Category: The Life of Lara

It’s all here. Adventures in extreme knitting, the house of poop, and suburban permaculture. You may also find rants about politics, ecology, humanitarianism, responsible living, toe floss, and other topics not covered here. Expect profanity and irreverence. You have been warned.

Books!

The books that I gave Kerry for the Timorese pre-school have been translated and delivered.  Here are some picture that Kerry sent of the kids.

I feel very lucky to have been given the opportunity to make a small difference in the lives of these kids.  It’s not saving lives, or world peace, but it’s worth doing.

I’m still collecting books, crayons, pens, exercise books, and money for the next round.  Money will be taken to Timor and spent locally, to benefit the local economy as well as the school, and any goods that I get above about 5kg in weight will have to be posted, as there is a strict baggage allowance on flights to Timor.

Thanks to Sarah, Emma, Lynne, Sally, Kate and mum, who have all made donations or promised help.

And if you have an urge to contribute, drop me a line, or leave a comment here 🙂  Donations need to be finalised within a day or so, I think Adam is leaving Sydney on the 30th.

Boys + Books

Girl+ Upsidedown Book

Kassian + Drum

Kids + Books3

Kids Singing

Kids Singing2

Kids

Mana Kassian + Girls With Tais For Presentation

Music Boys

Music Boys2

Music Boys3

Procession

Procession2

Scene

Scene2

Moocher

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Since dad’s been helping out every week, we’ve often been going to the Taj vegetarian Indian in Harris Park for lunch. One of the lovely waitresses there has taken quite a shine to the youngster, and once took him out of his high chair and out the back to the kitchen. Where I know there is a back door.

Dad quipped “at least they are vegetarian”. Charming.

He’s quite the adventurous eater, and will give anything a go, especially if he sees me eating it. Even curries and samosas that I think are quite hot (and I have a high tolerance for chilli), and he is becoming a bit of a tourist attraction by the water cooler.

Anyway, our waitress friend has noted that Inigo likes Mango Lassi, I have been buying one to share with him, but lately he’s been drinking more and more. He managed to use a straw without issue!

So on Thursday, our waitress friend brought one extra lassi – a freebee for her special friend, all to himself.

Was he happy?

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You bet he was!

healthdirect

healthdirect Australia is a 24-hour telephone health advice line staffed by Registered Nurses to provide expert health advice. It is currently available to residents of the Australian Capital Territory, Northern Territory, South Australia and Western Australia. healthdirect will be made progressively available to residents of New South Wales and Tasmania. healthdirect is scheduled to be a fully national service by 2011.

1800 022 222

Inigo had his 6 month vaccinations today. The paediatrician said that it was a good idea to give it to him as well as the antibiotics, to help his immunity – just in case he has got the bug.

He got the shot at about midday, and at 7pm his temperature was 37.7. By 8pm, it was 39.3.

I rang Westmead Hospital, who put me through to healthdirect. I spoke to a registered nurse who took our details, and then gave me clear, detailed advice about what to do, when to do it, and when to start tearing my hair out and run around the room screaming.

What is incredible about this service, is that I have never heard of it. Even the website says that it isn’t yet available in NSW.

So, I’ll still miss Emily terribly when she leaves next week, but I still have a medical professional on call 😉

Books for Timor – Update

I got a pile of books to Kerry just before she flew back to Timor. They are in the process of being translated into Tetun, and hopefully the first lot will be delivered to the pre-school this week.

Not sure if we’ll get pics or not, but it’s a great feeling to know that these kids will soon have books.

Kerry’s partner Adam is meeting her in Darwin in a little under two weeks, and I am hoping to be able to send some more stuff with him. After I do the weekly budget, I am hoping we’ll have a little left over for exercise books, pens, pencils and crayons.

If you’re interested in helping out, please drop me a line 🙂

The Inauguration

I must be the only person in the world who didn’t get up at 3am to watch the palaver, nor did I catch any TV, radio or newspaper reports.

I think that Barack Obama has a lot of promise, and I am truly inspired that Americans have looked beyond the colour of a man’s skin and seen the content of his character – and then voted for him. And I am thrilled that the Bush years are over (please tell me there isn’t a cousin waiting in the wings somewhere!).

But to call him the hope of the world is a tiny bit rich.

What I am really excited about, is Sasha Obama’s outfit.

Call me shallow 😉

Inigo the noodle monster

Inigonoodles-1

Worshiping his noodly appendage

Thanks to Jenny for the cameraphone pic – we ran into her at the shops that I fled to when I couldn’t bear to stay at home entertaining the kid. I figured that a shopping center was a fairly benign (and cool) place to be.

Inigo, bless him, took two naps of nearly 2hours each. Love that kid!

I should also mention that this pic was taken at Tokyo Ramen, Hornsby. Ever since I left Japan, I’ve had a thing for ramen, and Tokyo Ramen is one of my two favourites in Sydney. The other one is Goshu Ramen in the city – but that one is much harder to get to.

And recently, both places have been named in a Japanese magazine as in the top 15 Ramen places in Sydney. Grab Your Fork has the full list!

Typhoid Mary*

I have Whooping Cough. There is a plague of it about – so if you’ve seen me in the last six weeks and have a little tickle a the back of your throat, see a doctor.

So far, Inigo seems fine. Mark just spent over $200 on seeing a doctor and getting a vaccination booster. It will be more when we get the antibiotic script filled.

I have antibiotics, and Prednisone for my asthma, which has been terrible. I am taking well over the amount of ventolin which is recommended. Apparently, if the Prednisone doesn’t make me dramatically better, I have to ship myself off to hospital.

So. I am feeling horrible – I could have spread this to hundreds of people during the time I was infectious, if only I knew when that was. My blood test shows that I have an active infection, but not if I am infectious or not, and not when I became infectious. If you feel sick, I am terribly, awfully sorry, and if you want to know anything about whooping cough, give me a call. SInce I got the news at 3pm, I have become quite the expert.

And now, I am off to my chaise lounge to freebase some laudanum.

*Typhoid Mary was a cook who travelled from job to job infecting her employers…

The science of raising happy kids

Just came across this blog, written by the executive director of UC Berkeley’s Greater Good Science Center. She writes “since I’m reading all the research related to raising happy children anyway, I thought we might as well make it USEABLE to parents. We hope this is a valuable counterpoint to some of the more opinion-based parenting advice platforms that are out there, especially because sorting out fact from fiction can be confusing when it comes to parenting”.

I’ve been through the wringer a bit lately, swinging from theory to theory in a search for an answer to Inigo’s sleep issues. And though the attachment parenting theory feels right to me, I can’t make it work for my child.

This blog has loads of information that quotes actual, real science. Somebody has done experiments with live human children, and someone else has paraphrased the results to make them accessible to the sleep deprived.

For example, eating dinner with your children five times a week helps widen their vocabulary, reduces eating disorders, reduces drug addiction, connects kids to their family history, teaches good manners, and reduces depression and anxiety.

There’s heaps of material there, and I haven’t come across anything that solves all Inigo’s sleep issues yet, but I am happy to have found such a great resource. Books are great, but since I only get to read about a page a night before I crash, this will probably work better for me 🙂