*sigh*

Eldest has joined up on Facebook. It was not without a lot of hesitation and thinking on my part allowing her to go on there.

Her other biological parent has, as expected, gotten in touch. Course he has his profile set to "don't let me be found in searches", so I can't look at it. Sent her a friend request yesterday. She ignored it. Did it again today with the note "I would love to be your friend only if you want to if not when your ready ill be here (sic)". Nice that he wants to be 'here' for her now. Nice that he wants to be a part of her life now. Nice that he doesn't mention any faults, why should he, in his mind there are none.

She's leaving it go for now. I'm not happy about her being in contact with him, why should I be, but I'm not going to fight it. I have, over the past 12-24 months, encouraged her to get in touch with him and go meet up with him. I can't keep her wrapped in cotton wool forever, and she does have to learn some things for herself. But I'm never going to be happy about it. And I'm not apologising for that.

We'll see how things go. I have her gmail and her FB logins and much as you may disagree, I will continue to keep watch on both. It's not all about him. She is 13. She is not the worldly adult she may think. And she still trusts too easily.

Vega

I listen to Vega, especially the brekkie show. it was Dicko, Dave and Chrissy, but Chrissy has just been sacked, so as of this morning, it's just Dicko and Dave.

I think they've lost more by losing her than what they have gained by her sacking. I know the story went out that it was due to the fact that the station was losing money, but the show was missing that female touch this morn and I think that may be more of a loss than they expected.

Only this week to go before they finish up, so I'll keep listening. Then I'll listen to the pod more often. Maybe I'll take up my brother's suggestion of listening to podcasts. Or talking books.

We'll see.

Reading

I'm currently reading "Sins of the Brother". It's (according to the subtitle) the "Definitive story of Ivan Milat and the backpacker murders".

Now I don't know if you've seen Wolf Creek, but I have and it was scary. Not so much the horror of the film, that isn't it, it's more the thought that these things really did and have happened.

I'm only just getting into Part two of the book, which within the first 2 chapters has already gotten in to the 'guts' of what that man's life was like. Part one was more about his childhood, his family life, and the lives of his family.

I think what I'm more frightened of is the fact that someone thought it was ok to do this to people. Not what they did, but that they thought it was ok. I mean, what they did was horrific, but that someone thought this was a fair thing to do to another living human being.... and to think up doing these sorts of things in the first place... well.

Have to admit, it's a good bedtime read though. I like reading biographies and autobiographies most of all, and this one is quite thorough in it's telling.

Terrible

it's been over a month since I wrote here - that's terrible. This is why I stopped blogging in the first place; lack of update-ability.

Mostly a lack of time, but also a lack of things to say. I guess tweeting would suit me, as I can generally update my FB status with a sentence or two and that sates me, but I refuse to tweet. Not my cuppa tea actually. Strangely enough....

Anyway, my pre-NYE resolution is to write more often, even if it's about naught. Practice the writing skill thingie.

Reusable?

I'm a big fan of freecycle. In a nutshell, freecycle is an online community you join to give and gain usable items no longer wanted/needed. So imagine you open your cupboards and think "This breadmaker taking up space in my cupboard is no longer needed by me. It still works fine, so it would be a waste to toss it into landfill." You can offer it out on freecycle. Person who does want it comes and picks it up from you. No cost to you, them (other than their transport) and more importantly - the earth.

All good.

Recently I've seen a couple people offering out bassinette mattresses. Now this is all good and fine, but the guidelines on bassinette mattresses is that they shouldn't be used for more than one baby. No idea what this is about, the reasoning behind it (SIDS maybe?) but then got to thinking, if there isn't a real reason behind it, why is it known? Why is it I bought new ones for each of my little ones?

Is there a real reason to buy a new bassinette mattress with each baby, or is it simply some sort of scare tactics to make parents buy new each time. Generally you would be looking at $10-$50 for a suitable piece of foam mattress, so not a huge outlay (esp if you are cheap like me and go the $10 version) but really... is there a reason?

I'm off to google hoaxes etc and find out why. If indeed it can be found out online. If you know why a new mattress should be used, please tell me in the comments. And also, if the same holds true for a cot/bed mattress.

** Just thought - bassinette mattresses are generally foam, where cot and bed mattresses are generally innersprung. Hmmm..... Off to snopes/google!

Hopeless

I'm a bit hopeless at updating this, but hey, it's my 'get that crap off your chest, so you don't explode at people' place, so I'll keep going for now. Don't know for how long.

Just thought I'd mention I'm not normally this grumpy. As stated above, this is where I have a bit of a hissy fit/whinge/rant/etc, so I may sound like a really grumpy ole woman, but I think I can be seen with a smile or cheeky grin on my face more often than a frown.

I'd like to think so anyway!

Anyway, you can think what you like I suppose. I don't know you, you don't know me, you sometimes read something that I write and that is as far as our relationship goes. :P

Losing myself

Happy to follow up from 14th Sept post; 1.5kg down. For a person who drifts up and down the scales to see a definite drop each week to get to a solid 1.5kg down in 4 weeks is ok. Not bad.

If I was being 'exceptionally' good, I reckon I'd be double that down, but hey, I'm still enjoying life, I'm still having pizza for dinner when T cooks it, enjoying some chippies with the kids when we open a bag, but the thing is, I'm having less slices of pizza and a smaller bowl for my share of the chippies. It's just being sensible.

I've also lessened the alcohol intake. But again, if I'm at a 'do' or somewhere to relax and enjoy a drink, I will. If we have friends over, I'll relax with a beer or wine.

I'm more likely to have a drink of water at my desk and drink during the day, have been known to buy a 2 litre bottle of soda water (so much easier to drink when water has bubbles in it) and drink it while at work that day. I think my local-to-work Coles is running low on their $1.11 Homebrand 2 litre bottles. My fault and I'm glad of that!!

I have had some white chocolate with the hubby and our evening cuppa warm (lite) milk, but sticking to the one row per sitting, as opposed to my past 3 rows, then going back for more.

So we'll plod on. Hopefully in 4 more weeks time, I'll be recording another 1.5kg drop.