Sneak Preview

It was quite incredible on Monday morning, when we had our 18[ish] week ultrasound.
The sonographer brought up a picture of our baby, showing limbs, head and spinal cord, as clear as day!!

The baby wasn't in a mood to co-operate with what is a clear invasion of privacy, so it took almost 2 hours of waiting for it to be in a position where the sonographer could see things like it's heart and kidneys [the reason you have these tests done in the first place.

Here are some pictures we were given of our baby.

Baby in profile.


The baby's face... yes it looks suspiciously like an alien.


The baby's feet. The 2nd toe is bigger than the "big" toe... telling us it's feet are more like Andrew's than mine.

The sonographer informed us that he's never gotten better hand pics than this. He seemed quite pleased... and aren't they adorable!!!

My mate Banjo

I love A B Patterson's writing!

I was reminded of this just now when a young friend recited "Clancy of the Overflow". She's learning it for school, like I learned Banjo's works. I can only remember snatches of it here or there now, but I remember the feel.

One particular poem I remember is "Any Other Time". The humour mixed with a realistic view of humanity is refreshing, makes me smile, and sometimes stings, in just the right place.

I think it'd be fantastic to re-learn some of his poems and deliver them with the humour he intended. Any other time :)

Name Day

Many traditions dictate that people celebrate their name day. It is simply a day when all the people of the same name, eg all the "David"s are celebrated.

Having read many Russian books [translated to english!] in the past 3 years, I have discovered this concept and have taken a liking to it. I know a few Patricks, and had great delight in wishing them a happy name day on the 17th and wished I had a name day myself.

My research lead me to a list of saints and their feastdays, and a different secular name day list.

Tabitha's traditional feast day is October 25th.

Tabitha's secular name day is Nov 10th.

I am choosing to celebrate my traditional name day. October 25th. Its almost exactly 6 months after my birthday, so it fits wonderfully.

Happy name day to Jose, Josefina, Joseph, Josephine, Josie, Joy, Joyce. Find yours here.

Baby betting.

I'm placing the call for my readers to take a guess at the gender of my baby. All I need is your name and what gender you predict. Use the comments or send me an email saying hello etc at the same time.

News update.

This is my 501st post.

My mobile phone died yesterday. Let me provide an eulogy for it's life.

This Nokia 6260 was purchased many years ago, by my best friend Kelly's brother Matt.
Once tired of his phone, Matt passed it to Kelly who used it for a few years until she decided to spend a year in the USA. At just this time, my mobile had ceased to have sms functionality and was being painful, so Kelly gave me her 'old' phone.

In it's time with me, the past 2 years, this phone has been much used and appreciated. Unfortunately late 2008 it went for a swim in the fishtank [courtesy of Andrew] but bravely dried out to be almost as good as before [now complete with fish poo inside it]. Finally yesterday this brave phone just didn't turn on any more. I must confess, that due to my lack of organisational skills an poor memory, this phone was often referred to as "my stupid phone" as in "where is my stupid phone?" as if the phone had deliberately run off on me. I'm very sorry to have accused it in such manner so many times.

[The deceased Nokia 6260, aka "my stupid phone"]

In other news, I've decided to take lessons in "proper English" and learn my tenses and sentence structure. I do find it ironic that when I studied French, I knew more about French grammar than I did about English. This does not mean I'll actually keep all the rules, but I'd like to know when I'm breaking them, and how to use them, should I so desire.

St Patrick's Day

Today is the day we celebrate St Patrick's day. In my hometown Ballarat, and my current town Broken Hill, this day is widely celebrated. Celebrations include wearing green, talking in bad Irish accents and getting thoroughly pissed.

Ballarat seems to have a high influence from Irish-Catholic Settlers, as one can tell from reading the phone book, or the class roll at my high school. Broken Hill celebrates additionally with a Race Day usually a week or two after the actual feast-day.

I like to celebrate St Pats day, partly because its a part of my culture, but also for another reason. Legends abound about our St Patrick, but the bones of his story are this.

Patricius, a teenaged Briton was kidnapped by Irish raiders, about 400 yrs after Christ. He'd decided that the "christian" tradition was a bit of a waste of time [this he decided from observing his Grandfather, a priest], so he was kind of like most agnostic Aussies. It was in this state that he found himself a slave in a strange land where her didn't speak the language. Patrick was made to tend sheep, on his own in the wild country of Ireland. Here he talked to God, because frankly, there was no one else to turn to. It was here 
that this God he'd rejected turned out to be real.



The story goes that God gave him, after 6 years, exact directions for making his escape. A whole adventure in itself, it was only through several miracles and a bit of doggedness that Pat made it home alive.


Once home his family understandably were overjoyed to see him, and made him swear to never leave them. I"m sure thats exactly what Pat had in mind. There is more to the story. In a dream, Pat saw the Irish people [of whom I'm sure he had no pleasant memories] calling to him to return and to bring them the message of the Kingdom of God. Pat decided to follow this call. He trained for a little while in theology, and returned to Ireland, still pretty much unable to speak the language, and no great Scholar.


Apart from being slightly mad, not worried about his life at all, and willing to do anything he thought God asked of him, he's not a remarkable guy. Yet this is the man who changed Ireland entirely! He brought this message, of God's Kingdom, a new way of living to the people of Ireland. Instead of demanding they live like Britons, or Romans, he allowed them to experience God through their own culture, making the worship of God something rich, vibrant and brimming with life.


I love that Pat didn't know a whole lot, that he wasn't particularly impressive, and that he wasn't normal. He didn't seem to try to be abnormal though, he was just doing what he believed. I love that he could tell the difference between culture and God, and didn't insist that the Irish become something they were not. Many of the men who followed Patrick, the Irish saints are equally mad, hilarious and effective passionate followers of God who helped change not only their world, but adjoining ones. 

I celebrate St Pats because he's a hero. A funny [peculiar], ballsy foreigner who changed a country with such richness, retaining its wildness and passion.

[The above is my version of his story. You can read others here and here .

Tabitha Schultz is updating her blog.

Tabitha Schultz is updating on her blog. Why doesn't anyone blog these days? Is it too hard? I miss you all who have ceased to tell me your random thoughts. Bloody Facebook.

10:41 · Comment · Like

 Rebecca Miller at 11:08 on 15 March

Tab I do still read your Blog, my lack of comments should not suggest to you I am not reading.
I changed my blog
http://rebecca-allhehasdone.blogspot.com/

 Andrew Grant at 11:11 on 15 March

My blog is www.cypressdrive.com

 Tabitha Schultz at 11:48 on 15 March

woo! thanks peeps.

 Kerryann McKittrick at 14:15 on 15 March

my blog is on myspace.....but I confess it is in desparate need of update........... www.myspace.com/flowersoftheheart

 Suze Steven at 14:42 on 15 March

I really just dont have time......having 2 children....1 being in school makes for a VERY busy lifestyle......sigh....wish I had the time tho!!!!

 Lisa Rose Griffiths at 17:52 on 15 March

there was nothing before facebook tab.

 Tabitha Schultz at 20:09 on 15 March

Rebecca, I really don't' care that much if no one reads mine - its not really that awesome, however, I like reading other people's and I was sad when I had to delete over half my blogroll b/c ppl were 'over' the trend.

Suze... all the more reason to have something to say :)

Lisa... you duffa. I think you've been brain washed.

This is from my facebook page today. I was feeling sad that friends of mine who had good things to say or share have stopped. I wondered if it was because they could just share easier on Facebook, or if its because they thought no one was listening or it was too much to do.

I talked to Christop about it, who seemed to reckon it might be to do with the fact that a lot of people were 'jumping on a bandwagon'  with blogging, and have fallen off these days b/c there are newer bands on wagons. [At least thats what I surmised from our conversation.]

I realised too that a reason that  I don't blog when I otherwise would is sometimes self-censorship. Because I've blogged here since 2003 and I'm a blabber mouth a lot of people including my family know about my blog and I don't want to upset them with what I think or say. Also, I have been counting some of my thoughts/views/ideas not worthy of blogging because they are not thought through to my satisfaction. I think that I need to be more daring and open, and risk more.

Just like I don't take what others say too seriously [which is why I enjoy hearing it and why I enjoy debate] I need to not take myself so seriously.

The finished dress

Algie decided that he best test out the fabric for comfort. I'm really not sure why he thought he needed to be up there, but its very cute anyway.

Here's the dress almost done. Its the first time I've made something this important with-out a pattern. I still would have been happier to have a proper pattern for the bodice, as I still ended up making it a teensy bit wonky, but you can't really tell.



This is the finished product. As you can see, I added a ribbon under the bodice to give it a bit more definition and pizzaz. I want people to know that whilst I have no waist,  I'm not the fatty-boombalada that I think myself to be right now.

I'm pleased to say that I had the self control to properly hand stitch the facing of the bodice down, to add hooks and eyes where needed, and do a proper job of everything :) I guess I am growing up!

Dressmaking for Duffers

Recently I posted about a bridesmaid dress I'm making myself for a wedding in 3 weeks. It turns out that when you try a pattern from another era, you should consider the type of underwear they may have worn. In this case, after making a mock, I'm convinced the answer is Zip, Ziltch, Nada, Zero.  This and the fact that the top is still 4 sizes too big for me, and that the A-line did nothing to flatter my growing belly make me give up in despair.

{The scary 70's dress that made me despair}

I spent an evening looking online for maternity patterns and ideas and decided that they were all ugly, and had a little cry. After a bowl of fruit-loops [what every pregnant person whose hormones make them into crazy people should eat] I decided to try another tact. And this time with a dress I have no pattern for. Smart aren't I?

Here's my "Yellow Canary Dress" Andrew loves this and its one of the things in my wardrobe that still almost fits me in my newly waist-less shape. So I figured it would be a good inspiration. I've since decided that the bodice doesn't work in my shiny [blah] fabric, [looks kind of bondage, sooooo not my style] and have tried something different but the over all idea remains. So far, I haven't cried whilst sewing tonight.... so I'm going to keep going while I'm on a roll.

{Yellow Canary Dress}

Rescue

I've been looking after a neighbour's chooks while they're away for a while. One of the chooks had been broody, and hatched 4 chicks, 3 black and one ginger. Unfortunately the smallest chick was rejected by the mother. I bought it home to see if it could survive. 

2 days later and chickie is doing well, so I tried to re-introduce him to the flock. The mum attacked my hand when I tried to introduce them, so I took the chickie back home.

I've fixed up a ferret cage [not mine] to be a little chick nursery until it's big enough to fend for itself. The difficulty is that our house has no internal doors, therefore nowhere to safely store the bird where my ferocious cat can not attack it. So I'm standing guard, with my bottle of vinegar which Algie [the cat] HATES. A whiff is enough to send him running... hopefully he is quickly trained on this one.

What I'm doing this week.

One of the things I must do this week is make a practice dress. I'm a bridesmaid for my best friend Heather in less than a month now.

I've put off making my dress yet as I'm not sure how large my belly will be by then!! Its a very simple pattern, so I'm hoping that I'll be able to allow for my pregnant belly fairly easily. I think that I'll just make the first dress 'as-is' and go from there.

The pattern is from the 70's Misses size 16. I've checked the measurements and even though I'm only about a 10-12 in modern clothes, this one seems about right. I'm making a slightly longer version of view 2.

Be my friend.

A sweet and lovely song about Facebook by Colin Buchanan of "Aussie Jingle Bells" fame.