Bottoms up

Stardust's breakfast this morning (30 minutes):

1. One small glass of milk

2. One small glass of orange juice (heavily diluted with water)

3. One bowl of oatmeal with a spoonful of honey

4. One handful of blueberries

5. Half a boiled egg

My breakfast this morning (5 minutes spread out over the course of 30 minutes):

1. One small glass of water

2. The other half of the boiled egg

3. Three bites of toast with peanut butter (rest of the toast abandoned due to interruption by a small boy who needed to go to the toilet/couldn't reach his toy/needed a cuddle)

I really miss lazy mornings and leisurely breakfasts.

If you're able to this weekend, please have a relaxed morning and an equally chilled out breakfast on my behalf, please.  And if you're able, leave a comment about it so that I may live vicariously.

Have a great weekend!

A Healthy Breakfast

This morning I woke up feeling incredibly grouchy.

So I had potato crisps for breakfast and I felt much, much better.

(Don't tell MDH)

Have a great weekend and Happy Father's Day to all you dads out there!

Never leave the window open

Today, I left the kitchen window open all morning whilst I was downstairs at the playground with Stardust.

Stupid,
     Stupid,
          Stupid me.

I came back to find that my kitchen and dining room had been tastefully decorated with a multitude of golden glistening drops of very, very wet bird muck.

The culprit was sitting the lip of the kitchen sink, chirruping proudly at us.

It would not fly away.

It just would not.

I had to chase it all over the house with a newspaper, whilst Stardust rolled on the couch (mercifully spared by our feathered friend) helplessly shrieking with laughter.

Finally, it hopped out onto the windowsill and I managed to shut the window before it could hop back in again.

Whilst I went about the house with a rag and a pail of disinfectant, I noticed that it kept peering in at me and chirping hopefully.  I ignored it.

It was still there, staring reproachfully at me as I cut up some meat for dinner.

I will be keeping the kitchen window closed from now on.  You never know what sort of visitors you might get through an open window.

Have a good weekend!

Ten things I did today

1. Made 5 litres of pork stock from leftover pork ribs
2. Mopped floor
3. Cleaned paint off sticky little fingers
4. Mopped paint off floor
5. Repaired dismantled toy xylophone
6. Disentangled 3 foot long slinky from the coffee table
7. Cleaned porridge off sticky little face
8. Mopped porridge off floor
9. Successfully conducted the Hunt For The 100th Piece Of A 100 Piece Duplo Set
10. Mopped spaghetti sauce off floor

Conversation

Sheila: Hey TSCD!
TSCD: Hey!
Sheila: So, I heard you went to the Royal Easter Show last week.
TSCD: I did - it was AWESOME.  We saw lots of animals and Stardust rode on a carousel for the first time.  He really enjoyed it.
Sheila: Did you watch the racing and diving pigs?
TSCD: Yeah, and there was a cow competition so there were all these beefy teenage farmers escorting their prize bulls from the pens to the ring and the feed stations.
Sheila: Did you check out the woodchopping competition?
TSCD: No.  I wanted to but it was too late in the afternoon and Stardust was getting tired.  What is that about anyway?
Sheila: Oh, it when they compete to see who is the fastest woodchopper.  It's hilarious.
TSCD: Why is it hilarious?
Sheila: Well, its all about the burly dudes with the sweaty teenage-ness and muscles.  They have handicaps and racing axes!  RACING AXES!  It is great.  The commentators are very serious!
TSCD: What?
Sheila: Yeah, they strut into the arena with their shirts off and carrying different implements to use at different angles of chopping and each of them have a special super-secret chopping technique.  It's like watching wushu but with axes.
TSCD: (confused) Why must they do it with their shirts off?
Sheila: Because it's hot.
TSCD: I'll bet.
Sheila: No, I meant that it's the end of summer and therefore is freaking hot.
TSCD: *giggling*
Sheila: You are such a CHILD!!!

Thoughts on a car journey

1. Keeping a small wiggly child in a carseat for 5 straight hours is like trying to imprison the Kraken.
2. Bringing rice crackers to feed the Kraken with was a brilliant idea.
3. The remake of 'Clash of the Titans' was highly overrated.
4. The Ozzie radio station played a mix of Bach, Country-Western, Cake, Jordin Sparks and Islamic Altar Call. Them DJs must have eclectic tastes.
5. Australia Vogue doesn't have enough pictures in it to amuse a 2 year old.
6. Not bringing the cover for Stardust's milk bottle was a stupid, stupid idea.
7. So was not bringing enough rice crackers.
8. Sheep appear to neatly graze in one direction whilst cows are not quite so militant in their feeding formations.
9. Echidna look very sweet when they are trundling along the side of the road.
10. I think I like pugs.

Clerking in conversation

One thing that I've noticed about myself recently is that when I meet people for the first time, I fall into a rhythm of chit-chat that is my style of medical clerking. 

Over the weekend, Stardust and I attended a neighbourhood get-to-know-you party and it was so much fun meeting all these mums from different backgrounds.  We have quite an eclectic mix of people where we are staying, probably because it is a fairly new neighbourhood and there are many expatriates living in this area. 

Later on, I was telling my mum all about these cool new people that I met - a pastry chef who sailed solo across the pacific ocean with his wife in a tiny cutter, a yoga instructor who used to teach in exotic beachside resorts, a professional wakeboarder, etc etc - she asked me what I told them about myself.

I realised that I hadn't even told them anything.  Nothing about myself at all.

At the end of the party, I knew how many children they had, where their parents were from, what hobbies they have...even their sleeping and eating habits!  I don't think I said anything about myself.  In fact, I don't think any of them asked me anything.  It's not because they were being self-centred, not in the slightest.  I think I just kept the conversation rolling by conducting a medical interview...and I don't think they noticed how much they were telling me.

For example, I don't recall asking anyone directly about their medical problems but I am sure that by the end of each conversation I knew what illnesses they suffered with and what kind of medication and treatments they received.

I have learned over my years of training how to talk to people and how to keep my personal life to myself.

I wonder if this means that people don't really get to know me very well unless they happen to ask the right questions.

I'm not sure if this is a good or a bad thing.

Meh

I do not seem to be able to keep my shirtfront free of toothpaste stains.