Tuesday, February 24, 2015

Yeeeeesssss!

Hopefully y'all enjoyed the Jerome videos. He's quite camera shy and it takes quite a bit of stalking to get anything that's worthwhile.

He's been sick again since I last wrote. I think. I had been trying the pumpkin cure as found while researching on the internet. Yes, I know, not necessarily a good thing. But this tummy trouble is beginning to become chronic in that it happens often. I can't quite tell if it worked or not as I didn't make him starve. Well, okay, maybe I did. If not having as much food as usual is starving him. At least though he was eating the pumpkin. It didn't seem to cut down a lot on the symptoms or lessen the length. But as I mentioned, he wasn't cut to almost nothing either which is how I would normally treat it. The interwebs also suggested that cutting his food out entirely wouldn't necessarily be a good thing either. But I was serving him pumpkin instead of wet food, and mixing it with whatever dry food he was getting. These days, I mix a bit of the pumpkin with the wet food at night. Only about 1/4 teaspoon but that might not be enough. Who knows.

I can't decide if I'm elated or deflated. Or just glad it's over. I finally reached resolution with the bank. The Ombudsman forwarded me a response from the bank. I emailed the Ombudsman with some questions I was going to ask the bank, then emailed the questions to the bank. Suddenly, BOOM! A proposal. They resubmitted their original offer, the one they recanted. Since I said yes the first time, I said yes again, and the dispute case is now closed. I'm happy that it's over, but the repayment amount may kill me. Then again, they've also agreed to freeze fees for the duration so that is something!

And that's my week virtually. Niece's teacher wants to meet with me after their camp in March to discuss some options. She doesn't think Niece will be offered a job. Which is a blow because now we have to decide what will happen when she finishes school. I certainly don't want to return her north as this is certainly not the best environment for her. And she cannot stay here forever. MOTH is eager to get back to empty nesting. I will need to get full time work before she is moved anywhere though.

One simply cannot survive on Newstart (Unemployment) Allowance. Did you know that it's less than $250 a week? How the hell does one pay rent, food, and utilities with that? Then again, I don't know how the low income earners manage to fund cigarettes and alcohol with it on a regular basis. I have a suspicion they don't eat properly and pool their resources. And beg. A lot of them beg.

Cyclone Marcia crossed the coast further north. We had very little wind or rain from that. I'm glad I wasn't in that region. Elder hasn't updated much but I gather she came through just fine. Teen was in a town that copped a fair bit of the destructive force however she and her housemates came through with very little damage. Except they lost power. And as of today it's still not connected. Poor things. All that subsequent heat and no power to drive fans, get a cool drink, or even cook dinner for that matter. They aren't expecting power back on in their area until tomorrow or Thursday. Teen did send me a video of the wind and rain during the worst of it. Through snapchat. So I couldn't save it to post here. I've only just realised how to save a photo in that app but no clue yet about video. Snapchat lets you view it for about 10 seconds and then it disappears. There's no history to go back through.

But I'm glad that everyone I know seems to have come through fine with only loss of power. It had the potential to be much worse.

Monday, February 16, 2015

Walkies!

I've only managed to take him out once since last entry. And I've done my best. But by request, here is Jerome doing his walk thing. He's so cute! Hopefully you can hear in the first one the song and dance he likes to make when he hears me get the harness out of the drawer...

Not much has happened this week. I think the most exciting thing has been a download for Sims4 which promises some extra functionality. Maybe not. I've been playing a game on PS3. The game is Grand Theft Auto V. I'm not very good. But MOTH loves to listen to me play. And watch. The detail of this game is amazing. But then I would expect so, it takes 8GB on the console hard drive. But you spend a lot of time behind the wheel of a car, driving around or running missions. And you only have the standard game controller to control the car. The left analogue stick controls direction. And it's either too sensitive *i swerve all over the place* or it's not sensitive enough *i crash into walls*. And all the time I'm trying to drive USA style *the wrong side of the road*. Apparently I swear a lot when I can't control the car. A LOT.

MOTH thinks it hilarious. Both the swerving and the swearing. The only problem is I can only play when Niece isn't home. Because of the language. Once I played it after she went to bed and that night she got up and went to the loo three times in an hour and a half.

I've actually managed to complete one whole unit this week and a bit. This unit was actually fun. It involved planning and building a promotional display. I chose to showcase a sample of some Valentine's Day products from our local supermarket. And the best part about it was I got to eat all the product. Yay!!

Monday, February 09, 2015

Oh sunny day

Made it through the first two weeks of school. Already. It's only been two weeks though so I have to hope that things will improve. She's out working "off campus" four days a week. I'm hoping that she will get used to this quickly and things will even out a little. You know, learn something new and you have to forget something to make room. Twice now in the last couple of weeks she's had trouble setting the table. And she's been setting the table for nearly twelve months. The first time I was like WTF? and totally frustrated. It took nearly ten minutes to get her to understand what was wrong with the setting and I had to tell her. Last night I changed where MOTH sits so he can have a better view of the television while the news is on. Earlier in the day I told her where he would be sitting. When it comes to setting table time I told her that only he was different and he would be sitting opposite her. And when I look, her setting is normal. Mine has been moved and MOTH had also been moved but not opposite. So it took the next couple of minutes to sort it out. Obviously she doesn't know what opposite means.

Took Jerome out for a walk this morning. It's something I've been doing occasionally while Niece and I wait for her bus. He wanders up and down the street at his own pace. I don't know what anyone things when they see us. A boy and his mum went by and called out a greeting last week. I think they were giggling about a cat on a harness. But hey, it keeps him safe. Although not this morning. Something spooked him and he tried to take off and dash back indoors. I put him in but have no idea what it might have been. He was still wary when I went to take him out the front again later so we went out the back.

He seems a bit happier now, sprawled out in the middle of the floor and sound asleep.

The study goes on. Think I'm still behind but what the heck. I've joined a Facebook group for students doing this course and most of them seem to be behind for one reason or another. So, seems I'm just part of the crowd. I still feel unmotivated though. Hopefully the unit I'm working on will prove a little easier. It's certainly been a bit more enjoyable and more along the lines of things I can do. Instead of, you know, face to face things and working with figures and doing research. Wait. All those things go with study. Why am I studying again? Oh, that's right. I'm a glutton for punishment....