Okay - well I've just printed out EVERYTHING that I've written for my PhD so far - even if it isn't all edited and pretty yet - because I've just hit one of those walls of frustration that is liable to end up in tears soon. I think a trip to the pool with the little monkey may be in order this afternoon, because when you get to the point where you can't string 3 words together and a misplaced comma ends in tears.... well it's time to take a step back and re-group I think. I'm still on target with my timelines though so all should be okay.
Some of you will have received a panicky email about 1/2 hour ago about how to deal with one of my table of contents problems......I tried Word help. But has anyone else ever noticed that it's not very helpful at all? Though Dave has pointed out to me that I am pushing the limits of Word's capabilities with this thesis. Like how do you get your margins to mirror consistently (with one margin bigger than the other for binding purposes) when you switch between sections with some pages portrait and others landscape? And is this really a problem I thought I would ever need to deal with in life? So if any of you consider yourselves to be Word gurus and did not in fact get my email awhile ago - please feel free to let me know and I'll include you in any further pleas for help!!
Cheers.
Saturday, September 30, 2006
Wednesday, September 27, 2006
Random musings
Just a few thoughts to share. Realised that I had not shown pics of the gorgeous flowers I got from Dave on our wedding anniversary.
If I hadn't mentioned it, the theme of the fourth wedding anniversary is flowers or fruit. You have to be fairly creative if you're buying for my husband then because I can only imagine the look on his face if I'd presented him with flowers or a basket of seasonal produce...... so this is what he ended up with.....
And so as not to be left out - this is what his daughter will be wearing this spring :)
On another note, our daughter has taken to kicking the wall for a good half an hour before she will finally give up the ghost and go to sleep - this is day and night sleeps so not quite sure what's going on here unless she's been sneaking sips of mummy's caffeinated drinks while she's not looking. Anyway, today she finally went to sleep - but notice the foot poised and ready for when she wakes up and wants to let me know she's finished her nap!!! ... MUMMY UP NOW PLEASE!!! (thump thump thump).
Tuesday, September 26, 2006
62,703 words and the best cake I've ever made
thanks to Lib for the great cake recipe - it sank a little due to my impatience and opening the oven door. it's a pretty fool proof cake - i nearly forgot the buttermilk (quite a key ingredient in a butter cake one would imagine) and ended up adding it AFTER the self-raising flour stage... oh well. it was delectable warm straight out of the oven.... and not bad a few hours later iced with a lemon butter frosting....mmmmm. I owe the new word count on the PhD to this cake ;)
Monday, September 25, 2006
I'm sorry..... what day is it??
Good Morning dear readers (it is morning yes??).... As Meegan's post just reminded me, the Farmer's Markets were on in Blackwood St Mitchelton yesterday (Sunday); an event I had been looking forward to attending. I had visions of walking there, having some breakfast, doing some shopping for fresh produce and then walking home, having some lunch made with said fresh produce and then all curling up for an afternoon nap after a big morning out.
How the weekend went was really in reality, incredibly different.
Friday morning began bright and early after our night out to dinner. Despite not having small child in the house, we, out of habit, woke early and began our respective days. Me, on the computer PhD-ing. Dave, having worked in excess of 60 hours that week already had the day off and headed over to a mate's house for a few hours before having the bring the car back to me at 10am so I could head out to Uni. I went and saw my supervisor and attended a compulsory seminar (What Happens to Your Thesis after you Submit). On a side note, I was relieved to hear that only 3 theses in the past 10 years have been failed outright and only about 3 per year (out of 500 or so submitted) are recommended as a Master's instead of a PhD.... so I figure the odds are with me and I'm focusing on "Revise and Resubmit" as my worst case scenario - which would still be pretty bad but not life-stopping. So I left the seminar feeling heartened - but stopped back in to see my supervisor, where I was reminded that she would be on holidays for the 3 weeks PRECEDING the week before my deadline. I'm not sure how I had overlooked this fact - perhaps I never knew it, though she said it as though she had told me 1000 times. Either way, panic (again) set it. My timeline had just been decimated and I drove home in a near state of tears (narrowly avoiding some idiot who backed out into 2 lanes of traffic straight in front of me while I was driving 60km/hr). Went and picked up Charli girl, managed to get annoyed by my MIL - which is an easy thing at the best of times, but in my then current state it was almost inevitable. by the time I got home, I was a mess.
Dave, meanwhile, had not had a leisurely day off. From the moment he had handed over the car keys to me, his work mobile had rung. The email server that had been playing up all week (hence the 60 hour week by Thursday), had fallen over and completely died. Now I've probably got the facts wrong on this one, but the point I am trying to make is that something at his worked was majorly SCREWED and it had become his responsibility to have it fixed by Monday.
So Friday turned into Friday night and then the fun really began. We put Charli to bed and Dave and I kept working - he on his email server, me on my PhD in a panic-driven state. Then Dave started to feel sick and went to bed - I kept working... and working. And before you know it it's 11.15 and I freak out - you don't want to sit up that late when you know you'll be up again at 5am with small child. So I head to bed. On the way I do something to my back and by the time I hit the bed I'm in tears with the searing pain rocketing up through my pelvis and hips (have I mentioned how much I love being pregnant??). After 20 minutes or so of tears and wriggling I manage to find a position that stops just short of agony and try to go to sleep. The screaming begins. I bash Dave to get up (sick or not I was NOT moving!!). He struggles out of bed and throws a bottle of milk in her direction - it does nothing to stop the incessant noise emanating from our child. We bring her into bed with us, we give her drugs, we give her water, we cuddle her. Nothing would console her. She slept for 1/2 hour. The whole routine started again (of course without the drugs next round because you are only allowed to drug them every 4-8 hours!!). We lose track of time. The sun comes up. Our eyes are hanging out of our heads. We pray she will have a morning sleep.
Lunchtime comes........ and goes. Still no napping. Dave is back working on the computer. I'm entertaining devil child. Noon to 2pm is spent putting her back to bed after she figures out (why now??) that she can get out of her bed without waiting for us to say it's ok. Finally she sleeps..... for 1/2 hour!! I go in to discover her waking up - no wonder she didn't sleep long, she finally passed out from exhaustion on the bloody floor!! The afternoon begins. I decide to take her to the pool - if she's going to be in pain (and hence a pain in the bum!) we may as well try some distraction. All goes well - apart from the fact that by this stage I'm not sure I should be driving a moving vehicle.... in fact I'm not sure I should be attempting to even care for a toddler but anyway.
She's asleep by 5.30pm and Dave and I - so overtired by this stage, don't go to bed as we should but keep working.......because the email server is still not functional and not surprisingly my PhD had not finished itself!! Dave gets up at 4.30 and goes into work until lunchtime. While there he goes out into the foyer of the building (where the loos are) and in the meantime security decide to mess with the system and he ends up locked between the front doors and the inner doors of his building.... because of course, this weekend couldn't get any better could it?? Needless to say he managed to get out of that situation and was able to join us at home in what could be argued was a less enticing situation.... still teething child.
I'm going to shorten this post somewhat by saying that Saturday night was pretty much a mirror image of Friday night. I'm really not sure by Sunday how we were still functioning - it's not just the lack of sleep (about 5 hours in 2 nights) but that screaming will really wear you down after awhile. I think that taking sharp knitting needles and scraping them across my eardrums may have been more entertaining that watching my small child scream in pain and clutch at her mouth and look at me imploring to make it all go away!!
I'm not really sure what we did yesterday. It's a blur. I vaguely remember her crashing out in my arms at 10.30 and me putting her to bed. Some people would say we should have gone and had a nap ourselves. Anyone who has been through this before will understand that we were now so dosed up on caffeine and beyond what anyone could describe as tired.... so what did we do? Yep, kept working.
Last night I was in bed by 8.30pm. Dave was about 1/2 an hour behind me though I had to check that with him this morning as I've got no recollection of hearing him come in at all. I got up at 1.20 to change her nappy and then again at 5.30 this morning when she woke. A much better night by all accounts. Of course Dave and I have a sleep debt now that needs about another week's worth of good sleep to counter-act. I sent Charli off to her Nan's and Dave off to work (where it will no doubt go un-noticed by every IT user in the company that my husband has just worked pretty much non-stop for 3 days, while listening to his daughter scream ... just so that they could get the latest jokes emailed to their Inboxes bright and early this Monday morning). I went back to sleep 'just for another hour' and just woke. So now I'm another 1/2 day behind on my thesis and still feel like I need to go and chug back some caffeine.....
Charli girl we love you..... and it's lucky we do. Monkey #2, if you are in there and listening (and I know you are because the whole time Charlotte was on the outside screaming, I had you on the inside kicking out in response to her.....), then take note: you are not to ever cut teeth - I'll puree your bloody food until you leave home if you promise me that I will never have a weekend like this again!!
How the weekend went was really in reality, incredibly different.
Friday morning began bright and early after our night out to dinner. Despite not having small child in the house, we, out of habit, woke early and began our respective days. Me, on the computer PhD-ing. Dave, having worked in excess of 60 hours that week already had the day off and headed over to a mate's house for a few hours before having the bring the car back to me at 10am so I could head out to Uni. I went and saw my supervisor and attended a compulsory seminar (What Happens to Your Thesis after you Submit). On a side note, I was relieved to hear that only 3 theses in the past 10 years have been failed outright and only about 3 per year (out of 500 or so submitted) are recommended as a Master's instead of a PhD.... so I figure the odds are with me and I'm focusing on "Revise and Resubmit" as my worst case scenario - which would still be pretty bad but not life-stopping. So I left the seminar feeling heartened - but stopped back in to see my supervisor, where I was reminded that she would be on holidays for the 3 weeks PRECEDING the week before my deadline. I'm not sure how I had overlooked this fact - perhaps I never knew it, though she said it as though she had told me 1000 times. Either way, panic (again) set it. My timeline had just been decimated and I drove home in a near state of tears (narrowly avoiding some idiot who backed out into 2 lanes of traffic straight in front of me while I was driving 60km/hr). Went and picked up Charli girl, managed to get annoyed by my MIL - which is an easy thing at the best of times, but in my then current state it was almost inevitable. by the time I got home, I was a mess.
Dave, meanwhile, had not had a leisurely day off. From the moment he had handed over the car keys to me, his work mobile had rung. The email server that had been playing up all week (hence the 60 hour week by Thursday), had fallen over and completely died. Now I've probably got the facts wrong on this one, but the point I am trying to make is that something at his worked was majorly SCREWED and it had become his responsibility to have it fixed by Monday.
So Friday turned into Friday night and then the fun really began. We put Charli to bed and Dave and I kept working - he on his email server, me on my PhD in a panic-driven state. Then Dave started to feel sick and went to bed - I kept working... and working. And before you know it it's 11.15 and I freak out - you don't want to sit up that late when you know you'll be up again at 5am with small child. So I head to bed. On the way I do something to my back and by the time I hit the bed I'm in tears with the searing pain rocketing up through my pelvis and hips (have I mentioned how much I love being pregnant??). After 20 minutes or so of tears and wriggling I manage to find a position that stops just short of agony and try to go to sleep. The screaming begins. I bash Dave to get up (sick or not I was NOT moving!!). He struggles out of bed and throws a bottle of milk in her direction - it does nothing to stop the incessant noise emanating from our child. We bring her into bed with us, we give her drugs, we give her water, we cuddle her. Nothing would console her. She slept for 1/2 hour. The whole routine started again (of course without the drugs next round because you are only allowed to drug them every 4-8 hours!!). We lose track of time. The sun comes up. Our eyes are hanging out of our heads. We pray she will have a morning sleep.
Lunchtime comes........ and goes. Still no napping. Dave is back working on the computer. I'm entertaining devil child. Noon to 2pm is spent putting her back to bed after she figures out (why now??) that she can get out of her bed without waiting for us to say it's ok. Finally she sleeps..... for 1/2 hour!! I go in to discover her waking up - no wonder she didn't sleep long, she finally passed out from exhaustion on the bloody floor!! The afternoon begins. I decide to take her to the pool - if she's going to be in pain (and hence a pain in the bum!) we may as well try some distraction. All goes well - apart from the fact that by this stage I'm not sure I should be driving a moving vehicle.... in fact I'm not sure I should be attempting to even care for a toddler but anyway.
She's asleep by 5.30pm and Dave and I - so overtired by this stage, don't go to bed as we should but keep working.......because the email server is still not functional and not surprisingly my PhD had not finished itself!! Dave gets up at 4.30 and goes into work until lunchtime. While there he goes out into the foyer of the building (where the loos are) and in the meantime security decide to mess with the system and he ends up locked between the front doors and the inner doors of his building.... because of course, this weekend couldn't get any better could it?? Needless to say he managed to get out of that situation and was able to join us at home in what could be argued was a less enticing situation.... still teething child.
I'm going to shorten this post somewhat by saying that Saturday night was pretty much a mirror image of Friday night. I'm really not sure by Sunday how we were still functioning - it's not just the lack of sleep (about 5 hours in 2 nights) but that screaming will really wear you down after awhile. I think that taking sharp knitting needles and scraping them across my eardrums may have been more entertaining that watching my small child scream in pain and clutch at her mouth and look at me imploring to make it all go away!!
I'm not really sure what we did yesterday. It's a blur. I vaguely remember her crashing out in my arms at 10.30 and me putting her to bed. Some people would say we should have gone and had a nap ourselves. Anyone who has been through this before will understand that we were now so dosed up on caffeine and beyond what anyone could describe as tired.... so what did we do? Yep, kept working.
Last night I was in bed by 8.30pm. Dave was about 1/2 an hour behind me though I had to check that with him this morning as I've got no recollection of hearing him come in at all. I got up at 1.20 to change her nappy and then again at 5.30 this morning when she woke. A much better night by all accounts. Of course Dave and I have a sleep debt now that needs about another week's worth of good sleep to counter-act. I sent Charli off to her Nan's and Dave off to work (where it will no doubt go un-noticed by every IT user in the company that my husband has just worked pretty much non-stop for 3 days, while listening to his daughter scream ... just so that they could get the latest jokes emailed to their Inboxes bright and early this Monday morning). I went back to sleep 'just for another hour' and just woke. So now I'm another 1/2 day behind on my thesis and still feel like I need to go and chug back some caffeine.....
Charli girl we love you..... and it's lucky we do. Monkey #2, if you are in there and listening (and I know you are because the whole time Charlotte was on the outside screaming, I had you on the inside kicking out in response to her.....), then take note: you are not to ever cut teeth - I'll puree your bloody food until you leave home if you promise me that I will never have a weekend like this again!!
Thursday, September 21, 2006
Happy 4th Wedding Anniversary
well four years ago, hubby and I tied the knot - having known each other for about 10 years prior to that!! tonight we went to Brett's Wharf Restaurant - the place he proposed to me (and I accepted!!), the place we got married and the place we spent our first (and now 4th) wedding anniversary. In true Brett's style they wished us well.......
This was written on Dave's plate of Affogato dessert (icecream with a shot of espresso and a shot of Bailey's). I have nothing but wonderful things to say about my cold seafood platter and the scrummy chocolate fondue with strawberries, freshly made orange marshmallows and pistachio praline I had for dessert.
This was written on Dave's plate of Affogato dessert (icecream with a shot of espresso and a shot of Bailey's). I have nothing but wonderful things to say about my cold seafood platter and the scrummy chocolate fondue with strawberries, freshly made orange marshmallows and pistachio praline I had for dessert.
HAPPY ANNIVERSARY SWEETHEART
Tuesday, September 19, 2006
56,929 words and a jar of nutella later....
And I don't feel like I'm any closer to finishing....clearly I am as I've written 3,000 words more than last time...... no photos of updated pile as I only add to it after my supervisor has said the chapters are okay. I'll get a chapter back from her this Friday. Standby dear readers as some of you are about to receive my Chapter One via email for comment. It's about 10 pages long and it's meant to 'sell' my thesis to the examiners - some suggest that this may be the only chapter that an examiner truly bothers reading - others suggest that it's the first impression they get and while the rest of the thesis will be read, this first chapter may colour the rest of their reading. It's supposed to have a 'wow' factor - you're meant to be left with the feeling that you'd like to go on and read the rest of my thesis...... all constructive feedback greatly appreciated... remember I am pregnant so you have to precede any negative comments with at least one positive..... :)
Carla
Carla
Sunday, September 17, 2006
A night away from ...... child AND thesis!!
Went to a friend's wedding this afternoon, followed by a cocktail reception for 3 hours at the Powerhouse in Brisbane..... the bride looked stunning and the venue was totally different .... we loved it.It was so nice to get dressed up!! Hubby doesn't have to wear a shirt and tie to work and as you can imagine, sitting in front of a computer while 6 months pregnant does not afford one the need to get dolled up - so it was fun to play dress ups and go out - even if just for a few hours....
Not that this photo really does it justice but thanks to Beck for the lovely black wrap (again!!) shown in this photo - it was tres chilly up on the rooftop so this was my saving grace!!
Wednesday, September 13, 2006
Not happy Jan.....
Just needed to jump on and vent about my latest issues with our tax agents. I'd like to point out that up until 2 years ago I used to do all my own tax but then between rental properties, low income tax offsets, child-related tax benefits, well it all just got too confusing.... I mucked up one year and got audited and hit for $2000 I had to pay back. I decided to just start paying a professional to do it. And for the last 2 or so years we've been happy with our tax agents. A lovely man we'll call Scott has handled our affairs nicely. But then this year we got a lady (let's call her Jan given the title of today's entry!!) who has done nothing but shit me to tears!!! She was dipsy during the appointment for a start - never a good sign. Then I had said to her:
"look I'll check on our health records and see if it's worth claiming a rebate but I don't think so as I don't think we hit the $1500 threshold - if you DON'T hear from me tomorrow just go ahead and process our refund"......
Two weeks go by and after 3 phone calls to ascertain why we had not yet received the papers to sign, she finally gets on the phone and says:
Her: "aren't I waiting on information from you?"
Me: "No, I said if you DIDN'T hear from me to just go ahead with the claim"
Her: "Oh, well I'll complete that today and mail it to you"
d'oh thanks. So the forms turn up. I just about die when I see the money darling hubby owes - and why? Because she had not logged into the ATO office and deducted the amounts that he had voluntarily paid to ATO during the year he had his own business .... AND..... apparently I'm getting 4 times the amount back that I expected - why? Because she has me down for an offset that you can only claim had Charlotte been born a full 12 months earlier than she was AND her comment when I called to check was "don't you have two children?"...... oh sweet jesus. So I got her to correct that so I wasn't up for another ATO debt when they figured that one out!!
And for all of this we've been charged $500 for the privilege of getting our tax done - WHAT THE ????? - that is a far cry from the little brochure that appeared in our mailbox in July suggesting that these people could do your tax from as little as $60 a refund (yes, apparently that is only the case if you have one group certificate and no children, rental properties or anything else that would require them to have two brain cells to work out your refund!!) .....
Hubby and I have decided to return to good old e-tax next year - screw it, who needs a tax accountant charging $500 to stuff up your tax return - I'm capable of doing that myself for free!!!
"look I'll check on our health records and see if it's worth claiming a rebate but I don't think so as I don't think we hit the $1500 threshold - if you DON'T hear from me tomorrow just go ahead and process our refund"......
Two weeks go by and after 3 phone calls to ascertain why we had not yet received the papers to sign, she finally gets on the phone and says:
Her: "aren't I waiting on information from you?"
Me: "No, I said if you DIDN'T hear from me to just go ahead with the claim"
Her: "Oh, well I'll complete that today and mail it to you"
d'oh thanks. So the forms turn up. I just about die when I see the money darling hubby owes - and why? Because she had not logged into the ATO office and deducted the amounts that he had voluntarily paid to ATO during the year he had his own business .... AND..... apparently I'm getting 4 times the amount back that I expected - why? Because she has me down for an offset that you can only claim had Charlotte been born a full 12 months earlier than she was AND her comment when I called to check was "don't you have two children?"...... oh sweet jesus. So I got her to correct that so I wasn't up for another ATO debt when they figured that one out!!
And for all of this we've been charged $500 for the privilege of getting our tax done - WHAT THE ????? - that is a far cry from the little brochure that appeared in our mailbox in July suggesting that these people could do your tax from as little as $60 a refund (yes, apparently that is only the case if you have one group certificate and no children, rental properties or anything else that would require them to have two brain cells to work out your refund!!) .....
Hubby and I have decided to return to good old e-tax next year - screw it, who needs a tax accountant charging $500 to stuff up your tax return - I'm capable of doing that myself for free!!!
Monday, September 11, 2006
53,839 words and counting
Hi dear readers,
Allow me to just take a quick moment out of my thesis-writing day to share with you the growing pile of paper that will (in 13 weeks I hope) be submitted as my PhD thesis. this is only photos of chapters that have been seen by my supervisor, commented upon and revisions made - so it's still probably only half of what you will eventually see. But then ironically the thesis will actually seem smaller than this because the thesis office at UQ is now - in the interest of 'green' thinking - allowing double sided printing of theses. I think this decision was also made to reduce the number of workers' compensation claims that were being made for back injuries by those having to pick up the documents!!
Allow me to just take a quick moment out of my thesis-writing day to share with you the growing pile of paper that will (in 13 weeks I hope) be submitted as my PhD thesis. this is only photos of chapters that have been seen by my supervisor, commented upon and revisions made - so it's still probably only half of what you will eventually see. But then ironically the thesis will actually seem smaller than this because the thesis office at UQ is now - in the interest of 'green' thinking - allowing double sided printing of theses. I think this decision was also made to reduce the number of workers' compensation claims that were being made for back injuries by those having to pick up the documents!!
Sunday, September 10, 2006
4am panic writing
Well it's 4am on a Sunday morning....... 13 weeks to go until the deadline and I've woken up in a panic that I've written up all my MANOVAs incorrectly (based on someone else's write-up that I've borrowed)..... so of course rather than lie there stressing about it I decided to take the more productive approach of getting up and actually working on it. I will no doubt regret this decision in about 2 hours when I have to get up to small child.... plus there is a first birthday party on the agenda this morning but I suspect unfortunately I am going to have to un-rsvp to that. I'm hoping she will understand (the mum, not the one-year old!!!). I have warned people that I am going to be totally selfish with my time for the next few months and I hope that they can all forgive me for the occasions that I miss.
Anyway, best be off and actually write these stats up. As of later today I may start posting pics of the growing pile of thesis as it emerges.
Ciao
Anyway, best be off and actually write these stats up. As of later today I may start posting pics of the growing pile of thesis as it emerges.
Ciao
Tuesday, September 05, 2006
Day 4 .... big girl bed
day 1 - daytime nap - 30 minutes
day 2 - daytime nap - 25 minutes
day 3 - daytime nap (was at her nan's so no big girl bed)
day 4 - daytime nap IN BIG GIRL BED.... going on 2 hours now - WOO HOO...... yay for charli
day 2 - daytime nap - 25 minutes
day 3 - daytime nap (was at her nan's so no big girl bed)
day 4 - daytime nap IN BIG GIRL BED.... going on 2 hours now - WOO HOO...... yay for charli
Saturday, September 02, 2006
Day 1......big girl bed
Hmmm, well here I sit, 7.49pm, listening to my daughter chatting away to herself (i can only assume she is alone in there)...... waiting for her to go to sleep for the first time in her big girl bed. Here it is in all it's girly glory...... it's actually a bunk bed and this is the top bunk. we chose bunks because it's got the safety rails we can use for now and then when the second bump arrives and is ready for a bed, oooh, say 2 years from now, it will have already been purchased and that's one less thing we need to worry about...... I'm sitting here patiently still waiting for her to sleep. I just know I'm going to spend the first night waiting for a thump followed closely by screaming as she hits the floor.... I just know it.
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