I need to get two more shirts for the start of school this coming week, and despite the first day being Wednesday, the school uniform shop's opening hours continue to be more or less 'Every third Thursday except on a full moon, when we open between 1 and 3am'
(that's hyperbole, of course, but suffice to say they're not at all convenient opening hours for people who have other obligations)
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So Tango (younger dog) had a lump that ended up being some kind of infection (yay because at first we/the vet thought it might be a tumour) and so he's been on antibiotics for the infection and steroids for the inflammation for the past week.
[Short aside: how good is medicine, and how lucky that we can access it and afford it for our pets, which has not always been the case, so I'm grateful]
The vet said, 'So the steroids will make him hungry and thirsty. Don't feed him too many extra treats but definitely make sure he has as much to drink as he wants'
She did not mention that this would also mean he would Not. Stop. Weeing.
So much wee. So many accidents. At least the floor is getting cleaned a lot...?
[#]dogs #pets #housework #SoMuchWee
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[#]ThreeGoodThings this week
[#]ThingsILove #parenting #funny #work #sweets #ItsAFuckingGoat
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I used to be... I want to say 'good' or 'better' at meditation but I feel as though that goes against the actual point of meditation. What I mean is, I used to find meditation easier and now I find it harder.
Does anyone have a good method they use or a video with guided meditation? Particularly interested in the Buddhist tradition (focused on lovingkindness) but open to others
[#]meditation #PleaseHelp #suggestions
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[#]3GoodThings
[#]gardening #gardeningAU #nature #plants #ThingsILove #BestThings
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Just made two actual phone calls where I had conversations with human beings and I feel like a gd superhero.
This is after doing the budget (we are a ridiculously hungry bunch apparently) and bookmarking some info re reducing our mobile phone costs.
Enough productivity for a month, I reckon
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What a difference a month makes! I repotted these plants just before Christmas and now, not only do they have a bunch of plant buddies but the varigated epipremnum is going so well! I also took three cuttings and popped them in some jam jars filled with water and they're all getting roots. So exciting!
[#]plants #houseplants #gardening #gardeningAU
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The publication I work for uses US English, which I'm now very used to, and it's fine, but my novel/thesis/everyday language is Aus English, and while I'm writing this afternoon (not for work), it's so obvious to me how much more I prefer Aus English.
I think it comes down to the appearance of the words, for me, since they're how I learnt English, it's more aesthetically pleasing, and honestly that's how I edit and write anyway -- does it look/feel correct? Then yes, it is correct. It's like I learnt the rules and then internalised the appearance as the right kind of beautiful (this is how edit grammar and punctuation, too)
Please note that I'm not saying that the version of English I use is more correct than any other English, language or dialect! I'm just musing on how I experience writing and editing and how it feels to do the work I do
[#]work #writing #thoughts #editing #learning
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Stewed nectarines with cream (what a delectable and luxurious dessert) and the nectarines are ones from our tree, which I accidentally grew from seed. So lucky!
I was thinking about how, when people are trying to decide what to grow, the recommendation is often 'grow what you eat'. But I think it's more important to grow what you buy a lot of and which will save you a trip to the supermarket.
Eg, we eat a HEAP of potatoes and I do like to grow them but last time the rats ate them (can you believe it? I could not!) and that's not to mention the space/time they take. Potatoes are still relatively cheap to buy so I am better off growing green crops like rainbow chard, salad greens, sprouting broccoli, all those cut-and-come-again vegies that are the ones I'd need to buy more regularly from the supermarket.
In terms of fruit, I am so happy to have a lemon tree and I definitely enjoy picking our own fruit from the other trees but if we had less space I would be hard pressed to use it for fruit trees. I reckon if you're pushed for space but want fruit, berries are the go.
Thoughts?
[#]gardening #gardeningAU #summer #fruit #GrowYourOwn #food #sustainability
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Saturday is take-Dad-supermarket-shopping day, but I went to the markets on the way and picked up some fresh fruit and vegies for us and him (strawberries, mizuna, broccoli, choy sum, Tuscan kale, rockmelon, cucumbers) and some sourdough for him.
After I took him shopping, we had a cuppa and I left his vegies with him and came home via the animal feed store as the chooks were out of kibble. That reminds me, it's still in the car and I should get Kid2 to take it out for me...
Lunch was roast chicken plus salad with all the fresh vegies and a homemade honey mustard dressing (have never made it before but it was delightful, will for sure make it again).
Now it's mid afternoon and I'm very tempted to nap... I have some lemongrass tea here to wake me up, and All The Editing to do, so if I do nap, it'll be short.
When the sun drops a bit, I'll head out to the garden and plant out the tomato seedlings. They've been impatiently waiting in the hydroponic system and now they've actually outgrown it. Oops.
[#]gardening #today #saturday #local #food
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Does anyone remember the children's author Richard Scarry? We had a few of his books and I adored the drawing style, even read a couple to my own kids when they were younger.
Adam and I disagree on how his name was pronounced. Adam pronounces it 'Scarey' but we always pronounced it with a short 'a' (to rhyme with 'Harry')
But admittedly I grew up with very limited access to television as a young child and the radio I listened to was geared toward adults/the news rather than children's programmes, so I never really heard it pronounced by someone other than my mum or siblings. Plus Adam and I are not American and maybe that also makes a difference?
Have you heard of this author? How do you pronounce his name?
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Almost $500 worth of groceries and as I'm putting it away, I think, how will we eat all this? But we will. And then I'll have to buy more, and isn't it weird how we have to pay for food since it's a human right?
[#]food #HumanRights #thoughts
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Oh! I wanted to share this because it's been quite helpful and enlightening. Lately I have been thinking big deep thoughts about how I talk to myself.
So if I drop something or do something I didn't expect, like forget to put the kettle on when I thought I did, I normally would say/think, oh, that was stupid/I'm an idiot.
And instead! I have been correcting myself, and saying, 'That was forgetful' or 'Oops, that was an accident' and giving a reason, 'I must be tired today' or 'I'm distracted because I'm worried about something and not thinking about what I'm doing at this moment.'
And in some ways I think it's helping? Like, I have to live in my head so it would be nice if I didn't tell myself how much it sucked in here.
But also I realise how much easier it is to reinforce a narrative than to ask why you're telling that particular story. It's effort to rethink things. It's effort to ask why I am clumsy or can't think of the right words.
Hoping if I practise enough, it won't be as hard.
[#]SelfTalk #SelfEsteem #MentalHealth
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A warmer than expected Sunday. We saw my brother and his family at the beach and despite having to stand in the sun and watch their kid (she's younger than my kids so needs a bit more supervision) it was a nice time. I did get a headache from the sun though, despite wearing hat and sunnies. This sun. It'll getcha.
Anyway this afternoon has been a bit of a fug, what with the headache and all. But I made icing for the cake and I also picked more nectarines. Here's a picture of some I took for my relatives for their drive home
[#]nectarines #gardening #produce #today #Sunday #family
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Kid4 was singing the first verse of Dido's 'Thank You', and I said to him, 'Where did you hear that?' and he said he couldn't remember.
Then I asked him if he knew the chorus, and he wasn't sure... so I played him the whole song. He knows all the words in the first verse but nothing after that -- apparently it's been used on some youtube shorts he's seen. Cracks me up that the kids will start singing these random few lines from songs I know so well and then when I join in and start singing the rest, they're completely at sea.
But it's not new, is it? I remember listening to the radio in my teens, and there was a sample of 'Bye bye Blackbird' in a song (can't remember the song now), and my mum started singing along. How shocked I was that my OLD MUM (probably about my age now, lol) would know this song! Heh, I kind of love that this music thing continues to circle back again, and again, and again :)
[#]music #parenting #memories #childhood
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I'm back at work on Monday and I'm not sure I'm ready for it. Looking forward to seeing my colleagues, though. Well. 'Seeing' them, since we're all remote.
It could be that it's the impending end to my holidays that is making me so antsy. Note to self: stop living in the future and the past.
Tonight I was feeling resentful because I want to spend as much time as I can tidying up my thesis and I have commitments with Dad and Kid2's work, plus my brother was coming down south to spend some time with us too. I could see my weekend slipping away.
Dad rang later and told me my brother can't make it and is coming another week instead. All those annoyed moments I had wasted. A good lesson to be here now. I need to keep reminding myself again and again and hopefully one day it'll stick.
[#]mindfulness #today #holidays #work
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Someone is not impressed with fireworks
[#]NewYear
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Joined Mastodon in '21 and started properly posting in '23 (maybe '22, but I can't remember for sure and I can't be bothered going through all the posts to check). Have had one dubious DM but even that one was fine and didn't get too weird.
Joined Blusky in November this year. Barely a month and I get my first weird DM. Plus the bots. Omg, the bots.
I don't think everything has to be reduced to a better/worse good/bad binary and there are some people I know from the other place who never took up Mastodon, so it's great to be in touch with them again. But let's just say in wanting to make a clone of the other place, Blusky also cloned all the undesirable things as well. It's a shame, but I suspect it's for that very reason that it's proving popular with people.
Of course, everyone's experience will be different and I think that the volume of diverse voices on Blusky is something that goes in its favour. But it's been super interesting to reflect on how I respond emotionally to being on each platform. I definitely feel more at home here.
[#]Blusky #SocialMedia #FindingYourPeople
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Indoor plants probably prefer to be re/potted when it's cooler weather but right now is when I have the time to do it, so right now is when it's getting done.
They are mostly epipremnum but there are a couple of syngonium, a peperomia and a varigated dwarf umbrella tree. Some of them have been eking out an existence outside on the front step and so hopefully they'll be happier inside, in good soil, with less exposure to the elements
Not pictured: two tomato seedlings from mystery seeds that I've just transferred from the hydroponic system to the outside.... update to follow
[#]gardening #gardeningAU #houseplants
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Had a discussion about AI with Adam today, who told me I sounded like a luddite, and I can understand why he would say that, but also I'm just so sick of people using ChatGPT as a substitute for thinking, and also that it's integrated into every damn platform without us even asking for it, and that it's creating literal tonnes of CO2 while doing that.
It's not that I'm against AI, I'm against the uselessness of it, the unnecessariness of it. Please, use it for processing data, use it to help improve climate models or the many other important and helpful applications. But just the careless waste, that really shits me
[#]AI #stupid #ProbablyNeedAHoliday
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