I swear I didn't mean to start ranting!

Really ... Just never know how to start these entries.

So, things here are humming along nicely.

Chrissie and I have settled into the new house, and hit upon a nice rhythm - she does the housework when she's not working, I do it on my days off, and it's all good. The Buckmiester is loving his new cage, and he gets to run around in the backyard (providing it's not too cold/wet) at night. If it's too cold/wet for him to run outside, then he gets to run free in the spare room for a while. Jersey is not too impressed with us at the moment, as the house has a doggy door, but we've blocked it :-) So now he gets inside when we say he's allowed inside. He can still get out if he needs to when he's inside, but the door only goes the one way now - thank you, dad for fixing it!

Speaking of it being too cold/wet, what the hell is with the weather? It's NOVEMBER. It's almost the end of November. November = HOT WEATHER! Yesterday it was like 10 degrees. Seriously. And last night was FRIGGING FREEZING. Today the wind was like ice, going straight through you. I had on a singlet, a long sleeved tee, and my work shirt. And at times, I was STILL cold. Bring it on, SUMMER!

What else has been happening ... Work has been good. Busy as all get-out, but fantastic. I worked an extra day this week to make up for missing a day last week when I was moving. It amazes me that I get to have so much fun at work, that I can laugh and joke all day, and I don't get in trouble from the boss for it ... Actually, it's usually the boss that starts it :-) I'm thrilled with the location of our new house, because it's about a three minute drive from my work. So now I get like an extra 30 minutes of sleep in the mornings :-)

Neither Christine or I have finalised everything that needs to be done at our old places yet. We thought we had - we both cleaned our arses off, and left the places a hell of a lot cleaner than when we moved in - but on Thursday we both got letters stating that if we wanted our bonds back, we had to go back and do shit like "dust the heater" and "clean the bath plug hole" and "scrub the tiles in the kitchen". I had 17 items on my list, Christine had 21. What really pissed me off? The fact that there were items on my list such as "clean out garden shed" (whatever is in there isn't mine! I never used it, didn't even know I had access to it.), "clean oven knobs" (1: it wasn't done when I moved in, the oven was filthy. 2: it's not 'dirty' that you can change/fix, it's stained/baked on. you can't get it any cleaner! I know, I tried!), "wash curtains" (they were washed! TWICE! once by mum, once by me) "replace broken bedroom mirror" (it's not broken! it had just slipped down behind the dresser!). I was the one who got "dust heater", and if they'd looked properly, they would have realised that it's not dust on the heater, it's age stains. Honestly, I've never been more wild in my life. They were so nit-picky and unreasonable it made steam come out my ears. Christine was even less impressed with her letter, which was even more nit-pickier (shut up, it's a word!) than mine. Grr, even just thinking about it is making me angry again. It really feels like they're just making us run around in circles to get our bonds back, which is fucked. We were both good tenants, never caused a problem, always reporting maintenance issues, keeping the places clean, and this is how they repay us??? Get f***ed, DCK.

Anyway, now that I've raised my blood pressure a bit, just thinking about DCK, I should probably go to bed and relax a little! :-) Did have some news and other stuff I wanted to write about, but maybe I'll leave that for later. I've had my rant, so now I'll toddle off to bed. I'm out :-)

You hang in there sunshine, you're friggin special.

See if you can possibly guess who I'm pissed at ...

Yeah, I'm still hanging around :-)

It's been a long, exhausting, internet-less week!

(Yeah. Thanks heaps, Telstra. Had to make us wait AN ENTIRE WEEK for our wireless internet, didn't you? FUCKERS ... ) (Yes, I have issues with Telstra now. I DO NOT LIKE THEM)

The move went well, everything made it to the new place. We still haven't unpacked all the boxes yet, because, well, we're slack :-) But we're getting there.

The rabbit and the devil-dog have been sharing the same backyard, sort-of-peacefully, and no one has died, lost any fur/hair or gotten into a fight, so that's gotta be a positive sign, right?

Both the Buckmiester and Jersey-dog made it through traumatic days at the vet - Bucks was desexed last Friday, and Jersey went in yesterday.

Work has been crazy-busy. Taking work home with me most nights still, since there isn't enough hours in the day. Yesterday, I emailed work to do at home to myself, forgetting that I didn't have an internet connection at home, even though Telstra WILL bill us for it. Yep. FUCKERS.

Anyway, I'm tired, (and way cranky at Telstra, hid it well, didn't I? :-)) so I better head to bed. Real update ... Coming soon :-)

One last time ...

So, two hours ago, I was planning an entry about how this will be my last entry from my King St home ever, as tonight I pack up the computer, so the removalists can take the desk tomorrow.

Two hours ago, my mental list was something like:
- pull apart bed
- clean fridge, ready to be switched off in the morning
- do one final load of washing, then disconnect washing machine
- do dishes on sink, then pack them
- get good nights sleep, ready for the big move tomorrow.

In the last two hours, all I've done is item number one. Why? Because I went to pull apart the bed, and realised that *someone* (*thanks, mum ...!) had packed the spanners I needed to pull my bed to bits. So, having no idea where they would be, I started ringing friends. One didn't have one. One had no idea what i was talking about. A few weren't home. Finally, I found someone with a spanner set ... Out in Raywood. Yeah. 25 minutes out of town.

So, I went for a drive.

So now, it's 10:30, and all I can say is ... Stuff the long, witty blog entry I had planned. *snort* I still have items on my list that need doing, and it's getting late. So ... Goodbye, King Street. Next time I update will be from the new house. Yay.

That's all!

The Bunny Rules

I found this online and thought it was kinda cute :-)


The Bunny Rules


- The bunny is not allowed in the house.
- OK, the bunny is allowed in the house, but only in certain rooms.
- The bunny is allowed in all rooms, but has to stay off the furniture.
- The bunny can get on the old furniture only.
- Fine, the bunny is allowed on all the furniture, but is not allowed to sleep with humans, on the bed.
- OK, the bunny is allowed on the bed, but only by invitation.
- The bunny can sleep on the bed when-ever he wants, but not under the covers.
- The bunny can sleep under the covers by invitation only.
- The bunny can sleep under the covers every night.
- Humans must ask permission to sleep under the covers with the bunny.

Oh, the ... Packing.

So ... Moving day is next Tuesday. TUESDAY! That's like, FOUR days away!

My plan for today (my first day off in seven days) went something like this:

- Pack
- Change address at VicRoads, Medicare, RACV, Ambulance Victoria, etc.
- Arrange phone/internet/gas/electricity disconnection, and connection at the new place
- Phone real estate agency to organise last rental payment
- Clean walls, curtains, floors
- More packing!

I did not plan for:

- People turning up to look through my house (which, as you can imagine is a disorganised mess at the moment) (P.S. Thanks for the warning, DCK!)
- A sick rabbit who clearly needed a vet (lucky I was able to get Buckley an appointment this afternoon)
- The stupidity of Telstra - Seriously, I spent like 40 minutes on hold, spoke to FOUR different people and the last one finally told me that I can't plan my internet disconnection in advance - I have to ring back on the day I actually want it disconnected. You couldn't have told me that THREE PEOPLE AGO??!!

I think that I got most of my mental list done though. I still have to change my address at the bank, and I still have some cleaning and packing to do tonight/tomorrow. I have tomorrow off as well, and then I go back to work Sunday/Monday/Tuesday. Tuesday the removalists come to do all the big stuff, and Wednesday dad is coming down with his ute to do boxes and small stuff. Because Wednesday is Bendigo Cup day here, I get the day off work. Woo hoo!

As I mentioned, The Buckmiester ended up at the vet today. This morning I noticed that he hadn't had anything to drink all night, which is unusual for him. He was also constantly trying to pee, although nothing was coming out, and (hope you're not eating as you read this) had incredibly runny poo (which was all over him). He was so quiet, and not moving much at all, so I knew he was unwell. So off we went to the vet - first time for him! It wasn't a very pleasant experience - he had a thermometre shoved up his you-know-what, got four needles and was prodded all over. He has a UTI and some kind of tummy upset, so we came home with some antibiotics, and a recommendation for Yakult, which has a lot of good bacteria in it and will help his tummy. I gave him some Yakult via a syringe before, half of which he spat back at me. I'm keeping a pretty close eye on him, and if I haven't seen him have a drink by about 9 p.m., I'll give him some more Yakult and some water through the syringe. I also booked him in next Friday to be desexed, and to have all his vaccinations. So, next Friday will be a big day for him!

Anyway, I probably better get going and do some more cleaning ... and packing. My god, the packing. Why did I buy so much shit?!

You hang in there sunshine, you're friggin special.

Let's declare today a Public Holiday!

Big day in the House of Snappz today.

The Buckmiester, who's been having a run outside twice a day since the weather has warmed up, DUG HIS FIRST HOLE TODAY.

Yes folks, Bucks did the rabbit thing and dug his very first hole!

Seriously, I could not be more proud of my baby!

Buckle up ...

Yeah, I know. It's been ages.

There's been a bit happening though.

I haven't written in a while - to be honest, I've barely even looked at this site in a while. But tonight, I wanted to check on some sites I link to, and I couldn't be bothered to type in the address so I figured I'd just check on here and click. And then I realised that my site counter thingy is going up ... And I haven't updated in ages. So that made me feel guilty. So here goes ...


I'm in the middle of packing up my place. Christine and I move in about three weeks. We let the real estate agents that we're currently renting from know last week that we'd be moving out, and so far, I've had two inspections from the real estate people (wanting to check out anything that might need fixing after I move) and tomorrow I've got a guy coming to look at the carpet because the landlord is talking about replacing it, so they've arranged for a guy to come and do a quote. Not to mention I've had my agent calling to make appointments for prospective renters to walk through and have a look at the property.

The packing is going well. The week before last (? I think) I had two days off in a row, so I cleaned out a heap of stuff and did a lot of packing. Yesterday my mum was down for the day to start cleaning walls and stuff. So far I'm feeling like I'm pretty well organised. It looks like we'll be moving boxes and small stuff on the Thursday, and the removalist will do the big stuff on the Friday. I've got that weekend off work, so Saturday will be unpacking, and Sunday I'll be back at the old place, doing the last of the cleaning.

I haven't said a lot about the new place .... It's beautiful. It's three bedrooms, nice kitchen/dining, a sunroom which is awesome, a storage space under the house, a good sized yard (with a brand new fence so the dog can't get out!), just been recently painted, ducted heating and cooling, huge laundry, good carpets ... And I love it. It's about a 3 minute drive from where I work, which will be awesome. (I'll be going home for lunch a bit!) Christine and I both fell in love with it as soon as we looked at it. I think living with someone again will take some getting used to (we've both been living alone for like two years) and I'm sure there will be some adjustment with Christine being my "landlord". She's already said Buckley is to become an outside rabbit, which is fine, but I've said that when it's hot in summer, he'll be coming inside. I know it's her house, but rabbits aren't great in heat, and Bucks doesn't handle the heat too well. He spent most of last summer inside (in air conditioned comfort) and he still seemed to wilt most days. I've put on layby a new, double story cage for the Buckmiester, and I'll be putting up some kind of little fence around it so that Jersey can't get to him. My biggest fear is that Jersey will get into Buckley's cage while Christine and I are at work. I'll just have to do whatever I can to make sure that doesn't happen :-)


Speaking of Jersey, he doesn't seem to be settling down. At all. He's destroyed two phones in the last couple of weeks - Christine's cordless home phone and her mobile phone. The home phone is still usable, but the mobile had to be thrown out. He got them both while she was sleeping on the couch during the day after doing night shift the night before. He also destroyed her One Tree Hill Season 4 box set, a torch and a book. Yeah, I'll be buying some kind of lock for my bedroom and locking all my shit in there when I'm not at home! Seriously though, I've been thinking of paying for obedience school for him for Christine's birthday, which is coming up in a few weeks. Something tells me it would be money well spent.

I went into the cafe last week and told my boss that I was finishing this weekend. I've had enough, and weeks ago I said I would finish up, and what happened? Nothing. She kept putting me on the roster, which I'm sick of. There was another reason for doing it though ... I've picked up an extra two days a week at the office. WOO HOO! So I'll now be doing 4 and a half days a week there, which is terrific. I still love it there, and I'm thrilled that they offered me some more days. This weekend will hopefully be my last weekend at the cafe - providing that my boss doesn't keep rostering me on when I'm not at the office. I've told her that I don't want that, but she clearly doesn't listen to me, does she?

Today I went to visit a friend who lives about 20 minutes out of town. She is pregnant, and I haven't seen her in a while. She's grown heaps, and things are looking good. Her little boy, who is two has also changed heaps. It was amazing to see. We had a good chat, and have decided to organise a baby shower for her. Neither of us has organised a baby shower, or even been to one, but do you think that's going to stop us? Hell no, watch us go!

What else has been happening ... I think I'm out of thoughts. I've got an appointment in Echuca with the miracle man next week for my back. I was meant to go on Wednesday, but (ironically) my back was too bad and I knew I wouldn't be able to handle an hour in the car to get there. The 10 minute drive on the way home from work was enough to give me nerve pain up and down my legs. I think it's because I haven't been walking as much (thanks, winter) and because I've put some extra weight on (thanks, Maccas). I'm back into eating salads and lots of fruit though, so hopefully that'll make a difference.

Anyway, it's getting late, and I'm working at the Cafe tomorrow, so I better take off. Have a great night guys, sorry about the delay in updating ...

You hang in there sunshine, you're friggin special.

Edited to add - if you have time, please visit Henry and his family at http://henryschallenge.blogspot.com/. They've just been told that Henry's cancer is back. Please send lots of love and good thoughts.

Short, and sweet. Eh, not so sweet actually. I talk about bloody stumps at the end ...

My week so far:

- 4 weeks until moving day. Decided to start packing last night. Had fun for the first 20 minutes, then got bored and gave up. House now messier than ever. And still haven't organised a damn thing for the move.

- The cold that I had the other week? Turned into one hellacious chest infection (coughing up blood, not being able to sleep because lying down made it impossible to breathe, sleeping about 16 hours a day for something like 5 days straight), which I'm still trying to get rid of. What's with that?

- Have been told four times since Saturday that they'd love to make me a full time employee at the office/that they can see me becoming full time/that I'd be great all the time in the office/that they'd love to have me in the office all the time. Fingers crossed that it happens, I think I'd freaking explode with happiness!

- Things with my dad aren't great. He's still not well, and he's still not himself. He's still so quiet. He had a doctors appointment yesterday, and he had some follow up tests today. Hopefully something will show up and it can be easily fixed. Please, please let it be something that can be easily fixed.

- The Buck-miester is getting a new cage. I've put a layby a $250, double story wooden hutch for him. Since he'll be moving outside when we go to the new house, I wanted him to have a bigger, nicer cage. And this one is pretty sweet. Hopefully I can pay it off in the next few weeks so that when we move, he can move into his new digs too!

Ok, I'm out. Getting late and I'm at the stupid, i-hate-the-place-with-every-freaking-breath-in-my-body, depressing, awful cafe tomorrow. Ugh. I'd rather shoot myself in the foot with some kind of high-powered riffle and then pour salt into the wound and finish by hacking off my foot with a pair of blunt, useless scissors and walk over hot coals on my bloody stump to go to the hospital ...

I have some news: We have a house. It's pretty cool. It's about a 3 minute drive from my work - it would probably take about 20 minutes to walk though (down the road, around a corner and then down a loooong road). It's 3 bedrooms + a sunroom, a nice backyard and it's in a quiet street. We move in about 6 weeks time. I better start packing ...

... On to what I wanted to write about tonight.

Today, I went to mum and dads for the day. Dad wanted to do an oil change on my car, and mum had a heap of boxes for me so I can start packing.

My dad was ... quiet.

Last weekend, he lost one of his best mates to an aneurysm. Out of nowhere, and shocking to all.

He's been unwell lately - shocking headaches that no one can explain.

He was forced into retirement last year, and is in the middle of fighting for compensation because of the unfair IR Laws that brought about his retirement. The IR Laws have now been overturned, and WorkChoices is dead, but dad still has no job. Of course, his previous employer is dragging out things out.

I felt like crying when I saw him today. In fact, I am crying now, thinking of him. I don't know why. He seemed ... Lost, I guess. I was sad for him. I hurt for him. I wanted him to be normal, but he was so far from normal. I'm scared for him. The work thing is worrying him, and stressing him out. I feel like screaming at his old bosses. He worked for them for 19 years. Never called in sick unless he had to. He only took holidays when he had to - if he had built up too much leave and had to use some of it up. He'd work nights if there had been an accident and he was needed. 19 god damn years, and this is how they treat him? How is that fair? How is that right?

Bob's funeral is tomorrow. Mum and dad will go, as will many others from the town. He was the type of bloke who would do anything for anyone. He and dad had been mates for years. They used to drink together, and work together on weekends.

I don't know why I have this sadness tonight. I can't really explain it - but something about my dad, so quiet, so lost, so not-himself today, has really gotten to me. The tears don't want to stop, which is making typing hard. I think I'll go have a bath, and cry in there for a while.

Just random!

Lather, rinse, repeat.

I freaking love my job. I'm not sure why - I don't do anything amazing, or special. It's just fun. Every day is slightly different, but similar ... If that makes sense :-)

8:30 - 8:50 - Leave home and head to work. Swing by the Post Office on the way, check our PO Box and mail off anything from the office.

8:55 - Arrive at work with the mail. Get myself organised.

9:00 - 9:30 - Open mail and distribute. Go through the docket summaries from the day before and bank cash, organise checks etc.

9:30 - 11:30 - Spend the morning drowning in paperwork. Answer the phone 75 times, transferring each call, and laughing at the rude morons after I've hung up.

11:32 - Offer a bribe (money or a slab of beer) to the first person who can "break" the phones for me. Get myself some morning tea from the tea room and spend a couple of minutes chatting to whoever is around.

11:40 - Consider shredding paperwork, then realise that's probably not the best idea. Get back into it.

11:45 - 11:55 - Get into an important financial discussion with Meg. Mutually agree that the extra money that has appeared in the til (a couple of hundred dollars, and no one knows where it's come from or why the til is now up) should be put into the Social Club to make one hell of a Christmas Party. Decide the best way to sell this to the guys is to translate it into the number of beers the money could buy at said party. Guys? Guys, if we put the extra money from the til into the social club, then we could get an extra 85 pots of beer at the party! Woo hoo!

11:55 - 1:45 - Finish important financial discussion and put aside paperwork for a while. Fold 150 newsletters. Laminate some stuff. Send out some price books to people who want to have a look at what we have, but can't be bothered to come in. Get a list of what's needed and organise a stationary order. Fire Publisher up and make up some signs. Read through minutes of the last meeting, and print off blank minutes sheet for the next meeting which is coming up. Make a note of what still needs to be done before the next meeting. Leave post-it notes for those who haven't finished their tasks.

1:45 - 2:15 - Eat lunch. Hop up and down about 35 times and answer phones, transferring calls or taking messages. Thank god there's a phone in the tea room, so I don't have to keep running back to my desk. Wonder how pathetic it would make me seem if I started eating at my desk to save time ...

2:15 - Pull out paperwork again. Get my list of figures, and start the monthly graphs. Swear at myself, the desk, the phone and the computer as I realise that somehow our drivers have managed to stuff up their sheets. Either that, or they've gone back in time. Mumble under my breath and screw up my nose as I get more and more annoyed. Seriously, have they got a freaking time machine in their trucks?

4:30 - Consider pulling out hair. Cause fear and chaos when I announce to the office that the next driver who goes back in time/stuffs up their sheet will have to deal with me.

4:45 - Start packing up for the end of the day. Organise paperwork into piles of what's done, what needs to be done, and what can't yet be done. Tick off what I've finished, put in M's office to get signed off on. Count til, put in safe. Close and lock all windows. Make sure all split-system heaters are off.

4:55 - Yell "Are you kidding me?!" when M hands me more driver sheets to do tomorrow. Roll my eyes and tell him he's lucky it's almost knock-off time, otherwise I'd so kick his arse.

5:00 - Pick up mail that needs to be sent off in the morning. Grab my bag, make sure I've got all my crap from the tea room. Check milk supplies and see if I need to stop on the way to work tomorrow morning. Take some paperwork home with me, to see if I can get a head start on tomorrow. Answer one last phone call, take a message.

5:05 - Time to head home.
5:15 - Home!

Baby Smurf

I'm a germ-filled miserable walking headache ...

So, I've been struck down with the cold.

It's not that shocking, I guess, when you consider that both my nieces, who I spent four days with last week/weekend, and almost everyone at work, has it.

I honestly didn't realise how shitty a cold could make you feel. Now I totally get why we've had so many people at work call in sick with the cold.

I've never had headaches like this before. Ever. I woke up at 5 a.m. this morning, and not even 15 seconds later, I was crying from the pain. I took three Panafen (Ibuprofen and codeine) and didn't move for an hour and a half. Finally they started to work, and it didn't hurt so bad to move my head. And this has been happening for three days. I've been taking tablets every two to three hours, day and night.

I've been drinking about 5 litres of water a day since my throat is so sore, and I constantly feel like I'm dehydrated. I've been waking at 2 or 3 a.m., drinking a 750 ml bottle of water and going straight back to bed.

I can't figure out if I'm hot or cold, so my heater is either on high, or I have my front door open so the freezing cold wind can come in and cool me down.

I've been through an entire box and a half of tissues in two days.

And, oh yay, in the last three days I've had about 8 asthma attacks, which has just added to the fun.

Hopefully, the worst has passed. I still feel crappy, and I'm just about to have (another) early night in the hope that some sleep might help, but today I think I felt a little bit better than yesterday? Maybe? A little bit?

Ugh!

Me. Tonight.

Sorry about the length ...

I don't even know where to begin ...

I've been in Melbourne for the last few days. I went to see my sister and my nieces. I went to have a relaxing few days, chilling out, playing with the kids. I went to do some shopping.

It didn't quite go to plan, though.

Firstly, I decided to drive to Melbourne. Which I've never actually done before, but I figured it's only two and a half hours, how hard can it be? Usually I take the train, which takes two hours to get to Melbourne, then I get onto another train out to my sisters, which takes another hour and a half (if Connex hasn't cancelled services. Even if they have, the trains are usually packed.). So, I went "stuff it, I'm driving". I got directions off whereis.com.au, and left early on Thursday morning (6 a.m.).

Seriously? It would have been faster to take the freaking train.

I got lost. Somehow, somewhere, I must have taken a wrong turn. I ended up at Essendon (about 45 k's from my sisters) and I had no idea how to get back to where I needed to be. Add to that that it was freaking peak hour in Melbourne, bumper to bumper traffic, which I am not used to, and throw in the fact that everyone in that damn city drives like morons, and I was a little stressed.

Eventually, after running up a huge mobile phone bill on whereismobile.com (and visiting suburbs such as Tullamarine, Bayswater, Nunawadding, Donvale - none of which are really on the way to my sisters, might I add), I found my way. I got to my sisters a little after 10:30 a.m. FOUR AND A HALF HOURS OF DRIVING! FOR A TWO AND A HALF HOUR TRIP! The first thing I did? Take myself off to Knox City (big shopping centre) and spend a ridiculous amount of money on a GPS for my car. Considering I can barely pay my bills at the moment it probably wasn't a terrifically smart move, but oh my god, does it make things soooo much easier. Coming home today was about a thousand times less stressful, because all I had to turn was "turn right in 500 metres", and "turn left in 100 metres". Seriously, it was worth every single cent, and I'll be using it when I drive to my sisters again.

So ... Thursday I went to Knox with my three year old niece and we did some shopping. Obviously I tested her patience a little too much though, because once we were done shopping, and were on our way out, she started crying. And she cried the whole way home. She cried at an old man who asked her name, she cried at the bus driver who gave her a free ticket to cheer her up, she cried when we stopped at traffic lights ... And she cried when I started laughing at her. I know! Seriously, what kind of meanie laughs at a crying kid?! It was funny though. She was just over-tired, and no one was going to make her happy!

Thursday night, I was exhausted. Driving for hours, shopping and a loooong day had tired me out. I crashed at about 11 p.m ... only to be woken up at 11:30 by my sister, upset and yelling, because my brother rang (drunk, of course), threatening to kill himself.

Oh. My. God.

Then he hung up, and wouldn't answer his damn phone again. Hello, stress levels. A few minutes later, one of his ex-girlfriends, who is good friends with my sister, was banging on the front door, upset because he'd rung her to say goodbye, since he was nothing but a disappointment to everyone, and he couldn't handle this anymore ...

Oh. My. God.

So, my sister keeps ringing him, and finally he answers and they find out where he is. Olivia, his ex, goes to pick him up and take him home so he can sleep it off.

Nup.

He gets in her car, only to start crying and then jump out at traffic lights, saying he's going to kill himself, yada yada yada. So Olivia, not knowing what the hell to do, rings the police, and asks them to look for him. Meanwhile, my sister and I are still awake, worried, and not knowing what is going on. Eventually the police ring to tell us that they've found him and they're going to keep him for a few hours until he sleeps it off.

Finally, bed time?

No.

Baby Smurf, that gorgeous little niece of mine, decides to wake up. Screaming. Doesn't want a bottle, doesn't want to crawl around on the floor, doesn't want to do anything but scream because she's reallllly unhappy, and she wants the world to know it. We finally managed to get her to sleep just after 4 a.m.

Ahh, sleep.

I got just over 2 hours before little Bug Eyes, my other niece was up to start the day.

Needless to say, I was not at my best on Friday. We did some shopping at Knox, and spent the afternoon at home, hanging out. My sister rang my brother to tell him she'd had enough and that he's not welcome at her house anymore, she's sick of the lying and manipulating. He could only swear and carry on about being picked up by the police the night before.

Friday night, Baby Smurf was again the unhappiest kid in the world, and wouldn't take her bottle, which was a bit of a worry. She'd had nothing since Friday morning and my sister was worried about her dehydrating. This went on Friday night and Saturday morning, so she rang Nurse on Call, who advised her to take the Smurfette to the hospital to get her checked out. Six hours at the hospital showed up ... A healthy kid! A close examination of her mouth did reveal a white spot ... She's got a tooth coming in! So the nurses gave Amanda a syringe to shoot the milk into Smurfette's mouth :-) Saturday night she drank a full bottle this way, although she was still very unsettled.

She woke us at 2 a.m. this morning, still cranky, but she had another full bottle via the syringe. It was perfect timing, because it meant that I got to watch the end of the Storm game which was on Channel 9. What a freaking amazing finish! 45 seconds to go and the Storm won! Baby Smurf couldn't figure out why she wasn't the only one yelling in the loungeroom! :-)

Eventually, (a little after 3 a.m.) we all went back to bed. And this morning? Guess who woke up all smiles, with a brand new tooth poking through the gum?

Yep! She did it!

And she was like a totally different kid. For the last few days all she's done is cry and scream and cling to whoever's closest, but today? All smiles. And giggles. It was so awesome to see her feeling so much better!

So, after hanging out with the girls for a while, and cooking pancakes for breakfast, I started packing up to head home. I was so, so tired, (in the last 3 night I would have had maybe three hours each night) and I figured I'd better get going before I realised just how tired I was. As I'm packing, however, the phone rings.

My sister had given her MIL the rent money. And MIL was ringing to say that the rent money was $50 short.

It appears drunk, dickhead brother helped himself to the money last weekend while he was visiting.

Seriously. What next???

So then my sisters boyfriend cracked the shits and they had a screaming fight, which ended when he walked out. Ugh.

I stayed a while longer, helped bath the Smurf and talked to my sister, then I took off.

And now, I'm home. Tired, and just about ready to cry. It just feels like one thing after another, you know?

And my brother. What the hell?

I know I haven't spoken to him in a year and 9 months, and I didn't think that I cared about him that much, but the worry inside me at the moment is just ... Huge. I'm scared. So scared.

And the thing that scares me, and pisses me off, is that he won't change. He's had so many opportunities and he won't change. He keeps drinking and stuffing up and manipulating and lying and what the hell can be done? He's going to end up dead, because we can't frigging do a thing to make him realise that he's wrecking his goddamn life.

Where do we go from here? I'm not speaking to him. My sister isn't speaking to him. Dad has had enough as well. Mum is still trying, and he's breaking her heart. And he doesn't give a fuck, he won't CHANGE.

I don't even know what to say.

Linkapalooza.

So, Collingwood are out of the finals ... :-( I don't know what the hell happened. How could we lose to ST KILDA??! Seriously. I mean, they're a great team and all, but ... ??!! We were playing for a spot in the semi-final, and we couldn't beat them? Disappointing, Pies, disappointing.

I worked today and yesterday, at the cafe/ice creamery. We had a couple of good days, as the weather has been beautiful. We were meant to get rain today, which meant we were planning a quite day, but so far it's been sunny (although very windy) all day. Ahh, spring! :-)

Anyway, I better go cook me some dinner ... Er, heat up the takeaway from last night. I actually just came to share some new sites I've found, so here goes.

Nick, the Xray Photographer ... This is strangely fascinating.

Fail Blog ... Is pretty freaking funny.

Cosha's ... This could be considered a little ... err ... dirty. Don't say you weren't warned!

DatingFun.com ... Random trivia.

Disapproving Rabbits ... How friggin gorgeous! And so funny! I'm only pissed I didn't discover it sooner :-)

I can has cheezburger ... Not usually a cat person, but this is pretty cool.

And, as always, new secrets are up at PostSecret. Check em out!

You hang in there sunshine, you're friggin special.

13/09/2001.

Hey Mel,

So, it's been seven years since you were last here with us. September 13, 2001. And here I am, writting to you again, continuing the tradition that I started in 2002. I gotta tell you, it sucks. This is not the tradition that I would have wished for, ever, but here we are anyway.

It doesn't get any easier, you know. I might laugh more when I think about you and I may cry less ... But it doesn't really get any easier, knowing that you're not here, and you're not coming back. It still hits me at the strangest times - it's like I forget and then - wham. Mel's dead. The realisation takes my breath away and makes me stop cold for a minute. How? Why? Mel?

You give me smiles at the most random times. All it takes is a song on the radio that we played at your funeral, or an expression that someone might say that makes me automatically think of you, and I'm smiling. Sometimes I'm having a bad day, or I'm upset about something, and it turns everything around. It's like you're watching over me, and it rocks, dude! Keep it up.

It's weird - so many times this week my thoughts have gone to you. On Tuesday night, I dreamt of school, and of Kelly. It was the strangest dream I'd ever had - it made no sense, but I woke up knowing that you gave that dream to me. And then at work, one of the guys started whistling one of the songs that your mum played at your funeral. Out of nowhere. On Wednesday, I heard another song from the funeral on the radio, which I haven't heard in months. Today, I was out house hunting. We ended up at Adams St (!!!!), looking at a place. Thank you.

So, we've made it through another year without you. We share our stories. We see your face. We hear your laugh. Quietly, you live on within us. Your smile stays in our minds, because you were Mel. Who could forget you?

Miss you, Miss Melody.

If you were going to die soon and had only one phone call to make, who would you call and what would you say? And why are you waiting?

22 degrees!

Spring has sprung. Thank freaking god, because I'm sick of cold, rainy weather.

Right now, it's sitting on 22 degrees, and I've actually got my house open to air it out a little. Outside is a little cloudy, but it's waaaarm. Woo hoo!

Of course, with spring comes hayfever. Yesterday I went house-hunting WITH A BOX OF TISSUES. Yeah. I couldn't stop sneezing long enough to go anywhere, so we ended up leaving with the tissues. I looked like shit. And today is a repeat performance. I'm going to have to go to the doctor to get a refferal to a specialist. I've tried every tablet/nasal spray/natural remedy out there. Some work, but usually only for a couple of days. Ugh. And I can only imagine how bad it's going to be at the office this summer with all the dust and pollens floating around. So I should probably get onto it before it gets worse.

So, yeah. I haven't done an entry for a while. Last week I worked all week - my usual two and a half days at the office, as well as Wednesday afternoon and Thursday as the other girl was sick. She was back on Friday, which was great for me because it meant that I didn't have to cancel my appointment to get my car fixed in Kerang. So, Friday morning I was up early and when I got home, dad took my car to the mechanic and mum and I hung out at home. Saturday and Sunday I worked at the cafe, (yes, I'm still there - don't ask) and as usual, it was not fun.

This week I worked Monday, was off Tuesday sick, and worked my usual half day on Wednesday. Yesterday I went house-hunting with Christine, which was fun. There's about 4 that we want to check out a little more - two that we really like. Hopefully we'll make a decision in the next couple of weeks and get the ball rolling soon. I swear, this will be the LAST time that I move ... Ever. *lol* Just looking around my place, realising how much crap I'll have to pack up gives me a headache :-) Not to mention, we'll be putting devil dog (Jersey) and Buckley in the one house, and throwing in my birds and Christine's fish (who are at constant risk of being eaten by Jersey). And Buckley will become an outside rabbit ... Don't know how he'll like that ... He's used to be inside. (Yeah, he's spoilt rotten!) I've already said that he'll be coming inside when it's too hot (32+ degrees) because as a rabbit, he's got no way to release heat (rabbits can't pant like dogs) and summer outside could easily kill him. So, we've got it all planned out. We just have to find *the* house :-)

What else ... That's about it, really. I've been very boring. Today I spent the day cleaning the house, doing washing, and cleaning out the bunny and birdies cages. Oh-so-fun. Now I'm going to go cook me something to eat, and listen to some music. Ahh, what a nice end to a day off :-)

Catch the Cowards

This? Disgusting.

What fucking cowards.

Wanna smile?

Check out Torrie's blog, and watch this video. It reminds me of the way Bug Eyes used to dance when she was younger. She'd dance to any and all music, and it ALWAYS made me smile.