Dec '06 - Still clinging onto sanity.

[EasilyConfusedIndith]

New thread

Should we start new thread with Dec 06 Book Club?
Have read all of dark materials and thoroughly enjoyed, would like to read the science bit behind it that sounds interesting. Salander books can be hard going, I find the first one pretty unpleasant at times, don't think I could watch the film although pretty gripping as a book.
Reading The girl with Glass feet right now, think I might retire now and read some more! I really really really love Kate Atkinson, my favourite after Jane Austen! Speaking of which, surely time for annual read of Pride & Prej!
Have tried writing so just don't have imagination tbh, I do some writing for work and like it, always wanted to write movie review for some reason but wasn't scathing enough!
Indith, what about sexy chick lit? Brightens my day on occasion when I get out Jennifer Crusie etc.

I love chick lit. I have quite a collection and my neighbour treats my bookshelf like a library.

I just watched PS I love you. I really liked it. Saw it at the cinema when it was out and it made me cry

I did enjoy Eat, Pray, Love. Haven't seen the movie. I didn't think I would ever get sucked into the whole vampire thing but dh got me the first twilight novel a couple of years ago for my birthday and it started a serious vampire stage.

Reading Indith's post about beautiful books made me once again ponder my kindle. It is sooo amazing to instantly download a novel and to have almost 300 books on such a tiny little thing. But I do miss the beauty of bookcovers when I am reading it. Space for books has always been a problem for me though so the kindle will most likely become my de facto library.

I have a sony reader, jabber (cheaper than kindle) and i love it, although i love proper books too.

We had about a zillion books (all my student day ones, plus inherited ones, plus the girls' and all my childhood ones, plus dh's parents' - and his father was a writer). TOO MANY. But I still felt bereft when we moved into rental last year and let loads go - let the same amount again go when we moved in to permanent home.

We've kept favourites and most beautiful/old/read ones though. But I think a Kindle would be good now (dh reads books on his iphone, ugh) because there aren't that many I want to keep forever really...

Sexy chick-lit seves a different purpose entirely AQ

India Knight did piece about the kindle, death of print etc a few weeks ago and I agreed with her entirely that Kindles are wonderful for things like chick-lit, trashy reads and so on but that books you love and will read time and again you will always want to buy in print. She was saying though that for it to really work the price of e-books needs to come down, it is pointless being almost as much as print books (why is that anyway? There are next to know costs involved, no printing, binding, storing, shipping,retail overheads) as you then miss all the people who might download a book to see if they like it then buy it in print if they do.

If prices of the actual e-books came down then I would love an e-reader but I also love my book shelves. in the same way tha tI like have a shelf of cds to browse, browsing an electronic catalogue isn't the same (not that I have one of those either, have no MP3 player and wouldn't paly them on my computer even if I could be arsed ripping each and every CD.)

I feel so old sometimes, the rest of my generation has all these gadgets, has vast electronic music libraries and so on. I like actual things that I can touch, feel, pur over. I like picking a book up and reading the back cover, maybe flicking through a few pages, seeing the illustrations. I like CDs with the lyrics and little notes about teh songs in the sleeve.

Is it just me or have we almost gone back a step in convenience with these things? You seem to need so many different bits of gadgetry. We have a stacking system hifi. It has a tape deck (which shows its age a bit!), CD player, good amp and we recently added a digital radio to it. One nice thing that sits on the shelf. If I had a digital music library I would need an MP3 player to play it on. Then if I wanted to listen to my digital music at home without headphones I would need a docking station. But small dockig stations do not always have great speakers. Perhaps I might also need extra speakers to plug into it or maybe I would also need a traditional CD player but since my music is all digital I would have to go onto my computer and burn it onto CD to then put it into my CD player to listen with good quality speakers. And then what if I want to listen to the radio? Well then I need a spearate radio too. It all seems a bit much, no wonder that so many people feel as though they struggle to save money when we have a society that makes us need all of these things which of course all need updating every 3 years as the battery on your MP3 player dies.

I'm giving it a few years, I think at some point soon something is going to come along to unite all of these different bits and bobs.

Well said Indith!

See, if I said all that it would be because I AM old, but when you say it, it gives me hope

I'm learning to love a balance of objets and gadgetry, or trying to. I think the trick for me it to only have manageable amounts of either.

On a different topic (and on something I am not learning to love at all ) we have got rid of the nits dd1 picked up two weeks ago, or at least I'm pretty sure we have. Hopefully we have also got rid of the worms dd2 probably picked up (no actual evidence, iyswim, though sobbing 'my bottom is tickling' at midnight for 45 minutes may count as such) oh god I hope we have. I'm not good at keeping up the cleaning frenzy....

...do you think, given that dd2 then had to wee five times in half an hour, and cried with pain when she did, that it could have been something other than worms? She was fine the next morning (but had been constipated that day, and strained a bit). I did wonder if the tantrums and tiaras were down to worms, but she's been treated and no signs whatsoever and the tantrums have not gone one bit

sorry, that really changed the subject from sexy chick-lit, eh?!

Eli - having worms can make their bits sore. The worms travel a bit vom emoticon, and can make everything sore.

Yes, thats what I thought of too - only thing is, she was fine the next evening, has had no problems since at all. Wouldn't worms that bothered her that much have continued to bother her for at least one more night?

Ah well, everyone has been Ovexed and sheets changed, pants worn, so fingers crossed either way. If only the tantrums had gone away too

I did have a careful look (twice) at her bits, too, would have thought it hard for even teeny creatures to hide there??

Nothing. Maybe they have camouflage....

Worms can crawl into the urethra and up inside the vagina (I think) causing iritation, so you wouldn't be able to see them Eli.

Here you go...

Are threadworms harmful?
Not usually. Often, the worst thing about them is the itch and discomfort around the anus. This sometimes wakes children from sleep. Scratching may make the anus sore. Large numbers of threadworms may possibly cause mild abdominal (tummy) pains and make a child irritable. In girls, threadworms can wander forwards and lay their eggs in the vagina or urethra (the tube through which you pass urine). A doctor may check for threadworms in young girls with a vaginal discharge, bedwetting, or problems with passing urine. Rarely, threadworms can cause other problems such as loss of appetite and weight loss..

.

Satin, the new kindle is pretty cheap now or I would still be kindle-less. The thing I most salivated over are all of the free books for kindle. I have almost 300 books on it and only paid for 2 or 3. Don't get me wrong, I do love a beautifully printed book and and even some that are just paperbacks but really interested me. The problem is space. I have so many books still packed up from the move and sometimes wonder if I'll ever have everything within reach again. Dh and the boys seem to take up every available inch with all of their stuff and I wind up being too tired to even try to think about where I can put anything of mine.

and then, threadworms... not really anything to say on that except I hope they're all gone now for eli's little dd.

Thanks guys

She hasn't had a single twitch, itch or disturbance since that night - hence my slight puzzlement - and neither has anyone else, thankfully. I will still re-dose, because if there is one thing I am slightly phobic about...

I need a Kindle, I think...

Ouch Ouch Ouch. Just had mirena fitted...

Ouch Satin. Hot water bottle and a cuppa for you. My cervix is twitching in sympathy.

Worms my children are not allowed to get worms. Eeek. Hope they are gone Eli.

Dd appears to be mostly over her latest round of cold and cough. Just some snot left. Ds can't go for more than 3 seconds without doing a massive, shuddering, guts up style cough. Poor boy. Day 3 of my resoultion to spend less time with TV on could get interesting. Maybe I'll change the resolution to less Beebies time and put a dvd on . Pinocchio story on tape right now.

would prefer

Darn it, I just spotted the and was coming to offer a few glasses. We need a [greenandblacks] to go with it!

Dd got her molar, mostly got over her cold, gave us a couple of days respite and seems to be starting on molar number 3. I'm going into hibernation until summer. Hopefully by then she'll have number 4 too!

It's only 10:00 am here but we are having a snow day so plenty of may be in order!

I want a chocolate icon!! Biscuits are all very well, but if not chocolate covered...

Snow, Jabber...I hope that's a mulled

We've all had a healthy, worm-free, nit-free, bug-free week. Miracle of miracles. (Am still slightly sceptical about the worms, surely I'd have seen some dead ones in poos in potty, post-Ovex? No? Ok, I'm not mentioning them again, I promise!)

Now if I could only get dd2 to stop wandering in to our bed at 2am scared of the dark/cold/bored etc. Lack of sleep once they get to this age seems harder to deal with than with a newborn, weirdly

I want .
DTs doing usual 90 min bed routine (get in cots, get out of cots 17 times..) I swear I'm putting a lock on the door.
Indith, dp made his first ever batch of cookies today using your recipe. Didn't see how he could go wrong (ds2 his lovely assistant) but turns out he forgot the sugar! So they've been renamed scones.
Glad no bugs heads or bottoms, Eli. Dp informs me you need to get a torch in there at night to see if they're wriggling. ergghhhh.

Eeeeewwwwwwwwwwwwwww at torch.

We just get the dts and dd and stick them in a room together. We get "mummeeeeeeeee I need a weeeeee I neeeed a poooo mummeeeeeee I need a weeeee". Go up, stick her on potty, does wee. 2 mins later it starts again because she knows you cna't refuse a toilet call . Then there is the climbing out of bed and stripping .

Lifting ds got nowhere, he it way too big to fold onto the potty and the bathroom is too far to get him on the loo. Could be many, many months before he is dry at night. Lifting dd has not yet resulted in wee on potty. If she hasn't done one before she goes to sleep then she normally beats us to it and has done one in nappy before we get to lifting her. However, f I change her then she is dry until morning and we don't have the fussing from 5am until we admit defeat and get up.

Got another molar coming through. Calpol given, Shrek on.

I am not even considering potty training for dts, indith, too much stress at present to think of it! DS2 only night trained last week or so after a few attempts, lots of kids still wear nappies at night at 5 which seems fine to me!
Does dd chuck food all over the floor, indith? I'm getting mightily sick of the mess they create 3 times a day, now have to clean up peas, carrots and hunks of lasagne grrr. My dd is total utter ratbag at present, I don't trust her an inch.

Food on the floor is rare, dd does not waste food she would much rather eat it all although sometimes when being cheeky/grotty she will deliberately throw things and food, followed by knife and fork and plate go onto the floor. Drinks though, she is terrible with drinks nad at pretty much every meal will tip her drink everywhere completely opn purpose. Drives me mad. Especially when she then reaches over and tips ds's drink over too . Rat bag is avery good description!