DarNonymous http://darnonymous.mumspace.net Wed, 24 Sep 2008 22:04:16 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=wordpress-mu-1.0 en The Rejection & Other Tales… http://darnonymous.mumspace.net/2008/09/24/the-rejection-other-tales/ http://darnonymous.mumspace.net/2008/09/24/the-rejection-other-tales/#comments Wed, 24 Sep 2008 22:04:16 +0000 darnonymous Uncategorized http://darnonymous.mumspace.net/2008/09/24/the-rejection-other-tales/ I have been a total Blog slacker! Just haven’t wanted to be stuck inside on the computer, which is definitely a good thing for me!
 
As if my self-esteem was not at an all-time low lately, I got a ‘thanks but no thanks’ rejection letter for the job I applied for a couple of weeks ago. I was pretty peed off, apparently some bastard I used to work with (who was NOT one of my employers as listed on my resume!) felt they had the right to give me a bad reference! I know exactly who the petty shithead was! I totally expect something like that from him, but I am more peed about the fact that the HR person checking my references couldn’t even be bothered talking to my past bosses, but have obviously just spoken to the first person who answered the phone! Just my luck it would be that ass!
 
But it turns out that it was for the best, as a few days later I was struck down by the dreaded morning sickness bug!! Yup, apparently I am pregnant!
 
You know how you hear those cases of teen mums who say something like ‘we were using protection but got pregnant anyway’ & you secretly think to yourself ‘yeah right, that shit doesn’t really happen’. Who knew?!
 
When you are young & carefree you try like hell to not get pregnant. Then when you do want to have a baby you discover that there are a lot more mechanics to it than you assumed. As all those other mums out there will know, there are in fact only 3 days in your ‘cycle’ where you can get knocked up, so that narrows it down to about 36 days in a year for an average woman. Then there are the cases like mine (& sadly about 1 in 3 other women these days in our chemically processed digital era) where you are not young & fertile with plenty of baby years ahead as you had assumed, but are in fact infertile with very irregular cycles & no chance of conceiving without artificial help. Considering it took almost 2 years & quite a few rounds of fertility drugs to conceive the first time, seriously, what are the odds that I of the barren womb would fall pregnant by accident whilst using contraception?!!
 
So of course this was a complete shock, & I went through a good week of ‘Oh shit! I am so not ready for this yet!’ moments! Marty of course was over the moon (being a Maori he’d love a whole footy team of kids!), & now I am very happy too.
 
We weren’t actually planning on having another baby for a couple of years, mainly because of Kaia’s rough start (prem born at 27 weeks). The Doctors tell me that because I went into premature labour for no apparent reason, there’s a 50/50 chance it may happen again. It may be the way my body reacts to pregnancy. The thought of having to go through the same thing again with another child is pretty heartbreaking. I saw how hard it was on the mums in the Neonatal ward who had another toddler at home, trying to be there for both kids.
 
But I will just do everything I can to make this time around smooth sailing, have regular appointments at the High Risk Obstetrician, & at least this time I will know the signs early if anything should go wrong!
 
At least this means we are definitely moving out of this little shitbox apartment in January when the lease is up! Yeehaa!! I ain’t doing up & down 3 flights of stairs every day with a pram & 2 kids! Not looking forward to the weeks of househunting again, & definitely not the actual moving part, but we have made the decision now to move down to South Sydney as we have heard from all our friends who live in that area that it is cheaper & better value for money. So I am looking forward to having a nice apartment & a new area again.
 
Off to the doc…
]]> http://darnonymous.mumspace.net/2008/09/24/the-rejection-other-tales/feed/ Yo, Yo, Yo… http://darnonymous.mumspace.net/2008/09/04/yo-yo-yo%e2%80%a6/ http://darnonymous.mumspace.net/2008/09/04/yo-yo-yo%e2%80%a6/#comments Fri, 05 Sep 2008 01:13:22 +0000 darnonymous Uncategorized http://darnonymous.mumspace.net/2008/09/04/yo-yo-yo%e2%80%a6/ Wot up ma’ homies!!! We are back ONLINE! (& I have just been watching a documentry on hip-hop!)
I know all those fans of mine out there have been waiting eagerly (HAHAHAHAHA!!!)
 
 
It’s been about 2 months since my last post (since we moved!). For the first month I was going nuts without a computer, but now that I’ve got it back I am really not feeling the urge to use it much! Trying to use my time a little more constructively!
 
 
We’ve settled pretty well into our new crib. Not loving the place too much, feeling a little crowded in. Here is the awesome view from all our windows;
 
The loungeroom
The kitchen
The spare room
 
The neighbours opposite us seem to be at home & at their windows about 90% of the day. It is driving me fucking nuts! It’s hard to be able to just relax when people can see into your place all day! We are tossing up whether we are going to stay here or move again at the end of the 6 month lease. If they want to put the rent up I’m definitely voting for the move, we are already paying way more than this dank little place is worth!
 
 
Oh, & my seedlings did not survive the move. RIP.
 
 
Here’s catch-ups on my little dude;
He’s crawling, standing, clapping, saying a couple of words, feeding himself & holding his own bottles. Good kid! Still haven’t had our appointment with the cranio-facial clinic to see if he’s gonna be a helmet-head or not. It’s in a couple of weeks.
 
 
As for myself, I’m feeling fat, lazy, & like I’m not achieving anything lately. We’ve just completely emptied our savings account so we could join the gym. That might just be the thing to save my sanity!
Think I’m gonna start working a couple of nights again (not willing to do days & put K in childcare), just to be able to live in the real world again for a few hours a week.
 
 
Marty’s mum & sister, & her 18 month old are coming from NZ to stay with us for a week in October. Marty is over the moon, & I can’t wait either! Will be awesome to see them, & it’ll be the first time they’ve seen Kaia.
 
 
Have been glued to SYTYCD. It totally KICKS IT!! They are sooo good this year! But it does make me feel even fatter & lazier!
 
 
Considering I haven’t posted in 2 months, it doesn’t seem like I have a whole lot of interesting stuff to Blog about!
 
So I’ll just say it with pictures;
 
The boys supporting the All Blacks
 
His first fancy shirt! At my younger bro’s 25th birthday, a cocktail party!
The boys looking schmick! (My bro Nat on the left)
]]> http://darnonymous.mumspace.net/2008/09/04/yo-yo-yo%e2%80%a6/feed/ A Mummy Scorned… http://darnonymous.mumspace.net/2008/07/23/a-mummy-scorned%e2%80%a6/ http://darnonymous.mumspace.net/2008/07/23/a-mummy-scorned%e2%80%a6/#comments Thu, 24 Jul 2008 00:22:18 +0000 darnonymous Uncategorized http://darnonymous.mumspace.net/2008/07/23/a-mummy-scorned%e2%80%a6/ My little dude is still sick. The poor little thing was up all night with a fever, we are back to the Doc today.
I lay the blame for this FULLY on our dumbass Real Estate agent! I shouldn’t have had to drag my poor little guy back & forth in this shitty weather to sort out crap with them!
 
They never did get back to me on Monday as promised (big surprise!). He called yesterday, & told me there was no way we were getting any money back from them. Their reasoning was that;
a) We had signed the lease based on the condition it was in, &
b) If we were not happy with the condition of the place we should have notified them right away so they could have done something, not gone ahead & organized cleaners ourselves.
 
Ok, so;
a) It says right there in our lease that upon signing the lease, ‘the landlord agrees to make sure the premises are reasonably clean & fit to live in’. The agent argued that 1 persons idea of ‘reasonably clean’ differs from the next persons. I asked him ‘based on the photos I showed you, would you live in that?’. His answer? ‘No’. &
b) Considering we signed the lease on Saturday & saw that the place was DISGUSTING, they are closed on Sunday, had a sick baby on Monday, went to the apartment on Tuesday to take photos & fill out the condition report (& pull down the filthy mouldy curtains), went to the Agent on Wednesday but of course nobody was able to see me & I had to make an appointment for Friday. Considering we were s’posed to be moving in on the Saturday my priority was to have a clean place for my baby, so I had to organize the cleaners for Friday! So realistically, this WAS letting them know straight away!
Also, if I went by their ‘I’ll get back to you on Monday, but really I won’t bother to call ‘til Wednesday ‘ standard, we’d still be waiting to hear back from them about organizing the place to be cleaned!
 
Ok, so I accept that they aren’t going to give us any money back. It just means I don’t have to waste any time cleaning the place when we leave (it still won’t be left in as shitty a condition as it was though, we just don’t generally live like PIGS)! Then the rest of the conversation went like this;
 
Me: So about the balcony door which you didn’t give us a key for?
Agent: Yeah I’ll have to track it down.
Me: Soooo, can I expect to hear back from you soon?
Agent: Well we don’t have it here so I’ll have to find out.
Me: Soooo, should I expect to hear from you before the weekend?
Agent: Well I’ll do my best but I can’t make any guarantees ok?! See ya later…
Me: And about all the leaking taps? (Every tap in the place is pouring water!)
Agent: Yep.
Me: So is that going to be fixed soon?
Agent: You have to fill out the formal repair enquiry form & bring it in.
Me: Right.
Agent: See ya… hung up!
 
If anyone out there in the land of the www is looking to aquire some Real Estate, DO NOT use;

PETER SHIPWAY REALTY of WEST RYDE
 
(I’m not sure what the legalities of posting this are, perhaps it comes under slander? If I could get myself into trouble for posting this please tell me so I can remove it!! But until then hopefully this will drum up some bad publicity for them!  & of course please pass on this info to anyone you know looking to get into the Real Estate market! Aaah, the beauty of the www!)
 
Have a nice day y’all!
]]> http://darnonymous.mumspace.net/2008/07/23/a-mummy-scorned%e2%80%a6/feed/ The Big 1… http://darnonymous.mumspace.net/2008/07/21/the-big-1/ http://darnonymous.mumspace.net/2008/07/21/the-big-1/#comments Tue, 22 Jul 2008 01:45:20 +0000 darnonymous Uncategorized http://darnonymous.mumspace.net/2008/07/21/the-big-1/   

 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KIDDO!

Our little dude is 1 today. CRAZY!

It has been a tough year for you mate, but you are a tough little dude. Happy Birthday!

1 year ago, born 3 months prem.

1 year old.

]]> http://darnonymous.mumspace.net/2008/07/21/the-big-1/feed/ My Argument… http://darnonymous.mumspace.net/2008/07/20/my-argument/ http://darnonymous.mumspace.net/2008/07/20/my-argument/#comments Sun, 20 Jul 2008 22:25:55 +0000 darnonymous Uncategorized http://darnonymous.mumspace.net/2008/07/20/my-argument/ I finally got around to saving the ‘apartment condition report’ photos to my computer, & seeing them just pissed me off all over again! Here is what I am talking about;
 
Just 1 of the many photos of the mould level in the bathroom.
 
The kitchen covered in food splatters.
 
The oven. Lov-er-ly!
 
The windowsills.
 
Seriously, should it be my responsibility to have to clean THAT when I move into a place??!! I had just assumed like EVERY OTHER PLACE I’ve ever lived in that it would be cleaned BEFORE we moved in!
 
I swear they must not have ever even been to the place! On the condition report they had ticked ‘clean’ & ‘undamaged’ to everything. Um, what about these;
 
Yeah I’d call these walls ’clean’ & ‘undamaged’ too! 
 
It’s only a tiny stain, nobody’ll even notice it!
 
What iron burn? That’s just the pattern of the carpet!
 
When I took a whole wad of photos to the agent, they were like ‘yeah, we know what the place is like, we don’t need photos for you to prove it’. Them knowing what it’s like doesn’t mean shit! What happens if we stay there for a couple of years & they leave? When the next agent comes along to inspect it & says ‘there was no mention of any marks or damage to the place on the condition report when you moved in, technically ALL the damage in the place is YOUR responsibility’! The whole bloody point of having the condition report is that it’s all there in writing!
 
Anyway, I was bloody good when I went to see them on Friday, I definitely walked out with the upper hand. I was one of those super-cool-calm-collected-can-talk-her-way-out-of-a-parking-ticket-chicks, you would not have messed with me on Friday! It also helped that I had totally lost my voice from the tonsillitis, I think it is hard to get angry with someone when they are so softly spoken & never raise their voice or get at all angry. HAHAHA! Little do they know what I might have been like on any normal day!
 
So today I am waiting by the phone to hear back from them! Hope you all have a great day!
]]> http://darnonymous.mumspace.net/2008/07/20/my-argument/feed/ The Blogscar Goes To… http://darnonymous.mumspace.net/2008/07/18/the-blogscars/ http://darnonymous.mumspace.net/2008/07/18/the-blogscars/#comments Fri, 18 Jul 2008 16:53:26 +0000 darnonymous Uncategorized http://darnonymous.mumspace.net/2008/07/18/the-blogscars/ I have been Blogcrastinating! I just couldn’t seem to be bothered to Blog over the last week & ½. We have all had colds & it is kicking my ass! Now I am just getting over my cold & it looks like I have Tonsillitis! Seriously, how the hell did I manage that?!!! Me sick I can deal with, but I am STRESSED that the little dude is gonna catch it from me. So far he’s only got the cold (I feel like I am jinxing it even typing it)!
So, over the past week & ½;
 
I’ve been Tagged by Jessy. I received this;
 

 
Rockin! The award is for blogs that you love and inspire you in many ways!
Once you’ve been tagged you then take the logo, post it on your blog and then nominate 7 blogs that you love, who are worthy of the award! Well, sadly I don’t even know that many Bloggers, but here are the award-worthy ones I do read & love;
Jessy - Tag back at ya! I am your truest Blog stalker ever! If there is a new post I am ON IT in seconds! Cutest pics of her new little baby, her life, & her (many times published!) scrapbooking layouts.
Candice - A funny & satirical writer who puts a nice spin on daily life with a 3 year old & now a brand new bub! Very cool girl (& also the creator of this site!) That’s 1 accomplished chick!
Mandy Skye - Another ‘mumspacer’ who Blogs cute stories & tips throughout her pregnancy. Looking forward to the new arrival any day now!
Siany - So I have actually only met this girl once or twice, she is a friend of a friend who wouldn’t even know I read her Blog! She will think I am a nutso Blog stalker! But her Blog is cool, full of pics, life stories, & scrapping. (It’s kinda wierd that you can now find someone’s Blog & know so much about a person’s life & barely know them in the real world! Cool, but a bit creepy at the same time!)
*You are supposed to provide a link to your chosen Blogs, but I am a bit of a computer dork & don’t know how to do that! So if you want to check out any of these Blogs I have added them in my sidebar under Blogroll.
 
But in the real world;
 
Last weekend we signed the lease on our new place, got the keys, & went to see it. We were more than a little disappointed. The place is SHABBY! It is old & grotty, especially the kitchen, but I can deal with that (I’ve lived in worse)! What I can’t deal with is the fact that they so obviously haven’t even cleaned the place! Seriously, is it my responsibility to be scrubbing food splatters off kitchen walls, scrubbing the stove/oven/kitchen benches, & scrubbing the mould out of the bathroom???!! I THINK NOT!
 
We decided that it was too big a job for us & paid a cleaner, even though it cost us more than a weeks rent! I am arguing with the agent that we should be reimbursed for it. So it has been a week of back & forth between our current place, our new place, & the agent. Putting it all in writing & photos, & meetings with the agent. PAIN IN THE ASS!
My poor little dude, he is such a good little guy, never a complaint from him though he gets carted back & forth all day long.
 
We were supposed to be moving today, but there was a miscommunication between Marty & his mate who is helping us out (& supplying the truck! Legend!), so now the big move is next weekend. I AM SO RELIEVED! I am struggling to pack let alone do the move! (Partly because I am tired, crabby, & a bit lazy really, but mostly because I am feeling like shite!)
 
I am really excited about the whole house of brand new stuff we are having delivered this week! (Looks like I will be packing up the toys & Wiggles Dvds & spending my days on a blanket on the floor of the empty apartment waiting for deliveries! I guess that’s better than the to-&-fro’ing we have been doing all week!) Last weekend we went on a bargain hunting spree at the factory outlet places we discovered when we were lounge shopping. It is definitely worth the trip! I think we have kitted out our whole place with brand new furniture & appliances for under $2 grand!
 
But this last month or so, I have been so caught up in the move that I haven’t really mentioned my little dude & his big achievements! He is now;
  • Clapping
  • Waving
  • Flipping from his back or from sitting into crawling position
  • Pulling himself up
  • Saying ‘mum mum mum’ all day long
  • & backwards shuffling around the whole room (he can’t quite seem to work out this whole going forwards thing!)

We also splashed out an insane amount of money to buy him an Exersaucer that the physio told us was a good idea for his leg strength development. (We did buy it with the store credit we had from Toys R Us though! (That is another whole story involving a baby rocker/glider chair that fell apart whilst we were sitting on it! Any mums reading this DO NOT buy the Babylove Rocker & Ottoman set!)

 The little dude, loving his new toy!

 
And the big news is that my little dude will be the big NUMBER 1 on Tuesday (or 9 months corrected)! Crazy!  (My folks are thrilled that we are here for another week, they were trying not to show it, but they were really upset that they were going to miss out on his 1st birthday. So it’s kinda nice we will still be here for that.)
 
It makes me kinda teary…
 
All grown up…
]]> http://darnonymous.mumspace.net/2008/07/18/the-blogscars/feed/ YEEEE-HAAAA!! http://darnonymous.mumspace.net/2008/07/09/yeeee-haaaa/ http://darnonymous.mumspace.net/2008/07/09/yeeee-haaaa/#comments Wed, 09 Jul 2008 10:18:19 +0000 darnonymous Uncategorized http://darnonymous.mumspace.net/2008/07/09/yeeee-haaaa/ We got a place!!
The agent called this arvo & we were like ‘which one was that again?’!!! Honestly, we have looked at so many places, & it is always so crowded you get about a 2 second look, we can hardly remember what it looks like! I know it is a 2 bedroom on the 2nd floor, have no idea if it has a garage, or a balcony, or a place to leave the pram when we take the kiddo up & down the flights of stairs!! Oh well, am sure we would’ve thought it was ok to have put in an application for it. AAAAAHHHH the relief!
]]> http://darnonymous.mumspace.net/2008/07/09/yeeee-haaaa/feed/ When I grow up… http://darnonymous.mumspace.net/2008/07/08/when-i-grow-up/ http://darnonymous.mumspace.net/2008/07/08/when-i-grow-up/#comments Tue, 08 Jul 2008 13:04:45 +0000 darnonymous Uncategorized http://darnonymous.mumspace.net/2008/07/08/when-i-grow-up/ On my way home from Kaia’s Drs appointment today I decided to drop into the shops to grab a couple of things. When I got to the entrance of the centre there were about 100 teenagers all just sitting out the front, in the way, smoking & spitting *GROSS*!
 
Shit! No wonder nobody else slowed down in the school zone this morning, it’s bloody school holidays!!
I’ve got to remember to make a note of this in my diary for the future, so I NEVER go to the shops during school holidays again!
 
When did I become one of those people who hates teenagers, & says ‘I was never like that’?! But seriously, was I really ever that obnoxious?!!!
 
]]> http://darnonymous.mumspace.net/2008/07/08/when-i-grow-up/feed/ The Real World… http://darnonymous.mumspace.net/2008/07/06/the-real-world/ http://darnonymous.mumspace.net/2008/07/06/the-real-world/#comments Mon, 07 Jul 2008 00:36:06 +0000 darnonymous Uncategorized http://darnonymous.mumspace.net/2008/07/06/the-real-world/ My world has been so consumed by househunting at the moment I have completely forgotten to Blog our other latest happenings! Here’s a quick summary of our last week or so;
 
  • Kaia had his latest physio follow up. Physically he is developing right on par & doing everything he should be doing, but she thinks it’s time we saw a Neurocranial-something-or-other for his flat head! It is pretty common with prem babes, because of all the important early developmental time lying flat on their back. Apparently flat-head normally corrects itself over the ages of 0-3 once they start spending less time on their backs, but sometimes (in our case) it does need a little help. Although we have followed all the physio’s guidelines to try to correct it, it just seems to be getting more prominent! The next step is for the little guy to wear a foam helmet 24/7 for a couple of months. Man he would HATE that! I am waiting to hear back about our appointment, so more to come on that…
     
    *An aerial view of his noggin’! The physio’s concern is that it is pushing the right side of his forehead forward & out of proportion.
     
  • We visited Candice, Rich, & Charley & their teeny new family member Toby. They are all doing brilliantly, & Toby is a gorgeous little mite!  We have hardly had the chance to see these guys (who are 2 of my closest friends!) over the past couple of years really. It was really good to catch up, & I definitely need to make an effort to see them more often!
     
    Cute little Toby.
     
    1 pretty mama!
     
    Kaia was fascinated by Charley!
     
  • I got to have a mummy day with Jessy! The poor girl had been up all night with little Liberty (who is only 5 weeks old!) but insisted that she wanted some adult company (I hear ya sistah)! Liberty was awake for all of 5 minutes when I got there & then the little angel slept the entire time! Kaia was being a little grumpy bum, but let up long enough for us to spend some QT catching up & throwing down some amazing cakes & biscuits I grabbed on the way! It was nice to be able to just ‘hang’ with someone who understands that it’s sometimes too much effort to get out & about & I ‘like’ just being able to sit & feed/ change/ entertain babies together. Can’t wait til Liberty is older & we can just do ‘mum’ things while the kids sit & play together! Jessy is one of those ‘supermums’ who’s got it all together, out & about on walks in the first couple of days after Liberty was born, & they’ve headed off to Forster this weekend for a little holiday! We are yet to venture away from our house for longer than a day out! Way to go guys!
     
    *I missed out on grabbing some pics before Liberty headed off for a ‘na-nighs’! I’ve poached this one from Jess’s Blog.
     
  • Oh, & our other little premmie friends who were back in hospital are now back at home & going great guns!
     
  • Tomorrow we are off to the hospital for Kaia’s *1 year* checkup with his pediatrician! Sadly it is our last appointment with her as she is so prized in the Neonatal world she can’t fit in time for the bubbas who are now big & healthy! So we are being referred on. She has been the most brilliant & lovely Doctor, & we are just so grateful to her for everything she has done over this past year! *sniff*
 
That’s about it, there’s not a whole lot else going on with us since this househunting shite is sapping all of my time & energy! Anybody have a friend who is a Real Estate agent?!!!
]]> http://darnonymous.mumspace.net/2008/07/06/the-real-world/feed/ Mum’s Day Off… http://darnonymous.mumspace.net/2008/07/05/mum%e2%80%99s-day-off%e2%80%a6/ http://darnonymous.mumspace.net/2008/07/05/mum%e2%80%99s-day-off%e2%80%a6/#comments Sat, 05 Jul 2008 08:25:51 +0000 darnonymous Uncategorized http://darnonymous.mumspace.net/2008/07/05/mum%e2%80%99s-day-off%e2%80%a6/ Today was the first time Marty & I have left the kiddo at home all day with my mum *sniff*. If it was for a nice day out or for a desperately needed girls day I could relax & enjoy it. Sadly, my little man was left at home so we could spend our day traipsing all over the world to see 7 apartments!
 
I have said it before & I will say it again; househunting (for rentals) in Sydney is DISGUSTING!
 
My brain is fried! I don’t know how long I can keep doing this, I am so stressed & dejected.
 
If you have been following my renting saga, this was the 5th week of non-stop calls to agents, in & out of open houses, & filling out application after application.
I have been abused by the rudest agents all week long. If they don’t want people to call up & ask about apartments why bloody advertise them?!!! My poor little guy is suffering, some days we have been back & forth to apartments & he gets about 5 minutes sleep before I have to wake him up to head off to another one!
 
I have now dragged my poor little guy to see about 40 apartments over the last 5 weeks. The crowd of people looking at each one has ranged from about 10 people, to the worst one today, about 60 people! I am not exaggerating!
 
I have never had such a hard time renting before, our Government really has a lot to answer for! We both have good rent histories & references, & it is not that we don’t have money, or are being too picky. We have applied for the tiniest, grottiest places at $350 a week. But according to the agents, for each tiny grotty place we are willing to pay good money for, there are 10 other people who are offering to pay more than us. Apparently the current trend is rent auctioning! Whoever is willing to pay the highest rent is the person that gets the place, simple as that.
 
So, if you can’t afford to buy a place in Sydney, but you can’t get a rental no matter how hard you try, what is the next step?
ANY SUGGESTIONS?????
 
*Next place we look at I will remember to take my camera to give you a picture of what it is like to see crowds of dejected faces at place after place.
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