Ms Fifikins

To say I’ve had a fair bit going on would probably be an understatement. Never do anything by halves I suppose! If you want anything done, ask a busy person. Or something!

Twice a year they have their stocktake at work. Basically it tells us how much has been nicked. The figure given to us in training is astronomical, but I take their word it is correct. A manager told me once that if stock is being lifted then it means the buyers have done their job properly as it is desirable. Whatever! I actually enjoy the process of stocktake. I don’t have to talk to anyone, I am methodical and turn into a robot. For the first time in a while I was a scanner and not a coordinator or part of the tech team. It was rather nice!

This scancount (stocktake) they have introduced a new system. It would have been great if it had been fully tested and an eighth of the store was in a dead spot and unable to get scanner reception! I put my foot down to starting at 6.45am like I was asked to and said I would be there by 7.30. I stayed until 7.30 tonight and could have stayed longer, but needed to get the kids. Today was my day off too. Tomorrow is also my day off and I am working 7.30 til 5.30. Wednesday I am meant to work 5 hours but am rostered on for over 7 and there is word I will again work until 5.30. I am making sure I get the hours as time in lieu. Should accumulate almost an extra week off.

This time off will give me a week to focus on my thesis which again is being neglected. I need to and want to finish it, but the emotional exhaustion I have makes it difficult. I really am juggling so many balls and trying to keep them all in the air. It is the thesis that seems to be easy to just put on the back burner but I need to get stuck into it. Perhaps a week fo solid thesis work will help. Perhaps I need to find another week too… Something I am looking into. If anyone has any ideas how I can finish the damn thing, then please let me know!

And in other news I upgraded to the new wordpress and it seems to be working better now than a few days ago. I even worked out that my google analytics code had gone missing. Well I figured 4 days in a row with no visitors was a bit much so investigated! Hope it is back now!

Don’t run away! Stay and read. You know you always learn something you really didn’t need to know from all these memes and this is one with a difference, so there! For one, I’m not going to tag you, you are going to ask to participate, and that is more of a directive than anything else (vee have vayz ov mekking you meme…)

1. Leave me a comment saying anything random, like your favorite lyric to your current favorite song. Or your favorite kind of sandwich. Something random. Whatever you like.
2. I respond by asking you five personal questions so I can get to know you better.
3. You will update your blog with the answers to the questions.
4. You will include this explanation and offer to ask someone else in the post.
5. When others comment asking to be asked, you will ask them five questions.

The lovely Pink Soprano interviewed me. Make sure you check out her blog, it is more than worth it (and note to self, update your blog roll Ms Fifikins!)

1) Where would be your ultimate holiday destination?

Now as much as I adore the tropics, I do miss seasonality so Winter somewhere freezing with lots of snow appeals. Scotland or Canada in January appeals, but more realistically might have to settle for Canberra in July! I suppose holidays have a notion of being relaxing and the like so perhaps even spending some time in a cabin in the middle of a rainforrest would do me. Actually, around now that sounds like bliss!

Now if we are talking travel though, India, Africa and South America are on the list. Finding a way to travel, holiday and earn money (with 2 kids in tow!) is the logistical exercise that needs working through.

2) If your life was made into a movie, what genre would it be, and would would it be called?

It would have to be a comedy. I am not adverse to a bit of period drama or action either. Now I have ideas of a period drama comedy action superhero movie with a female lead character who saves the day with her wit and charm and has male sidekick who is as smart and funny as she is (hi MIML™) set in Jane Austen’s England. Now everyone would have to have toffy accents too and lines from it would be quoted for generations to come. No idea what it would be called- perhaps ‘Fifikins’ is enough!

Either that or a porno… (Hi Mum )

3) If you were hosting the cocktail party to end all cocktail parties, which five people living, dead or fictional would you absolutely have to have on the guest list, and why?

1. Miss Elizabeth Bennett. I suppose that’s two birds with one stone as she would give more insight into Jane Austen too! Was Jane the feminist of her day that we like to see her has now?
2. The Doctor. Which one? Well it wouldn’t really matter, but I want to ask The Doctor when he will regenerate into a woman and if that is actually possible (theme here?)
3. The gorgeous Nigella, just so I could cook for her.
4. Henry Giroux who is one of my pedagogical heroes.
5. And we would need some music- possibly John Coltrane for some Jazz.

4) If you were stranded on a desert island, what would your five essential supplies be?

1. Some company. (Hey MIML™, you interested being stranded with me for a bit?)
2. My Macbook, power, wireless internet etc. No need for a phone or iPod then.
3. Some nail polish as I think I would have time to paint my toenails which desperately need doing at the moment!
4. Perhaps a cookbook or two, or my favourite knives or something.
5. Bombay Gin (with tonic, lemon and ice cubes- naturally!)

5) If you could live your life in fluffy slippers or beautiful designer heels, which would you choose?

I hate shoes! I would much rather run around in bare feet. I think I would probably lean towards the fluffy slippers though, purely for comfort factor. Although a nice pair of heels does it to me and if it was that cocktail party that was leading me to be stranded on a desert island (or in a rainforest!) making a porno about my life…

So get to it folks! I want comments and I want them now! I am already thinking up lots of questions to ask you all…

I can imagine show and tell at school tomorrow.

“Last night, Mummy picked us up and we went and chose gin and tonic and spent ages working out which weed was the best to get.”

We are pet owners again. Imogen wants a cat, Jasper wants a dog and I told them we could settle for goldfish! MIML™ has two pet rats that are rather sweet in their ratty kind of way! Actually sitting there looking at them is very calming. 2 months ago if anyone had told me I would be in the same room as two rats, let alone holding them and letting them crawl on my shoulders I would have sent them for a psych consult, now I am having the psych consult as I play with rats

But back to Gin and Tonic! We have had the bowl for ages and used to have fish, especially in the old house. I was trying to remember all their names. The ones that lived the longest (we are talking months here!) were Dory and Marlin. I am not sure how long these two will last, but still if Gin dies, we can get Vodka and have Vodka and Tonic. If Tonic dies we can get Vermouth and just have a martini. Of course Imogen wants two new ones called Fish and Chips.

Oh and the snail, well he is called Jean-Claude. I did suggest Citron to go with the Gin and Tonic, but no, the kids decided on Jean-Claude. For dinner tonight we went to Sushi Train and I told the kids that if one of the fish died we could turn it into sushi. Jasper quickly pointed out that if it died it would be sick and would make us sick. The logic of a 7 year old. The weed was hard to choose. In the end we went for some young stuff that will sit in the bowl. As long as Gin and Tonic like it I suppose.

So here they are! Now bear in mind, I think Imogen and Jasper have differing views as to which one is Gin and which is Tonic, but meh!

I so wanted to include this xkcd in here, but it won’t fit in my layout and looks crap! It needs to be shared! So in the immortal words of Molly Meldrum “Do yourselves a favour…”

We never ‘did’ Mother’s Day as a child. My father’s line was ‘Every day is Mother’s Day.’ We never did Father’s Day either.

For the 5 years I spent battling infertility I avoided Mother’s Day like the plague. Told myself it was over commercial.

Then I became a mother. My mum sent me flowers the first year and has most years since. When the kids started school they were given money (usually by me!) for the Mother’s Day Stall and I have received some beautiful things over the years. Today is no exception- a smelly tea light candle in a mirror backed holder with flowers on it and a teddy holding a heart upside down. I got a text from my Mum who is overseas. Immy made Banana Buttermilk pancakes for lunch (Japs had footy at 8.30 so breakfast was out of the question!) and the kids perhaps argued less.

I am back in electrical at work and have had lots of people in buyng gifts for mum. If I am ever given an epilator or an iron for Mother’s Day I think I will hit you over the head with the said item. Yes, it is commercial, but it is nice to be remembered as a mum. Isildae summed it up well. I have been so well supported by the ‘motherhood network’ for the last 11 Mother’s Days.

But still, part of me is sad on Mother’s Day. Sad for those yearning to be mothers or fathers or grandparents even. Infertility sucks big time.  Commercialising days and putting motherhood on a pedestal is hard to cope with when it is something you are trying to achieve.
So to Imogen and Jasper, I love you so much and am glad you have made me a mother. I know I am trying and at times am a crap mother. I think Jasper summed it up well this evening: “Mummy, I know you love me even when you yell at me.” Out of the mouths of babes!

Puns galore, yes! Have just bulk moderated 68 spam comments from the last few days. Most either offering online poker of ringtones. Oh and one from ‘Increase your girth and make her smile’ who liked my feminist rant on women’s day. Yeah… whatever!

Oh and you know how much I love elephants? Well I found this…

I have very mixed feelings about ANZAC Day. Part of this is because I don’t think war solves things. Of course this is all through a 2008 lens from someone who has not lived through direct family members being sent to war. So bear with me as I do feel my thoughts are all over the place.

My maternal grandparents both served in WWII. Pa was in Africa and  Granny was a driver in Papua New Guinea. We never did Dawn Services or went to marches when I was a child. School never had any special services, but it was mentioned in Assembly. In one of my last years at school I remember trecking into the Shrine of Remembrance as a school representative. I think we laid a wreath.

As a young adult, I did the Dawn Service every year. And I cried at every service. I think these were tears of sadness that so many people died trying to defend our country.  I still find it bizarre that we commemorate a great British cock up on ANZAC Day where the troops landed in the wrong place. Yes, perhaps we are commemorating how Australia reacted, but I really do not believe this event was the ‘birth of the nation’ that so many people make out.

I am a history lover, but I am also a firm believer that unless we learn from the history, mere repeating of mistakes is stupid. Perhaps my views are also clouded by my views on the war in Iraq? Perhaps war is wrong now, but almost 100 years go things were different? I suppose I am a conflict avoider, although I am getting better at offering my opinion and not minding what others think.

So yes, we do need to remember those who died in service of their country, and those who returned. I suspect part of my views are generational and age related. I work with 19 and 20 year olds and cannot imagine them with guns fighting for their country. I wonder if my grandparents were more mature (yes they were slightly older) or what they actually thought about what they were doing? I’ll never know, but I do believe they thought they were doing the right thing. And I respect them for that.

I hate toads. Try to get at least 3-4 in my freezer each week. This really tickled my fancy…

I was just glancing at the google terms people have used and then hit my site in the last month. I have always found googling extremely easy and have been dubbed the Google Queen. I can still marvel at other people’s google skills, especially as it gets them to this. Here are some random search terms that people have used to get this blog.

It appears lots of people are after the facts:

• 100 brilliant facts about France for kids
• 100 facts people don’t know
• 100 random things about me
• cool random facts
• random facts about teachers
• random facts I never really wanted to know
• 100 random facts about the world
• 100 random sex facts

I hope the souls hunting for ‘random things about me’ didn’t click on this blog thinking it was about them, because it is all about me, surely! I do have worries for school kids looking for assignment fodder who might be using this blog as a source and plagiarising my work. Do you need a lesson in referencing? If so, just ask! Oh and if you are looking for sex facts, um… not sure where you should be looking really

Then I have had other interesting search terms lead here:

• why doesn’t my child do well in exams
• regret losing nice guy
• may 2,3,and 4 2008 menopause the musical queensland may 2,3,4 2008
•  “remove my balls”
• nigella bagels
• gerbera urine

Now I don’t know why your child doesn’t do well in exams. Perhaps it is because they are not open book or open google exams. I regreted losing a nice guy once, but looking back he was too nice- get over it honey! It appears someone went to great pains to find information about a musical about menopause and still thought they might find it here. Removing balls may not be a specialty of mine, but hope you found what you were looking for. Yes, I baked Nigella’s bagels. Very yummy too.

Now the final term bamboozles me. But at least I will be able to tell people who can’t spell fifikins (it has 3 i’s you know!) that they just need to google gerbera urine and you will find me.

It strikes me as rather odd that each year we celebrate all these commercial events like Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, St Patrick’s Day etc, yet every 4 years we have a day that occurs but once that seems to be missed.

I did ask in our morning meeting if salaried team members (ie management!) were getting a day in lieu for working an extra day. Someone took me seriously and said they would look into it. What the!

Perhaps we should consider it a bonus day? Why is there no global call for action? Leap Day cards, special birthday greetings… I knew a guy once when he had had 4 and a bit birthdays and I was 16 or so. He kinda acted his birthdate on occasion too…

O well did nothing exciting today. Will have to wait another 4 years to think of something to do. Perhaps I can commercialise the day and make some moula…