...interesting times

So I've...

-Wormed and flea'd the cat
-Got briefly addicted to Second Life before my first life got interminably busy
-Survived Christmas, 5 large meals over three bloody days (those Christians are gonna pay!)
-Came a few facial ticks away from quitting my job
-Took Mingus Von Stinkbum to the cattery
-Went camping at The Prom with 7 friends and 5 family members (Dances with Wombats)

-Survived camping at The Prom with 7 friends and 5 family members
-Helped my brother-in-law move house
-Cancelled the internet
-Helped sell Q's car
-Bought Q's new SH car
-Sold a couch
-Bought a couch
-Took my fish to the orphanarium
-Sold my aquariums
-Setup a cot and change table. Damn those infernal Chinese instruction writers


-Helped my friend Pierre move house. He's French. He doesn't like cheese. He's interesting
-Settled on the house (don't bother with mortgage brokers. They are just another layer of complication)
-Started 'Having a Baby 101' lessons (or 'What Not To Do When You're Partner is in Labour 101')
-Moved house. Ouch. But I got to drive a truck! Echo-Charlie-Rubber Ducky!
-Painted 90% the interior of a 3-bedroom house in 6 days (the psychological scars will last a lifetime)
-Weaned my Mum off Telstra
-Hooked up new phone and internet (hooray for iinet, but no ADSL2 :( this country is a friggin' telecommunications backwater I tell ya)
-bought a dining room table
-Wondered if I'll ever blog again
-Received a new work car. Faith in job temporarily restored.
-Moved Stinkbum to new premises
-Moved the cat
-Caught Gastro off my sister's kids, albeit mildly
-Watched Q turn inside from a severe bout of Gastro, ending in a precautionary visit to hospital
(Speaking of Gastro, I once asked a girl out on a date but she told me no, she was in bed with Gastro. I gave up on her straight away. I mean, how could I compete with the leader of Cuba)

-Painted 10% the interior of a 3-bedroom house
-Bought a lawnmower and hedge trimmer. Whats happening to me!!!
-Watched a birth video at What Not To Do When You're Partner is in Labour-101. No wonder they get the Dad to stand behind the mother
-Marvelled at my new work commute. From 34 traffic lights to just 1
-Wondered by so many bots/trawlers/spammers and enigmatic anoymous commenters are leaving comments on my little blog.
-RECONNECTED TO THE INTERNET AT HOME!

Oh, and that was all before lunchtime! I think I need a lie down.

...it's a girl!

After deciding we would keep it a surprise, we changed our minds at this morning's 19 week ultrasound. Q was sure it would be a boy, but I'd been informed by my big sister that every mother thinks it will be a boy as they are preparing for the worst because they secretly all want a girl. And statistically, it 'should' be a boy because most of our parent friends already have girls.

So namewise Q likes...

• Vivien (or Vyvienne or something, but no-can-do. The kid is going to be a Richards, and I can't bring myself to naming my first-born daughter after a famous, 7ft, West Indian fast bowler. Q doesn't care but my mates will never let me forget it)
• Alba. Mother-in-law suggestion (*shudders)
• Violet (I quite like this one)
• Daisy (why do flowers make nice names?)
  
• Emmaline (nice too)
• Clementine (ok)

I like...

• Lorna (old-school but awesome. Strong, but lyrical. And yes Ms. Lino, I can say it is in your honour if you like).
• Phoebe (but Q had a beloved childhood dog of the same name, but that shouldn't matter...right? Apparently it does)
• I like spacey names, like Astrid and Celeste too

More suggestions please. I can't guarantee we'll like any of them, but the more choice the better.

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...i hope the afterlife isn't run by fish

Elvis has left the building.

Elvis passed away sometime today, after a severe bout of constipation. It's official. I'm a serial killer of Siamese Fighting Fish (Betta splendens).

E was a feisty young male who when we found him he was busy fighting his way out of a paper cup. Now he's just pushin' up the daisies (actually stinking out the wheelie bin). He had been quite bloated, you know, a bit like after you have 6 Coopers Reds and a Rogan Josh. I tried to feed him a green pea the other night, because I read on the net last night that it can cure constipation, and it must be true because its on the net, but he would'nt take a bite. I also read that Bloodworms are bad for Bettas, and he stuffed his face with them a week ago. My bad. I am not worthy.


I blame Q. Elvis was her fish after all. She wanted to buy a fish so one day I took her to the aquarium to buy a fish.

Ooh I like this one
You can't get it. It's a saltwater marine fish.
What about this one?
That one will attack the others.
This one?
That one will get attacked by the others.
I want to get that one.
You can't. It'll eat the plants in the tank.
What about this one?
It needs to be in a big group.
Hmm?
No. It's ugly.
So which fish can I have?
Have a look at these ones.
This one is cute.
It's too expensive. I'm not paying $35 for a fish... unless it's fresh salt and pepper flounder shortly after Happy Hour.
OK. This one.
No. It's Blue. The last one we had, the one that just died was blue.
So, you bastard, are you telling me there is only one fish left in the store that I can buy?
Yes, that is correct.

Good choice. Well done.

I've never lived it down.

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...suburban and coke

I never realised buying a house is such a protracted affair. Oh my God!

Why can't it be simple? Why can't you just walk into The House Shop and say "I'll have 42 tonnes of house please! Do you deliver to affordable suburbs?" And why are there so many people involved that look like either a gameshow host, an apprentice game show host or an extra from Prisoner.

It's oddly like shopping around for another life at the moment, or at least shopping for the scenery we'll be looking at for the next 5+ years, what we're spending big bucks on, what we're going to be constantly fixing.

"Should we go the ready-made, modern, urbane life, or perhaps an old, rambling, big block, outdoorsy future? Hmmm. I guess it depends on what's on special, and if they'll throw in a free lemon tree".

But it's sort of exciting at the same time. Finding a nest, a home, a hub for a new family. Though I reckon the birds have got it figured out; find a tree and stuff you mouth full of twigs and grass. Simple! At least they don't have to spend every Saturday hangin' out with Larry Emdur and Pat the Rat.


Update: The Bub has ten fingers and ten toes (total). It has a normal heartbeat, and it freaked Daddy out for the first time by suddenly rolling over when I was looking at him/her during an ultrasound. Tonight we put in an offer on a 3bdr weatherboard on a nice big block with definately enough room for a toddler to swing a cat in. Sorry Moochy.

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...tings to do

My to-do list for the next 6 months...

• buy car
• buy house
• become a dad

Crikey! Life just got rather interesting.

I wish I could just skip forward and have it all done, out of the way. The suspense is killing me, and we've only just started. But instead I'm about to drive to some 'affordable' suburb to inspect some 'affordable' crap house in the 'affordable' price range $400,000 - $500,000.

We'll be right. Compared to many, we're quite fortunate to even be in that position. But I wish we could just spin around the loungeroom to this, and have it magically happen without even having to think about it.

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...pub daddy

Hehehe.


To hell with the world, I can make my own people now! *cue evil laughter


EDD: April 21 2010.


I'm three exclamation mark excited!!!

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