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Friday 30 November 2007

Ha! Hahahaha!!

Silly husband!



What a dork.

Thank goodness he hasn't been out in public looking like this.

The hazards of redecorating

The husband is stripping wallpaper remnants off the pelmets in the lounge, and there is much swearing going on (pelmets are evil to strip) so I retreat outside to hang the washing out.

The next thing there is a loud bang from inside the house.

Obviously I finish hanging out the washing. Very concerned and caring wife, I know, but honestly from experience I know that if the husband had hurt himself the bang would have been followed by a whump and/or yell or some such similar injured-husband sound. So, I'm assuming that it's the house that's injured, in which case, I'd rather delay establishing the seriousness of the injury.

On taking the empty washing basket back inside, I opt to yell from the other end of the house (the husband hates when I yell from the other end of the house, but sometimes it's best to be away from the eye of the storm until you know what's going on) ...

Me "Did you break something?"

Him "Yip"

(He's completely calm, which doesn't really equate with the husband having broken something)

Me ( *sniff* *sniff*) "Can I smell burning?"

Him "Yip"

(Obviously now I'm curious ... and once I make it to the lounge, I see that there is a power point hanging off the wall)

Me "Did you blow that up?"

Him "Yip" and I swear, he sounded really pleased with himself.

(This is, after all, a man who removed the safety guards from an electric fly swat to maximise carnage, and is able to assure me that yes, it really does hurt when you touch it ...)

Apparently it added a little bit of interesting to the wallpaper stripping ...

Thursday 29 November 2007

Do you know what today is?

(Aside from pay day that is ... whew. Big Visa bill this month)

Do ya? Do ya?

Today is 29th November. Which means that tomorrow is 30th November.

Guess what's special about 30th November?

It's the last day of this ...




WHOOPPEE!! *Happy dance*

No, no, not the husband - the mo' (and it's difficult to appreciate from that angle exactly how hairy the mo is).

Yes, it's all for a good cause, blah blah, except I'm pretty sure that the husband managed to get through the entire month forgetting to actually register which means that I've been tolerating le fuzzy face for nothing ... although I'd bet my right arm (which is the one I use for swiping my Visa whilst shopping, just so you understand the gravity of the bet) that he'd argue that it's just as much about supporting his fellow mo' bros as registering with your own, in an attempt to wriggle out of being accused of being hopeless (with great affection, of course).

Or, when you think about it, perhaps not, since I bet my Visa swiping arm ... he'd probably be perfectly cheerful to be accused of all sorts of things (he's pretty well used to it anyway).

Tuesday 27 November 2007

Has anyone seen my dignity?

It's about yay high ... slightly battered looking ...??

No?

Poos.

I dealt with the last of my pre-orientation tests today, so, in preparation for what's to come, I'm feeling a bit sorry for myself tonight, and trying not to dwell on the thought of exactly how many people are likely to be acquainted with my bits before this is over (today's tests were obviously bits-related, but since I have boy readers, I'll spare you all). What I'm endeavouring to focus on is a level of comfort in the precautions that are taken before the IVF cycle, and that these are intended to ensure the highest possible chance of success.

I'm also focusing quite intently on a packet of Shrewsberrys because, on a scale of 1 to 10, thems gooooood comfort food.

Anyone else noticed it's only 4 weeks till Christmas?

I turn the pages of my diary 4 times, and there it is.

Ack.

Monday 26 November 2007

I heart my Moleskine

I'm a creature of habit and it can't be helped.

Every year, around the beginning of October, as soon as they hit the stores, I buy my diary for the following year. I also only buy one type of diary. I'm a Moleskine girl all the way baby. Perhaps there are better diaries out there, perhaps not. I'm yet to find one that I love as much as my Moleskine though. Moleskine has history and soul.

I heart my Moleskine.

I did break out of the box this year though, and instead of my traditional soft cover black weekly diary, this year I went all out - and got a red daily one. In Hardcover. Oooooohhhhh Flaaaassshhhhh (actual serious flash too - it even comes with 3 sheets of stickers for appropriate days - little cakes with candles for birthdays, suitcases for holidays, shopping bags for shopping days!!, forks for dinner dates, sad faces ... probaby for when the Visa bill is due, little hair dryers for hair appointments ... I have no idea what the lightbulbs would be for but they're very cool...) Hopefully it'll work out a bit more successful than the great 18-month diary incident of 2006 where I bought a new diary in July (after the great coffee all over diary incident of a few weeks before that), and ended up noting all my end of year appointments at the end of 2007. Slightly disastrous.

The plan is that I will start transferring information (such as birthdays, holidays, appointments and budgety type things) well in advance, so that I'm ready to kick off the new year with my flas new diary. Except I don't. Ever. I end up carrying the new diary around with my old one (ending my relationship with my old diary is a long, slow, painful process. Every year. My diary is my blankie) for the last 3 months of the year, and the for around the first 6 months of the following year because I can't bear to part with it. This year is no different, and I've been carrying it around for a month and a half already, and transferred the sum total of no information across.

It does look very cool sitting on my desk though.

I heart my Moleskine lots.

Thursday 22 November 2007

CSI Manurewa

Crime Scene Exhibit A - The insulation fluff, all over the oven (and floor and surrounding bench).




Crime Scene Exhibit B - The hole above the oven, created by the husband on removing the rangehood a week or so ago.







Crime Scene Exhibit C - The paw marks on the wall.




Ergo, the perp who got up into the roof and dislodged crap all over the place.



Life's little questions

You know how, when you're following a laden car carrier on the motorway, the thought passes through your head I wonder what would happen if those cars weren't secured properly?

It turns out that a car shoots off the front of the carrier bit when the carrier comes to a quick stop because one of the cars has liberated itself.

I imagine though that the owner of the decidedly 'stang-looking classic car which I saw lodged between the front of the carrier bit and the cab of the truck, and no longer in what I imagine had been show condition, would have preferred to remain in blissful ignorance.

Just a guess.

Tuesday 20 November 2007

Happy dance

Engagement ring:

The jeweller submitted his quote to my insurer and a year later, my insurer accepted the quote. From there, things become much simpler.

I chose the new diamond for my engagement ring yesterday (!!!), and nutted out the redesign of both my engagement and wedding rings with the jeweller. He's picked out a gorgeous (BIGGER! SPARKLIER!) diamond for me too, so I can't wait to get the rings back (with a few extra little sparklies in the wedding ring to make the new design work ... ahem. Happy wedding anniversary to me last month ...).



Renovations:

The last room at home was denuded of wallpaper yesterday, and the insulation is going in the internal wall around the master bedroom in the next day or so (supposedly today, but the installer had a bit of a crisis and couldn't get to us today. I know ... tradesmen and all that. But, seriously, the story he told us would have to be true. You know the old saying, truth is stranger than fiction? Uh huh. Apparently it all started to go wrong at the job before us when they drilled into the wall, and through some wiring ... woops).

Next on the list - finalising the new kitchen design, choosing colours and booking it in for manufacture and installation.

We also found a plasterer who actually turned up when he said he would (weeeellll ... within 24 hours of when he said he would anyway) and gave us a much better quote than 3 to 4 thousand dollar guy, so he starts on 10th December, and should be done within a week.

Curtains are due back this time next week.

After visiting a few more linen stores, the duvet situation still looks a bit of a worry, but I'll give myself hysterics over that at a later date (as in, when I have the curtains back and the material to match a duvet to ... or rather, not match a duvet to, hence the source of the hysterics).

The husband is also demanding that we buy the bathroom accessories this weekend, as he's well over hanging his towel on the floor.

I'm demanding that the husband has a shave.

I have a feeling that the bathroom accessories will happen, but the shave will not. 10 more days till the end of Movember!

Battening down the hatches

Sooo I did a budget. IVF is next March, meaning that we, at this point, need to plan for a single income from around the end of next year. We are also in the process of spending a lovely chunk of cash on the house. And so, a budget has been drawn up ...and turned upside down and shaken, just in case some extra money fell out. Which it didn't.

Suffice it to say, the budget is not pretty.

I suppose I must be honest, and acknowledge that it's all relative and it just depends on which way you are looking at it. But, the way I'm looking at it is that we have goals to meet, and stuff to do and so the marvellous shopping fun I have been having to date will henceforth cease ... meaning that said budget is an actual, serious, grown up, must-stick-to-it-and-no-cheating type budget. Ergo, it's not pretty.

Half the fun is in the cheating.

Bollocks.


I also seriously hope that mortgage interest rates go down before we have to re-fix our mortgage next March. Ha! Hahahahahahahaha!!


Stupid mortgage interest rates.

Sunday 18 November 2007

Hey baby

Noah, looking for all the world like he didn't spend the previous night keeping all the other babies in special care awake ... apparently he has quite a set of lungs on him.




Lola and her hairy uncle



To give you an indea of how teeny tiny she really is, this is her, holding her uncle's thumb


This one is quite fuzzy, but still gorgeous



And Sienna, having a marvellous time at the playground. Still dry. Before aunty took her to look at a water feature, and she ended up in it (in my defence, it was a logical assumption to a non-parent that the nineteen month old would stand on the side of the pond and look, as opposed to dashing in for the sheer fun of it. I also had no idea a nineteen month old would be quite so fast. Now I do.)





Thursday 15 November 2007

What?

I posted twice yesterday, so that means I get a long weekend. Naff off.


Oh, and for Nikki ...

Twins, I could do (there's about a 15% chance of identicals, 0% chance of fraternal).

If there are triplets, just because you made the joke, I'm posting the third one in your direction.

xo

Wednesday 14 November 2007

Babies!

I thought Michelle would kill me if I put the post birth pic of her and the babies up, so instead you get Noel and the babies...




Ah, what the hell, I'll just buy her some chocolates or something ...





Noel Sienna and the babies (Noah on the left, Lola on the right ... assuming they got the pink and blue tags around the right way ...)



And one more of the babies! (Noah on the *mumble* and Lola on the *mumble* It's a bit of a worry, the pink tag is on the left, and the name tag sign thing is on the right ... makes it a bit tough on an auntie!)

(ETA - Noah on the left, Lola on the right! I have confirmation!)




Irony

irony / n. (pl. - ies) apparent perversity of an event or circumstance in reversing human intentions.


I'm sitting in the cubicle at Diagnostic Medlab, having all my blood sucked out (seriously, how do they need fifty five million little tubes of blood? Can't they all share the same tube?) so that I can be tested for everything under the sun in preparation for IVF.

Then this sails through the waiting room walls ...

Little boy "You shush"

...

Little boy "No, YOU shush! MMMUUUUM!!! She told me to shush! She's not allowed to tell me to shush! YOU HAVE TO TELL HER TO SHUSH!"

Mum "Keep your voice down"

Little girl "I did not!"

Mum "Shhh"

Little girl "But MMUUUUUMMMM... I DIDN'T!"

Mum "Shhhh"

Little Boy "Haha! YOU shush!"

Little girl "No YOU!"

*Whop* *Whop*

Mum "BOTH OF YOU SHUSH!"

WWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH from one of the kids.

I looked at the lady still sucking all my life force out and asked her very politely to stop the blood test, I've changed my mind.

She looks at me, then my form, bursts out laughing and says "It's worth it. I promise."

Well, if she's lying, I know where she works.

Tuesday 13 November 2007

Current mission

Trying to stop puppies from trying to sniff the wallpaper steamer while it's going.

Honestly.

The piccy omitted last night ...





From the renovation files, aside from the serious mess, things are progressing.

The first lot of curtains (the bedroom curtains) are due back from being remade in 2 weeks, and I've done some preliminary hunting for a duvet/bedspread for the master bedroom ... nothing serious, just enough to realise that finding the right something to fit with the curtains is going to be a pain in the ass. Oops.

We've had a plasterer through who has given us an indicative figure for skim coating the walls, although we're going to line up another quote for that as the guy that came through said $3,000.00 to $4,000.00, and if you ask us (which, technically you didn't, but your mere presence here will be treated as evidence of your curiosity) that' s a pretty loose figure. A variation of a grand? At that cost level? Hmmm. If it was $10,000 to $11,000.00, then maybe, but at this point I'm iffy. Does the $4,000.00 depend on whether his wife decides to buy a new handbag that week ...? Maybe the husband should investigate becoming a plasterer ...

Oooo and we've added insulation to the list - for the obvious benefits vis a vis ...well, insulating the house, but also for soundproofing around the master bedroom.

...

Because the husband works nights and the sound buffer might help with sleeping during the day if and when there are little people in the house, you filthy minded ...Yeesh.

Did I mention though that the original renovation budget didn't have insulation in it and the insulation is $5,000.00? Eek. No more new shoes for aaaaaages.

I think that's all the progress covered. I hope so, because all the lights in the office are taped down so I can't turn them on (wires hanging out the wall and such, and a slight propensity to accidentally do myself bodily harm with that sort of thing), and I'm going a bit cross-eyed typing in the dark.

Happy Wednesday for tomorrow.

Left the second picture out, didn't I?

Oops.

Blame the wallpaper. I'll post it tonight.

Monday 12 November 2007

You thought the gardens were bad?

You should see the power of crap spread from one end of our house to the other in the midst of wallpaper stripping ...except I didn't take a photo, so you can't. You'll have to use your imagination instead. Suffice it to say though, the place is a tip.

To distract you all from the distinct lack of content in tonight's blog post (am knackered after stripping wallpaper), I whipped this gorgeous one of my niece Amelia having a snooze off her Bebo page.



I do hope though that that ass is mostly nappy, or she's going to hate jeans shopping as much as her auntie does.

Hehe. So cute.

Oh, and puppies in the midst of this evening's disaster zone, wondering what on earth is going on in their big kennel.

Sunday 11 November 2007

P.S.

I added some extra info to the twins' arrival post, if you're curious!

Ummmmmm.....

I've pretty much been gardening all weekend, so it's a bit scant on the interesting-things-to-talk-about front. Actually, since it's a bit scant on the any-type-of-things-to-talk-about front ... I took a picture of the weeds in one of my gardens, because they were particularly impressive.

Wanna see?






There's a single miniature fruit tree in the middle, and possibly a ground-covery type thing, but otherwise? All weeds.

Obviously, it's a bit hard to beat the arrival of the twins on Saturday morning.


Now that I think about it, weeds aside, fascinating though they are, I did actually learn a valuable lesson about thinking out loud ...

As part of the house renovations, a new kitchen is going in. As part of the new kitchen, the breakfast bar is going bye bye in favour of a movable island, giving us more space in general in the kitchen, and around the kitchen table.

Even I, a person who largely expects the unexpected, was temporarily speechless after saying to the husband that we should take the breakfast bar out and see how much extra room it creates, and the next thing he and Pal Stu had picked up the breakfast bar and ripped it out of the wall.

It does create a power of extra space though, and aside from the fact that I keep turning around to put things on the bench and dropping them on my foot, they did good.

Saturday 10 November 2007

Welcome into the world babies!

Noah David and Lola Grace are here!

Woop! Woop!

(Very excited auntie and uncle!! obviously ... look at the blinking time that I'm out of bed on a Saturday morning!)

The babies arrived via drug-free (!!) natural birth (!!) in less than three hours (!!!!!!), with Lola weighing in at 5 lbs 5 oz, with Noah apparently having eaten all the pies, at 6 lbs.

We're going to visit next weekend (the husband applied for leave in advance (and had it approved, for a change), hoping there would be babies to meet by the time it rolled around, and bless them, said babies have fitted in with our schedule nicely), so I'll be taking heaven knows how many photos and posting them then.

Thursday 8 November 2007

I'm so proud ... I mean ... horrified.

(Look away Jan and Gen ... come back another day!!)


Jess caught her first rabbit at the park today.

Horrifying, absolutely. But, completely hilarious all the same.

She flushed it out, chased and caught it (Jack was busy sniffing undergrowth ... probably trying to work out where the bunny went) ... then put it back down again and gave it a nudge to keep on running so she could keep on chasing it.

Hehe.

(Bunny did get away. Completely unharmed. Jess is so used to chasing the cat - I think she probably just thought it was Jazz with longer ears and a shorter tail)

No babies yet, but I'm getting loads of exercise, leaping out of my chair every time my phone beeps ...

Wednesday 7 November 2007

Thank goodness for ...

Renovations which will keep me busy and distracted.

My niece and nephew, who may well be with us tomorrow (!! I am so excited) and who I will be taking a weekend away to visit, breaking up the time between now and December 13.

The fifty five million medical things I have to organise before December 13. It's a focus, and really makes it feel like things have already begun.

December 13. Once I make it to the appointment (without dissolving into a puddle of nervous tension hopefully), it'll only be 12 weeks until the IVF cycle.

Christmas holidays. They always go so quickly anyway, and by the time they're done, it'll only be about 10 weeks to go.

My brother's wedding in February, and meeting my gorgeous wee niece Amelia for the very first time. That'll leave less than a month.

Trying to convince the husband throughout that I really do need a new outfit for embryo replacement.

Every step of the way through the next four months I have things to look forward to, to keep me distracted, and which will make the time seem like it's passing quickly.

Thank goodness for all these things.

Tuesday 6 November 2007

13th December. 9.30am.

It was a plain brown envelope in the mail, addressed to me, with no return address.

Completely innocuous.

Not so much when I opened it though.

The Fertility Plus logo appeared, and I felt almost a little confused. Why were they writing to me again?

Oh, yes.

We have a list of blood tests and medical exams required, other information that we must collect, authorities, consents, and other forms to fill out, ethical decisions to make, moral stances that must be established ... and then at 9.30am on 13th December (Thursday thankfully, not Friday, or the superstitious Scot in me would not be amused) we have our orientation appointment with Fertility Plus.

Our IVF cycle will be about 12 weeks after that. So, mid to late March. Not so long, really.

Am I scared?

Yes.

It is the oddest sensation to have so many emotions, so neatly in check, rush to the surface with the simple act of opening a letter.

General order was restored to my universe pretty quickly though, when I went outside to tell the husband of the letter and found him sitting in the spa, holding an umbrella because it was raining.

(OK, OK, he's threatening to beat me if I don't tell you that the purpose of the umbrella was to keep his book that he was reading dry, as opposed to himself. Whatever, if you ask me)

Curtains and such

I've been debating on whether to show you my new curtains or not.

On the one hand, I promised to share (I think) all things renovation, which includes the new curtains ...But then, on the other hand, I'm not entirely sure whether you need to see them in the context of everything all together (walls done, carpet done, new quilts on beds etc) to avoid being completed horrified by my decorating ...erm ...skills. The colours haven't quite translated as richly in photo as they appear in the flesh, but you get the general idea.

For the lounge ...




For the master bedroom ...



For one of the spare rooms (we had to get a bit imaginative with this one, as we have a sliding door on one wall and a tiny window on the opposite wall, but there's not enough material to cover both the big sliding door and the tiny window. So, we're covering the sliding door with this, and we'll put in a cedar drop blind for the tiny window which will look quite different, but cosy and fitting) ...


We've still got one room to go, so I'm keeping my eye on Curtain Exchange in the hope that something completely perfect will come in. Thankfully, we're not in a rush, so there's a good chance of that. And, of course, my favourite pear curtains (in the piccy of Jazz to the right) will stay.

Tomorrow we've got someone coming around too to measure up and make all the necessary alterations to the curtains so that they fit properly as well. At the moment, all of them curtains are (miles) too long, the brown stripe curtain is just one single curtain, so we're getting it split in 2, the blue/red/yellow stripe curtains are in 2 sets of 2, so we're getting those remade to 1 set of 2, and the green ones are in about 4 or 5 sets, so we have to get those all joined up together as well. But, even though there's going to be a bit of work - and cost! - in it, it's still cheaper than buying new, and we've got a much better quality or curtain than we could otherwise afford too, so it's been worth it.

I also have new cushions (!!) (from the same place, so second-hand but new to me) AND a painting for the kitchen.








(the dodgy piccy angle is because it was 6am and I was still half asleep)

Sunday 4 November 2007

Operation Bikini Bum

Yes indeed kiddies, I am in possession of a new bikini.

Now, I just have to do some ... ug ... exercise in an effort to lift my sagging bum a bit closer to the general direction that it was in when I was in my early twenties ... and then there's the thigh issue to address.

Obviously, no amount of anything is going to make me look like Gisele Bundchen ...I'm a ginger, and she's a blonde, for a start ... but if I can reverse the gravitational pull temporarily without suffering too much (as in, having to eat salad), that'd be magic. As it is at the moment, the husband is dragging me up the farm track at the park (lots of hideous ups and downs and stairs and such *shudder*) every other day because apparently if I'm going to whinge about needing to tone up (ish) I have to either suck it up or shut up, and since I love to whinge, that's the price a ginger has to pay apparently.

I can see why some people just get lipo.







And just because, a very cute (rather fuzzy) piccy of the kitty doing GBH to a catnip mouse ...





Thursday 1 November 2007

Movember

It's the time of year that thousands of women dread, and this year I count myself among their number for the very first time.

The husband is registering for Movember.

I'm trying to convince him to go for a Chopper Read mo, but the enthusiastic wee soul is leaning towards full on handle-bars.

The whole thing is ...

I can't even talk about it.

I shall post pics of the hairy monster and his soup strainer later in the month, providing he doesn't wuss out and shave it off (or I don't wuss out and make him).