Photo Friday

I know he thinks he's a king, but this is just too much:

I thought I only had 2 girls, not 3!

Down and Funky

In a video designed to bore most of you to tears, unless you're the grandparents of my brood, here's a 4 minute clip of Miss Thing and Her Majesty doing a little hip-hop dancing... or something not at all resembling hip-hop except for the music in the background. Highlights include:

* 0:10 Sparky attempting to make a cool entrance, and failing spectacularly
* 1:40 Dullness abounds
* 2:04 Clive demonstrates why he can't be bothered to walk with his 100 kph crawl
* 2:34 Her Majesty 'breaks it down'
* 2:58 Sparky's white boy head bob

Sparky was the only one who knew I was filming - the girls thought I was just holding the camera and getting the odd photo - which is why he goes still, but stays silent, any time he becomes aware of the camera.

Yet Even More Birthday Tidings

I think this is the last birthday of someone in my immediate circle. There are still a couple of days left in February, including all you "lucky" enough to be born on the 29th. I know you only get your real birthday once every four years, but surely it beats being born on or near Christmas (as both myself and Father of Hermit are)?

Anyway, a big happy birthday to the fabulous Mumfies, friend and frequent commenter... well, frequent when her computer is working. She's had some issues lately, so I can only hope she sees this post today. Mumfies is fabulous because, among other reasons, she had learned the value of checking out those annoying "send this warning to absolutely everyone you've ever met in your entire life" emails. Since I have someone who sends me them all the time (and Nissa I don't mean you, despite my chiding the other day) and refuses to listen to reason, I love this trait in Mumfies.

So I hope you have a great, if wet as it's raining AGAIN, birthday. And if you're at training tonight I'll shout you a Coke - you bring the ouzo!

Saturday Skinfest

Wow, it's still early on a Saturday and the skinfest is going up! Fact of the matter is I'm busy as all get out - what else is new? -but am taking a break from the housework and the heat to post this before it's Sunday night and I'm left perplexed as to where my weekend has gone.

Footy season is slowly starting up again. Sparky had his first week of training with a much depleted team and I watched 2 games of English Super League (the English equivalent of the NRL) the other night on Foxtel. I can't wait for the regular season to start here. In the meantime, let's look at some current players:

If Chariots of Fire had starred Darren Lockyer, we'd remember more than just the song and the slow-mo running action.

Mark Minichiello has what have to be the most finely chiseled arms in the NRL.

Simon Mannering gets dacked in a tackle and lets us all have a look at his sweet backside and thighs. Anyone got a quarter so we can see if it bounces?

I finally found a cheerleader site that wasn't porn! Will wonders never cease? Expect to see more NRL cheergirl (they're called cheergirls here, not cheerleaders) pics like this one in the coming weeks:

I think this St. George's uniform is left over from a porn shoot, however, as it resembles your classic schoolgirl fantasy look. Or so I'm told...

More skin next week!

Photo Friday

Miss Thing and Sparky had their school photos today. I think it's only fair that I share one of mine. According to the writing on the back this was taken in October 1978 and puts me in the 4th grade (I think):

I think those shirts may be back in style now. But not the hair!

More Birthday Wishes

Geez February is a busy month for birthdays in my life. What were your parents doing in May, I'd like to know? OK, I know what they were doing but what makes May so special?

Anyway, happy birthday today to my s-i-l and frequent commenter, Hermit's L'il Sis! I hope your DH is home today and makes it a special day. I'm also very late in giving birthday wishes to Hermit's Big Sis, whose birthday is 8 days before the Hermit's. All 3 siblings in February!

Also - yes, there's more! - a happy birthday to another frequent commenter and good friend Miss WTF, whose Match Report Monday and doctored photos will be sorely missed this season as Master WTF is not playing this year. Miss WTF celebrated her birthday Sunday with a concert performance by the jazz ensemble she plays in, Brisbane City Big Band, followed by a trip to the pub by 40 or so of her closest mates. I've got a great photo of her and Clive - yes, I took my kids to the pub - and as soon as I figure out how to get the pictures off my phone and onto the computer you can have a look.

Happy Birthday Everyone!!!

Emphasis

Where you place the emphasis on a word can change the meaning of a sentence. Take the simple sentence, "That was wrong!"

"That was wrong!" leans more towards the action being grossly offensive, more so than another action that could have been taken.

"That was wrong!" implies an argument, where another person is stating their action was not wrong at all.

"That was wrong!" leans towards the rightness or wrongness of the action taken. It is often said in a quasi-humorous manner, like when I watched Borat.

Tonight I was watching one of those crime shows on the Crime Investigation channel. A man was being investigated in the suspected murder of his estranged wife. The woman was found strangled in her home, and the medical examiner noted the absence of fingernail marks on the woman's throat. Detectives noted the husband chewed his fingernails down past the tips of his fingers. It was at this point the narrator really caught my attention:

"While nail biting is not a punishable offence..."

Well, what kind of offence is it then? Because of the way the emphasis was put on the word 'punishable', all I could think about for the next few minutes was how chewing on ones nails was an offence and what type it was.

I get distracted by the little things in these types of shows. No wonder no one wants to watch them with me.

Vegemite in Minnesota

If you're a regular reader of my blog but not Jeff's View From The Cloud, please head over there now and watch his special video post. After hearing he'd won some Marmite from blogger Dan over in the UK in a pungent foodstuffs contest I knew I couldn't allow that Aussie icon, Vegemite, let a pretender such as Marmite (and yes I know Marmite came first) steal the spotlight. I arranged to ship Jeff a tube of Vegemite so he could have a taste-off. I even sent directions so Jeff didn't make the classic Yank mistake of spreading it on too thick, like peanut butter. You'll have to go watch the results to see who won... if it can be called that.

Jeff has inspired me, along with NYC Watchdog's excellent Cereal Wednesday blog, to perhaps put into motion an idea I've had for a while - video posts featuring different Aussie foods. Of course now Vegemite is right out, but quite frankly I can't stand the stuff (and told Jeff so in the interests of full disclosure) so it's no big loss. What do you folks, my regular readers, think? Overdone? Boring? Would you watch it?

In any rate, go see Jeff and his lovely daughter Roseanna step up to the plate and give a couple of foreign foods a go! And leave a comment as well - bloggers live for comments.

Bear With Me

Last month I apologized for my inattentions to this blog, my blogroll, and by extension all of you. I need to apologize again, but not for that.

Lately my mood has been less than pleasant. I've been by turns bitchy, snarly, moody, sulky, snarky, angry and nasty. I've been tired and impatient, tense and frustrated. I've been nice, too, as I have tried to maintain my usual glass-half-full and warped sense of humour outlook on life. But too often I feel I've been more of the former list and less of the latter. I don't like being all of those things, but they just come spilling out before I can put the lid back on. I know what's causing it, and no it's not Winston my all-too-familiar black dog. He's not around very much these days, which is good. I'm going to file it under "secret women's business" and leave it at that. But I fear my moods may spill over into my blog from time to time. So I'm sending out a general apology if I have offended anyone in the past couple of weeks with my mood - it makes me terribly judgemental as well, which I try very hard not to be - or if I do so in the future while I get myself under control.

I figure once my life gets crazy busy again with sports trainings added in the mix of things I need to do, things should settle down internally and I'll go back to being more of myself. Until then, please bear with me while I'm, well, more like a bear than not.

Saturday Skinfest

I'm in a kinda rotten mood at the moment and I'm not sure why. I'm snappy with the kids, impatient with the Hermit and just generally grouchy. Maybe after I have something to eat and then shower now that Clive has gone down for a nap, I'll be in a better mood to go watch Miss WTF play in her big band this arvo. And I'm sure the Skinfest can't hurt:

Adam MacDougall is very hairy, at least below the neck, and has very impressive arms.

Ben Cross looking like your everyday sort of guy, just bigger.

I don't know how I feel about the belly tatt, but here's Mark O'Meley and Andrew Ryan emerging from a swim.

Further proof that you need to be a C cup or above to be a Manly cheergirl.

Hmmmm, a little better. Best go have that shower now. More skin next week!

Photo Friday

Yesterday was Kelvin Grove SC's swimming carnival. The school uses one of the city pools (as it's bigger than the school's own pool) and the middle and senior school kids (or at least grades 8-12) compete in races to earn points for their houses. Kids who finish first can go on to represent the school at district trials. Both Sparky and Miss Thing are in the same house, Bowen. Miss Thing doesn't swim, but she gets into the spirit of the day by getting dressed in her house colours:

After this photo was taken, she had blue and yellow paint on her face, large 'B's on her arms, and 'Bowen Bulldogs' on her legs. Her shirt also says 'Bowen'. Sparky participated in a lot of different races, with his best finish being 3rd overall in freestyle.

Moving Forward

Things are finally moving forward on the issue of getting my RN license here in Queensland, but not in the way that I had hoped.

I've spent nearly 4 months trying to get documentation from my former nursing school for the Queensland Nursing Council. Never mind that I can't understand exactly why the QNC needs my course descriptions despite having my transcript and the translation of my transcript (those pesky acronyms like GPA) - it is an accredited school from a country on an even keel with Australia, not from AnyoneCanGraduate Online University in Siberia. But need them they do, so attempt to get them I did. Is that a grammatically correct sentence?

Readers of this blog may remember that I stayed up very late attempting to reach someone on the phone to get the process started back in October. That was followed by reaching someone but not holding out a lot of hope because I graduated "so long ago". I never mentioned the 3am phone call from a former teacher who said she'd help me and gave me the email address of another person who would do the same. I did mention finally receiving the wrong catalogue, but not the many emails I've sent since then begging for the right papers, or at least an acknowledgement that I was asking. I have to say that the Registrars Office has been very good in getting me anything I've asked for, even the aforementioned translation, but the Nursing Department has been, quite frankly, shite.

After discussions with the QNC, my options came down to this:

a) Wait for my school to send the course descriptions and submit my application. After review and assuming it met all other requirements, I would be asked to show competency because it has been over 5 years. This is fair and I have no problems with it. What it would mean, however, is that I would not be licensed until mid-2009 at the earliest. The wheels of bureaucracy move painful slow.

b) Forget getting licensed on my US merits and complete my Bachelors Degree here in Australia. As mentioned in one of those other posts, I am 2 classes and some clinical work (not sure how much on that score) shy of getting said degree, which I initially began simply because I wanted my Bachelors. Assuming I can do all my clinical work in one semester, I could be granted my license by the end of the year, or early 2009 (those damned wheels again).

c) Forget the whole thing and keeping working as a shelf filler for the rest of my days. (Who just called me and asked me to work tonight. I agreed - we can use the money, see below.)

As you can imagine, option C is right out. Not that it's a bad job, but it's not something I want to do forever. Option A has the advantage of being able to do all but the clinical work from home, but will take longer. After discussion with the Hermit, I've decided to go with option B - completing my BS and obtaining my license via university. Unlike the US, there is no exam - you're eligible to apply once you graduate. So I've submitted the proper form to the university where I took my previous classes to re-enroll next semester.

Momma Mooselet will be over the moon with my decision, although I'm more than a little nervous about how I'm going to find the time to do everything, not to mention pay for it. We're supposed to be spending this year getting out of debt, not making more! In the end, I know it's the right thing and I'm so keen to get back to nursing I'd do just about anything to make it happen.

And to my former school - you gave me a great nursing education. It's just a shame you don't seem to care about your graduate's needs once we're out the door.

Yahoo!? BooHoo!

Is Gmail any more reliable? Hotmail? I'm getting very sick and tired of the continual Yahoo! email problems I've been having the last week or so, but I'm the type of person who likes her comfort zone and doesn't readily embrace change. Once embraced, it's held on to but getting me there is a battle. Anyone have any advice?

Belated Birthday Tidings

Since I'm playing catch up, I need to give HUGE belated birthday wishes to Sparky and the Hermit. Sparky turned 13 (God help me... no, really I'm not just saying that) on Sunday and the Hermit turned an age I'm not allowed to disclose on Monday.

I'm a bit overloaded on sugar after the two cakes - one an apple crumble cheesecake and the other a mega-layer vanilla cake with both vanilla and chocolate frosting - and yet I'm sitting here contemplating grabbing another slice. Any wonder I'm not doing so well on the weight loss front?

Anyway, a very happy if somewhat late birthday to 2 of the 3 most important males in my life.

My Life

Here's a very good example of how my life has been the last week or so.

Yesterday, I put my pants on inside out and didn't notice. I didn't notice for a few hours, and when I did notice, I was outside and could not just whip off my pants and turn them right side in.

A couple hours later, I was home and therefore could've fixed up my pants. I didn't, because I had forgotten about them. Later, as I sat in my one and only private spot I had the opportunity to fix them. I didn't, because I no longer gave a flying fuck. They'd be on inside out for half the day and I wasn't going back out, so why bother?

So I didn't.

Updates on the way, including Photo Friday and the Skinfest... backdated so you'll see this post first.

Today, my pants are on the right way. Things are looking up.

Saturday Skinfest

The "holy crap this is really late so let's just put the pictures up already" edition. I grabbed a bunch of Naked For A Cause photos, not knowing (or caring, really) who they are and which cause they're nekkid for:



Meanwhile, Alessandra Ambrosio is still doing shoots for Victoria's Secret despite being 3 months pregnant. Bitch. When I was 3 months gone I was still looking green around the gills and threatening to lose the contents of my stomach every 10 minutes or so. Maybe that's why I'm not a supermodel:

More skin, on time, next week!

Photo Friday

Better late (and post-dated) than never:

Logic, Captain.

At work last week, we were discussing the recent floods in central Queensland. Properties that hadn't seen a drop of rain in years were under water. The second largest dam in Queensland the Fairbairn Dam, which holds as much water as 3 Sydney Harbours, was overflowing. When we were there just a few months ago it was down to 30% and falling. We saw pictures of places we had been that were now inundated with water. While we've had our share of rain in the South East corner - enough to boost our combined dam capacity up to 29% from less than 20% - we were lamenting the loss of so much water. Surely there is a way to transport it, thereby negating flood damage and providing much needed water to other areas.

One of the girls suggested building a pipeline. It was pointed out that pumping the water would be very expensive as it's at least a thousand kilometres away, but could still be a viable option. Then a co-worker came out with this beauty: "I don't see why they can't build a pipeline. You wouldn't have to pump it because it's going from north to south. It's just logical."

There was a good 30 seconds of silence before someone changed the subject.

Give us your best Spock impersonation and use the comments section to explain in as few words as possible why the above statement is NOT logical. And how does one correct said co-worker without making her feel like a complete idiot?

Random Thoughts

*** Since working in my new job while I wait interminably for someone at my former nursing school to send me the right paperwork so I can submit my application for my RN licence transfer, I've come to the conclusion that 12 is a really awesome number. I love it when items are packed by the dozen, or a multiple thereof. 4 is okay, so is 6. 5 and 10, while really easy to count by, are not so friendly in terms of stocking a shelf. 12, however, totally rocks.

*** Another thought that occurred to me as I worked the other night is that sometimes, too much choice is not good. How many different types of tuna do we need? Lemon with cracked pepper, sweet chilli, lime and cracked pepper, natural smoked flavour, tomato and onion, tomato and capsicum, salsa, satay, in olive oil, in extra virgin olive oil, in brine, in springwater... I know I've left out at least half a dozen other flavours.

*** And on the subject of fish, what kind of person eats sardines? I've never actually known anyone who eats them, and yet someone must because I have to restock them. If you are the type of person who enjoys a can of sardines, please tell me why.

*** I cannot believe the New England Patriots lost the Superbowl. WTH? Everyone is allowed a bad game, but did it have to be this one??? If you only watched today's game (it was today for me, anyway) you'd never know that the Pats were the highest scoring team all season. Brady's protection was non-existent, allowing him to be sacked 5 times. You can't win a game when you don't protect your quarterback. I hope Momma Mooselet has recovered from the shock of it all.

*** I've developed an obsession for water ices, or Freezy Pops as I used to call them when I was a kid. Those wonderful tubes of flavored water you chuck into the freezer for a few hours for a tasty, cold treat. I ate at least a dozen of them today, and I'm not ashamed. OK, maybe a little...

*** Despite her numerous protestations on how she was going "nerd style" this year to improve her grades, I've yet to see Miss Thing crack a book or do any homework. She tried to lay a guilt trip on me this afternoon, telling me it was sad I didn't believe in her when everyone else does. Unfortunately, I have too many years of experience with my daughter's grades to have a lot of faith in her methods. I will gladly and willingly eat the largest serving of crow you ever saw if she manages to pull it off, but if a bookie were taking bets on the situation I'd be the one with the short odds.

*** Clive is nearly 14 months and is still not walking. He thinks about it a lot - you can see the wheels in his big noggin turning - but always goes for the crawl at the last minute. He also doesn't have a lot of recognizable words, and stubbornly refuses to say "Mumma" (among other things).

*** There's probably some more thoughts rattling around my brain, but I'm getting tired and need to get to bed.

Saturday Skinfest

I'm not feeling particularly witty this weekend, so I'm just going to get right to it:

I guess post-game rehab in Melbourne consists of players standing in freezing cold water. Someone can ask Billy Slater if all that shrinkage is worth it.

If you're Nick Youngquest, it's okay to peel off your wetsuit smack bang in the middle of the beach. I wouldn't complain. Hell, I'd help!

Luke O'Donnell is hairy, dirty and nekkid! Woot Woot! I got dibs on getting him cleaned up.

Eva Mendes, now apparently in rehab (what Hollywood person isn't at some point?), is also naked for a cause, just not the same one as Luke O'Donnell.

More skin next week!

Photo Friday

You know, fog can be a real bitch. Especially when it swallows your capital city whole:

Taken sometime last autumn, and not by me, from the Mt. Coot-tha lookout, where the view of Brisbane and Moreton Bay is a little more revealing (photo by me or Gabe during Gabe's visit):

Hey, a two-fer! Don't expect it every time, but I thought you'd appreciate some perspective if you're not familiar with Brisbane.