Attack of the zombies

It's incredible what 8 nights of really poor sleep does to you when you're not used to it. I have to say that our kids are fantastic sleepers. They sleep from 7.15pm until 6.30am most nights.

Usually.

But, understandably, when you've had surgery in your throat you're a bit sore.

And wakeful.

And Mummy needs to administer pain relief.

In the middle of the night.

I'm REALLY looking forward to this coming to an end - apparently about the end of the week (10 days after the operation).

Bring it on Read more...

water fluoridation - a believer turns against it

The question of water fluoridation has arisen again in our city. Most New Zealand cities fluoridate their water. The vast majority of European cities do not. I found the following article to be extremely thought provoking. I've just copied in the opening paragraph, to get the full article, follow the link.

WHY I CHANGED MY MIND ABOUT WATER FLUORIDATION

John Colquhoun © 1997 University of Chicago Press

Former Advocate

To explain how I came to change my opinion about water fluoridation, I must go back to when I was an ardent advocate of the procedure. I now realize that I had learned, in my training in dentistry, only one side of the scientific controversy over fluoridation. I had been taught, and believed, that there was really no scientific case against fluoridation, and that only misinformed lay people and a few crackpot professionals were foolish enough to oppose it. I recall how, after I had been elected to a local government in Auckland (New Zealand's largest city, where I practised dentistry for many years and where I eventually became the Principal Dental Officer) I had fiercely — and, I now regret, rather arrogantly — poured scorn on another Council member (a lay person who had heard and accepted the case against fluoridation) and persuaded the Mayor and majority of my fellow councillors to agree to fluoridation of our water supply...

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Nearly back in form

After a week with this flu I feel nearly back in charge of things. The kitchen was mostly redeemed yesterday - even the range was given a good scrub...even the silver bits under the ring elements! The kitchen floor is still in sad need of a mopping, and I don't quite recall the last time I vacuumed, but the dining table is cleared and the kitchen bench is clear, so I don't feel like I'm drowning in filth anymore.

Which is nice.

The last few days I've been reading Miss4 a bunch of library books about "going to the hospital". She has her grommets put in and her tonsils and adenoids taken out on Tuesday. So my croaky laryngitis voice has been getting a mighty work-out reading her stories about the whole process. Reading story books is hard going when you have to stop with nearly every breath and cough your lungs up :)

My head isn't quite back in its proper space yet, though. But we're nearly there! Read more...

Farside quick hits - a merl post

Miss1's favourite thing in the world at the moment is to wait until you unbuckle her from her highchair, then grab the straps and promptly work diligently at buckling herself back in. This game can easily take upwards of 20 minutes. Mastering the plastic safety clips gives her a 'who just drank the cream' smile, and her efforts for some reason remind me of the following Gary Larson cartoon:

Knowing how it could change the lives of canines everywhere, the dog scientists struggled diligently to understand the Doorknob Principle

On a related note, you know what's way less fun than it sounds? Deconstructing Farside humour for Miss4 to explain why those things are funny.


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worship as an every day occurrence

A quote from my devotional reading for the weekend

Once I worked at whipping up a feeling I could call "worship." No more. I have lived consciously in his presence long enough to know him, to recognize his pressure on my heart and mind. We've been together long enough so that fixing supper, changing the ribbon in my typewriter, and riding a bike around my shell road have become almost sacramental. This does not indicate my "holiness." It indicates his - his holiness and his drawing power for my heart or for yours.

Eugenia Price

Sorry for the long absence, people! We were away visiting Merl's parents for a few days, and then almost as soon as we returned we've been felled by the 'flu. And it's a bad one. I've been taking the maximum dose of Codral Cold and Flu with Cough Suppressant and I still feel like death on a hot plate and have spent most of the weekend in bed. Miss4 is also sick - she fell asleep on the floor at the library on Friday, poor wee miss.

Fortunately Merl has the constitution of an ox and has been Super-Dad. hooray. Read more...