I think our computer is going to need a reformat very soon.

I really like the new ICQ 2000b because I can send free text messages to Drin.

The weather here is yucky. We have finally received a power bill and it is way more expensive than I would have expected. $210.75 for 34 spring days...*choke*

Here is my very first project for Expressions. I am thrilled because I created all the elements of the page myself. I got the tulip photo free online and created a set to suit my expressions page.

My sister said this was a bit depressing. Drin had tears in his eyes after reading it. I feel lighter and tender after writing it and preparing the page.

In future I hope I am able to do photographic expressions to give me some direction for using my digital camera. I have loads of web page development ideas. Making graphics available to the web community is one of them.

I forgot to include an update on why Drin was late. He was having computer problems at work. Then he decided to be social and went visiting. He didn't think to call, and we both spent Christmas day T I R E D...

Lucky me! I got a boxed copy of Paint Shop Pro 7 for Christmas :)

The day was fantastic. Wonderful family time and a fabulous feast. I think everyone really enjoyed themselves. More photos for the family album.

2:52 am on Christmas morning. I'm still wrapping presents. Drin is not home yet. I've been phoning his work since 1:10 am. I'm worried, and working myself up to being really annoyed. He's not anwsering his cellphone either.

I figure it must be something really serious to keep him away from home, and if it's not then he is in a whole pile of trouble. Back to wrapping, and worrying...

Now my blog is all up, including the entries from August...not that I said all that much. Presents still to wrap! So I'll put up the redirection and get busy!

So far I've moved the index page and menu. Created a 404 page. Moved the blog, but the archives are in a wee bit of a pickle. Put redirections on the old pages. It will be a slow process, but I love not having ads on my pages :D

We've had a lovely day. We went out to lunch and saw The Grinch at the movies. Stress factor was low and the movie was nice.

The kids decided that they wanted to give Christmas cards to the neighbours. That was fun. They were lucky and were invited to see one of the neighbour's Christmas tree toghether with perfect decorations and an electric train running around the bottom of it. The couple don't have children and they are wonderful.

Merry Christmas

I just had to add a wee picture of my son on his 6th birthday with his new scooter. He was born at 6:43 pm on the 24th of December.

Happy Birthday!

Much more commentary required!

I have my results from my midwifery course for the year. I am thrilled. A x 6, B x 4 with 9 births covered. All looks great for next year, and I'm looking forward to returning to school. Drin wasn't so enthused about my results and I expected more because I think they are jolly fantastic. He was as excited about them as he is about my web pages and graphics ;)

Christmas is a mission. We have been lucky and had a day of present shopping without Amazon Girl and Little Fella. I don't know how Amazon Girl will be about not getting a Baby Born doll. They were too expensive and Drin wasn't happy about buying one for her. I think we've done a good job. I asked Drin for Paint Shop Pro 7 for my present. I hope he is able to get it... We found him a gorgeous watch. He was trying to be fussy, but I didn't plan on letting him get away with it.

The money problems are temporarily relieved. We sold some shares at long last. I don't know why Drin pretends we can afford to save for a house while I'm not working and we are still getting housing assistance. I guess we will get there soon enough. And I don't like the idea of shares...seems too much of a gamble. You shouldn't invest what you can't afford to lose!

I have been brave and signed up with Your-Site Virtual Server Solutions. I hope everything goes smoothly and works!

I have the absolute excitement of a tonsillectomy to face within the next 6 months. I was told that it would take about 1 - 2 weeks to recover. Will be tricky if it comes up when I'm on call for births.

Christmas is on the "go slow" at the moment. No real plans made because we didn't have any money and have been sick. Now we'd better get into gear, because time sure is running out.

In the wee hours of last night I watched Angela's Ashes. Now I'm curious about what happened to Frank McCourt between the end of the movie and writing the book. It looked to be a miserable place and time to grow up. I couldn't even imagine it and am thankful that no matter what miseries children believe they are experiencing I hope very few are like that. My children should have no complaints...

And they gave me a reply to my timeout problem within 48 hours. Wow! Didn't fix it, but I'm impressed that I got a reply that didn't look like a form response. It was appropriate and helpful.

e2/47 shows great promise as a future email provider. 100 MB with shared files. Nice interface that loads relatively quickly. A few services would be helpful, but it looks so good I signed up.

Mischief has asthma today and we had to do the steroid thing. The other two had asthma but it didn't stick around. Looks like Mischief is unlucky...asthma and eczema. What a combination =p

The commercial greed of television always amazes me. Two things to comment on regarding the pursuit of the dollar by television networks.

1. We pay for a cable network and we get free to air channels as well as heaps of other services. Early on this year I noticed that on Cartoon Network, and other paid channels there were advertisements. One thing I really enjoyed about the cable channels was that especially at Christmas time there were no product advertisements bombarding my children. "Mum, can I have one of those..." I phoned up the cable service and complained and they advised me that the advertisements were of a local nature to assist viewers to locate suppliers and services. Baloney!
   
2. The second point was something I noticed the other night on television. Like many countries, New Zealand has a heavy television campaign against drink driving. We have also relatively recently allowed alcohol advertisements to be shown on television. And what do the dimwit television programmers do...they screen a horrific anti-drink driving ad and straight after it put on an alclohol advertisement. What message are they trying to get across?
   

This is worse than the recent ad by Coke showing a plane crash in the ocean with young guys drinking Coke deciding to climb back up the ramp so they can jump back down again. I have heard several people say it is funny, but if your family had died in a plane crash in similar circumstances I'm sure you would have a hard time seeing the funny side of it. I'm a little bit sensitive because my Dad died in a helicopter accident. I have a different perspective on some things.

I really must get my birth stories up at my midwifery site. No one has even ventured close to submitting their story. Maybe they think I am bogus, or maybe it is difficult to find my site on search engines...or maybe there are no cute photos of babies on my site for them to look at.

I will continue developing the midwifery area as it is related to my professional development.

The aromatherapy area will continue to be updated as a service to the aromatherapy club I founded at Yahoo. I have since stepped down as Founder because I just don't have the time to read and interact with over 50 emails coming in a day. I still plan on getting some form of aromatherapy certification once I am a qualified midwife.

I'm bored. I'm downloading a few tubes from Jasc and they are taking forever! I would love to see BlogVoices have an email notification option. I keep checking back at my blog to see if anyone has made any comments.

Drin is once again having a sleep-in. He knows it gets under my skin, especially when he stays up late playing games on the 'puter. I feel angry and used because he acts like he is the centre of the universe. I know he works bloody hard and deserves a break, but a little communication or request would probably appease me. It is the only thing that has brought me to flashpoint with him...and he should know better by now!

I am amazed at product suppliers who forget the person that keeps them in business.

We have a lounge suite. It was cheap... but it was what we could afford at the time. We didn't get the right advice and the fabric has worn and is marked really badly in the 6 years we have had it. The most affected are the seat cushions and they are really badly ripped. The last straw was reached when my 2 year old decided that she would wear one like a sleeping bag and ripped it more.

I phoned the manufacturer and asked if they could supply the covers for the seat cushions. I was appalled to hear them say that they wouldn't do it. Isn't customer service about the product before it is purchased and customer satisfaction and assistance throughout the life of the product.

There is no need to say that we have contacted an upholsterer to recover them. We refuse to purchase fabric from the company we purchased the suite from. We should even have them recovered in time for Christmas :)

I've added BLOGVOICES to my blog so that readers can add comments after reading my posts. I hope you respect my posts and I hope I never have to hover my fingers over the delete button.

I'm not really still anxious. Imood has not updated my mood on the page =(

I'm looking to fine tune and learn more graphics skills. Someone on one of my mailing lists mentioned Fly by Night Graphics. I've signed up and it is so much fun.

I feel a need to release more of my visual creativity. I cannot not yet make stunning and breathtaking graphics, but if I want to consider web design for money (long term income goal) then I'd better make sure my graphical abilities are up to scratch.

Also it's a good excuse to take more digital pics. And possibly joining this collaboration would be another creative outlet. I don't really call myself a writer or an artist online...but I sure want to learn and challenge myself to bigger and better things.

tlIsn't it a small world? My sister's boyfriend went to school with Drin's cousin. We only know this because Drin showed Will a photo of his cousin and Will recognised him.

I have changed the entry graphics to my site and removed the background set buttons from my site menu. I thought this would be okay, but after hearing on one of my mailing lists that this could be in violation of terms I decided that it was better to be safe than sorry.

We got the biggest fright of our lives ever today. Amazon Girl fell down the stairs. The sound of the thumps and thud was terrifying. My heart felt as though it was standing still. She was all right. Just shaken up and split her top lip. We have a gate at the top...she's 4 years old...but she decided to hurry down the wooden stairs after her brother with socks on...and slipped. What a scare! You realise and remember how fragile we really are.

Little Fella went back to school today. He's happy and recovered well. He keeps showing me his scar to make sure it's healing okay. We couldn't keep him still even if we tried.

I've started a page for a new Net Sister. It's titled Belladonna - Pretty Woman, Deadly Poison. It looks fantastic in IE, but the tables do strange things in Netscape. I'll have to try and figure it all out when I can think straight.

I have been busy at Net Sisters. I've made 2 birthday pages this week and have just received an assignment to do a Faerie page for a new member. I am having so much fun.

We have just watched Gladiator and the X-Men on DVD and they were fabulous. Gladiator is a grand epic style movie. X-Men was good but it looks like they had to spend a lot of time building the plot to facilitate more movies and characters.

Little Fella has lost his second tooth. It was so funny...he came to me and said "Mum, my tooth came out and it fell in the toilet". So the tooth fairy will have to be satisfied with a note.

I remember losing one tooth when I was eating an apple and the tooth was never seen again. I guess I ate it :D