My heart garden

Some girls get flowers and chocolate from their man, I get a whole garden. Yes, I am lucky. Who needs flowers that last a week when I can have a Mediterranean garden! Todd is growing me eggplant, pumpkin (ok, Australian), cucumber, basil, tomato, and blue flowers along the edge. My favorites! What makes it even better is that I have someone else weeding and watering it. This is a picture taken a month ago but with all the rain it has grown quickly. I am so spoiled!

Phuket Laguna Triathlon

So I am toying with the idea of doing the Phuket Triathlon in December. I really, really, really, want to complete an Olympic distance triathlon this year, but the Australian race scene is very quiet at the end of the year. Could it be because it is summer and oppressively hot? I wager to guess "yes". So I was checking out the rules and under the running section it says that "you may run, walk, or crawl on the run section of the race." Holy smokes...CRAWL? Jesus, what kind of race is this anyway? I was pretty impressed to read that the winner gets an elephant ride. Oooooh an elephant ride. I wonder if the loser gets a panda.

In the news

Well it seems inevitable, DC is going to blow up. Who wants to bet that North Korea has their missile locked in on 1600 Pennsylvania Ave? I am willing to put my money on it. Let's see what else, 2 soldiers were found dead in Iraq from apparent torture (according to the Post "barbaricaly tortured"). They were 23 and 25...nice. Iran is well on their way to fueling up the next test missile. Who wants to guess where that will be targeted at? The WHO announced that even though we have spent trillions of dollars in HIV/AIDS mitigation, we really have nothing impressive to show for it. What I want to tell the fucking WHO and all these other rich nations is that FIRST and FOREMOST you must address poverty. If a mom has to have sex to feed her kids, guess what prick head male leaders,...she is going to prostitute herself. No amount of bible speak or Christian rhetoric is going to stop her child from crying of hunger. WAKE UP! I would do it and so would most of you.

On that note, I am a bit distressed over my own research. I just read a bulletin put out by UNESCO which talks about reproductive health programs in South East Asia. Not good news. Basically, NGO's are pumping in huge amounts of money but the poverty is so overeaching that safe sex and family planning take a back seat. Unfortunately, women who have lots of kids are in poverty. Such a viscous cycle! So where does that leave me? I have no idea. How can I address reproductive health in a country where poverty has only INCREASED since they became liberated from the Khmer Rouge. Capitalism has done nothing (surprise surprise) to help Cambodians...especially women. So I feel like I am merely putting a band-aid on a femoral hemorrhage. How can I convince readers that RH is an important issue, if I don't really think it is anymore?

On a good note, researchers in China believe that there are more pandas in the wild then previously thought. Through DNA testing of panda feces they are able to track migration, numbers, and mating. I love DNA! Now that is one good piece of news!

The biggest birth event of the year!

Many of you are thinking Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie...no try again. Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes? Nope! Amy and Tad Dunn take the front page with the new addition of baby Andy. Born May 26th at 7:05 am and came in at 8lb 12oz. Love the black hair! Ooooh how cute! Cody is now a proud brother! Congratulations to all of you guys!

Speaking of birthday, Happy birthday to my Cappers...she is 2!

Queen's Birthday

We had an excellent long weekend, which we celebrated in style. For the first time in months, we actually got some rain. It POURED on Saturday, which was a welcome sight. By Sunday it was clearing and we decided to head down to the Brisbane Botanical Gardens. The gardens are next to the river and it was a lovely morning alone...without any dogs. We had some coffee and lunch down town before heading back up to the house for some massive cleaning. Being that it was super wet and muddy on Saturday, you can imagine the state of our floors with 2 dogs by Sunday afternoon. Yeah, you don't have to imagine to hard. So we cleaned and cleaned on Sunday afternoon...all day...for a long time. Then I made a tasty snapper dinner and we went to bed early, very nice.

Monday was a beautiful day for a BBQ. We had Greta and Mr. T up plus our new friends Phil and Glen. They brought over their dogs too and we had a great time. We ate and drank for 5 hours. Then we topped off the day with an intense round of Bocci Ball in the park. Such a nice weekend. It sucks to be back in my office with no wine and cheese for lunch. Damn these long weekends!

Adventures in Brisbane

So Todd is in Hawaii doing what he needs to do and I am in Brisbane watching the homefront. How hard can that be? Sheesh I am super woman! My GOD when does he return! I am doing well but damn this single parent shit sucks.

Let's sum up some of my adventures:

I left Bruce (the beta) too close to the stove top the morning after Todd left. His glass bowl was really cold and I guess the heat contraction was just too much. I heard a crack and a hiss, as I was turning on my new vacuum for the first time, and I could not figure out what the noise was from. As soon as I walk in, his glass bowl falls apart and Bruce cruises across the hot range on his way to the floor. I save him off the hot burner and dump him in the dogs water dish. Well the dogs loved that. Fish in the bowl and nasty algae water EVERYWHERE. Being water dogs, they start playing in the water on the floor and continue to get really frisky and chase each other around the house. Meanwhile I have the bowl above my head trying to save Bruce from the dogs. I run across the floor to escape the dogs and I slip on the water which sends me hurtling into the family room. However Bruce remained unharmed. I still have to clean up the algae foot prints. Bruce was ok but a little stunned. The dogs were happier then pigs in shit, covered with algae water and chewing the sea grass. Nice...

I later try out my super duper vacuum. Serious Electrolux stuff. I spared no expense on this one. This shit has a car motor in it which means super suction power and heavy use. I need both in this house. I turned it on and went around the corner to move a chair and the puppy got to close. Sucked half of his little body right up. I was seriously afraid I would have to retrieve him in the HEPA filter. He was freaked out as I was trying to get his leg out of the hose. It didn't occur to me to turn off the vacuum first. Fucking house work...not for me! I nearly sucked up the dog.

So after a few days without Todd, cereal for breakfast was getting old. I decided to go marketing and fix myself something warm. I found my way around the supermarket ok and proceeded to cook myself a nice meal. I bake, not cook mind you. I burned the chicken, turned the broccoli into paste, and charred my potato. The potato caught on fire and I had to throw it out the window. The puppies thought that was great! Now there are bits of charred potato all over the yard. I ended up ordering pizza, it was safer.

I almost washed ANOTHER gecko! I saved him though. That will learn him for hiding in my sock. Todd would never forgive me!

Cappy is moping that Todd is gone and she insists on sleeping on the couch. She is clever and gets up there at 3am when I am not around. Last night I put on her Frontline behind her neck. Guess what slept on their back on the couch last night? Yeah...you are right. The couch is now ruined and I already am pricing having it re-upholestered. That oily mess will never come out. Great...

On a better note, we did get our crate and I put the bed together all by myself! I put the allergy cover on, set up the frame, and hoisted the oversized queen mattress on it myself. I am so proud of myself.