Tuesday 7 June 2016

Resurgence

How is it June? (I should note that when I first started this post it began 'How is it May? Turns out time will stop for no man, woman or blogger).

I just wanted to let you all know that we are alive ...

Buglet has had her year 12 ball, and has turned 17.






Tink has her first job at a Fish'nChip shop, and is taking the world by storm. She also has purple hair.

The Pixie is the Pixie. I am super proud of her for getting an award for good attitude and leadership in the Elite Sports Program at her school. I am worried that she was confused as to why she would be given an award for good attitude and leadership.

The kittens are now getting along. Pickles grooms Pumpkin an awful lot for an inside kitten. Not sure if Pumpkin smells bad or if Pickles has an incredibly high standard of cleanliness.




Flip-Flop went for a week's holiday with her previous owners while I was in Melbourne (and the girls were dispersed around the country-side).

My youngest niece has gone to long term care with her family (sad for us, but hopefully the best for her long term happiness and we knew she was going to be a temporary placement) ... and a week later my sister gained another little boy (NT Nephew III)!

But that's not all .....

... I am an auntie again! (Again, again. NT Nephew III is the first again, keep reading for the second again).

Pie and OJ have a new little brother (Freddo for blogging purposes. Pie wanted to call him Freddie; his parents disagreed so he will have to make do with it as a blog name).

Not only am I an auntie again twice over ... I am also a Godmother! Freddo's baptism was last Sunday so it is all official and everything.



For those trying to keep up, this makes 6 Godchildren, 3 nieces, 9 nephews, and 1 Godson-nephew (plus the temporary nieflings I've had to let go of physically, but who I keep close to my heart).

And me ... well ... the last few months have been a bit of a roller-coaster!

Work has been busy. Life has been busy. I have a couple of projects on the go which are mostly keeping me out of trouble.

One of aforementioned projects is that I am now Vice President of a fledgling organisation called Chat For Change. If you want to help support us, it would be super awesome if you liked us on Facebook or connected with us on LinkedIn. This paragraph is a blatant attempt at self-promotion. Not that I have done a lot so far, I've only been on board (pun intended) for six months, but I still feel that promoting is the right thing to do.

You will all be pleased to know that I took a week off and run away to Melbourne to hang out with a friend. Was v good just to have some down time. I also bought books. Rather a lot of books. (If you want to see my pictures check out #runningawaywithness on Instragram.https://www.instagram.com/philosophy_minors/).



The other "exciting" thing is that my doctor is of the opinion that I most likely have ankylosing spondylitis. This sounds like a dinosaur, but it is actually an autoimmune arthritisy disease causing chronic pain usually starting in your back. Most people shorten it to AS, but I like saying the whole thing 'cos if you are going to have a nasty disease it is sort of fun to have one that sounds like a dinosaur.

While I haven't had an official diagnosis (because this takes ages), it does explain a whole heap of things. For starters the chronic back pain, but also the fatigue I have been battling even when my iron levels are normal. I will write more about this later, but the whole thing is having a bit of an impact on my life. The fatigue in particular has been messing with me for the last six months, with the worst part being three weeks were I was only awake long enough to work (and still had to nap in my lunch break every day).



Moral of the story: If something doesn't feel quite right. Go to the doctor! I only mentioned it to her because my boss told me I had to tell her about the constant back pain and the Monkey Butler told me I had to tell her about the constant pain in my fingers.

Disclaimer:
  • It is doubtful I am qualified to give parenting advice, there is still time for me to stuff up.
  • I am really not qualified to give medical advice.
  • I am not even allowed to give legal advice without supervision.
I would recommend finding more reliable sources for any advice of any nature.



Friday 29 January 2016

What's one more?

We have a new addition to our family!

Another fur baby (side note, I am not sure how I became the sort of person who refers to my pets as my "fur babies" but I am. And I don't care. Judge me if you will but I love them so very much).

It is my great pleasure to introduce you to Pumpkin Belle aka "the Teeny-Tiny Kitten" (she really is tiny!) or "the Ginger Ninja" (she is really not a ninja, but she does try very hard).

First day at home, and the realisation that she is way too small for her new collar.


I am not giving Pumpkin a "blog name". I never use anything other than Pickles' real name (as those of you who follow us on Instagram will have noticed). If you want to check out the not-so-frequently-asked-questions about the fur babies and their names, I answered lots of them when we got Pickles. Things like "why do your pets have middle names"? And what is the kitten's surname? (Both Pickles and Pumpkin have the same surname).

The perfect place to cuddle is right between a human and a book.


Pumpkin's first name was easy to pick.

Last year, Buglet began her campaign to get a ginger kitten for her 17th birthday. Her arguments included:

  • Tink has Pickles, the Pixie has Flip-Flop, I am the only one who doesn't have a pet; and
  • You have always wanted a pet called 'Pumpkin'. If we had a ginger kitten that would be the perfect name.
I posted something about this on facebook and a friend sent me a private message saying that their cat had a litter of kittens on Halloween ... including a ginger female (and apparently ginger females are quite rare). How could I not say yes? 

Soft kitty, warm kitty, little ball of fur.

Pumpkin was officially a Christmas present, but she arrived mid-January when I got home from New Zealand.

After much debate, we decided her middle name was 'Belle'. Buglet wanted her to have a "real" middle name, and at Christmas my nephew named the unicorn handpuppet I was given from Pie and OJ (and family) "Bella" so it all seemed to fit quite nicely. 

"Bella" the unicorn puppet.


Pumpkin has settled in nicely.

Battle Cat.

Flip-Flop is besotted and was very impressed to get a new kitten-sister for her puppyversary - Pumpkin arrived the day after Flip-Flop's three year anniversary of joining our family. A week later and the level of excitement has calmed down to the point where I am not worried that Flip-Flop is not going to accidentally kill the kitten through love. Flip-Flop has a lot of love to give!


"You got me a KITTEN?!"

Pickles is not impressed about becoming the middle furchild. At first there was a lot of hissing. There has also been a lot of standoffish behaviour, but now their relationship has settled into mostly ignoring with a little bit of play fighting. The hissing has stopped (even when Pumpkin goes near Pickles' food) so I have hopes they will become happy soon.

"What do you mean 'it is staying'?"

The girls and I totally love her (even the Pixie). DB says that any more and I will a crazy cat lady. I am ignoring him because:
  • I don't care what he thinks;
  • I don't mind being a crazy cat lady; and
  • based on his reasoning I can get 2 kittens before I become a crazy cat lady because Pickles and Pumpkins are the girls' cats.


Disclaimer:
  • It is doubtful I am qualified to give parenting advice, there is still time for me to stuff up.
  • I am not qualified to advice on pet raising. 
  • I am totally a crazy cat lady and I am ok with this.
  • I am not even allowed to give legal advice without supervision.
I would recommend finding more reliable sources for any advice of any nature.