Today’s sea otter party was snapped and shared by matt knoth on flickr.
Please feel free to use this thread to natter about anything your heart desires. Is there anything great happening in your life? Anything you want to get off your chest? Reading a good book (or a bad one)? Anything in the news that you’d like to discuss? What have you created lately? Commiserations, felicitations, temptations, contemplations, speculations?
Categories: Life
Soggy here, innit? 
In memoriam: Diana Rigg 
Getting out the ‘yes’ 
100 books by women in 2016 
Hoyden About Town 
Yesterday, I made a delcious kangaroo stew. I’d tried making ‘roo stew before, and results had been between mediocre and awful, even though I always cooked it for a good long time.
I think the secret is putting some fruit in there — this time, I used two pears and some prunes, and cooked it in apple cider. I think I actually used a bit too much — the stew was a bit on the sweet side, though still very tasty. Next time I’ll try using one pear (or apple), and half as many prunes.
So many otters!
Yesterday I had the worst drive home from the Eastern Suburbs ever – it took me an hour and a half because all the main roads were gridlocked. Grrrr.
Beppie: I agree – my adventures in roo-cooking have determined that it needs to be cooked either hot and real fast (floured thin slices on the BBQ), or long and very low (crockpot on low). And I think when slow cooking it needs fat, acid, and sweetness added: olive oil and fruit, or butter/tomato/honey, or etc.
In other news, full credit to the fireys, volunteers, and others who have managed to save hundreds of homes and ensured no loss of human life in the WA bushfires. I hope that Margaret River can pull together and recover from the awful fires that have been tearing through there this week.
Information on how people can help is here.
Might be interested that the federal parliament passed the Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Bill yesterday.
It sets up parliamentary committee to scrutinise new bills and legislative instruments for human rights consistency, and requires all new bills and instruments to have a statement of compatibility why (or why not) they comply with Australia’s human rights obligations. It’s not a human rights act, but it is a human rights something.
@Pen, thanks for that info. Kinda got buried in the political kabuki this week, didn’t it?
In other political news, is this guy Arsehat of the Week? Halal meat converting Aussies: MP – The West Australian
(link via Lauredhel)
Where’s the noise about Christians in restaurants wanting to eat people? When they serve food to hungry people, they serve Jesus. (Matt, 25: 35-40). Then they eat Jesus.(Luke 22:19) CANNIBALS!
@tigtog, Iwonder what he thinks ‘halal’ means. And I happily second your nomination. What an idiot.
Ooh, does this mean that eating stealth* vegan food turns people vegan? Ha! More converts!
*cue Mr Burns impersonation*
*Food not specifically designed to be vegematarian-friendly. Like some Oreos, some brands of turkish delight, dark chocolate and some Cheerios.
Hi everyone! I finished up exams on Tuesday and have been sitting in a televisual stupor ever since. Well, not entirely – I did manage to catch up with Beppie, Mary, orlando and assorted readers during the week, too! I hope my brain will recover soon so that I can do things like write and put off all the life admin I’ve been putting off during the semester. Tomorrow I’m going to sit with my guinea pigs and read.
Chally, congrats on finishing exams!
*is jellis re your catch-up*
In exciting news we are collecting a new family member tonight. In less exciting news I’m concerned our big (neutered) tom may think she is a snack. There will be supervised visits for some time me thinks. I’m hoping that our other cat will mother her as she did our late cat, whom she taught to catch mice at the ripe old age of 12. Piccies on twitter tonight, if I’m not all tied up in kitten squee.
I have officially reached the postpartum period where GPs give me the side-eye for still breastfeeding: in fact, today one assumed that I must have a second child in order to be doing so.
For the record, that length of time is 22 months (very tall kid admittedly, he probably looks more like 26 or 30 months at a glance).
Very tall kid unsurprising with very tall parents. You’d think a GP would be down with WHO guidelines wouldn’t you. Sadly many aren’t.
Thanks, tigtog!
I’ve just realised like that sounds like I organised some HATy catch up that excluded most people – I swear it was just a series of coffees and such that coincidentally happened to fall in the same week. Possibly I need to think before I open my mouth.
Best with the collection of a new creature, Mindy. 🙂 And this is most sadface-inducing, Mary.
I was given my two weeks notice yesterday. It’s not fired as such, it’s being given a different name, and the likely reason is that the work is no longer there to do, even though the other applicant is doing it, and it’s all above board, even though it contravenes the staffing policy, being a state government job.
Fun times.
Sad to hear it, YetAnotherMatt.
Are you a Union member YAM or were you temping? Temps always get done first. One of our guys was given 1 weeks notice at Christmas. We didn’t even get to say goodbye before he was gone.
Yes, I was in the LHMU, seeing as I am a miscellaneous. It’s now called united voice, or something. My employer is going to claim that I haven’t lost my job, since there’s a review going on across the whole state, I’m saying that I wore a uniform and did a job, and now someone else will be wearing the uniform and doing the same job,and I’ll be out. I have been offered twenty hours a week which makes me cheer with sarcasm. Hooray! The interview report says that the other person, who also applied for it six years ago and faced an interview panel as I did, has shown more experience, knowledge and skills. Was the first panel wrong six years ago? If they were right, how does he possess more knowledge, skills and experience for the job I have been doing all that time? Dodgy. I’m going to ask why I was dismissed, somehow I doubt I’ll get anywhere. They crush possible precedents as thoroughly as possible. Oh well. Out with the old, I wonder what my next adventure will be?
Need to vent somewhere that won’t burden my husband with my freak out. My mother-in-law is missing, it looks like she left the house this morning after bringing in the morning paper and wasn’t there when her cleaner arrived at about 9am. Seeing as Mum’s normal forays out of the house on her own consist of no more than a 15 minute walk around the block the fact that it’s now 1:30pm and she’s still not shown up is cause for considerable concern.
Adam drove round the streets, checked the local shops and rang the hospitals and the cops. The hope is that a friend turned up and took her out for the day, but there’s no precedent that makes that a likely scenario (her alcoholism pretty much drove all her friends away) and that she left before 9am makes it seem even less likely. Plus we don’t seem to have any of her friends’ contact details.
She suffers from dementia and we have a series of helpers etc organised to visit the house every day, but she really shouldn’t be living on her own and has been assessed as suitable for a low-care dementia ward. Getting her moved into one was going to be the no.1 priority after Christmas.
Adam is at her place hoping that she’ll show up.
That’s a pretty heavy situation, mimbles. I really hope everything turns out ok.
I hope things have improved since you posted that comment Mimbles. (((Hugs))) if you want them.
Adam’s mum has been found. She’s at a Christmas party organised by one of the services we use to help look after her. She’d organised to be picked up by them and neither she nor they had bothered to tell the cleaner or us. *headdesk* #communicationsfail
And then I had a call from the counsellor at the high school because Caitlin is in great distress over being harassed by some of her classmates.
And NOW Tom has walked in from the bus sobbing, Adam is talking to him now.
Bloody hell.
Oh hell, Mim – what a shit of a day.
I wish you all the best of luck in finding workable solutions.
Glad Adam’s Mum is okay, hope someone got to relieve some stress by telling them (the Service) exactly what you have just been through. I hope the kids are okay, two more weeks…
@Mindy Oh yeah, Adam has been having very pointed conversations with the staff and director. Apparently Mum is one of the more with-it people they have at the day centre which I guess is why they assumed she was competent to make her own arrangements. Which is kind of true, but she’s not competent to make the connection that she’d need to let others know.
Tom was followed through the door by his gorgeous friend who had persuaded his grandma to drive him here because he was concerned about Tom and they are now making mango smoothies and planning on playing computer games together in a perfectly cheerful state.
Meanwhile, Adam and I are hanging out for booze o’clock.
It must be booze o’clock somewhere in the world, I think you have both earned it. Just flip a coin to see who phones for takeaway first.
Glad to hear you had a good resolution, though it sounds like a hell of a day.
Oof, Mimbles, that sounds horrible.
But yay for Tom’s friend! That sounds really sweet.
We’re looking down the barrel of an interstate move that has been a PossiblyMaybe for many months, now that nobody in the family has fulltime work. From a city with one of the highest unemployment frates in the country to the one with the lowest. A SAHM returning to work after 5 years has to be able to find office stuff there, right?
I’m about ready to find work again, but the leaving Tiny Tyrant behind 5 days a week has me tied in knots, especially as I’ve come to the conclusion that a Montessori education is just too expensive to contemplate in our current precarious fiscal situation.
My Anxiety is harrassing me bigtime about this, the panic attacks have been fast and furious and I don’t know where my head is or whether any of my decisions are sensible.
Also, the timing BITES.
(And Echofon has karked it so I’m starved for realtime convos w/ people who Get It.)