Stop that scratchiiiiing!

Cats! Fleas! Expense! It's driving me crazy. $60 later, just to treat one cat. $66 later for 3 months treatment for the other two. Just because *i think* Sheldon can lick his treatment off. I know, they say put it at the base of their neck. But no kidding, he can reach. He gets the oral dose. So there cat, lick that off. He's stopped scratching but the other two haven't. Sigh....

I'm liking the pan I bought recently. It's not cast iron but cast aluminium. Very light weight but it gets hot pretty quickly. I must remember to make sure that in future I use the mitts when I shift it from the stove...

The rain continues. Off and on all week and probably more to come. I thought I might have seen the sun peep out at one point, but I was mistaken. A friend of mine living further up the coast has observed that she thought it had rained for 40 days and 40 nights. The boy next door to her was named Noah and if he started building anything, she wanted in. I think I know where she's coming from.

Ultrasound this morning. One of those full bladder ones. So uncomfortable! But hey, all over and done with. Such sweet relief! Then off to work but at least I only had to work half a day.

I've had to take the motorway a couple of times this week due to the rain. One of the main roads closed due to flooding. It comes across the driving range, the road and submerges the park on the other side of the road. On a good afternoon *or morning* the drive home takes about half an hour. This day I discovered it closed the trip took about an hour and ten. Frustrating! I wish it had closed the motorway too so I couldn't get to work. What fun!

My heart sinks on the drive to work today. Someone's little dog lies in the middle of the double lane. I hate seeing road kill at the best of times *an awful lot of bandicoots and possums fall on the altar of asphalt around my way* but it's worse when it's someone's pet. I know traffic can get heavy but surely if you hit something you can pull off and shift it? I hate it so much. Hate, hate, hate.

MOTH drags me out of the house this morning for a cup of coffee. Alright, I'll go. He's already been out to join the Club so we take our time. The coffee is good and he's bought me a muffin. It's warm and has a side of cream. I don't usually eat muffins but this is delicious.

I'm toying with the idea of changing my phone. Not because I need to, but just because I want to. I have an iPhone 4 which works perfectly well. I usually update about every 18 months. I don't know why, it just seems to happen. I pop into the store but they don't have a working model of the one I'm thinking of. Disappointing! He offers to check and see how much is outstanding on my current contract. Not as much as I had thought. I also remember that once upon a time, my current carrier would have waived that when you changed over...

The power bill arrived this week. I'm totally gobsmacked. I know we had two extra people, but how can two extra nearly double the bill in a quarter? DOUBLE! The highest I've paid previously is around $350 for the quarter. This bill, including discounts is just short of $500. And the media is busy telling us that bills are expected to increase by 21% for next quarter, and power companies are posting huge profits. Disconnection rates are high and there are plenty of people around the poverty line who already get by in winter with lots of blankets and a one bar heater... It will be interesting to see what our next bill will be. MOTH has a habit of swapping power companies for a better deal. Our current *and original* company then phone him saying they'll match it or do better. However, I don't think he notes the tariff rates they promise so we can keep track. The only thing I can remember him saying is that the new discounted rate *still higher than our supposedly previous one* wouldn't come into effect until the next bill. Bloody power companies.

The Teen is still working a lot of weekend shifts and hunting for something a little more 9 to 5. Alas, she still has no license, no car and no way to get anywhere so things are pretty limited.

The Elder has worked her first shift at her new job. I had thought it would be mainland based but it appears that she was stationed out on the island. Her job is security based; I believe currently doing bag checks etcetera for project staff coming on to the island. Hopefully she enjoys it and sticks to it long term.

The cupboard is bugging me, but I can't really get motivated to clean it out. Except today! Today I took out the cast iron electric pan. I'm putting it out in the garage. MOTH says I can buy a new cord. But we don't know if it's the cord/thermostat that trips the circuit, or a fault in the pan itself. I don't know if it's worth investing in a new cord - MOTH never liked cleaning the pan from the get go. Too heavy. Amazing how taking that one thing out makes that much more space. But hey, that's exhausted my enthusiasm for today.

I've flea bombed the rumpus room. It's where the fleabags hang out most of the time. No, wait. Don't include me in that. Penny and Jerome spend a lot of time in there with me. If I'm not there, Penny sleeps in the space where I sit and Jerome .... could be anywhere. Sheldon spends most of his sleeping time curled up on a dining room chair. The whole house needs doing and I've earmarked this weekend as a possible start point. Think I shall do the garage too.... Damn kids and their fleas ...