prepare so I was charging around digging out clothes and things, always conscious of the time ticking away. In the midst of the chaos an old acquaintance wandered in to the dream, someone I haven't spoken to for years. We caught up, briefly, and I was pleased to hear he had a partner and was looking towards the future. (I suspect my subconscious gave him a happy ending out of guilt for not keeping in touch. Because, yes, that's the way my mind works.)
I woke up from that dream frazzled and not at all rested, funnily enough.

Mum's dysphasia manifests in a few ways. Most common - and the most frustrating for her - is not being able to remember the word she wants at all. Next most likely is using the wrong word, but being aware she's made a mistake. Least common is where she uses the wrong word but doesn't realise it's wrong. Chatting with Mum is always an adventure now, never know what she's going to come out with. <g> For instance she was talking about getting a new 'fridge and mentioned she only needed one with a 'small giraffe'. <giggling> Oh, we laughed...

I was lurking on HP Essays recently where someone was discussing threesomes in fanfic. In amongst the fic recommendations (and there were some happy hours of reading there, let me tell you! Wasted loads of time...) the author dropped the comment about 'where in canon does it say that Draco is attractive'? She has a point, the only physical description we get of the Slytherin Prince is 'pale and pointy'. But then, considering the series is written from the viewpoint of a young/teenage boy (whose author is on public record about her dislike of slash) Harry would be unlikely to notice any potential male phwoarness anyway. <pats him> That's all right, the fangirls make up for that blind spot.
[Edited after spell-checking: Bwahahahaha! Blogger suggested 'threshings instead of 'threesomes'...]

Hee, and still rabbiting on about HP... Can't remember the fic but this struck me as a particularly odd use of 'ameliorate'.
"Silver and gold dust combed liberally across the lush foliage that ameliorated the halls..."
True, the word means 'to make better; to improve' but, um... <scratches head> I don't think it's in quite the right context here.

(And my latest Snupiney thing has been posted in The Zone. Thanks, Joules!)

Awwwww!
Usually KittenKong wakes up long before I get this close...

Hehehe. Xmas cake makes me fart...

Oh, whacko, it's State Election day tomorrow.
... I did have something to say about that but for the life of me I can't remember. Eh well.

Been a pretty full-on kind of week - I've spent roughly 11 hours in the car, driving Mum to and from hospital appointments. But it's all coming on nicely - her therapists are very pleased with her progress. Next week shouldn't be so hectic, though, with only one day of appointments.

Stone fruits are back in season, at last! Still hideously expensive and likely to remain so cos there was a freak frost not long ago that destroyed a large proportion of the crop. This follows on from the cyclone that wiped out the banana crop earlier in the year. Not that I eat a lot of fruit anyway - prefer veggies - but they're more of a special treat now than chocolate. <g>

Haven't done much of anything these past several weeks - probably not surprising given the disruptions - but I have finished another installment of the Snupin plot arc. Well, more SnOMC, really - Snape/Original Male Character.
Hah! And I just remembered what it was I had to say about the election!
Our next door neighbours have a Family First placard in their front garden. I doubt they'd be impressed to know they're living next to an avid reader/writer of queer smut. Hee. Good thing I don't advertise my predilections.
Speaking of queer - I finally got to see Brokeback Mountain. Waaah! So sad. I'm glad I didn't catch it at the cinema after all, even though it means I missed the opportunity to immerse myself in the scenery. (That's real scenery, mountains and such, not bishieish ambulatory 'scenery'.) Bawling one's eyes out should be done in private. :)

International Buy Nothing Day. Dem good idea, and surprisingly hard to do. Spending - even on the small incidentals - is insidious.

Gah. Tired. Not sure how much sense this is going to make...
Mum's home at last and I've just got back from spending 5 days with her, helping her settle in and - frankly - seeing how she copes. Cubs came with me (cos it was too much effort to try and organise something with their father) but they had no objection at all to missing a few days of school. Little buggers. :) But they were very well behaved, I have to say, and Soulsis (thankyouthankyouthankyou!) had them for a sleep-over on Saturday night.

I think Mum's going to be all right; she'll never be the same as she was but it could've been so much worse. She's not happy, especially without her car, and with the ongoing outpatient appointments at the rehab hospital she says she doesn't feel like her life is her own yet. It's going to take time, and I'll probly have to keep reminding her of that fact.
It was encouraging to see her putter about the unit. She had no problems using microwave/washing machine etc. (I won't mention the green tea made for me with sugar and milk <g>) She has problems with numeracy now, unfortunately, which is going to make shopping interesting, but if I can't be there to help then one of her friends will.
Meals-on-Wheels has been arranged for her. The service delivers one main meal a day - and Mum's quite happy cos she's never been that keen on cooking. :)
We've made a start on decluttering her unit, but only a start. It's a big task. But now the microwave is within easy reach, the table and kitchen unit have been (mostly) cleared and I went through one of the cupboards and got rid of a lot of old, old food - the earliest use-by date I found was 1997! <shakes head> - and culled some of the surplus canned goods she tends to hoard. Neither of us are anticipating with any pleasure the fuge stack of craft/quilting magazines that need to be cleaned out.

The best thing for Mum about being home is that she's got her cat back. He was very, very pleased to have her back. So pleased that for the first couple of days he was actually quite nice. Didn't take him long to get back to normal however - Mum and I both have scratches...

The thing I like most about Mum's car is that when you drop in $10 of petrol it makes a significant difference. Unlike the big old Ford we had, which, much as I loved her, $10 went nowhere, even with the slightly lower prices at the time.

I was a little late picking Mum up yesterday and when I eventually hurried into her room she said she was worried that something had happened with the car.
Hah! So that's where I get it from! If someone's late meeting me then they've obviously had an accident and they're dead. <rolls eyes> I can blame my mother for that slightly less than optimistic personality trait anyway. One night, many many year ago when I was about 14, Dad was at work and Mum had taken my brother to ballet. I was home alone, supposedly doing my homework but in reality trying not to twitch at every noise, but that was fine cos I knew Mum would be home soon...
I started getting worried when she wasn't back half an hour after she was due; by the time she and my brother rocked up - two hours later - I was frantic. Oh, everything was fine, she'd stopped off for a cup of tea with a friend...
That was the first time, I think, I ever told my mother off. Yes, I was worried, she should've let me know she was going to be late! <g> Of course, the shoe was on the other foot a few years later when she was berating me for staying out late and not letting her know.
Lessons learnt? Probably not. I look forward to similar exchanges with the cubs in the future.

I received notification in the mail yesterday about a change in a payment schedule for one of the bills. I thought it was for the gas and I was outraged! A hike from $20 a fortnight to $72! How was that justified?! Then I read the letter again and realised it was for the electricity and that it was, in fact, a slight decrease. <head->desk> Then I calmed down.

This morning, while routinely deleting the spam that'd wriggled through the filters, I noticed one that had the subject line - [SPAM] Dear friend.... Truth in advertising? I approve of that.

Another oddish sort of dream recently. Only remembered the tail end as I was waking up. Myself and nebulous others (sometimes the cubs, sometimes 'dream friends' ie: not known in r/l) were on a trip somewhere foreign, hot and dusty. We bought tickets for a famous local attraction, a ride of some sort. We hurried on to that to find it was like someone's cluttered lounge room filled with shabby but comfortable sofas all lined up neatly. Before the ride began - and I still have no idea what it was actually sposed to be - a frantic woman stood up and asked us if anyone had seen something important that she'd lost. People obliged by standing up and looking under their seats etc, and I spotted a collection of objects off to one side. I pointed it out to a friend who relayed the info to the woman. The thing that'd been lost was there but obscured by the other stuff. So, though it was me who was sort of responsible for finding the location, my friend got the kudos.
<eyebrow> I'm sure I've got no idea what that could mean.

I thought at first that I was feeling like crap cos of the stress, but no, I have actually come down with something, a mild respiratory viral thingy the cubs brought home from school. Of course, the reason I haven't been able to shake it off is cos I'm stressed. Heh.

So how's it all going, eh? Mum had her surgery on Friday morning and that went well. She's recovering quickly and it looks like she'll be going back to the rehab centre on Monday for, hopefully, just a short while before going home. When she's home, though, that's when life will really get interesting. The half hour trip to and from the various hospitals isn't so bad and I can visit her every day, more or less. The hour long trip there and back to her home is something else entirely. I'm fighting the feeling that I have an obligation to see her just as often but the reality is that I can't. First, I do actually have a life of my own and frequent two/three hour chunks out of that will lead to nothing but resentment on my part. Second, dear gods the petrol.
Eh, we'll work out something mutually agreeable, I'm sure. Mum has friends up there who're willing to drive her around and if I can see her at least once a week that should mitigate the guilt. :)

Now, the cleaning for the rental inspection. Haven't done as much as I feel is necessary but the house is better than it was a week ago. My bed is clear! Yes, fine, the garden's still a jungle, the cubs' room is dangerous to navigate, but my bed's clear!

Hee, I was chatting with the After School Care coordinator the other day and she was telling me about the study she's been doing for the job. She was expressing amazement that she'd managed to finish a 750 word essay about Piaget's Theory. I had to physically stop myself saying: '750 words? That's nothing!'. I used to be daunted by 500 word projects. I wonder how I'd go now that I've got some word-smithing experience? Hmm...
[Edit: the Blogger spell check suggested 'smiting' instead of 'smithing' <snerk> True, sometimes you do have to beat those words into submission...]

Odd dream last night. There was a (bear with me, this is going to be sketchy) sort of Hollywood actors competition where groups were formed around different themes and they had to do... something. Can't remember. Anyway, I looked over the groups, trying to decide where I'd fit best but didn't much like the look of most of them. There was one group, however, that looked eclectic (and more interesting than the Barbie wannabes) and I thought they'll do. But then I indulged in some pathetic passive/aggressive behaviour. Instead of marching up and asking if I could join I performed so badly in the audition that no one else would take me. I was completely unimpressed with myself, but I got what I wanted.
Let's see if I can remember who was in the group. A middle-aged Japanese actress; a handful of older negro actors/actresses; a really gnarled Caucasian actor, and me. And I think they were in Deadwood style costumes. By far the most interesting bunch, but not at all popular and unlikely to win anything.

Moly: Fabulous herb with white flowers and black root, endowed with magic properties; [Oxford concise; 1974]
No reason, I just thought it was interesting...

Oops, been a while...

Well, Mum's scheduled for surgery this coming Friday. She's understandably apprehensive but determinedly not thinking about it. Still not sure how long she'll be in hospital. The plan was, initially, that she'd be going home at the end of October but apparently her therapists are making noises about keeping her in rehab for another couple of weeks beyond the surgery. The not knowing, not being able to make plans is very annoying for my organised mother. :)

She was allowed another day outing last weekend so the cubs and I picked her up and drove her home. She picked up some more bits and bobs, and met up with a couple of friends, then we trooped up to the Patchwork Teahouse for a coffee. Amazingly, I didn't buy anything! I did take a couple of photos though, and they'll be up at flickr soonish.
Had to have a nap when I got home - sooo much driving... Half-hour to the hospital; hour up to Mum's; another half-hour there and back to the Teahouse. Repeat in reverse. <shakes head>
The previous weekend's outing to the shopping centre was exhausting as well, but that was mostly cos of the crowds, I think. And then of course the cubs were clamouring to go to the Meccano Club Exhibition afterwards - which was half an hour away in the opposite direction from home. No wonder I was knackered.

On top of all this to'ing and fro'ing for Mum, I've got a rental inspection due. That's been tough. I generally choose to ignore housework - and it is a choice - but that choice is swinging 'round to bite me on the bum. <shrugs> I'll ride it out, I always do, but I'm not very pleasant to be around at the moment. Eh, at least my house will be thoroughly clean, for a little while.

Cubs' school had its official opening this morning, with dignitaries in attendance an' all. It kicked off at 8 a.m. which meant getting up at stupid'o'clock. Very, very glad we had the car. Would've been a nightmare getting down there on time by bus.
So anyway, speeches speeches blah blah, including a particularly simpering example from Federal Treasurer Peter Costello.
I overheard the person next to me say: 'He plays the audience like a violin.' Yes, but any idiot can pick up the instrument, doesn't mean it sounds any good. I've never much liked violins anyway...
I took a lot of pics but as my woodgie camera wasn't able to get decent shots of anything happening more than 10' in front of me I took a lot of shots of shoes, and shadows. <g> Had to disable the 'boing' sound effect on the camera; it was very loud.
Mercifully, the 'official' part didn't go for too long then we were able to stampede to the free food. Oh yes, the event was catered. We were each given a carry-bag of breakfast type comestibles. A plastic bowl and spoon; a carton of low-fat yoghurt; mini pack of cereal - Special K or Sultana Bran; small container of low-fat milk, and a muffin, which was probly low-fat/high GI/low sugar (I gave mine to the cubs). There was fruit, too, in baskets on the tables. Lots and lots of fresh fruit. Disgustingly healthy start to the day - I should probly do it more often.

Sue found this badfic reference!
I think my fav has to be:

"Remus allows Sirius to pick their new flat. If you're against slash assume it's for financial reasons..."

Against slash for financial reasons? <choking>
Or this little beauty:

"Draco 'ruins' Hermione's reputation by seeing her in her underclothing while a ferret and is forced to marry her."

Wait, what? Hermione turns into ferret as well? Or can her underwear metamorphose? <snerk>
Thanks, Sue!

Our ABC has started showing a documentary series - Life at One - where a group of children are followed from birth (from conception in a couple of cases!) until their first birthday. It's an attempt to define how our personalities develop, and what sorts of things influence them. The tagline of the program is 'Show me a child at 1 and I'll tell you what sort of adult they'll be'. Okay, I might be paraphrasing that but it outlines the essence of the doco.
My cubs at 1 were pretty laid-back, new situations and changes to their routine didn't seem to bother them, and they never seemed to experience the separation anxiety that other, singleton, children did. I think, according to them, as long as their brother was there all was well. <g>
Laid-back they may have been but if there was something they wanted they could be extremely determined and inventive - and they worked in tandem. Little buggers! :) Not much has changed, really.

Music!
I'm a very happy Lutra at the moment. After a couple of weeks I finally caught the name of a track I've been hearing on the radio so I was able to scamper over to iTunes and buy it! Wolf Like Me - TV on the Radio. This wasn't one of those songs that grows on you, I loved it from the opening bars, the very first time. And once I had a copy I was able to decipher the lyrics... Bonus, it's a werewolf song! I've never understood the sexiness of vampires - that whole 'undead immortal' thing just doesn't do it for me - but werewolves? Now that's something else entirely...
I've generally been having fun frolicking through iTunes, d/l'ing all sorts of stuff. Coldplay, Body Rockers, Eskimo Joe, Foo Fighters (with my other favouritist song ever - Everlong), Placebo, Pony Up, Kasabian, White Stripes. I'm working through my extensive list of must buy/replace tracks. :) A lot of what I listen to is very primal, bit hard, bit fast. There's not a lot of esoterica that makes an impression and sod all of the 'hits and memories' genre. (Gah, I sneered at that stuff first time 'round, there's no comfort in listening to it now, let alone the new commercial pap. <shudder> Gods, even the 'raunchy' stuff is so bland it makes my brain seize...)
So yes, I like being able to pick and choose tracks rather than having to buy entire albums - and while iTunes might only let me burn audio CDs, Winamp will let me rip mp3s from audio, which means new music on my phone! Woohoo! As I said, I'm a happy Lutra.

Lucky Mum, today she had me and my cubs visiting at the same time as Soulsis and her horde. <g> Probably fortunately the 4 boys took themselves off to explore the hospital grounds - it was getting awfully crowded in the room.
Soulsis brought some lovely home-made soft cakey things for mum, and some colourful eclectica for me. :) A big plastic paperweight filled with bright beads; five cute bamboo styled chopstick rests, and a hippo shaped wafer biscuit thing.

I'm taking Mum on an excursion tomorrow, a shopping trip. She's really looking forward to it, but then I remember what it was like being stuck in hospital for weeks, and just how exciting the prospect of getting out was, even for a little while. :)

<wilting> 37 degrees today. Hottest October day in 90 years. I'm not ready for Summer...

Really bizarre mix in my dream last night. The M cub was with me. An old style diesel engine pulled up. My cub knew what model it was, and that something was wrong with the 'uptake'... something. I told him not to speak too loudly cos he'd ruin the plot for the people who hadn't worked out what was going to happen. Yes, we were in a movie, along with that Jack(?)someone - the Brit actor who appeared in loads of old war movies. (Or was it Kenneth More? Tch.)
Scene change to the cubs' father industriously cleaning the house we were in the process of moving out of. (This bit, I suspect, is complete wish-fulfillment on several levels.) I half-heartedly had a go at wiping something but got distracted by a box of interesting ephemeral stuff that either had been, or should've been mine.
In amongst this Soulsis appeared, either asking for a pic of - or telling me about - a particular style of koi. It was a 'crescent' koi, basically a more or less solid colour with only a contrasting 'crescent' moon shape on it's back. Beautiful. There were letters associated with them as well (as I found out when I googled [in the dream]) - KKR? QKR? something like that.
And finally, the last thing I was looking at before I woke up was a photo or postcard of a brunette, viewed from behind. She was standing in beach shallows, looking out to sea. I get the impression of a filmy, short, belted white tunic, and I think she was holding something long in her right hand. She was accompanied by 7 thin hounds - Afghans, is the closest I can get - standing or sitting to her left, all attentively following her gaze. It was a glorious pic, beautiful composition, taken somewhere in the Greek Isles I presumed, judging by the stunning colour of sea and sky. It felt like a modern interpretation of an ancient Goddess, an impression heightened by not seeing her face.
Needless to say, it took me a little while to integrate with the 'real' world this morning.

Mum news. :)
I drove her to an appointment with a vascular surgeon this morning.
Lovely woman, clear and concise, and patient. Upshot is that mum's going to have surgery to clear out the obstruction in her carotid artery. There's a small risk that the surgery may trigger another stroke, but there's a greater risk if nothing's done. Mum was philosophical.
She was less philosophical when she found out how much longer they're planning to keep her in rehab, however. <g> Until the end of October, most likely. All going to plan she'll have her surgery during that time so she doesn't have to come back in to hospital after she's gone home.
And as I was ferrying her around I had empirical evidence of why stroke victims aren't allowed to drive for at least 3 months. After asserting strongly that she could get back behind the wheel without any problems at all, Mum then proceeded to misinterpret all the visual cues of the traffic, and lights, and signposts. After some time of me (gently) correcting her - ('We're slowing down because the car in front has stopped, Mum') - she admitted that perhaps she wasn't quite ready to drive just yet... <rueful>

I keep having dreams about living in places that have no proper toilets...

Penny and I were chatting this morning about our respective weekends. I told her about the cubs pretending to be daleks (using an old fashioned plunger as a prop). She told me about the trials of kneading 4kgs of white fondant icing for a wedding cake she's decorating. I suggested that an old Kenwood mixer would've been handy for that - then I went off on a tangential reminiscence about how much I used to love pinching the dough hook* from my mum's mixer so I could play 'pirate'. Penny laughed and said she could see the similarities between my boys and I... :)

Mum's doing well, even if she thinks her recovery isn't happening fast enough. She's having occupational therapy, physio and speech therapy every day, and later this week she'll be seeing a vascular surgeon about potentially removing the block in her artery. It's also going to be at least 3 months before she can drive - which means I'll have use of her car for that time, but I'll feel obliged to drive her around to her doctors' appointments, I suppose. <g>

And I've a new Snupin bunny to chase so I'm happy again.

(* That's not a Kenwood hook, but it's the closest I could find with a cursory search.)

Okay, some good news, finally. Mum's been moved to a rehab hospital which means she's not considered to be 'at risk' any more. Phew. I spoke to her doctor today as well and discovered it wasn't a mild stroke at all, but as it only affected a fairly small area it didn't seem that bad. One of her carotid arteries is occluded 69-70% and she may need surgery to clear the blockage. There's risks associated with that, naturally, but the doctor seemed confident it could be successful.
All being well Mum could be back home with her cat in 5-7 days. We'll have to wait and see if she'll be allowed to drive though.


Kittenkong 'helping' one of the cubs with his homework.
(I was appalled, however! One of the words on his spelling list was 'center'! I shall have to have words with his teacher...)

Speaking of spelling, I was having a hunt around for a copy of the Chronicles of Riddick DVD. Couldn't see it anywhere on the shelves - they must've sold out.
Then it dawned on me: c-H-r. <shakes head> Sometimes the blonde goes all the way to the bone...
(And yes, it was there under the correct spelling. Tch.)

I've just finished an angst-on-a-stick Snupin ficlet (only 3 pages). It's the - <counts on fingers> - fifth part of this particular plot arc and will probly be up at The Zone shortlyish. Two more fics should see it through to the end, I think.

Well, I'm certainly a little stress-bunny at the moment; I've had a niggling headache that's ebbed and flowed - mostly flowed - for four days now. In fact what I'm feeling right now is recognisably akin to the sort of stress induced by rental inspections or moving house. Which is odd, really cos I wouldn't have thought it was quite as bad as all that. Perhaps it's cos there's multiple small stresses ganging up on me instead of one huge mofo. Hm.
So what's going on?
Mum's still in hospital. She's not improved but neither has she got worse. She's capable of looking after herself but the hospital doesn't seem to be in any hurry to release her. She's waiting to see the specialist - tomorrow, I think - and then we'll hopefully have some concrete indications about her future. I know we'll both feel better once we have something definite to plan for.
I've still got Mum's car and that's a whole 'nother load of niggles, not least of which is that other drivers are so stupid, and dangerous. Sheesh - you can't trust any of them to do as expected! Being on high-alert everytime I get behind the wheel is very wearing. (Yes, I could just not use it but it saves a lot of time, especially getting out to visit Mum. 25 minutes as opposed to an hour and a half...)
Plus it was the first day back at school today and already there's a list of bitty crap piling up that I have to wade through. Gods above, why is nothing ever simple there? And is it possible to find yet another way of screwing money out of us? It all feels really sly and underhand, as well, along the lines of 'Look what's happening here! Isn't it great? Oh, by the way we need you to pay for this, and this, and this...' So irritating. Though to be fair, that perception could just be my cyclical paranoia. I'm sure I'll be all sunshine and fluff again in a few days. <grump> (The dream I had last night hasn't helped, either. I discovered that in the undersea world we were operating in, both my cubs and Penny's daughter were being deliberately held back, physically, emotionally and academically. I woke up angry - never a good way to start the day.)

<sigh> I'll survive, no doubt, I have in the past, but currently I feel I'm approaching a 'Cannot cope, off to Mordor' moment. Eh, could be worse, I spose, though I'm not going to speculate on how it could be worse cos I don't quite trust my luck at the moment...

So there we were at the Museum on Wednesday - the cubs, Sarah and I - trailing about having fun and going 'Oooh', as you do, when I got a phone call from a friend of my mum's letting me know that Mum was just being bundled into an ambulance.
Eeep!
Apparently she'd had a mild stroke - ultrasounds and CAT scans later confirmed it - but at the time she was protesting that don't be stupid, she was fine. <rolls eyes>
So, she's in hospital, and not terribly impressed. The stroke's affected her word recall but thankfully not much else by the looks of it. There's no problems with her motor functions, and though she's perhaps a touch slurred in her speech it's mainly that she keeps losing words. And my mum's a great talker so not being able to communicate readily is very frustrating. Trying to convey what it is she needs has been a trial, though vaguely amusing, I have to say. Seems like we're using a combination of mime and telepathy at times and it just makes us giggle at the ridiculous of it all.
Haven't had any direct contact with her doctor yet so we've no idea how long she'll be hospitalised. In the meantime I've got her car - so I can pop in and see her without having to rely on public transport or Soulsis' kindness - and her cat's in the cattery. Poor bugger; I don't like him very much (it's mutual) but he obviously misses her. He was giving me such a look as I was going through drawers and cupboards finding clothes for mum. <g> I had no right to be doing that!
Hopefully she'll be able to go home soon, and without too much disruption to her life. It'd hurt if she had to stop driving, I'm sure, the loss of independence would be awful. Eh well, we just wait and see, I suppose.

Oh, and I have to say big thanks and huggles to Soulsis for running the cubs and I out to the hospital on Thursday, and then over to Mum's to pick up the car. Would've been sooo much more awkward without your help, sweetie, thanks! :)

<happy dance> Finished and sent off my sekrit Snupin Santa Challenge! In plenty of time, too, the deadline is the beginning of November. Thanks, Joules, for the beta - and the Brit-check. I had no idea 'bailing up' is an Australianism...

It's been a laid back kind of holiday. Haven't been tearing around madly doing stuff, mostly cos I just can't afford it. But we've managed a couple of things. Last week Soulsis et al popped 'round for the day; she stayed here with the boys (all four of them) while my niece and I went down to the city for a visit to the National Gallery. It's a big place, a bit overwhelming, not something you can see all of in one day. Best way to tackle it is to go for a couple of hours and look at only a few sections. Bit of a bugger if you're only visiting Melbourne, but honestly, there's so much there.
What did we see? Browsed around the textiles and the European 14th to 18th centuries for a bit, then had a snack, then Becca decided she wanted to see the modern stuff. Not much at all in that collection - that was on display at any rate - but what there was was striking. But, how do you judge 'good' Modern Art? Where's the line between 'wank' and 'significant'? There were a couple of pieces where I found myself thinking, 'Blimey, I could've done that!' But could I? Could I really have tried to play with colour and form and produce something that wasn't pretentious, or worse, ordinary? Some of the pieces looked as though they'd been executed very quickly but that's not to say there was no thought put into them. I know that's how it works when I'm writing, I can (usually) ponder something for ages, then bang it gels, and off I go...

The Gallery's a bit precious about taking photos, too, but I took this before I'd actually asked if it was all right to take photos. I can technically plead ignorance, yes?



This is a doll's dress from the 1800's. It's about 40cm in length (big doll!) and made of patchwork, specifically the 'tumbling block' design. Cor...

I also had a wander through the photographic gallery upstairs - photos from America in the 1930's to the '50's from various photographers. They weren't 'arty' but they captured a moment in time and made it real. Just amazing, it's the sort of stuff I aspire to.
After that Becca and I had to go home cos we was all culcha'd out. <g>
In the meantime the cubs had had fun with their cousins, and Soulsis wasn't ready to kill any of them by the time we got back so all in all it was a successful day.
And I got presents! A pair of pressed glass plates with goldfish designs! Becca had painted the fish on one of them a lovely, vibrant orange. Gorgeous!

And yesterday the cubs' father offered to take the cubs and I to Puffing Billy! (He'd hired a car for the weekend.) That was great, and the cubs' father's first time on the train. Cold though, and it rained! It hailed, in fact. We didn't stay too long, just took the train to Lakeside, had a look at the model railway, then caught the next train back to Belgrave. Because we had a car we were home by 3. <g> It was a good day and the cubs had a ball. There'll be some photos up at Flickr soonish, once I've winnowed down the 170 to something reasonable. Damn, I love having a camera again...

A snippet of Joules' and my ICQ conversation. Inspired by this photo:

...which flowed on from something mentioned in my previous post. ("(The cubs are playing a combat game on the Xbox. One of the cubs has draped himself with a green bedspread - his 'camouflage gear'. )..." )

Lutra: I've got a pic, though they posed for it.
Joules: go on then.
hang on...
[pause while I fiddle about sending files...]
<pissing self laughing> um yerrss. I like hte headgear, very camoudlaging.
<giggling> indeed... they remind me so much of myself...
you wander round in a green blanket witha teletubbie on your head? <patpat> keep taking the tablets.
LOL! Well, not that, specifically, but wandering around draped in other stuff pretending to be something else...
That happens less now than when I was 11. all my imagining now goes on in my head.
and I see snowglabes.
globes too
<g> er, yes
<bangs head on desk> <glares at fingerials and leapfrogging keyboard>
actually, snowlgabe is a nice word.
it is! Sounds like a weapon.
a snowglabe... mmm, it does.
snowlgabes.... a kind of owl?
<g> an owl... with weapons!

<g> We can keep ourselves amused for hours...

A header for a bit of spam I received today:

Please your woman Brock

That's a funny name for a woman...

Ack! The cubs tell me they're developing pubes! Nooo! It'll be facial hair next!

I knew I wasn't on par the other day when I made myself a cup of tea but when I looked in my cup I saw I'd only added hot water to sugar. Hm.
What's more significant, perhaps, is that I don't take sugar with the tea I'd been planning to use.

'Snark' is a great word - but it's a fanon word. I don't think it should appear in fics that are trying to follow canon. (And I say this in full knowledge that I've used it before in my own fics. Tch. Sloppy.)

You know what I like most about my camera? (And it is a camera - its secondary function is a 'phone.) It's the instant gratification. Take a photo, download it, have a look. Easy peasy. And one day soon I'll work up the courage to see about getting prints made. One of the photo shops nearby will do prints from digital for 20¢ a piece (cheaper than regular processing). The 'conditions' are that there has to be more than 10 in a batch (<eyebrow> considering I've narrowed my 'must print' list down from umpteen to a mere 200 I don't think that'll be a problem) and it must be a 'next day' service rather than 'instant'. I can live with that. :)

I'm still really enjoying the Tennant series of Dr Who. There's no excessive moralising, the stories are - mostly - sharp, and about as believable as Dr Who gets. Costumes/prosthetics are great, the sets don't wobble... It's all good.
It makes me ponder, too, which is something that happens all too rarely with television. For instance, in last week's episode one of the character's has childhood memories of the Doctor. In the flashbacks we see our hero, but there's no sign of Rose. I got all shivery thinking that with time being as fluid as it is around the Doctor, that scenario could've come from any time in this incarnation. He could've come back to our past years after Rose. Cor...

At least once during any given school holiday I indulge in staying up stupidly late. Night before last I got offline and shut down the 'puter around midnight but I wasn't too tired so I thought I'd make a start on a bit of knitting...
I crawled into bed at 3.45. Needless to say I was useless the next day. <g>

And we're almost at the end of the first week of this two-week term break. Haven't done much at all (can't afford to!) and I'm more relaxed than I have been in quite some time...

(The cubs are playing a combat game on the Xbox. One of the cubs has draped himself with a green bedspread - his 'camouflage gear'. <giggling>)