Toddler-Induced Exhaustion = Quiz Time

Can't think. Too tired. Too many early mornings and late nights with the Toddler. She goes through these spells every now and then when she's up at 5 am and won't go to bed before 8:30 at night. Of course nowadays we're cutting out the naps. Is she too young for Benadryl?

You know what it means when I'm too wiped to come up with anything witty and clever or just plain interesting - quiz time!!!

What I'm having when I come home from Weight Watchers tonight, and it is not a contradiction so long as I don't eat the whole thing:

Cheese Pizza

Traditional and comforting. You focus on living a quality life. You're not easily impressed with novelty. Yet, you easily impress others.

What's Your Pizza Personality?

Oh how I wish we had some more of this weather, only without the scorching heat:

You Are Sunshine

Soothing and calm You are often held up by others as the ideal But too much of you, and they'll get burned You are best known for: your warmth Your dominant state: connecting

What Type of Weather Are You?

Finally, I always knew this to be true. Just need to practice my Dr. Evil laugh:

You Are 32% Evil

A bit of evil lurks in your heart, but you hide it well. In some ways, you are the most dangerous kind of evil.

How Evil Are You?

Technorati Tags: Quizes, Pizza

Congrats Commander

I am a bit late with this, but better late than never.

A big shout out and congratulations to my sister-in-law's husband. Dude got himself a new ship last Friday:



That's no fishing boat! It's the USS Rushmore (LSD 47). We got an invitation to the change of command ceremony, but understandably had to decline. As much as we like him, it's a long flight for a couple of speeches plus tea and biscuits.

So congrats again Commander! Hope you get yourself and your ship to Brisbane sometime.

Technorati Tag: USS Rushmore

Match Report Monday

Hey look, another new regular feature! Now that the Tween and his mates have begun their football season, you will be treated to regular match reports, courtesy of Miss WTF. Her Master 10 also plays for Wests Panthers JRLC, along with Mumfies eldest son. Mr. Mumfies is coaching, at least temporarily as their regular coach has had some health problems. Just one big happy family we are!

Many of you will no doubt be a little lost as you read this. Don't despair - we found that despite not having a clue as to who anyone was or what the game was all about the recipients of last years match reports enjoyed them. Besides, it gives me something to post on a regular basis.

Hope you enjoy this feature and spare a thought for us parents as we hope against hope. Read on and you'll see what I mean:

Date: Saturday 25th Feb
Where: Caloundra, Qld
Who: Caloundra Sharks v Wests Panthers
Result: 74ish - zip, nil, nada, nothing, zero,
zilch...you get the idea.


Well, the boys headed up the coast for their first match of the season as under 11s. Hopes were high, but very quickly dashed. From the kickoff, Caloundra went on the attack and carved us up to score. Tres embarrassing!! A fluke perhaps. Nup! They went on and on and on and on scoring. Our boys looked very ordinary early on. Allowing the Sharks to score whenever they felt like it.

BUT....to their credit (and you know how I love using the odd cliche), it was their first game as a team, it was stinking hot, it was a much longer game than usual (they're used to playing 2 x 20 minute halves and this game was 4 x 15 minute quarters), the opposition fielded one team in the first half and an entirely different team in the second. So, excuses aside, we were soundly whipped. No amount of cheering from the sidelines could make the boys tackle legs OR run up in a straight line in defence OR make them stop throwing the ball up in the air instead of to another player ON THEIR TEAM. Ho hum!! I did get some great photos (I know, what a rebel... I didn't even have permission from the opposition's parents :-)

The second half of the game the boys really seemed to warm to the task (and it had nothing to do with the 30°C heat). The new guys to the team played really well with all of them making tackles and some really nice breaks by Jarrod and Broden. Felix, Ethan and Eli were great up the middle. Top show boys. The old hands played really well too. Dozer got absolutely smashed (and yes I have a photo) head on but got straight back up and kept running. The second half was a vast improvement all round really. All the boys got stuck in and they held Caloundra out for ages whilst also making some really good breaks although they were short-lived. Give
them a couple more weeks of training together and I reckon our boys will be a force to be reckoned with. It's great to have some size up the middle too. Unfortunately, it just wasn't our day. At one point, I turned around to take photos of the other team playing (we had just kicked off) and before I had taken 3 photos, Caloundra had scored again. Ripped off!!!

Anyway, it was a good effort boys. I was very proud that you stuck to your guns and didn't give up, even though you were well out of it by the second half. The fact that they had a fresh team on in that half and you kept the scoring to a minimum shows that you have improved, even with only 30 minutes of game time.

I'm telling you lot.... this could be the year!! Just like the Mighty Wests Tigers last year, we could be on the road to a premiership. You just never know.

Train hard boys. There's always another game :-)


Technorati Tag: Junior Rugby League

Saturday Skinfest

Let's get ready to RUUUUMMMMBBBBLLLLLEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!! Or however he says it...

Poor Greg Bird. The Cronulla Sharks player missed out on the second half of the 2005 season due to injury. Any volunteers to nurse him back to health?



Now I have no idea who this lovely specimen is. It says NRL up in the corner, so he fits my criteria. The number 4 on his right bicep tells me his is a winger, but other than that I'm clueless. That's ok, I'll still keep him.



I gave you Miss Mammary Manly a fortnight ago, so let's see what you think of this Manly cheergirl gettin' her groove on.



Technorati Tags: NRL Players, NRL Shirtless, NRL Cheergirls

Teenage Invasion

I had teenage boys in my house tonight.

This is a big step for me. I only started letting the Teen date last year. And by 'date' I mean hang out at school, talk on the phone or MSN and meet up at the shopping centre with a huge group of people. Most of the boys wouldn't even call the house, or when they did the Teen would lunge for the phone before I could even think about answering it.

But this year is different. This latest boyfriend doesn't go to her school, so she only sees him at Youth (church thing, another post) and on weekends we're free. This should be a good thing, except now she wants him to come over. I was hesitant at first. I've got enough to do without playing chaperone. But I caved and said yes to tonight for the boyfriend and his friend to come and visit the Teen and her best friend AliBug(who lives next door).

The boy, let's call him Lanky, seems nice enough. His mother, however, is a nutter. She was supposed to speak with me right after school to 'confirm' the arrangements with me. Ok, fine. I expected a quick conversation that would go something like this:

Her: "So, will someone be there to supervise the kids?"

Me: "You betcha. No closed doors on my watch!"

What I got after waiting an hour and a half for her to call me back because she was drying off the dog was completely out of left field:

Her: "I'd really appreciate it if the next time they want to make plans they have the parents make the arrangements? I'm not comfortable with them planning it."

Me: "Uh, sure." thinking: How old are our kids? Surely they can plan a get together without my help?

Her: "So what sort of activities do you have planned for them?"

Me: Activities??? I have to plan activities for teenagers??? Is she serious? Should I break out Trivial Pursuit? Is this a playdate like I'd plan for the Toddler? "Uh, well, I hadn't really planned anything. Just thought I'd let them do their own thing."

Her: "I see." Gee it got cold inhere all of a sudden.

Me: "Yes, well, I'm going to be here the entire time so they'll be well supervised. No closed doors or anything like that." Is it too late to hire a couple of old Italian ladies like in the Godfather to follow them around?

I then got her life story about the shameful dating habits of her two older children, how Lanky is the middle child who really doesn't experience middle child syndrome, how her husband is away on business but coming home tonight and how children are exposed to so much more today and the negative influences society has on the precious little darlings but with the Lord's help...

Oh just shoot me now. Look, I have no problem with people being religious. But keep it to yourself in the first conversation, ok??

She was still talking. Focus Mooselet. "So you will be there to make sure there is no inappropriate behaviour?"

Nah, I think I want to be a grandmother at 36 you wacko!! "Of course."

Her: "And they'll be having tea (dinner)?"

What??? Cooking now? "Sure thing. We eat around 6:30."

Her: "Why don't I give you my phone number..."

Ok. Why not fax over his vaccinations as well, just in case? Finally convinced I wasn't going to allow the Teen to corrupt her precious son, permission was granted to allow them to come over.



They've spent most of the time avoiding me. Apparently I'm scary. It took them 15 minutes to come inside and they still won't look at me. Am I really scary?



Points for being brave and introducing themselves to the Hermit though. He's scarier than me. I was thanked for making dinner - hamburgers that I quickly defrosted - so at least he's polite. And he was nice to the Toddler, who kept running up to him and saying hi. He's even come back inside just now to say goodbye and thank me for everything. I like him. But if I have to put up with his mother every time he wants to see my Teen, the sooner they break up the better.

Maybe next time I'll get lucky and be deemed not cool enough like Jeremy's hapless dad:

I can dream, right?

Technorati Tags: Boys, Mothers, Teenagers, Comics, Trivial Pursuit

Thank Goodness for Memes

I was spinning my wheels, wondering just what I was going to post today. I wasn't coming up with anything brilliant when Yellojkt saved me by tagging me with this thoughtful meme. Saved!


1: Black and White or Color; how do you prefer your movies?

I guess it depends on the movie. I don'’t object to old films being colourized, as I think they would've done it that way were it available, but it's got to be a decent job.

2: What is the one single subject that bores you to near-death?

I've had to think about this one, as I can generally talk about anything and like it. No wait, I'’ve got it. Guns. Can't stand it when people start going on about their guns and why it's okay to own 20 rifles. Shut. Up.

3: MP3s, CDs, Tapes or Records: what is your favorite medium for prerecorded music?

CDs for sure. I used to own tapes and records, but it'’s impractical now. As for MP3s, I spend a lot of time in my car and I like my CD collection. Any MP3s get put right back onto disc.

4: You are handed one first class trip plane ticket to anywhere in the world and ten million dollars cash. All of this is yours provided that you leave and not tell anyone where you are going ... ever. This includes family, friends, everyone. Would you take the money and ticket and run?

I'd probably be tempted for half a second, but ultimately no. My kids are my life and money, no matter the amount, would never be a suitable replacement for them.

5: Seriously, what do you consider the world's most pressing issue now?

Ignorance. There is no excuse for it today and it causes so many problems.

6: How would you rectify the world's most pressing issue?Like Yellojkt, through education. It is in some people'’s best interests to keep their populations or followers ignorant. That cycle needs to be broken by nurturing a love of learning.

7: You are given the chance to go back and change one thing in your life; what would that be?

There would be a couple of candidates, and not what you may think. A few bad choices I made have lead me to where I am now, which is pretty happy. How do we know when we change something that the new path is any better than the old one? It's only different. Still, I treated a certain ex-boyfriend very shabbily and I'’d like to change that so he doesn't think I'm such a bitch.

8: You are given the chance to go back and change one event in world history, what would that be?

I'’d make it so the Holocaust never happened. Nothing justifies the wholesale slaughter of 6 million people.

9: A night at the opera, or a night at the Grand Ole' Opry --Which do you choose?

Opera, so I could say I did it and sound all culturally sophisticated and shit.

10: What is the one great unsolved crime of all time you'd like to solve?

Was King Richard III responsible for the murder of his nephews King Edward V and Richard the Duke of York? I'm fairly certain he was, but I'’d like to know for sure. Yeah I'’m geeky, I know.

11: One famous author can come to dinner with you. Who would that be, and what would you serve for the meal?

You mean we wouldn't go out for dinner??? What kind of meme is this? If I'’m having a famous author over, I'’m sure in hell not cooking. Well, she's not well known but I love Alison Weir. She's a historian and her works are not only well researched but read like a fiction novel in spots. I'd pick her brain about medieval history at an Italian restaurant. I like non-fiction and I know that makes me a huge geek.

12: You discover that John Lennon was right, that there is no hell below us, and above us there is only sky -- what's the first immoral thing you might do to celebrate this fact?

Does eating large amounts of chocolate and cheesecake count? Seriously, my moral code isn't based on a heaven/hell concept or a reward in the after-life. It'’s based on simply doing the right thing by my fellow man, so I wouldn't do anything immoral.

I don't want to tag anyone, mainly because I fear the rejection of no one taking me up on it. So go for your life if you want, or not. Whatever floats your boat.

Technorati Tags: Meme

Further Adventures in Toilet Training

You'd think being my third child I'd have some of this down cold by now. But the Teen and the Tween never did this, and I'm at a loss.

The Toddler has decided that peeing in her nappies isn't good. Great, happy day!! She seems to have an understanding as to when she has to go as she starts running and says "I pee, I pee!" Oh joy!

Then she runs right outside and pees on the lawn.

Thank God I have no close neighbours. I can't get her to go on the toilet to save my life. She point blank refuses, but at least she's polite about it. "No thank you."

So what do I do? Do I hope this is a phase and once she gets the hang of learning her body signals she'll go to the loo like the rest of us? Do I push the whole pee-on-the-pot thing or just be happy she's not going through $30 of diapers a week? Do I take her right now to a child psychologist? Help!!!


Technorati Tags: Toilet Training, Toddlers
Photo again from Moose World. I love them.

Blog Promotions

Unlike some bloggers, I don't have an automated 'blogroll'. I've seen so many on other sites that are as long as my leg. You know the owner hasn't been to half of them. Are they worth my time? I add mine the old-fashioned way. When I find a blog I like I add it. Simple.

I've added a few over the past month and I've neglected promoting them. No one has asked me to do this, but I figured you might want to know why I like them and perhaps you'll visit them.

Blogography: "Blogography is a place to learn and grow by exposing yourself to the mind of David Simmer II, a brilliant commentator on world events and popular culture (or so he claims)." I dunno about brilliant, but Dave is pretty funny. As a graphic designer, he peppers his site with cartoon drawings of himself and other things, mostly monkeys. He also has a Liz Hurley obsession and an undying love of Coke with Lime. I can relate to obsessions. Worth your time.

Suburban Turmoil: I love Lucinda. I wish I lived near her so we could be mates. Her posts about hoo ha's are among the funniest things I have ever read. She's also the winner in the Mommy Blog category in the 2005 Best of Blogs, but it's so much more than a Mommy Blog. Go, and go now... or at least when you've finished reading my blog.

Sweet & Somber Fairy Tale: From Ginger, who designed the new template for my blog. Her posts are well-written, as they should be - she's an English teacher. Very witty and down to earth, her recent mobile phone bill screw up will have your total sympathy. Enjoy.

View From the Cloud: A recent addition, I found Harmonica Man through his postings here. Seems we have a lot in common in terms of blog taste as he has both Blogography and Suburban Turmoil on his DIY blog list. His recent post about the perils of allowing teenagers to go off on their own for spring break/schoolies (depending on your country) sold me.

So if you're looking for something new to read or trying to avoid work, go check out these worthy bloggers. This public service announcement brought to you by the letter 'B'.

Technorati Tags: Blogs, Humour
Photo from Moose World

She Got It!

I had no sooner pulled into the carport when I was nearly tackled by the Teen.

"MomMomMom, ohmygoshmom, I got it, IgotitIgotit, ohmygoshmom Ican'tbelieveitIgotit!!!"

She's landed her first job. At McDonald's, or Macca's as it's known here.

The Teen has been desperate for a job for about 6 months now. She's done a few online applications but was knocked back straight away. A friend from school told her to wait until she was 14 years and 9 months and apply for a job at McDonald's. They apparently have an open interview day once a month, and she turned the magical age 10 days ago.

The interview was yesterday, and there were 23 applicants for 4 positions. I never knew Ronald was such a good boss. Each teen hopeful was given a number and 2-5 minutes to impress the owner and two managers.

My girl was ready! School uniform on, minimal make-up and jewelry, hair neat and braces dazzling. She had a binder with not only her application, but her resume, school grades, 3 letters of recommendation (thanks again Patsy, Mumfies and Miss WTF), copies of all her school certificates and achievements, first aid certificate and her proof of Australian residency. Each one had it's own sheet protector as well. Many kids turned up with just the applications and if they were lucky a ratty piece of paper. Feh - they stood no chance against my Teen:



All applicants were also given a sheet of paper which stated that if they hadn't received a phone call by 5pm Thursday to consider themselves not hired. They were welcome to re-apply again next month if they wished. Guess Ronald isn't so great after all with that kind of turnover.

She'll find out this weekend about her orientation. "Orientation? What's that about?" Yeah, we've got lots to learn. I'm excited for her, but a little sad as well. My baby is growing up. I'm not sure if I'm ready for this. I've still got the Tween and Toddler, but she's my first. While I don't love her any more or love the others any less, being my first child means she's got a special place in my heart. I'm proud of her.

That, and I can now get a discount on artery-clogging fries!! Way to go, sweetie!


Technorati Tags: McDonald's, Teenagers, First Job

Chicken Run Away

I love Chicken Run. Really, I do. Brilliant movie, full of English humour and things you miss the first time you watch it.



But I've watched it something like 50 times in the past week. There's nothing I've missed. The Toddler is currently enthralled with it and it's on constantly. Doesn't help it's got some devil's arrangement with the DVD player that makes it start up again and again and again....


Technorati Tags: Chicken Run, Toddlers, Evil DVD Players

Gimme Widgets

I am a gizmos and gadgets type of girl. I love little useless junky trinkets. And now I get them for my desktop. WooHoo!!

Starting at the top left and heading clockwise I've got a picture thing-y that rotates through my photo albums and changes pictures every minute (that's the Toddler in this shot), a button to go and instantly check my Yahoo! mail, a old-fashioned clock complete with second hand and date, the Bureau of Meteorology radar for Brisbane (got some storms on Straddie at the moment), a solar viewer courtesy of NASA and SOHO, the weather forecast for the next 5 days including current information, a calendar, a big trash bucket that tells me just how much crap is in my recycle bin and a 'werewolf monitor' to tell me the phase of the moon.

And my wallpaper rotates from my APOD collection. Did that myself.

It's all utter drivel that I've managed to live without until yesterday. Now I'm off in search of more crap to load up on. Don't look at me like that - you love useless junk too!


Technorati Tags: APOD, widgets

Lost in Translation

I was going through some old pics and came across this one. We spent an overnight in Japan on our only trip back to the US back in December 2004. I took this picture in the bathroom of the Holiday Inn just outside Narita Airport. I really thought that in this day and age bad translations were dead:


Someone please, please PLEASE tell me what they meant by that last one.


Technorati Tags: Bad Translations, Expats, Humour

Witness to Destruction

Yesterday morning, around 9:00, I was out back hanging the never-ending supply of laundry when Tweedle-Dumb and Tweedle-Dumber starting barking their "I see something, I see something" bark.

Since this could range from an axe murderer to a butterfly, I don't give it much thought unless it continues for more than 45 seconds. This bout of furious barking didn't show any signs of abating and I was just about to walk around to the front of the house to see what was going on when the Hermit spoke.

"Honey, were you expecting anyone?"

I guess that meant they were barking at a someone, not a something. And no, I wasn't. I came around the front and saw a white station wagon at the gate. What you've got to understand is just how long my driveway is and the where the gate is. Maybe this'll help:



You can just see the hint of my roof in the middle of the picture, and the gate is at the bottom of the downhill. And from the reverse angle:



It's very long (100 metres). The gates are always shut so Dumb and Dumber don't run off, or worse decide to take a bath in the dam that sits just outside the fence. Very few souls are willing to brave two frantically barking German Shepherds and since the driver of the wagon didn't seem inclinded to get out and wave frantically at me to come down to the gate I didn't budge. Instead I watched as they attempted to reverse up the driveway - you can see in the second pic that it's a little steep - and wondered what the hell they wanted.

Job completed, Dumb and Dumber wandered off. I continued to watch as the car, now back on the road, stopped in front of my letterbox. Leaving me note, I supposed, and wondered if it was another missing pet or a determined Avon lady. The car was stopped for several minutes.

"What's taking so long? I don't want your life story," I thought impatiently. I had laundry to finish as I was down to my last set of clean underwear. At last they drove of, slowing down again in front of my neighbours gate.

About 45 minutes later, the Hermit and I left to collect his now-repaired motorcycle. I asked him to stop at the top so I could see what the Mystery Car had left for us. Here's what I found:




Son of a Bitch!! They broke my mailbox. To make matter even worse, here's what they left:



That's right - freakin' Jehovah's Witnesses left my letterbox looking like a roof in Kansas after a tornado blew through town. They didn't even have the decency to pick up the two slats and leave them on top or even leave me a note apologizing for the wanton destruction of my letterbox. I would've understood - thing's been on the verge of disintergration since we moved in a year and half ago. But they just left it all laying on the ground and still left their silly pamphlet. Bastards.

As the Hermit said after I got back in the car, "If I want to find religion I'll go looking for it, don't bring it to me." Can I get an 'amen'?

It all reminded me of Lucinda's recent post over at Suburban Turmoil. I had left the comment that she needed a couple of dogs to frighten the unwanted visitors off. Well, that bit worked out fine but watch out that your rejected religious freaks don't destroy your property in the process.

Biggest. Control Freak. EVER.

Holy shit.

I thought my first husband, the Bastard, was a pyscho. Actually, he probably thought a lot of these things just never said them.

But good ole boy Travis Frey from Iowa takes the cake. Follow the link up in the title and have a read of this "contract", or as he puts it a "description of rules". Read all 4 pages. Note the time he took in creating the font for the header of each paragraph. Then tell me he doesn't belong in a cell with a large man named Bubba and be his bitch for 20 years.

Saturday Skinfest

I so need the 2006 season to start so I can get more pictures.

We'll start the proceedings with another Anthony "Hairy Chest" Minichiello. I love the "too cute" expression, not to mention the, um, "bundle":



Up next is former Penrith Panther Ben Ross. Now with the Cronulla Sharks, I'd like Ben to come over to my house and strike this pose whenever I'm bored:



A couple of weeks ago I misidentified the cheergirls as being X-Box girls. Miss WTF now thinks they were Midori girls, and I think they were Coke with Lime chicks. To rectify my mistake, I give you men a true X-Box cheergirl:



More next week!

Useless Fact About Me #846

I am pigeon-toed.

I Got a Smack

I decided to submit my blog over at I talk too much for a review. They're quite harsh, blunt and honest, so I was lucky to get my lone smack.

My reviewer was a lot kinder than others who left comments. I can understand why they all thought it was a political blog with my recent posts about the RU486 debate. I don't focus exclusively on that stuff, but it was something I felt very strongly about (see Mama Mooselet's comment to see where I get it from). This is mainly a personal blog, and I promise not to go off on political tangents unless I get really cheesed off about something.

My colour scheme got slammed, mainly over the green. I told Ginger I didn't want pastels, but bright colours. And I didn't force her to use the green, as someone suggested - I made her change the original background colour from blue to yellow when I saw the green she had come up with. It made me think of Aussie colours. So if you think that Australian colours suck, that's certainly your opinion. But Australians might not agree, and nor do I. Colours stay.

On the bright side, my writing didn't get ripped to shreds as I have seen happen with some other reviews. It's too bad they didn't come on a Saturday. Since I got half a smack for the Russell Crowe pic I wonder how many I would've gotten for Shirtless Saturday. She also suggested I loose 'musings' from my page. I'm open to that, but I wouldn't have a clue as to what to replace it with. Any suggestions?

Sanity Prevails

In a rare show of common sense, the House of Representatives of the Australian Parliament has passed the bill allowing control of the abortion drug RU486 to be taken away from the Health Minister and given to the Therapeutic Goods Administration who gets to approve every other drug for use here.


I also see PM John Howard trying to regain a bit of ground lost to Treasurer Peter Costello - widely regarded as the Liberal Party leader when Howard steps down - with this comment:

"No man who enters a debate of this kind should forget that (sensitivity of abortion) and should not lightly pass over the trauma that would face any woman who decided on a termination of pregnancy."

I'll give him credit for voting as his conscience dictated - against the bill - but it's taken away by this comment. Had he said it initially, I'd feel differently. But his sensitive side only came out when Mr. Costello announced he was supporting the bill and it was clear the bill was going to pass. Suddenly John's all about the women.

Stick it in yer ear, Johnny.

Quote from this AAP article.

Bettie Page Rocks

Yellojkt was kind enough to say he was getting a Bettie Page vibe off my swimsuit pic. I was flattered, but only having a vague idea who Bettie was, I Googled her:



Dude, you are so my new best friend. Why can't the Hermit give me compliments like this?

" I was not trying to be shocking, or to be a pioneer. I wasn’t trying to change society, or to be ahead of my time. I didn’t think of myself as liberated, and I don’t believe that I did anything important. I was just myself. I didn’t know any other way to be, or any other way to live."

- Bettie Page.

RU486 Debate Circus

Leave it to the House of Representatives of the Australian parliament to turn a simple yes/no conscious vote into the 3 ring circus worthy of a big top and fairy floss.

In case you're not up to speed or haven't read my last post on this, the vote is whether or not to allow control of RU486 to be taken out of the hands of the Health Minister and handed over to the Therapeutic Goods Administration who approves every other drug in Australia. Said vote has already passed the senate, much to the disappointment of Tony Abbott.

Then the House gets it, and Jesus H. Christ on a pogo stick have they managed to make a muck of it. We got proposed amendments by MP's Jackie Kelly and Andrew Laming to allow final approval to rest with parliament. Ms. Kelly says her amendment represents "middle ground" with "parliament being the ultimate arbiter", while Mr. Laming says "that truly controversial elements of the health system must remain in the hands of Australians and their elected officials. We cannot be sending these decisions down to a government unit, and have it signed off by a bureaucrat."

Yeah I feel so much better now, don't you? I don't want a politician being the "ultimate arbiter" of my health care decisions, especially when the procedure in question (abortion if you haven't figured it out yet) is already legal. Our health system is in enough of a mess thanks to you people.

Our PM John Howard, who is against the bill, has said " "My view on this is that in the end, something as significant as this should still be left for political decision making." No, it should be left to those who understand medicine and drugs and side effects - scientists and medical experts. NOT politicians.

Those opposed to giving control to the TGA use the word "bureaucrat" a lot. Quite frankly, it's nothing more than a scare tactic to allow people to think bureaucrats - who probably rank about the level of pond scum in most people's minds - will be making the decision. Yet the government allows the TGA to make decision to approve or disprove the use of every other drug in Australia. So why can't we trust them on this? It's nothing more than a back door method to block a legal procedure that many are morally opposed to.

And Danna Vale, the MP who suggested that approval of RU486 will allow Australia to abort itself out of existence and become a Muslim nation? She's a twat who ought to be stood down yesterday and has no place representing anyone anywhere. Put your xenophobic racist views back up your ass where they belong. That horse gets trotted out every time there's a new wave of immigrants in any country, and it's simply unfounded ignorant bullshit.

I obviously feel very strongly about this, and I apologize if I bored you with my rantings. I feel that those who oppose the passage of this bill aren't at all concerned with accountability or safety of Australian women. What they are opposed to is abortion, and since they won't push to repeal abortion laws because they'd be voted out of their job they use this method to appease like-minded voters. It's a half-assed measure that smacks of hypocrisy and cowardice. As my father would've said "Shit or get off the pot."

Information gleaned from here, here, and here.

Look at Me, Look at Me!!

I don't like many pictures of myself as I generally don't think I'm particularly attractive. I'm not hideous, but I'm not gorgeous.

But I like this picture of me. Why? Because I LOOK THIN:

Russell Crowe = Death

In describing how a simple cut can lead to septic shock and death, Ashley Mansell of Melbourne's Monash Institute of Medical Research used this sentance:

"An out of control immune response is a bit like Russell Crowe in a hotel room, with Mal (an immune system protein) attacking every cell in sight - good and bad - without shutting down,"

Bwahahahaha!!! I LOVE it. Just watch your back, Ashley. We all know how Rus can be:

Who Moved Your Cheese? I did!!!

Well, it was me and Ginger over at BabyJaneBlogs.

You may have noticed the new template. What do you think?

I started blogging life with this template, and then changed to this template. All was good for a while, but I felt like I was writing on scrap paper. I needed something that said 'This is Mooselet's blog', not 'This is where Mooselet and thousands of other people blog.'

I'm not dissing Blogger. I love Blogger, mainly because it's free and easy to use. And the templates are decent, just generic. Generic can be good, like when you're buying tea or carrots or rice. Or you aren't that fussy about what the background looks like. I'm to the point where I care now.

Knowing my knowledge of html and graphics and how to intertwine them is very limited, I started looking for a designer. And I found BabyJaneBlogs. Ginger is very talented and was able to transform my vague requests for what I thought I wanted into what you see before you. She was also patient with my requests for changes to the background colour - we went from blue to several shades of gold with me doing my best Goldilocks impersonation "It's too bright", "It's too dull", "Why is it so dark?" I can also say she did the work yesterday, as she's in the US and it is still yesterday. Love that huge time difference.

I shouldn't have to explain the symbolism to anyone, except maybe the colours green and gold to my American readers. They're the Australian national colours. That was painless, wasn't it?

Looking at my blog all day as it changed also meant I had to look at the Mark Gasnier photo in the previous post a lot. He gets hotter and hotter the more I look at him. Daaaa-aaaamn!

So I hope you like the new look of Mooselet Musings. Send all praise to Ginger, and all your money to me.

Sunday Skinfest

Remember when I said I may not post every Saturday as I occasionally have a life? Well, that was true this weekend. I took the kids up to Caloundra for an overnight stay to give the Hermit the gift of peace and quiet for his birthday. Despite not finding a single person who thought it was a bad idea, he still complained that he wasn't actually getting a gift. I went anyway, but left him his new man-toy... a chainsaw.

Got roasted and toasted up at the beach, but it was well worth it and I'll tell you why. I didn't have to cook. No supper, no breakfast duty for me. We went out. I'll suffer second-degree burns for that!

Enough about my weekend in the warm Queensland sun, on to the NRL shirtless menfolk (that phrase seems to get me a lot of hits on search engines - expect to see it often)!!!

Craig Wing has featured here before, but we all like a repeat performance now and again. Technically he's not shirtless here, but this Rooster looks f-i-n-e fine even with the annoying copyright:



I found this pic over at my favourite gay rugby site scrumdown.net. Mark Gasnier, of the St. George Illawarra Dragons, you can rescue me from the surf anytime:



I know I usually post 3 pics of the men, but quite frankly I'm starting to run a little low. Damn season needs to hurry up and start. If anyone out there want to send me pics, feel free. NRL players ONLY, please.

I didn't forget you men, don't worry. Since she made such a good first impression, let's go with Miss Mammary Manly, shall we:

There Are Moments When...

... I feel like I'll never loose these last 5 kilos.

... I'd like to tell the entire world to piss off and leave me alone for 10 minutes.

... I wish I could take a vacation by myself.

... I really do want that drink.

... I would leave the house without my head were it not attached to my neck.

... I regret leaving the States.

... I wonder what possessed me to have children.

... I'm convinced the Bastard will come back and do what he's threatened.

... I feel like a single parent again.

... I don't want to get out of bed.

... I'd like nothing more than to spend a day reading trashy historical romance books and eating junk food, preferably chocolate.

... I feel incredibly unappreciated.

... I wonder when I became a chauffeur.

... I ask where the time has gone.

... I wonder if the Hermit finds me as attractive as he used to.

... I wish the kids would hurry up and be 18 so they can all move out.

... I wonder what would've happened if I had turned left instead of right.

... I ask if this is all there is.

Fortunately, these are only moments. They pass by very quickly, and can be stopped dead by sticky kisses, a goofy grin or being told "Thanks Mom!"

Cloudy Days, Cloudy Blog

Since I've spent the morning and a good part of the afternoon foraging for supplies for my brood, I've no time to post a decent entry to my blog. Sorry Miss WTF - maybe after the boys footy meet-n-greet tonight I'll find some time.

But then yellojkt saved me and allowed me to post something meaningful, or at least entertaining:



It's very cool, no? From SnapShirts, this is a word cloud. I like how what's very meaningful to me just jumps right out at you. And I'm very tempted to order myself a t-shirt.

Superbowl Schmooperbowl

Miss WTF has guilted me into posting tonight. I wasn't going to say anything about the Superbowl, but given her insightful comments on my previous post, I feel now I should.

Unless your team has made it to the Superbowl, you're forced to choose sides. Very much like State of Origin time here - just pick one! For some it's the underdog, for others it's the sure thing. When I was small I used to choose based on colour - I loved the Minnesota Vikings because they had purple as a main colour. Since the Patriots missed out this year, I went with Seattle. Not because they were the underdog, but because I don't like Pittsburg. As a Boston sports fan, some rivalries are inbreed. Red Sox versus Yankees is the classic one, and I think my dislike of Pittsburg stems to the regular ass-kickings back in the 70's by the Steelers of the Pats.

I didn't watch the Superbowl this year like I have in past years. I just didn't care enough to sit through 4+ hours of football, especially since we don't get the ads here. And I'm completely over the half-time shows - what a load of overhyped rubbish. I understand it was a decent game, though.

I was going to comment on some of the points Miss WTF brought up, and why I find rugby league a more exciting game to follow than American football. But I'm just too friggin' tired and everything I've written so far sounds like tripe and has been promptly deleted. Another day, when I'm more focused.

So congrats to you, Pittsburg, on your win. Don't get used to it - Patriots will be back!

Photo from Moose's up in Mooloolaba - I so have to go here!

Saturday Skinfest

Sorry about not getting this posted yesterday, when it was Saturday. Blogger decided it didn't want to play with me and wouldn't upload my pics. I was going to get cranky when I kept getting messages that engineers were aware of the problem and were attempting to fix it, but then I recalled the many hours the Hermit has spent in front of his laptop frantically attempting to fix the lastest system problem at his job. I pictured some Blogger IT guy doing the same and I withheld my scorn.

This post is also my 100th post! Hot diggety dog! Let's begin by offering our condolences to Miss WTF after the Wests Tigers lost 30-10 to the Bradford Bulls in the 2006 World Club Challenge. A moment of silence, please...

Thank GOD they lost, because I would never have heard the end of it. Bad enough they're premiers and I've got to listen to her all season because of it. World Club champions on top of it? Perish the thought.

Oh, Miss WTF!!! Uh, hi! Feeling better today? No? Well, try these on for size:

First up is Ben Galea of the not champions of the world Wests Tigers. 13 is far from unlucky in this case:




Now about Shaun Berrigan, our next specimen. While he's got lovely legs and an ass I'd like to dine off, ladies beware. This professional sportsman who makes bucketloads of cash playing for the Brisbane Broncos still lives at home with his mummy:


We haven't seen the boy-we-love-to-perv-on Billy Slater in a while. His face looks decidedly freaky here, but just look down:


And finally for the male readership, we give you the X-Box cheergirls. Apparently having cheergirls for both teams at the State of Origin wasn't enough - X-Box & Coke had to have their own:




Big thanks to Miss WTF for all of this weeks pics, especially the live shots of Berrigan and the cheergirls at Origin last year. You know I'm just yankin' your chain darl.

Amnesty Over

Parents of Eatons Hill State School, your time is up. I've given you two weeks to comply and starting Monday you will feel my wrath.



Last year I complained in this post about the abuse of the two minute drop-and-go zone outside of the Tween's school. The school claims it can do nothing as it's council property. The police are stretched too thin to do more than show up once in a blue moon and issue a few infringements, and Pine Rivers Shire doesn't have a parking plan that would allow council workers to issue fines. Note to PRSC - consider this to make up for lost water revenues during water restrictions.

Miss WTF sent me not one but two rants of her own about this subject and I had several comments from other readers that this problem is rampant in Brisbane schools. Repeated warnings by school officials and fines seemed only a temporary solution. It seems most of us who experience the boorish behaviour of the minority do nothing more than mutter a few choice expletives under our breath.

It's time to take action! As I told DarkSideDeb this morning (I will explain that name further down), I've taken to leaving the following notes on windscreens:

Excuse Me!!!
WHAT PART OF DROP OFF ZONE ISN'’T CLEAR???

Your refusal to obey simple rules and your lack of
common courtesy has made it not only difficult and
frustrating for those of us doing the right thing, but
dangerous for our children.
Find a proper place to park the next time you need
to walk your kids inside and leave the 2 minute
zone to those of us who know what it'’s for!!!!!

I thought about "Can't you read? Move your fucking car you cow before I smash it!" or "Cut the umbilical cord already!", but I'm all about tact.

It's either notes or my own version of Demolition Derby. Feel free to use this note, or use your own. Put these parents on notice that their behaviour is noted and not acceptable to the rest of us. Either punt the precious child out the door or park legally and walk the little darling to class whilst carrying his backpack. Leave the rest of us our meager 25-metre space.

Now about DarkSideDeb... She's a lovely woman I meet last year after her son joined the mighty Wests Panthers Junior Rugby League Club and its struggling U10 side. Originally from Canada, her husband defected from the Canadian Army to the Australian Army (can you believe they let you do that?) and they had been reassigned to Brisbane last year. It's nice to have someone with whom you share a common reference - she knows how to use the phrase 'time to make the donuts' for instance - and even better when that person is someone you want to be friends with. She had come up to Mooselet Manor for morning tea this morning and as she was leaving, I told her I needed to come up with a blog name for her.

"Oh, whatever you like. I'm easy," she replied.

Careful what you wish for! I have dubbed her DarkSideDeb because a) she's a Montreal Canadiens fan and b) her entire family followed Miss WTF over to the dark side and became Wests Tigers fans. Now you have a name to comment with!

You Eeeee-diots

Dear Australian Federated Union of Locomotive Employees (AFULE),

When holding a strike, or a stop work action, it is advisable to garner public support.

Canceling CityTrain services - public transport trains - for 24 hours at 10:30pm the night before is NOT the way to do this.

What the rest of you outside of Brisbane need to realize that the there is no 11 o'clock news here in Brissie. We shut down early and go to bed around 10 o'clock. You've got to do that when you don't have daylight savings time and the friggin' kookaburra's start their racket at 5 am.

So when you wake up in the morning, you assume that you'll have your morning routine. Have some coffee, take a shower and head out the door. You were in for a nasty shock this morning if your way to work was Queensland Rail CityTrain.

There were reports of commuters stranded at railway stations. Brisbane City Council buses were honoring rail passes - integrated ticketing is a joke - but you had to find a bus first. They had no notice of the strike and had no time to put extra buses on. Unless you're very close to the city, bus stops are not often near railway stations. Many kids take the trains to school with mum or dad dropping them off at the station before heading off. What were these kids supposed to do? Some railway stations had workers telling people there were no trains, but not all stations have staff. Some people waited for over an hour with no idea what was going on.

Traffic was fucked. The roads heading into the city can't handle what's on them now. While morning traffic doesn't come close to what I used to experience back in Boston, it still moves like two snails doing the nasty.

Way to judge the public response, AFULE.

I heard a union spokesman trying to defend their actions on 4BC this morning. Talks all over Queensland didn't finish until late last night, he said. They had no choice. People could have listened to the news this morning to find out.

Bullshit. Utter hogwash.

These talks have been going on for 12 months. To my knowledge, there have been no warnings about an imminent strike. No announcements on QR yesterday that commuters might want to check before heading out that trains were still running. Nothing. I spent six months driving the Hermit back and forth to our local train station after he lost his license for speeding and it was not part of my morning routine to snap on the radio to see if trains were running.

You could have waited until Monday, AFULE. Or midday today. Give us some warning. Even better, you could have limited the strikes to freight trains and coal trains. That would hit QR in the wallet and garner you the interest, and perhaps support, of the commuting public.

You've got a snowball's chance in hell of that now, even though you've called off the strike (as of 2pm) and will have trains running this arvo. You could have the most reasonable demands in the world and all the public will remember is that you seriously fucked up our Friday morning. I don't even care what your demands are now after this comment from state secretary Greg Smith:

"the feeling of the train crews is very hostile . . . and it's quite possible they will be saying they will not be going back."

Your train crews are hostile??? Mate, your bloody train crews had best lock themselves in their compartments this afternoon as commuters are going to be showing you some hostile behaviour of their own. Your train crews make $60,000 a year - far above the $31,844 of the average Queenslander. This figure was given by your own spokesperson on 4BC this morning. I'm not saying your job isn't important and you shouldn't be paid accordingly, but give us a break.

Do me a favour. Say your acronym outloud. AFULE. Yup, that's what I thought - you're a bunch of fools.

Love to all,
Mooselet

P.S. Thanks to The Courier Mail for the 411.