money money money

Babycake has discovered money. Unfortunately it only has one purpose and that is to pay for rides on the Thomas the Tank Engine ride at one of our local shopping centres. He has become completely obsessed with it. Yesterday, it was probably all he talked about. He walked around clutching his 3p and every now and then he would show me his "munnie" and point vaguely out of the window making "choo choo" noises. It's all very cute, if slightly disturbing. I haven't got the heart to tell him that 3p will buy him practically nothing these days.

mac mini madness

I am typing this on our wonderful Mac mini 'media centre'. It has taken a while but I finally managed to get the thing to display properly on our TV. I mistakenly assumed that running the machine through HDMI would be better, but in the end I have used VGA. I couldn't get the Mac mini to recognise the TV resolution of 1366 x 768, but through VGA it is recognised immediately and it is a very nice picture. I am a bit sad about dropping from digital to analogue but really who would notice. Anyway, it's great and I thoroughly recommend it.

obsessing no longer

I got myself a Mac mini - 1.66 Core Duo with 2Gb RAM and new Extreme card. Got it off eBay. It was supposed to be delivered today but I missed the postman because I had to go out to buy myself a lovely new Apple wireless keyboard and DVI to HDMI adapter for the machine. I'll let you know how I get on setting up our media centre. I'm looking forward to a couple of days messing around with it all.

what has the world come to?

Tragic life stories. As seen in our local WH Smith. What were they thinking?

a little obsessing can't be that bad for you

I have begun to obsess slightly about buying a Mac mini. I was in PC World the other day and saw that they had a ex-display older model (1.5 Core Solo) for only £235. I nearly bought it there and then, but the idea of trying to explain, again, to Mrs McMuffin, why I just had to have it was too much for me to bear. I have been thinking about it for the last couple of days, and decided that I could have it if I sold the Apple TV, which it was going to replace anyway. Ms Ginger Cake agreed to buy the Apple TV, and I set off to buy the Mac mini. Unfortunately, it had been sold by the time I got there. Although they did have a 1.66 Core Duo for another £100. I was sorely tempted, but as it was ex-display I thought I should have a look at it first. I asked a shop assistant to open it for me, but he refused, telling me that they didn't open boxes. He eventually told me to go to the check out and they would open it for me. This I did, and after a very surly, and reluctant, cashier finally agreed to open the box, I was saved the need to explain anything to Mrs McMuffin. The bloody thing had really been through the mill. It was all scratched and marked and it didn't have all the cables inside either. It was a very good price but not for an ugly machine. You should have seen the look on the girl's face when I told her that I didn't want the computer. Anyway, here I am without a Mac mini, but quietly obsessing about getting one. It would make such a great little media centre. I have been looking on eBay and there is a few second hand ones that are going pretty cheaply. Sadly none of them for only £235. Oh by the way, I fucking hate PC World. How these shops ever make any money is a complete mystery to me. This is a long standing hatred, although my treatment today has only served to confirm what I thought. It really is a shit shop. Pardon my French.

i have decided...

I am America's Next Top Model. I have the looks, the intelligence and the attitude. First thing tomorrow I am going to get a bad weave and a tattoo. Fame and fortune await me. The only thing is that I am not too sure if I have to be American, which could put a bit of crimp in my cunning plan.

Juno

It is Mrs McMuffin's birthday today. To celebrate, Gypsy Tart looked after Babycake while we went to the cinema to see Juno. Believe the hype. It was funny and touching. A great film well worth seeing. Sadly I had a plonker next to me who kept taking calls on his mobile which was a little distracting. Oh, and I felt sorry for the big group of young people who clearly thought they were going to see another teen sex comedy. They were nearly right. It's about teenagers, sex and it is a comedy, but it ain't American Pie.

baby in a flower pot

spoke too soon

He has been a remarkably healthy baby since just before Berlin, but now will the sickness never end for poor Babycake? He managed a little bit of food today and a small run around, but has been in a fair amount of pain from explosive diarrhoea and general tummy cramps. I think it's to the doctors tomorrow...Poor little chap.

finally

Babycake seems to have stopped puking and is now able to hold down some water and a tiny bit of milk. When he isn't dozing next to us, he is singing us lovely songs with the lyrics going something like this:

'bing, bing, bing...ding, dum, ding, ding, ding...bo, bo, dum...boa-t, bing, ding, dum...'

These little tunes go on for about five minutes, until he goes back to sleep, or makes his shaky way around the room, trying to find a toy that doesn't demand any real effort to play with. So far he has given up and staggered back to the sofa in exhaustion to have another rest.

There's no further sign of the diarrhoea that appeared this morning and as I said the vomiting seems to have gone, so we are hopeful that he is on the mend. It's a shame that he can't go on the 'playdate' Mr McMuffin had planned for him tomorrow, or even playgroup for the next few days, but we expect that he'll be back to his normal active self in a day or so.

I might take a bit longer to recover, as I'm no longer used to functioning on three hours sleep. However, tiredness does make the most mundane of tasks both complex and challenging and I have been very challenged today by the piles of washing generated by the boy's dicky tummy. I am now down to the final two loads, but the house looks no better than it did on Friday and both Mr McMuffin and I are too knackered to do more. The great man did suggest that I put a couple of hours in before I went to work, but in the spirit of not engaging with the crazy talk, I just let that pass.

By the way, Ms Ginger Cake has knitted another gorgeous jacket for the boy. Sadly, he grows so quickly, it might not fit him, but I now have a collection of beautiful knitted garments to pass to the girl and not one of them pink. Praise be.