Building Bridges

Last week I built a bridge, and got over it. Literally.

A made in China E-bay special, It is a long awaited and essential part of my Fairy Garden Project, After finally bidding and getting a super bargain price, my bridge arrived on Friday and The Husband said he would put it together for me on Saturday.
But being the impatient type, I didn't want to wait 24 whole hours so I decided as a capable women there was no reason why I couldn't just do it myself!

So I dragged the heavy box inside and set up in the lounge room, put the TV on for the Princess and opened the box:

 A begillion small pieces of timber, 8 bolts, 8 nuts, 16 washers and196 small black screws.
Deep breath, yup I can do this...

Now The Husband is a chippie by trade and has an assortment of power tools including a power screw driver thingy, but of course he takes these tools to work with him, so I was left with the option either doing up 196 small screws by hand or waiting until Saturday for him to do it.

Did I mention I'm impatient?

I got out the trusty Phillips head set up in the lounge room and started screwing, I screwed for hours, so hard in fact that at times I thought my hand would fall off. I only interrupted by shouts of "Delicious Arsehole!" and "Grassy Ass" from The Princess who would have benefited from a little more speech therapy and annunciation practise before undertaking Dora The Explorers informal Spanish classes.

Suddenly there was a knock at the lounge room window - I have a kilometre long driveway and a big dog so people don't usually get to the house without me noticing, to make matters worse it was the septic service guy, now he is a lovely bloke but he is a dead ringer for Orsen Hodges from desperate housewives and I didn't realise he was coming today so he scared the bejesus out of me and... well... I screamed.

Once I regained composure Orson's double informed me that all was well with the septic which he had already checked while I was busy screwing in the lounge room and I parted with $100 for his trouble. Back to the task at hand I continued on blisters and all until I finally had something that resembled half a bridge:

Note my so called guard dog asleep in the background...

All I had to do was screw the final panels into place and it was complete, a beautiful quaint little bridge perfect for a fairy garden! OK who am I kidding the last piece didn't fit.

Of course it didn't.

So I lugged it outside and positioned it in the work-in-progress fairy garden anyway and waited for The Husband to come home so I could tell him how awesome he is and beg him to cut it to size and make it work. Which he did, because he's awesome.



But not before telling me that my bargain 'ceder' bridge was in fact dodgy pine and would be lucky to last the winter, then he used his cordless screw driver thingy to screw in the screws I couldn't get down all the way and he informed me with a slightly evil grin that it was in the garage the whole time as that's where it lives and he takes a different one to work.

Of course he does.

Have you built a bridge recently?

Are you as impatient as me?

Do you buy dodgy crap on E-bay all the time too?

IVF / Egg donation update

image credit

So we are progressing slowly towards the impending egg donation, I have started taking the pill (just the normal birth control one) so that I can sync my cycle with my SIL. In less than a month I can start injecting daily with ‘Gonal F’ which will stimulate my ovaries to create multiple follicles which each house an egg waiting to mature. After approx a week on the Gonal F, I will add a second injection to the mix which stops me prematurely ovulating thus allowing as many mature follicles/eggs as possible.

I am excited that it’s all happening but I am starting to freak out that it won’t work or I will develop “ovarian hyper stimulation syndrome” which is where too many eggs are created and you get really sick and have to stop the cycle.

A question I been wondering about, but  haven’t asked is that if the FS (fertility specialist) does have to stop the cycle for any reason, then does my SIL still have to pay the full costs? This IVF stuff is enough to turn your average person into a hardcore bank robber (think 10K + a pop!)

I’m feeling pretty crap at the moment to, the birth control pill and I have a limited history as I have a habit of over reacting to hormones and get sick whenever I have had any hormone related birth control (that explains the four kids for ya!)I took the God awful ‘Depo’ injection once and bled continuously and threw up every single day for 6 months – the actual injection was only supposed to last 3. No wonder it’s called effective birth control, with all the side effects sex is the absolutely last thing on your mind!

So true to form I am nauseous, exhausted, have a constant headache and am getting really annoying bouts of hot flushes all day and all night. Ugh. Hormones suck.

SIL keeps asking how I’m feeling and I lie through my teeth and tell her I feel great! Last thing I want is her feeling guilty or worried that I’m going to bail out on her, I wouldn’t even consider it. Bailing is NOT an option, I want a new nephew or niece dagnamit!

So that’s where I stand with that, I guess I will update again when I have to start sticking myself (eek!)

Blogs, books and why opinions are like fixing engines

I’m sure you have all read ‘Rise of the Mummy Bloggers’ by now and are aware of some people who have nothing better to do than make poorly researched comments and whinge about women who are building careers and making a living from telling their stories. People have been doing this in mainstream media for decades, so why not social media? 

A lot of comments that I read were from people who I imagine wouldnt hesitate to check google if they had a problem with their car engine.

 I would like to point out that they might just come accross a blog  in their search from a bloke who replaced the thingy watsit on the engine but it turned out it didnt fit the way it should but his story tells of how he fixed it anyway using a garden hose and a bobby pin, you know stuff you don't find in the manual.

I have a problem with a teething toddler and I dont want to read give them a teething ring for $4.99 I want to read somebodies personal account of how and why the red star shaped teething ring is better than the blue one and why, and also that yes they are goddamn tired after not sleeping in two days thankyouverymuch.

The key point Im trying to make is we want information that is not just useful but that we relate to, when we relate we feel validated and it makes us feel NORMAL. Blogs give us that somebody to relate to, and its really nice to feel normal especially after 48hrs of no sleep.

The world of mainstream media is slowly catching on to just how powerfully influential the average person armed with a computer can really be. The blog has become a valuable tool for teaching the world that as individuals we ALL have a story. Our own feelings and emotions are just as important as those of everybody else. By sharing our stories with each other we have the ability to create networks of support that span the world over, we have the power to teach people in all walks of life and at all ends of the globe.

We will like some blogs and not others and other people will like the ones we hate and loath the ones we love - thats the beauty of it. There is something for everyone out there, if you don't like it you dont have to take the book back to the store for a refund, you can just move on. Simple.

As for monatising? As long as there is money, there will be marketing and the ads we see in the magazines and the newspaper are really no different to those on the blog, the main difference between the two forms of media lies in accessability and the artical itself.

The magazine or newspaper lays down a carefully edited and re edited story designed to sell to the majority and make a profit for the company. 

The blog gives an oppertunity to view the unscripted world through the eyes of one other person, raw and real.

Like it or not the internet has changed the world, we are more powerful as individuals than we have ever been before, information about anything and everything is literally at our fingertips whenever we want it. We have been given the opportunity to embrace this change, to better appreciate the diversity around us and encourage true equality in this great planet we all live in.

When you blog don’t be afraid to speak up for yourself out of fear of a few negative comments, there will always be people who are validated by your voice no matter how small. Remember, when combined our small voices become large and loud and if we all speak together, we will be heard!