Alright, after reading Oz’s comments on how he does everything and we do nothing, I thought maybe I could use this imposed feeling of guilt to write a post to get something off my chest. I have never written anything of importance before and this shall be no different I am sure. I know nothing about the workings of Mac’s (though I do have one) and very little on Star Wars merchandise :) I suppose I could talk to my husband but ever since our little 14 month old baby girl has started repeating words and playing games with him, I am rarely able to pull his gaze away from Little Miss, let alone get him to listen to me. Ah the joys of being smitten.

So anyway, now that our little one is a bit older and is enjoying the company of other littlies, it is apparently not good enough to play at home with Mum, we must get out of the house. So I had to search Melbourne for things to do with her. It’s not as easy as it sounds as I had to be sure it was at a time when she may not be sleeping, eating or screaming. We started going to the local library for Rhyme Time and Story Time and the kids get to do a bit of arts and craft afterwards. Now, Little Miss is way too young to really get stuck in to the activities and she likes to jab other people with scissors so they are now off limits, but she can scribble very nicely (though sometimes she does manage to deface other kids works by losing control of her lightning fast crayon) I obviously have to help her to finish off.

Well, my gripe is this. There is one Dad that comes every week and honestly does the whole project for her little girl…perfectly, not a scribble out of place, while his poor babe looks on and begs to help. Dad lets her do the mundane things and at the end he proudly shows up his work and hands it over to his daughter. You can see other parents fixing up their kids work and trying to make sure it is as good as possible. I feel a little inadequate as I was actually helping Little Miss a fair bit and her work looks like crap (though totally gorgeous and cute because she helped of course).

You can just imagine what this dude will be like when she is older. Competition between parents is so rife already at this young age that I am not looking forward to the politics involved when I have to show up to PTA meetings and help out in the canteen. I am certainly not the kind of person who will be trying to get into the good books with her teachers by sending in expensive presents for Christmas and birthdays and please, who can really be bothered with working bees at schools, picking up rubbish and mowing lawns voluntarily when they already have some lazy bastard that the schools are paying to do it during the week?!

I have a friend who is on the committee already, just for kindergarten! I thought things would get easier as kids grow up, you know, they can start to speak and tell you what is wrong instead of whining and you playing some sort of angry charades with an even angrier little person, but I have just realised that I have to protect her from all sorts of scenarios. God forbid that she should be bullied in high school as I am originally from the bush. I swear I will dig out some mockies and hunt down the bully and get bogan on it’s ass! But for now I shall sit back and watch and enjoy Little Miss’ naivety on all things weird in her parents world.

There is a drug Called Remicade/Infliximab that is used to treat Crohn’s Disease and Ulcerative Colitis. Currently it is not on the PBS (Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme). Meaning that if you get to the point of having to use this drug as a last resort before surgery or to try to close a fistulae, you are looking at $1,006.25 per infusion (the vial is a measly 100mg).

Many, many sufferers of Crohn’s, U/C and even rheumatoid arthritis have been given a second chance at a normal life with the use of regular Infliximab infusions. Unfortunatley, how many of us can afford it? They say that you put no price on your health, but the sad fact is, that if you don’t have the money there isn’t a whole lot you can do about it. This drug is used to to block a certain protein called tumour necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) in people with autoimmune diseases. (TNF-alpha, when produced in higher than average amounts, causes imflammation within the intestinal tract, leading to damage to the bowel walls.) It is a godsend for people who can tolerate it and one-third of patients treated with infliximab achieve remission of their disease.

There is a petition on www.infliximab.org that us Crohnnies and U/cer’s have been putting our names to, screaming to have Infliximab put onto the PBS. This support of names will be given to Health Minister Mr Tony Abbott, in hopes that he will gain an understanding of how important this is.

I do not have to take this drug right now, as my Crohn’s is controlled with other medications, but that is not to say that I may never need it. If that day comes I hope that this petition will have had its desired outcome. Its not fair that it seems only the rich can afford this drug.

Please support us, sign your name!!

So it would seem that I have chosen my first post to be on a topic that is somewhat more closer to home. Ok, its all about me really!

Sometimes something will happen to me and I think..”I am going to put that in writing.” Mainly I mean to complain to the big guns, the makers of the product I am unhappy with or the boss of an organisation where a minion has annoyed me. It’s actually a bit of a running joke in our house, where if someone is upset, it is put to them that they should just put it in writing.

No one really cares though, hence I never get around to actually doing it. Well, now I have an medium to help me get it out of my system…I plan to do just that.

I drink Lemonade. I drink alot of it. I enjoy it, I love it, some would say that I am addicted to it. But as I’m sure many of us Crohnnies and UC’ers will attest to, it’s more than that..it’s somewhat medicinal. Crohn’s comes along with awful nausea and lemonade has saved me many a time from driving the porcelain bus.

Theres something to be said for loads of flavour with a bit of a fizz. Yeah alright, so it’s all liquid sugar, and of course it doesn’t claim to be much more than that but heres the kicker, I only drink two kinds. Schweppes during the day to keep me going and Sprite at night..(Sprite is sweeter for those who don’t know, kinda like a dessert wine, in a strange Jade way)

Anyway, my dilemma is with the lids on the Sprite 1.25 ltr bottles. Once you have opened that lid twice, the majority of the bottles after that will get stuck. It doesnt matter if I wind it on real loose (that just ensures that my third glass will be flat) or at a normal strength, it always seems that on the third go, the lid won’t budge!

My poor husband has been made to get out of bed in the middle of the night to open it for me as I have stood there for five minutes swearing and
sweating trying to unscrew it. Its all very well to have a strong fella on hand to help, but he is leaving on a business trip next week. Am I forced to change brands?

I can’t very well feel ill and then have to fight that lid to guzzle down my anti-nausea nectar. This may mean nothing to the normal person but as I have mentioned before..this stuff is like gold to me.

So apart from The Coca-Cola Company offering to supply a Hire A Hubby for a week (just to open those lids) while mine is away, there is nothing I can do but switch brands. I will be taste testing “night time” lemonades this week and will be sure to let you know the outcome, as I can only imagine how cutting edge this is.

Perhaps I need to stop drinking Sprite altogether. This is some information I stumbled over:

A couple of schools had their grade 5’s involved in a Science Fair and the objectives of the assignment were sent home to parents. There were certain experiments that the kids needed to do. Some of those experiments involved..yes you guessed it Sprite. This frightens me in a “Weird Science” kind of way.

The experiments tested:

- Which type of liquid (tap water, distilled water, salt water, sugar water,
Sprite) will cause the most rust to form on nails over a period of 2 weeks?

- Which type of liquid (tap water, distilled water, salt water, sugar water,
or Sprite) will cause a sweet pea plant to grow the most?

- Which liquid (tap water, distilled water, salt water, sugar water, tea,
coffee, or Sprite) will allow yeast to grow the most in 2 hours?

Yeast??? I don’t know the outcome and I certainly do not want to try this at home because quite frankly, I’m afraid the conclusion will be Sprite.

Maybe I should just switch to water??