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it always ends in tears

Last night the 3 year old son of my best friend was mauled by a dog, and had his left ear bitten off.  Fortunately the ear was found, iced and taken with Liam to the hospital where it was re-attached with over 150 tiny sutures.  It was a long night.  The dog was one of those small, yappy, terrier type dogs.  It happened at a 40th birthday party, the kids were inside watching Shrek, and immediately adjacent to the lounge room, the adults were outside on the deck mingling and tucking into the finger food.  Everything happened so quickly, that no-one has a clear idea of what exactly happened.  There were a few 12 and 13 year olds watching tv and keeping an eye on the kids, but there are as many different versions of what happened as there were kids present at the time.  In any case he is much recovered, up and walking around, and doesn't appear to be showing any sort of emotional after effects.  For now.

posted by: blytheswideshut at August 28, 2005 22:39 | link | comments |

creativity and self expression...

...is for the birds, if you're two and a 1/2.  My little group of boys weren't channeling anything remotely creative or self-expression-ey today.  They begged to do "painting", but about two minutes after they started painting, they're all like "I've finished now".  Luckily I had a suggestion up my sleeve.  We all went outside to find some pebbles, the idea was to paint the pebbles and use them as 'stamps'.  They caught on pretty quickly, but it wasn't too long before they abandoned the pebbles and started painting their hands and making hand prints.  Then right in the middle of what seemed like a good time, one of them says "I've had enough now", and they all want to stop.  Later on (when they wake up, apparently collecting some pebbles, painting them, and goofing around with paint is hard work),  they can stick eyes and hair on them and take the pebbles home as "pet rocks".

Scott returned home last night after being on the road all week, in the four days that he was away he travelled 2239km.  He planned his trip so he could spend his last night at Moree, a small town in the middle of cotton farming NSW, literally in the middle of nowhere, but made lush by the presence of underground hot springs.  The tapped water is 41C, but is cooled before reaching the various baths around the town, usually to about 30C.  He says he spend an hour and a half hot and shrivelled in his motel's hot pool, after being cornered by a 70 something "grey nomad" have-a-chat, who wouldn't shut up...when he went back to his room he called me to say he had a headache, but he wasn't sure if it was from the stifling heat of the pool or the endless talking of the old chook.  Here's a link, but he didn't stay at this actual place.  He stayed at the much less salubrius Dragon & Phoenix motel.

posted by: blytheswideshut at August 26, 2005 13:02 | link | comments |

teeth, wrists and money.

I found out today that the tingling and pain I've been having in my hands is Carpal Tunnel Syndrome.  I only mentioned the symptoms to my neurologist on the off chance - and I wondered if the tingling could be caused by my meds fucking up my blood chemistry.  One in particular that I take has a habit of randomly playing havoc with blood chemistry.

The scene goes something like this "Have we had your blood tested lately, you know sodium, all that sort of stuff...we don't want anything to get out of hand..." I'm trying to concentrate but all I can focus on is the sight of smartie making himself right at home up on the exam bed, and settling down for a little nap..."Uh, no not for ages." I answer.  Then I begin to muse out loud if the tingling I've been experiencing in my hands and forearms might be related.  So then he gets all Dr-ey on me - you know the usual type of questions, then tapping on the inside of my wrists (yikes! that hurt!), then when he heard about my painful history with my hands and forearms, he shook his head and said "Carpal Tunnel my dear.", he's sending me for nerve testing.  Which from the research I just did, sounds like it's going to be a little painful.

Can't be any worse than the hysterical(!)-salpingography-cooter-jacksie who knows what test I had recently.

My $900 root canal tooth broke in half - not 24hrs after I had the final root canal procedure.  Of course the dentist accepts no liability, and now I am having to spend another $1k on repairs, crowns and the like.  So far every person I've spoken to, who's had a root canal tells the same story - root canal finished - tooth breaks in half.  Six people! Six, count them.

I have been desperately searching for WildWildWest fabrics to create my month of softies entry, but have had no luck (or inspiration) what-so-ever.  I am going to Spotlight tomorrow in a last ditch effort to find something. anything.

I am also ready to start my "tie on one" entry for August - but now I have to spend Saturday at the dentist, and Sunday is Harrison's birthday, it doesn't look like it's going to get done this weekend.

posted by: blytheswideshut at August 23, 2005 23:08 | link | comments |

the last bite

Winter appears to be taking its last bite.  The weather has suddenly turned achingly cold.  What were once endless days of about 20degC, are now numbingly chilly mornings of who knows how cold, and bleak grey rain drizzled days.  Its the nights that are getting me though.  Cold, cold, cold, and bad tossing, turning sleep.  This sort of weather brings our animals in close, wanting to snuggle and cuddle and keep warm by cuddling up against their humans.  Unfortunately they take up a lot of room, the cat doesn't get along with the dogs, and wars and fights can break out at any time.  Exclaiming "guys! we're trying to sleep" at 2am, doesn't seem to stop the fighting, rearranging, and roaming up and down the bed as they all compete for the best spots, the most blanket, and the prized position in the curves of our backs or behind our knees.

I can't wait to get the sock monkeys finished today, I'm kind of excited to see how they turn out.

posted by: blytheswideshut at August 13, 2005 09:22 | link | comments |

sewing dramas

The sewing machine is on the fritz.  I suspected it was operator error, but it seems that it is actually the machine.  This is a good thing, because I was beginning to lose confidence in my sewing.  I dropped the machine in yesterday and will get it back tomorrow.  Which is good timing because the Blythe stocking sales are doing well.  Four orders this week!  18 pairs of stockings made - not including the extras I slipped in to each order as a surprise.  The feedback has been good too, which is always nice.

Blondie and Smartie are eagerly awaiting their 3rd birthdays, Blondie is 31 August and Smartie is 6 September.  After July's Month of Softies, both have made impassioned requests for Sock Monkeys. Blondie sleeps with Sarah Jessica "Sofff" Monkey, and poor old Smartie is stuck with "Obscene" Sock Monkey - pictures of which are not, and will not be posted to the internet.  Lucky a 3 year old doesn't pick up on the finer details that make my first sock monkey attempt "obscene".  I have found some great socks and am going to make them "Shrek" Sock Monkeys...with Shrek horns instead of monkey ears.

This weekend I'm starting my "Tie One On" aprons.  A big one for me, and a little one for Smartie.  I am going to embroider dishes and cups and knives and forks on them, so that we can put our matching aprons on and unload the dishwasher.  Presently it is his most favourite thing to do in the whole world, and lately he has got to the point where he is able to completely unload the dishwasher himself, and only needs assistance to put the stuff that lives up high away.  It's quite endearing to see such a small child take the mundane task of unloading the dishwasher so seriously.  He won't, however have anything to do with the dirty dishes.  Try as I might, I just can't get him to load the damn dishwasher.

The dentist laughed today, when I glaced warily at him as he walked into the room.  "Lots of anaesthetic today, don't worry." he said.  Things went well today, 1/2 of my HEAD was numb, but hey, at leat I couldn't feel anything.  I have to go back once more for the final filling...then that's it, I'm done.  Well except for the crown I will need, but I'm putting that off for another time.

posted by: blytheswideshut at August 12, 2005 18:47 | link | comments |

scared of the dentist.

Clarity descended upon me today.  It is not the dentist I fear, it is the pain.

After a long time (I can't even admit to myself how long, because I knew all along the longer I waited the worse the outcome was going to be) of enduring pain from my lower, right hand side second molar, I finally went to the dentist.

He asked what the problem was. I said, "Well, I've had this dull ache on the lower right hand side of my jaw, and I can't eat on that side. At all. For a long time now."  Then he asked me to be more specific about the pain. "Uh, it's been there for as long as I can remember, but I never touch, eat or bite down on that side, so it's just a dull ache, not a shooting pain."  He nodded.

In the car on the way to the dentist I mentioned to Scott that really, the worst bit by far was that little metal spikey-pick thing they dig in and out of your teeth looking for trouble.  Of course the drill is the other nasty, but it's that pick that gets me.

So Dr Teeth gets all gloved, masked and suited up, rips open the sterilised packet, and selects this instrument of torture. The Pick.  He asks which tooth it is.  I use my tongue to show him.  He gets the pick, and WHAM! right into the hole.  I jump so forcefully that my shoulder makes contact with his arm, and I sit bolt upright in the chair.

"I think I need to check with an X-ray."

I'm thinking, good that way you can put that damn pick away.

X-ray complete, he shows me a hole in my tooth, that is creating an opening for the pulp/nerves of my teeth to be exposed.

"Root canal. You need a root canal to fix this, or we could extract the molar, but you need it to chew."

Great.

So he numbs my mouth, explains the procedure and we begin.

Lets say after many "supplementary" injections of anaesthetic, I felt the pain so acutely that I started crying and couldn't stop.

Then we had some more anaesthetic.  Then a little lot more pain.  Dr Teeth shakes his head and says - "Never seen this before...maybe need more anaesthetic."

Finally my mouth is numb, and he can finish his business.  It took an hour and a 1/2.

He tells me at the end about the anaesthetic.  He said he usually uses 1/2 cartridge for root canal work.  1 1/2 cartridge for surgical extraction of impacted wisdom tooth.

"Today I had to use 6 1/2 cartridges on your mouth. I never seen that before. Very unusual. Perhaps you have deviated presentation of nerve structure. I note this on your card for future."

great.

posted by: blytheswideshut at August 06, 2005 17:58 | link | comments |

the information privilege

 I read a lot of blogs/journals/diaries - whatever they're called now, and many of the authors have children.  One of the ongoing conundrums revolves around how gownup children will feel about the whole world being privy to their toilet training, birth stories, and general details about themself.  I don't have much to say about that - only that I suppose it will depend on how each child reacts when they grow up. Some will hate it some will love it and I suspect some won't care.

The real fortune that these children will have is privileged access to information about their parent(s) that most children never have.  Mothers and Fathers who reveal their inner self, log it, post it, offer it up for digestion by others.  An archive of information, history and insight into their parents, that without blogs they may never have had.

Such an amazing gift.

posted by: blytheswideshut at August 05, 2005 09:29 | link | comments |

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