rachel.blog

insignificant ramblings of a 50-something woman

  • What to do about a sore neck?

    For the past few months, I’ve had a sore neck. The pain was just on one side of the neck (right side) and spread down into my shoulder and the upper quadrant of my back on that side only. It wasn’t debilitating, but always there and so irritating. The pain in my back and shoulder…

  • You've got green hair

    I managed to get to sleep last night thank goodness. I’m still a zombie today though. It will take a while to catch up I think. Daniel had his long-awaited appointment with a paediatrician yesterday. It was all a bit disappointing. He got a diagnosis of ASD (autism spectrum disorder) which was nice to have…

  • Insomnia

    It’s Halloween today and I’m a zombie. Not because I’ve got blood dripping from my mouth but because this past week I’ve had the worst insomnia I’ve ever known. Last night I slept briefly for a time between the hours of 4am and 6am. The rest of the time was spent twiddling my thumbs and…

  • The need for control

    When you don’t like where you live but there’s little you can do about it, there’s only one thing to do…and that is, colour your hair. This creates a feeling of having some control over your life, when in reality, you have none. So it was with this thought that I decided to ditch the…

  • Culture clash

    New Zealanders are moving to Australia in droves. The job market here is poor and salaries are low, so it’s a fair assumption that they’re moving to Australia in order to pay the bills. Sometimes New Zealanders move to Australia and become famous. Sometimes the Australian media dares to suggest that these “famous” Kiwis are…

  • More scenes from Auckland, frogs and play

    More scenes from Auckland as viewed from inside our car (most of Auckland is viewed from within one’s car): I watched a great TED talk yesterday titled, Science is for everyone, kids included. It’s delivered by an adult, Beau Lotto, and a12-year-old girl, Amy O’Toole, who is the youngest published scientist in the world. There are…

  • Scenes from Auckland

    A couple of weekends ago I took Daniel and Elizabeth to a farm west of Auckland. They had a lovely time, patting and feeding animals. I took some photos which I’ve been meaning to share. Elizabeth loves feeding animals, even sticking her fingers into their mouths on occasion. Daniel likes feeding animals too and inadvertently…

  • Tennis or Karate?

    First day back at school for Daniel today and we were all a bit sad about that. Daniel’s love affair with school seems to have waned lately, although he still seems moderately happy with the place. According to his teacher he was exhausted all day today and at one stage she suggested he should come…

  • Opshopping

    I had a great trip to the opshop this morning with a fellow opshopper here in Auckland: the very lovely Pascale. I got this gorgeous, 100% silk top by Gail Elliot – Little Joe New York – for $8. Ok, so my amateur photo doesn’t really do it justice and it needs an iron, but…

  • Driving to heaven

    Elizabeth is missing our dog, Zeki. Yesterday she said to Ben, “Zeki has gone to heaven. Tomorrow we’ll drive to heaven and get Zeki”. She seemed to accept his explanation that we won’t be going to heaven to get him.

  • I'm in the money

    Today is a momentous day. Yesterday I released a new version of my Auckland Ferry Times app. The new version includes ads, in addition to some other new features. This morning I looked at the statistics for my app and I see that I’ve earned 3c already. Although 3c is hardly worth celebrating, it does…

  • 'Twas a bit windy last night…

    …and the neighbour’s tree smashed onto another neighbour’s BMW.   It snapped clean off at the base:

  • The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat

    I’m currently reading a fabulous book called “The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat” by Oliver Sacks. It uses a case-study approach to document the lives of patients with various neurological disorders. I started reading it because one of the case studies is that of a patient called “witty, ticcy Ray” who suffers…

  • On old age and misery

    Today I looked in the mirror and saw a long black hair in my nose. I know that nose hair has an important role to play but I thought it was something that was only visible in old men? Am I turning into an old man? Something happens once you pass the age of 35:…

  • Brewery tour for $10 and Collette Dinnigan for $6

    Ben is home. Hooray! He had a very productive trip in the Black Forest region of Germany. It wasn’t all work though. On one day, he took some time off to visit a German brewery. For the paltry sum of NZ$10, he got a tour of the brewery, two cups of beer and this handsome…

  • Freud has been poparted

  • The Polkadots

    Elizabeth doesn’t like saying “sorry”. When she does something that warrants an apology, I ask her in the nicest tone possible, “say sorry”. Her reply is always, “I’m too busy”. Yesterday I took the kids to see The Polkadots – a New Zealand children’s band – in concert. Elizabeth just loves them and always sings…

  • An unimportant job?

    Someone told me this week that I should get a job. Haven’t I got a job already? Is looking after one’s children considered so worthless by society that it’s not even recognized as being a valuable occupation? Sometimes I think about looking for paid work because I want the money, not because I don’t like…

  • Daniel's serve and Siri

    I took a lovely photograph of Daniel this week at his tennis lesson. He’s just served the ball: The photo was taken with my new iphone and edited and uploaded using the same device. I’ve just started experimenting with Siri – the voice recognition software – today. It is quite amazing. I can remember testing…

  • Daniel's computer game