Something unexpected

(Readers of delicate disposition may wish to exercise judgement before proceeding...).

So, what do you think this is?







It began when I was cleaning out my filing cabinet. I found a plastic bag marked "biohazard". How odd, I thought to myself. What on earth could be in here?






Ewww! Ewan's umbilical stump!


Although isn't it just a fascinating....thing...

Isabelle assisted by digging out a little hole in Ewan's pot.





And the mummified stump was reunited with the rest of its - stuff. Placenta remains I guess, although I hope they are long gone.





Ah, that's better!

Devil of a brew?

A better class of molotov cocktail?:

http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/local/3977154/Guard-doused-Government-House-fire-with-water-bottle

Timber!

We needed to see some more of that fleeting winter sun, so:

First cuts....

















Spectators.


















Umm....where did those children go?
















Oh there they are!

















Second trunk

















Timber!

















Aidan comes running

















Never too young to wield your own hatchet.

Breakfast...good....

Was doing a spot of internet grocery shopping today when I spotted that a breakfast cereal the children like was spelled as "beery berry nice".


Mmmmm...

Daycare defence

Flipping through some junkmail I found an ad for Daycare Defence. For only $34.99 a month, you too can give your child a daily dose (individually packaged in sachets for convenience) of probiotics to protect them from the host of germs that other people's children have.

A sensible precaution? A sop to middle-class guilt?

Interesting marketing angle regardless.

I'm reminded of a seminar thing I attended a couple of years back where lots of daycare for babies was labelled a public health issue.

When Christmas presents fight

The little known "Mouse Rebellion" in the early days of the Empire ended swiftly - and badly for the mice.

Don't worry, it's only temporary

On Tuesday, June 26, 2007, I blogged:

The bookcase and its books now (temporarily) live in the lounge.

Yup, they're still there....

Because everybody else is

I'm supposed to answer in just one word.

1. Where is your cell / mobile phone? nonexistent
2. Your hair? long
3. Your mother? loved
4. Your father? loved
5. Your favourite food? rich
6. Your dream last night? weird
7. Your favourite drink? water
8. Your dream/goal? contentment
9. What room are you in? lounge
10. Your hobby? showering
11. Your fear? loss
12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? home
13. Where were you last night? here
14. Something that you aren’t? unwrinkled
15. Muffins? bran
16. Wish list item? camera
17. Where did you grow up? Christchurch
18. Last thing you did? breastfed
19. What are you wearing? trackies
20. Your TV? nonexistant
21. Your pet? houdini
22. Friends? somewhere
23. Your life? lived
24. Your mood? tired
25. Missing someone? yes
26. Vehicle? odyssey
27. Something you’re not wearing? glasses
28. Your favorite store? none
29. Your favorite color? red
30. When was the last time you laughed? today
31. Last time you cried? newspaper
32. Your best friend? best?
33. One place that I go to over and over? toilet
34. One person who emails me regularly? forums
35. Favorite place to eat? out

Orla Borla

Orla sings "Orla Borla choo choo train, Orla Borla choo choo train!" (All aboard the choo choo train!).

I am reminded of my child self singing "Mary, Mary, Mary, Mary, life is but a dream!"

If I were a twitterer

8.07 Have no coffee in the house.
9.17 Aidan just broke a glass. Can't find my sunglasses.
9.19 Found sunglasses. They are broken.
10.00 Architect here. Woot!
10.10 Architect is dressed in black, has beard and funky glasses.
10.12 Brendon has bought coffee for morning tea. Woot!
11.03 Dropped Brendon back at work. Off to B's to drop off Orla.
11.15 At B's. Decided to stay for cuppa.
11.43 Still at B's - shopping with Aidan for school clothes shortly.
12.01 Still at B's.
12.07 Aidan does not want to stop playing and start having quality Mama time.
12.22 Ditch quality time and keep playing.
1.03 Aidan is wearing a commando shirt, commando hat and has matching pistols.
2.59 Back home. We seem to have acquired a commando hat.
3.56 K and E here for a visit.
4.00 Mother help is here. Woot!
4.09 Hide commando hat.
4.11 Hide rugby flag (i.e. pointy wavy at face stick thing).
4.22 Aidan escaping up retaining wall.
4.31 Aidan up a tree.
4.45 Child guest pees on floor. Misses the carpet. Woot!
4.58 Wave goodbye to guests. Hope to see them again soon.
5.31 Isabelle's new Darth Maul v. cool.
6.50 Late tea. Too busy to fini
7.23 Ewan in bath. Orla on my lap asleep.
7.56 Brendon to supermarket.
8.48 Whittakers Dark Caramel tres fine.


Such excitement in just one day!

A new collective noun

A writhe of children.

Most frequently observed when multiple children wrestle with one adult.

Mullet with headlights

I got this from Wanda Harland.

Hehehehe!

Gerry Brownlee and the missing engagement ring

Two elections ago, I went to one of Gerry Brownlee's street corner meetings. It was at the local playground. The children played and the adults listened. At one point, I waved enthusiastically at my young ones and watched my engagement ring fly off my finger to disappear into the grass. After a small panic and frantic search, the ring was found (after Gerry's departure).

Fast forward to yesterday morning, and I went to put on my engagement ring and it was...strangely not in its box. And it wasn't in my other ring box. And it wasn't in with the rest of my jewelery either....

Thankfully the small panic was over quickly, as one of the children said that they thought one of the others might have put it in Daddy's ring box. And so it was. The engagement ring was missing no more.

Shortly afterwards Ewan and I flew to Christchurch for my school reunion. And what would you know, Gerry Brownlee (local MP) turned up to give a speech.

What is this strange relationship between the appearance of Gerry Brownlee and my engagement ring's disappearance?

Helpful hints

Brendon's pamphlet, titled "Coaching Small Blacks" might need some explaining to overseas visitors.

Synecdoche

Our new set of wheels.

Night visitors

Spider! Spider! turning right
To the bedrooms late at night.
What mere mortal eye could spy
You creeping out there on the sly.

Check out this post from Alan on a rather large type of spider that seems to enjoy lurking around our suburb.

As you can see from his blog, I myself had a close encounter with one of these creatures in the early hours of the morning recently. These spiders seem particularly large at 3.00 a.m.

I made sure that for the rest of the night, I walked around wearing my jandals, NOT my bare feet. Crunch. Shudder.

Which is a good excuse to post a picture of my new jandals. Pretty pretty!

Wind fairies

It may have been the last day of summer.

It was just Ewan and me here that morning. The sun shone warmly.

I sat outside by myself, allowing the sun to warm my legs. Ewan slept. The washing dried itself on the line in a satisfying manner.

When I looked up into the sky, there was a mass of fairies flying around. (You know, those dainty, flossy, spherical seed carriers). I counted fifty, then stopped as more kept coming. Sometimes they were hard to see against the blue sky (being so dainty), but then the light would catch them and their bright whiteness shone out. They flew surprisingly fast, catching an updraft which seemed to be located directly above our back lawn, or streaming southwards over the house.

Ten minutes later or so, they had mostly disappeared.

A puff of energy in the hottest part of the day - and a very efficient distribution system.

More momentous events

- I had some COFFEE (after around 9 months abstaining).
- I had a small sip of BEER (Epic Mayhem).
- I did everything on my "to do" list today.
- Orla let me comb her hair!

Anyone know what this is?

The photo is a bit fuzzy because it was taken through the window on maximum zoom.

This appeared in the horse paddock across the valley from our house one morning, and was down by the afternoon. You can see how huge it is by comparing it with the cars parked below.

Any ideas?

Giant sized bubble wand? Meeting of the lightening strike club?

Honours

Happy New Year!

A quiet one for us in the end last night, but Brendon and I made it up until just after midnight.

Had my usual bah humbug rant at the New Year's Honours list. I strongly believe that any public honours should be given for service - doing unto others without the primary aim being immediate personal reward. However, it seems as if honours are instead being given for achievement - being good at sport, making lots of money and employing people, holding high office, being at the top of your profession. While all of these can be positive contributions and can be celebrated, achievements usually come with their own rewards - money, status and the like. I think Honours should be our communities' chances to recognise other efforts, and should be reserved accordingly.

Anyway, had to chuckle at this guy who is proposing a return to "titular titles" (Dames, Sirs and the like) - not necessarily at the idea, but at his name - Mr Knight. Ho ho ho.