Anthony Malloy

 This morning we were faced with a quandary. It was 6.10am, there was no news on the telly and all the computers in the house were off but we wanted to know who had won the footy last night. What to do? Fire up a PC and wait a minute or so, or take a trip back in time and have the info in a matter of seconds.

We too the back to the future route, flicked on Channel 7 and hit the Teletext button. 10 seconds later we saw the Magpies held on by 11 points and an old technology temporarily trumped a new.

I’ve loved Teletext for years, since the very early 90s when I was living in a house that had it, a rare luxury back in uni days. It’s been all but trumped by the net in the intervening years and I can’t believe that Channel 7 have kept it going. Every now and then I’ll flick it on just to make sure I haven’t missed its demise.

Saw the oddest thing this morning.

6.40am, the sky just beginning to lighten as I drove Zita in to the city. Coming off the West Gate we both suddenly notice one solitary firecracker burst in to a green exploding star.

I’d love to know who set it off and more interestingly, why.

I was in a cafe the other day when I heard a mobile go off.

“Oh, that’s just great.” I heard the owner say as she looked at her phone.

Apparently one of her chef’s had just spat the dummy and resigned – by SMS.

Modern times people, modern times…

Our boy turns two today, happy birthday Bert.

It’s amazing just how much time raising four kids (three under the age of 2 with two of these three being six weeks old), working a full time job, running your own business and trying to keep a marriage, family and house together takes.

In lieu of writing here’s a couple of pictures from a quick trip up to Shepp today, the babe’s first real outing. Yummy things were for a pre-birthday party for Bert who turns 2 on Monday. (More photos on Flickr)

 

Phee loves to watch Temptation every night. Like everyone else I sit there and yell the answers, especially loudly if the contestants have no idea. Sometimes I dream I should give it a go. If I hit a good night, if there weren’t too many questions on Geography, I could even be in with a shot. And I’d get to meet Livinia, who I have fallen in love with ever since I found out she is a fellow Tigers supporter.

Then I remember it would involve being seen by a million or so people and I realise I’m more than happy being the couch champ.

Sigh. Money – root of all evil. Well, not quite but it seems to be playing a larger than normal part in our lives at the moment.

First off the government and money. We put in our claim for the baby bonus (which, as an aside, I don’t agree with. If I want to have babies, I should be able to pay for them, but I’m not stupid enough to say no when it’s being given out. Not sure what that says about me and my principles.) but the government gave us even more back; substantially more.

A few years ago the government gave us some money, then six months later decided we had to give it back. Part of their surprise payment this time around was giving that same amount back to us again! You can probably understand we are now reluctant to touch any of it, even though it harks back to the 02/03 and 03/04 tax years and you’d think after all this time the figures would be final. We’re going to request a review and to get confirmation in writing that the money is actually ours.

We’ve also started the hunt for a house in earnest. Veronica and Steve pointed us in the direction of Mortgage Choice so this evening we had John come over for a chat. The issue for us is that we are now driving around in what was a good chunk of our deposit, thanks to having two babies instead of one, so we need to save, save, save to get our deposit up. For the first time though we think we may actually be able to get a house to make a home for us and the kids. That’s a great feeling to have.

All of this monitoring of income and expenditure (I have figures going back years, I should have been an accountant like mum said) made me look at where my money ends up. I have my fortnightly ‘allowance’ for day to day stuff but thinking about it there are only two things I really spend it on. April to the end of August it goes on the footy (couple of beers, a Footy Record, something from the Tiger Den) which comes to about $20 a game.

The only other thing I regularly spend money on is coffee. Each weekend it’s a couple of large latte’s in the morning, a couple in the afternoon, same if I have the day off. The thing is that lately I feel like I’ve been wasting my money. Save for the ever reliable pizza boys at Shop 3 in the South Melbourne Market (try their calzone for breakfast, heaven) I haven’t had a good take away coffee in months. I realised I have probably spent a couple of hundred bucks in this time for something that’s disappointing me time and time again.

What should I do? I can always tell at the first sip that it’s no good. Stale coffee, not strong enough, milk boiled instead of heated, no idea how to make a latte – I’ve had ’em all. Should I be able to take it back? Is is worth complaining about? Or should I take my bits of the root of all evil and plant them somewhere else?

Yes, I’m still here. Hope you all understand it’s a little tough to get time to sit and write at the moment but as today marks four weeks since the Henry and Kennedy arrived I should do a little update.

We’re all getting through, although some only just. My poor Rae is permanently exhausted with round the clock feedings and very little time for anything else. Bert is completely enamored of the new arrivals and walks around calling his version of their names (Arry and Enady). Phee is being a big help with Bert and slowly coming around to the new arrivals, just as she did with Bert.

I’m back at work and it’s tough to leave Rae and the kids each morning. The house hasn’t fallen apart yet but a lot of things are just being let slide. Who needs folded clothes anyway? Thankfully any visitors we’ve had haven’t run screaming when confronted with a less than perfect house. What good friends we have.

I’ve got about five chapters in to Harry Potter but I can barely keep my eyes open when I hop in to bed at night so I’m just going to have ride my luck for a while and hopefully not find out what happens before I can get a while to finish it. Wish me luck.

Beth has done it, Jenny is doing it at work, Rae is doing it right now and I want to get to it quickly. Ren even did it backwards.

Of course I’m talking about reading Harry Potter. My problem is that as the days tick by I am at increasing risk of finding out The Way It Ends, and I really don’t want to. I’m going back to work tomorrow so I will have even less time to make a start, let alone finish the book, and I’m worried.

How long is it before people will assume it’s safe to start talking about The Deathly Hallows without giving out a spoiler warning? Maybe the world needs to set some sort of cut off date, taking in mind recently arrived time consumers.

More twin goodness.