...Gone !

Cheyenne went to the shops with Steve last night, and when they got home she was bursting with excitement because her tooth had fallen out while she was eating a Milky Way.

We hunted all around her room for the little organza pouch that I'd told her she could use to keep her tooth safe under her pillow, ready for the Tooth Fairy... but naturally, in the course of the last week, she has managed to lose it, and a full scale search turned up nothing. We settled on leaving the tooth on top of her bookcase so that the Tooth Fairy could be sure to find it.

You'd think it'd be relatively easy to photograph the gap in her teeth, but no! "Smile nicely for Mummy so I can take a photo of your teeth" She gives me a wild-eyed-mad-scientist grin. "No, a nice smile. No, not the fish-lips, either, I need to see your teeth!" OK, so then we have the problem that I'd prefer not to have permanent photographic evidence that her top teeth are wearing away (I may have mentioned that in the previous post), so I try to have her smile without exposing her top teeth. This results in several more tragically ugly faces, with lips stretched tight. "Relax, smile nicely, and maybe try to open your mouth a bit more like you're about to take a bite of something...?"

As always happens when you are trying to get a shot 'just right', the batteries are nearly flat and you can't just keep clicking away in the hope you get a decent one. How much do you hate digital camera lag ? I do. Immensely. She'd finally get the smile I wanted, but by the time the shot had actually been taken she'd moved again. I give up!

This is the best of a bad lot. OK, it's not all that bad on the whole, but it is definitely blurry around the teeth, which were, after all, the main focus of the shot. It does the job though, and you can sort of see that the tooth to the left (her left, that is) of the one she lost is also a bit loose, and is no longer facing straight.

Hopefully the middle top teeth are next. Then I'll let her smile with all her teeth (or gaps) showing in photos.

Going, Going...

I just had to make mention of Cheyenne's very first loose tooth! It's all very exciting!

I first noticed it yesterday afternoon - only because it had an odd translucent look to it. She hadn't even realised, but ever since I pointed it out she has been poking at it constantly with her tongue.

She was rather worried that it might fall out during the night and somehow get lost under her bed... or worse, that she might swallow it like one of her friends from Prep did. She was reassured by the fact that it was still safely in her mouth this morning. "But what if someone bumps me at school?", she wants to know.

I guess she is worried that if it gets lost then the tooth fairy won't bring her any money! Now there's a thought... I wonder what the tooth fairy's going rate is these days.

I had hoped that she would lose one or both or her front top teeth first (since they are wearing away at an alarming rate), but instead it is one of the bottom teeth. It's a good sign though, since surely the rest will follow relatively soon after, and maybe she will have lost the two worn ones well and truly before they wear away completely.

Record Breaker

In the immortal words of Kevin 'Bloody' Wilson (from the song Dick'taphone, for those of you who are interested)... "Ah shit, I don't believe it, here we f*ckin' go again!"

It seems that the new Hilux will not only hold the record for being the Newest Vehicle We've Owned (to date), but it will likely take line honours from the Barina, to take out the title for the Vehicle We've Owned the Shortest Length of Time.

Why?

Although a great car to drive on its own, it is only a standard diesel, and as such, is sadly lacking in enough power to tow the tinnie in the manner in which Steve is accustomed. It has been tried and tested... but sadly it did not pass Steve's test!
Towing the tinnie into a headwind on the highway and only managing to do 90 km/h with foot flat to the floor, is apparently not good enough. Towing same tinnie up the Gateway Bridge and only getting about 50 km/h in second gear ? Well, that's hilarious really, considering my Mazdabator can get slowed down to 50 km/h in the traffic but still manage to pick back up to 80 km/h before the top of the bridge... without changing down out of fifth gear !

So, with the trip to Rainbow Beach coming up in July (up and down all those hills!) and a fishing trip to Hinchinbrook planned for September, Steve has decided to cut his losses and put the Hilux on the market immediately (accompanied by much eye-rolling and "I told you so"s by me).
This will give us plenty of time to find a replacement and get it set up ready for fishing.

All that stuffing around and time wasted getting wheels and tyres, alloy tray, side steps, yada yada yada... and for what? So that it looks more presentable and will sell faster!

Time WAS wasted making this vehicle aesthetically pleasing for Steve. I will NEVER get back (that's right! Not Steve, me!) the hour or so wasted while I waited for the wheels and tyres to be fitted, nor the almost 5 hours I waited when the wheel studs needed to be replaced (waited twice as long as I should have due to the incorrect parts being delivered the first time round)... and do you think he can answer the phone when the silly woman from Kirby phones back and tell her that I've discussed it with him and "No we don't want a Kirby demonstration" ???
Of course he bloody can't! He can't even thank me for wasting my time!

Who knows what vehicle we'll end up with next. He's thinking maybe a dual cab Nissan Navara (in a turbo diesel this time), but I'm not sure I even care. I do know he'll phone me every time he stops at a car yard or the auctions or scans the Trading Post, to tell me all about the latest prospect - the whole damn process we went through in December, all over again.

I also know that next time I'm going to try and manage to be unavoidably unavailable whenever the vehicle needs to be taken to tyre shops, mechanics, etc, etc... unless I'm getting some sort of reward (monetary or otherwise) out of it!

I wonder what the hourly rate for Executive Assistants is these days???