yesterday. Two of my friends had their babies. Funny thing was both of them were due on Christmas day and both of them came 5 days late. Amazing isn't it? So today I get newborn cuddles. There is nothing quite like newborn cuddles. The first time you hold your own baby as a newborn is the most amazing experience you can ever imagine. It is like the light of all the world comes from everywhere and shines through your child and into your heart.
The birth of subsequent children does not detract from this, nor is it any less special when they arrive. The feelings, they come again, and the heart lightening and warming happens again.
But once you are a mother, any newborn cuddles become more special, because you know what the mother is feeling. You can see the pure joy through fatigued eyes and weary bones, you can see that this little person is surrounded by love and you can almost feel the hope, the fear, the joy, the heartache, you can sense every emotion that this woman, who has gone through so much to grow the little child, is feeling.
And as the children grow up, at a speed to rival that of light, love only grows. Other emotions also grow. Frustration, fatigue, joy, happiness, agony, fear, the wonder of seeing your child grow and the anguish and deep hurt it causes when your child is in pain.
And they say women are the weaker sex. I think not. It takes every ounce of strength in my body to raise my kids, and I will continue to do so, and continue to become stronger, and I shall bear every burden they do, feel every graze or bruise, suffer through teething and sleepless nights with them, share in their successes, whether it be completing a puzzle or baking a cake, or graduating down the track, and I will truly ache in my heart when the time comes, and I know it will eventually, that they must commence their own lives. It is such a long way away, but with the time racing so fast if I don't prepare myself now I fear I just won't cope.
My kids are my life. And they always will be.
Friday, December 31, 2010
Thursday, December 30, 2010
I made a very big mistake
yesterday. I went shopping. Silly silly silly. Note to self - do NOT go shopping on the first day the shops are open after the Christmas break.
I thought I would just "duck" in and get myself a dress for the wedding next week considering the body I seem to recall having in the past is nowhere near congruent with the body that giving birth to three children in a short space of time has become.
First and foremost I had to get a parking spot. I opted for rooftop parking because the covered parking seems to be more sought after. So after three or four rounds of the table so to speak, I found a spot and in I went. Good start.
I got to the first store. I looked at the dresses. Hmmm. Those dresses that weren't a size 6 or a size 8 were certainly not dresses that were a) appropriate for a wedding or b) anything I would ever try and squash myself into, even if I WAS a size 6 or 8. So that was a massive fail. Onto the next store, and my decision to try on anything at all in my size. However what "my size" is in my mind as compared to reality are, it would appear, two distinctly different things. Upon reflection, from three different angles, in the dressing room I have come to the conclusion that I no longer have a human body, I have a collection of lumps placed in random spots around a skeleton and stuck together with some very stretched and pale skin, sagging in places it should be taut, and taut where it should sag. Interesting.
So once I got over the shock of seeing what I actually look like I gave myself a talking to and said "just get this over with and squeeze yourself into something". So I did. And then I unsqueezed. It was horrible. Truly horrible. I even tried colour just for something different. Now I know why I always tend to get black. The red dress made me look like a genetically mutated cheerio on steroids. The aqua one, well, let's just say it's lucky I was nowhere near Sea World.
I did eventually settle on two dresses. One black with gold detailing (sounds awful but it wasn't too bad), and the other black with a grey kind of bodice thingy. So I lined up. In the hideously long line. Again. As I had the week before. And by the time I got to the checkout visions ran through my mind of the sight of myself in the black dress with the gold detailing and I realised that I was deluding myself if I thought it would look okay so I nahmated it before even starting. Good work.
So then I had to grab a couple of things, was hoping to get lunch for the girls but the lines at the takeaway outlets were enormous, even the healthy ones (surprising yes), so, having the image of an enormous cheerio firmly burned into my mind, I thought that would do for the girls for lunch, so into Woolies I popped, grabbed some cheerios and out I popped, courtesy of self service checkout. Not bad. First time ever I have managed to make it work without needing assistance.
Now comes the tricky part. Firstly finding my car (because I was so rapt to have actually found a spot I didn't actually pay attention as to where that spot was), and secondly, getting out of the car park. One thing I did discover is that because they are building some extensions on to the mall, the exit that used to be at the far end of the lot is no longer there. So after taking a good 10 minutes to find my car, I proceeded to drive towards what was essentially a brick wall, and then have to turn around and become stuck at the end of the line of folk attempting to escape. I was in that car park for nearly half an hour trying to get out. And once I got out I felt like every muscle in my body had just done a workout. It is amazing just how tense the body gets when in a position that is completely uncontrollable by any action on the part of oneself.
So yes, I got out, I made it, I got home. The kids had cheerios, they were happy, I even had a couple. Nice. But I'm too scared to try the dress on. So I am going to opt for a celery and water diet (or at least some variation thereof), I'm going to cut down my carbohydrate intake on a massive scale (no more home made bread toast with plum jam), and I'm going to inhale to within an inch of my lungs. THEN I will try the dress back on.
And in the time it has taken me to write this, Tabitha has managed to scale the sofa and perch herself in order to be able to reach the remainder of Angus's bottle, which I had purposely put out of her reach, and she is now skulling it while Angus has a little whinge because, I believe, he knows she took it.
And another day begins. And it's raining. Again. And if you're like me, as soon as I wrote that you started singing "woooooo it's raaaaaaaining again".............
I thought I would just "duck" in and get myself a dress for the wedding next week considering the body I seem to recall having in the past is nowhere near congruent with the body that giving birth to three children in a short space of time has become.
First and foremost I had to get a parking spot. I opted for rooftop parking because the covered parking seems to be more sought after. So after three or four rounds of the table so to speak, I found a spot and in I went. Good start.
I got to the first store. I looked at the dresses. Hmmm. Those dresses that weren't a size 6 or a size 8 were certainly not dresses that were a) appropriate for a wedding or b) anything I would ever try and squash myself into, even if I WAS a size 6 or 8. So that was a massive fail. Onto the next store, and my decision to try on anything at all in my size. However what "my size" is in my mind as compared to reality are, it would appear, two distinctly different things. Upon reflection, from three different angles, in the dressing room I have come to the conclusion that I no longer have a human body, I have a collection of lumps placed in random spots around a skeleton and stuck together with some very stretched and pale skin, sagging in places it should be taut, and taut where it should sag. Interesting.
So once I got over the shock of seeing what I actually look like I gave myself a talking to and said "just get this over with and squeeze yourself into something". So I did. And then I unsqueezed. It was horrible. Truly horrible. I even tried colour just for something different. Now I know why I always tend to get black. The red dress made me look like a genetically mutated cheerio on steroids. The aqua one, well, let's just say it's lucky I was nowhere near Sea World.
I did eventually settle on two dresses. One black with gold detailing (sounds awful but it wasn't too bad), and the other black with a grey kind of bodice thingy. So I lined up. In the hideously long line. Again. As I had the week before. And by the time I got to the checkout visions ran through my mind of the sight of myself in the black dress with the gold detailing and I realised that I was deluding myself if I thought it would look okay so I nahmated it before even starting. Good work.
So then I had to grab a couple of things, was hoping to get lunch for the girls but the lines at the takeaway outlets were enormous, even the healthy ones (surprising yes), so, having the image of an enormous cheerio firmly burned into my mind, I thought that would do for the girls for lunch, so into Woolies I popped, grabbed some cheerios and out I popped, courtesy of self service checkout. Not bad. First time ever I have managed to make it work without needing assistance.
Now comes the tricky part. Firstly finding my car (because I was so rapt to have actually found a spot I didn't actually pay attention as to where that spot was), and secondly, getting out of the car park. One thing I did discover is that because they are building some extensions on to the mall, the exit that used to be at the far end of the lot is no longer there. So after taking a good 10 minutes to find my car, I proceeded to drive towards what was essentially a brick wall, and then have to turn around and become stuck at the end of the line of folk attempting to escape. I was in that car park for nearly half an hour trying to get out. And once I got out I felt like every muscle in my body had just done a workout. It is amazing just how tense the body gets when in a position that is completely uncontrollable by any action on the part of oneself.
So yes, I got out, I made it, I got home. The kids had cheerios, they were happy, I even had a couple. Nice. But I'm too scared to try the dress on. So I am going to opt for a celery and water diet (or at least some variation thereof), I'm going to cut down my carbohydrate intake on a massive scale (no more home made bread toast with plum jam), and I'm going to inhale to within an inch of my lungs. THEN I will try the dress back on.
And in the time it has taken me to write this, Tabitha has managed to scale the sofa and perch herself in order to be able to reach the remainder of Angus's bottle, which I had purposely put out of her reach, and she is now skulling it while Angus has a little whinge because, I believe, he knows she took it.
And another day begins. And it's raining. Again. And if you're like me, as soon as I wrote that you started singing "woooooo it's raaaaaaaining again".............
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
Homemade bread
made into toast and spread with plum jam is a lovely breakfast, and probably a lot better than coffee, Red Bull and Coke. I must say though I did have a coffee and a Red Bull prior to having the toast. But I haven't had a Coke so surely that counts for something?
Tabitha is a thief. So far this morning she has stolen half of Angus's bottle and half of Lexi's breakfast. She had her own breakfast, the exact same thing as Lexi had, however she decided she didn't want that, she wanted Lexi's. So like the little stealth monster she is she waited until Lexi went off on one of her million trips to the bathroom to wash her hands, hoisted herself up onto a chair, and proceeded to polish off that which Lexi left behind.
I'm going to take down the Christmas tree today, and I think it will be the last time I use that Christmas tree. And I think perhaps the last time I use those decorations too. Why? I'm not quite sure. I've had the same tree for about 7 years now, and the same decorations for that amount of time and I just feel as though I need a change. So they'll get put on with the rest of the stuff I'm clearing out of the house in my garage sale. Facebook seriously rocks for stuff like that. Actually it rocks for a lot of things, one of which is people working from home. Now I'm all for people wanting to go back to work if they desire, however there are many people who just want to look after their children, and I am one of those. However sometimes we seek a bit more than just mummydom, not to mention some cash would be handy, and facebook is seriously a brilliant way of allowing stay at home mums and dads to remain that while making some dosh on the side. Sensational. Me, well, I'm not really doing anything more than the lazy person's ebay.
Anyway, my toast is finished now and I'm oddly still hungry. It was very nice, I think that's why. Plus I never eat sweet things and it had jam on it so I'm experiencing new things. Oh, I did eat sweets when I was pregnant, but as a general rule they're not my cup of tea. The girls' toast looked so nice this morning though that I had to make myself some too.
We had pizza last night. Satay chicken it was. And very nice. Funny thing happened though....Domino's actually rang ME. Yes, they did. I had put in my order online and Mick went to pick it up. Then Domino's rang to let me know they had no feta. Mick is violently opposed to pineapple on pizza so our supreme we amended such that there was feta in place of pineapple. So when they said they had no feta I said that's fine, don't worry about putting anything extra on then. They didn't. They also didn't worry about removing the pineapple. So when Mick got there and saw pineapple on the pizza and reminded them that we requested the pizza 'sans' pineapple, they said it would be 40 minutes for a remake. Um, that would be a no. So we only got one pizza. And a cheesy garlic bread. It was very nice, but I did want the supreme as well. I told Mick he shouldn't have paid for the pizza because we didn't in fact get our entire order. He's a little more lenient than me I think.
Squawking is occurring at an increasing rate which I should probably investigate. I'm seeking baking inspiration today. I would very much like to clean out my pantry and to do so I need to rid the containers of all their contents, so if you have any suggestions I'd be more than happy to hear them.....thanks :)
Tabitha is a thief. So far this morning she has stolen half of Angus's bottle and half of Lexi's breakfast. She had her own breakfast, the exact same thing as Lexi had, however she decided she didn't want that, she wanted Lexi's. So like the little stealth monster she is she waited until Lexi went off on one of her million trips to the bathroom to wash her hands, hoisted herself up onto a chair, and proceeded to polish off that which Lexi left behind.
I'm going to take down the Christmas tree today, and I think it will be the last time I use that Christmas tree. And I think perhaps the last time I use those decorations too. Why? I'm not quite sure. I've had the same tree for about 7 years now, and the same decorations for that amount of time and I just feel as though I need a change. So they'll get put on with the rest of the stuff I'm clearing out of the house in my garage sale. Facebook seriously rocks for stuff like that. Actually it rocks for a lot of things, one of which is people working from home. Now I'm all for people wanting to go back to work if they desire, however there are many people who just want to look after their children, and I am one of those. However sometimes we seek a bit more than just mummydom, not to mention some cash would be handy, and facebook is seriously a brilliant way of allowing stay at home mums and dads to remain that while making some dosh on the side. Sensational. Me, well, I'm not really doing anything more than the lazy person's ebay.
Anyway, my toast is finished now and I'm oddly still hungry. It was very nice, I think that's why. Plus I never eat sweet things and it had jam on it so I'm experiencing new things. Oh, I did eat sweets when I was pregnant, but as a general rule they're not my cup of tea. The girls' toast looked so nice this morning though that I had to make myself some too.
We had pizza last night. Satay chicken it was. And very nice. Funny thing happened though....Domino's actually rang ME. Yes, they did. I had put in my order online and Mick went to pick it up. Then Domino's rang to let me know they had no feta. Mick is violently opposed to pineapple on pizza so our supreme we amended such that there was feta in place of pineapple. So when they said they had no feta I said that's fine, don't worry about putting anything extra on then. They didn't. They also didn't worry about removing the pineapple. So when Mick got there and saw pineapple on the pizza and reminded them that we requested the pizza 'sans' pineapple, they said it would be 40 minutes for a remake. Um, that would be a no. So we only got one pizza. And a cheesy garlic bread. It was very nice, but I did want the supreme as well. I told Mick he shouldn't have paid for the pizza because we didn't in fact get our entire order. He's a little more lenient than me I think.
Squawking is occurring at an increasing rate which I should probably investigate. I'm seeking baking inspiration today. I would very much like to clean out my pantry and to do so I need to rid the containers of all their contents, so if you have any suggestions I'd be more than happy to hear them.....thanks :)
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
Waking up
in the morning is sometimes difficult, particularly if the night before involved a very restless 17 month old up and down for a great deal of the first part of the night followed by a 2am wakeup from a 3 month old who had completely wet through everything, and is just growing out of 00 and into 0 so you haven't quite sorted through all the clothes yet so need to fuss through the drawers at 2.01am to try and find another sleepy suit for him to wear even though you are fully aware it took you nearly 10 minutes to find one in the first place in the light only hours earlier. Hmmm.
So the wakeup for the morning was at 5.45am. At least I got a little sleep in. So fed little man, then little miss woke up at 6, I got her up and changed and got her a bottle, which saw Lexi wake up and come out to say g'day. Once Angus settled back down it was shower o'clock. I try and always have a shower in the morning. It does help to refresh you for the start of the day. Every now and then it physically isn't possible to work it into what the kids are doing but 9 times out of 10 I manage it.
So in the shower, kids are in the bathroom singing and carrying on, as they do, we use that time for singalongs and whatnot, and aside from the fact that the kids love it it makes sure that they can't get into too much mischief, because I can actually see them.
Getting OUT of the shower was the dodgy part today. Drying myself, talking to Lexi asking her what she wanted to wear for the day, and out, from underneath my towel, falls a 15cm long centipede, wiggles along the floor and then crawls into the wall cavity. Sensational. I can not even begin to describe the emotions I was feeling, not to mention the fact that instantly I was sure there were more so grabbed the kids and piffed them out into the hall before madly searching through all the towels to make sure no more of the little buggers were stashed in there. This was no mean feat with my long wet hair draped over my eyes, and me dripping wet in the altogether. What a sight.
Anyway, today I'm going to go mad and clean this place like nobody's business so there are NO possible hiding spots for these horrors. Well, I will at least minimise the spots they can hide. In my towel though, seriously. I'm so annoyed. How dare it. I find that really rude.
I do wish Tabitha would stop drinking Angus's bottle. She's like a scavenger. I literally put the bottle down and she whips in and out before you can even blink and see she is now sucking on whatever is left in his bottle. She could have a FULL bottle, yet still she wants Angus's leftovers. I try and stop her as often as possible, purely for the fact that she really doesn't need that extra milk, and on top of that I like to keep track of how much Angus is drinking, and when she swoops in and swipes the bottle I don't get to see. So I will now have to look at the level in the bottle prior to putting it down, and try to avoid putting it anywhere mini chick can get to it. Common little thief she is. This morning I said to her "did you drink Angus's bottle?" and she said, with an insistent tone "nooooooooo". I then said "I think you did" and she laughed at me. Cheeky bugger.
I suppose I should make a move if I want to make this place seem less like the centipede Hilton. Not that I would have thought in a million years a centipede would have thought that, however apparently they do. Perhaps it's all the rain we've had. Can't say I have seen a centipede in years, particularly one that large. Although I don't make a habit of being that close up to them either.
Ew. Yuck. Seriously. I mean yuck. Disgusting. I am so not a bug person.
So the wakeup for the morning was at 5.45am. At least I got a little sleep in. So fed little man, then little miss woke up at 6, I got her up and changed and got her a bottle, which saw Lexi wake up and come out to say g'day. Once Angus settled back down it was shower o'clock. I try and always have a shower in the morning. It does help to refresh you for the start of the day. Every now and then it physically isn't possible to work it into what the kids are doing but 9 times out of 10 I manage it.
So in the shower, kids are in the bathroom singing and carrying on, as they do, we use that time for singalongs and whatnot, and aside from the fact that the kids love it it makes sure that they can't get into too much mischief, because I can actually see them.
Getting OUT of the shower was the dodgy part today. Drying myself, talking to Lexi asking her what she wanted to wear for the day, and out, from underneath my towel, falls a 15cm long centipede, wiggles along the floor and then crawls into the wall cavity. Sensational. I can not even begin to describe the emotions I was feeling, not to mention the fact that instantly I was sure there were more so grabbed the kids and piffed them out into the hall before madly searching through all the towels to make sure no more of the little buggers were stashed in there. This was no mean feat with my long wet hair draped over my eyes, and me dripping wet in the altogether. What a sight.
Anyway, today I'm going to go mad and clean this place like nobody's business so there are NO possible hiding spots for these horrors. Well, I will at least minimise the spots they can hide. In my towel though, seriously. I'm so annoyed. How dare it. I find that really rude.
I do wish Tabitha would stop drinking Angus's bottle. She's like a scavenger. I literally put the bottle down and she whips in and out before you can even blink and see she is now sucking on whatever is left in his bottle. She could have a FULL bottle, yet still she wants Angus's leftovers. I try and stop her as often as possible, purely for the fact that she really doesn't need that extra milk, and on top of that I like to keep track of how much Angus is drinking, and when she swoops in and swipes the bottle I don't get to see. So I will now have to look at the level in the bottle prior to putting it down, and try to avoid putting it anywhere mini chick can get to it. Common little thief she is. This morning I said to her "did you drink Angus's bottle?" and she said, with an insistent tone "nooooooooo". I then said "I think you did" and she laughed at me. Cheeky bugger.
I suppose I should make a move if I want to make this place seem less like the centipede Hilton. Not that I would have thought in a million years a centipede would have thought that, however apparently they do. Perhaps it's all the rain we've had. Can't say I have seen a centipede in years, particularly one that large. Although I don't make a habit of being that close up to them either.
Ew. Yuck. Seriously. I mean yuck. Disgusting. I am so not a bug person.
Monday, December 27, 2010
Wooden spoons
and the tropics really don't go together so well. I got a spoon out of the drawer the other day in order to mix some gingerbread only to find the spoon had a distinctly fuzzy texture. I have learned now that one must dry wooden spoons to within an inch of their lives prior to putting them away. This applies also to anything fabric (say, just as a random example, the spare doona cover). Anything that has even a whisker of a morsel of half a droplet of water will funk up like nobody's business. Ah yes, just another joyous part of living in the tropics.
You may have noted from my tone that I make the odd comment about the tropics. I have lived here for nearly four years now, and whilst it has been an experience I have had enough. The heat is oppressive, the humidity is downright brutal, and don't get me started on the bugs and the wildlife. It never rains but it pours is a saying that was created here. And then there are the cyclones. And the floods. I know that everywhere has its risks...country Victoria had high bushfire risk, and there are other areas of beachy places that have their own other risks, oh and that reminds me, you can't swim at the beaches here between October and whenever because of those nasty little jellyfish stinger things...you know, the ones that kill you?
Agh. Anyway, I'm ready to move on, when we actually do is another question. I miss Melbourne. I never thought I would miss Melbourne, having lived there for 10 years and slowly moving outwards away from the city. However I'm looking realistically to the future and when I go back to work. I don't want to be working in a small town, I want to be working in the city. I could see myself actually getting to the point where I no longer work as a lawyer, rather as a barrister. That would be sensational. I reckon I'd love that. And yes, you can't do that here, nor would I really want to to be brutally honest.
I would probably come back here for a holiday, but would pick my time of year very carefully. I think Queensland is highly overrated though. They say you can travel the world looking for what you want, only to return home and find it at your door. There is a lot of truth in that saying.
It's funny though because I don't want to live in the city. I hate the city. I want to live somewhere rural. I love the country, wide open spaces, grass, air, trees, lack of neighbours. Kind of incongruous with the city isn't it.
So you see my problem. The things I want do not gel with one another. My perfect little world is in fact impossible because it simply does not exist. Ah well, I can dream.....
There are some things in life that are painful, and some things in life that are uncomfortable. Then there are those other things that defy definition. Not for any other reason than they are just difficult to describe. Having a pimple up your nose is one of these things, and I have been blessed with this indefinable occurrence since Christmas Day. My nose is itchy, but it hurts to scratch it, I have been sneezing more than someone locked in a pepper factory with an industrial fan on.
The girls are jabbering on about something about which I have no idea. I think it is breakfast cereal related. They both got up hideously early this morning so with any luck Tabitha will go down for a sleep sooner rather than later, preferably at the same time as Angus, and I can make a start on the next of the essays. I'm actually quite looking forward to this one....I get to surf the net, do some digging, and see what Julian Assange is really on about......
You may have noted from my tone that I make the odd comment about the tropics. I have lived here for nearly four years now, and whilst it has been an experience I have had enough. The heat is oppressive, the humidity is downright brutal, and don't get me started on the bugs and the wildlife. It never rains but it pours is a saying that was created here. And then there are the cyclones. And the floods. I know that everywhere has its risks...country Victoria had high bushfire risk, and there are other areas of beachy places that have their own other risks, oh and that reminds me, you can't swim at the beaches here between October and whenever because of those nasty little jellyfish stinger things...you know, the ones that kill you?
Agh. Anyway, I'm ready to move on, when we actually do is another question. I miss Melbourne. I never thought I would miss Melbourne, having lived there for 10 years and slowly moving outwards away from the city. However I'm looking realistically to the future and when I go back to work. I don't want to be working in a small town, I want to be working in the city. I could see myself actually getting to the point where I no longer work as a lawyer, rather as a barrister. That would be sensational. I reckon I'd love that. And yes, you can't do that here, nor would I really want to to be brutally honest.
I would probably come back here for a holiday, but would pick my time of year very carefully. I think Queensland is highly overrated though. They say you can travel the world looking for what you want, only to return home and find it at your door. There is a lot of truth in that saying.
It's funny though because I don't want to live in the city. I hate the city. I want to live somewhere rural. I love the country, wide open spaces, grass, air, trees, lack of neighbours. Kind of incongruous with the city isn't it.
So you see my problem. The things I want do not gel with one another. My perfect little world is in fact impossible because it simply does not exist. Ah well, I can dream.....
There are some things in life that are painful, and some things in life that are uncomfortable. Then there are those other things that defy definition. Not for any other reason than they are just difficult to describe. Having a pimple up your nose is one of these things, and I have been blessed with this indefinable occurrence since Christmas Day. My nose is itchy, but it hurts to scratch it, I have been sneezing more than someone locked in a pepper factory with an industrial fan on.
The girls are jabbering on about something about which I have no idea. I think it is breakfast cereal related. They both got up hideously early this morning so with any luck Tabitha will go down for a sleep sooner rather than later, preferably at the same time as Angus, and I can make a start on the next of the essays. I'm actually quite looking forward to this one....I get to surf the net, do some digging, and see what Julian Assange is really on about......
Sunday, December 26, 2010
We survived
Christmas 2010. I was wondering how it would all go, and overall I can say it went predominantly very well.
Christmas Eve we explained to the kids that we leave stockings out with our names on so that Santa can see who lives here, and that if you have been good then he leaves presents. They know the word Santa, and they know the word presents, and both are somewhat of a hit so it was all good. All the kids then snugly tucked up in bed before 7pm, same as usual, and then around 8pm santa started doing his stuff.
Although I don't think Santa went overboard, there were sufficient presents under the tree to make it quite obvious that "someone" had been, and when Lexi awoke in the morning, coming over to give me a cuddle (which she always does before doing anything else), I whispered in to her ear "do you think santa came?" to which she instantly leapt up screaming "SANTA" and ran to the tree with a grin from ear to ear, looking back towards me and back at the tree repeatedly.
Telling her she had to wait was the tricky part. Firstly Tabitha wasn't yet awake, and when we do things we do them as a family, so we had to wait for Tabitha. That was fine, Lexi agreed with that, grabbed a drink and sat on the sofa watching some quality programming on Nick Jr. Tabitha was up not too long after this, so I set her up with her bottle, she skulled that (as you do) and turned around to see the pile of presents under the tree. It was a tenuous little smile that followed, and she edged ever closer to the tree, turning around back and forth as Lexi had done.
And then I had to tell her to wait as well. Because even though the girls were up Mick was at work, so the present unwrapping had to wait until he came in. Theoretically I could have told them they could have opened the presents when they discovered them, but a huge part of the fun in Christmas is seeing the look on the kids faces as they open the presents, and Mick had every right to see that too, even though he had to (grrr on a mega level) work.
So Lexi and I decided that the best thing to do was keep ourselves occupied. Time to make the salad we were taking for lunch. Mango, avocado, bacon, sensational. And just as we were finishing up making that, Mick arrived and the timing was excellent.
First thing that was raided was the stockings. I say raided because no sooner had we said "let's see what is under the tree" Lexi had grabbed her stocking and started systematically removing the contents. We suggested to the girls that perhaps each of them sitting on their sofas may be the way to go. This of course had nothing to do with the fact that the contents of the stockings were almost entirely the same, save for variations - Lexi's finger puppet was Makka Pakka whereas Tabitha's was a Tombliboo and the like.
Tabith was quite intriguing to watch. She had removed her little finger puppet and seemed quite taken by him, until she removed a miniature chocolate bar. This little chocolate bar remained a permanent fixture in her hands for the next hour. The Mister Maker DVD was the only other item that peaked her interest, and those two items were stuck to her till we had to leave for lunch.
Lexi had shrieks of wow and oooooooh as she discovered more things in the stocking. Then it was on to the presents. Lexi ADORES opening presents. She opened all her presents, keeping an eye on what Tabitha was getting also. Santa chose to get the girls some things the same and some things different. Interesting choice Santa. Still, it is a lesson to be learned for the girls. Lexi is now learning that everything is not hers. When, later in the day, she was found opening Angus's presents she was told in no uncertain terms how naughty that was, and how they were Angus's presents, and how she is lucky that Santa doesn't come and take all her presents back. Mummy was ropable to put it mildly. I know she's 2.5 but it was Angus's first Christmas and I couldn't help being upset. Agh. There's always something.
Tabitha finally went down for a kip mid morning and we had to wake her in order to get her up in time to make lunch, which we were hideously late for, and arrived with everyone just finishing eating. Not ideal. I felt pretty ordinary about that and was quite close to just turning around and going back home because I didn't want to be a bother. But we were made to feel very welcome, and fought the driving rain to get the kids and bags into the house. I was saturated by the time I had made a few trips, literally dripping wet. Ah the joys of tropical weather.
So we all sat and had some lovely lunch. Lexi was as happy as Larry, anywhere food is Lexi is happy. Hollow legs. Must have. She could eat the same as a grown man and still ask for more. More? More pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeease. Tabitha stuck by my side. She is a little reserved in groups. She tends to shy away from people and just want to be with mum. This is widely accepted amongst our friends - they know that Tabitha is "precious" at times and know that she needs a little time to warm up to people. So when one of our friends approached her with the hat from a bon bon and put it on her head I knew it would end badly. As the hat, which wss quite obviously too large for a child's head, slowly slid down over Tabitha's eyes I could hear the whistle blowing and the temperature rising and the top about to blow....and by the time the hat had slid over her mouth and around her neck she had slid to the floor and was howling. Poor baby. So I removed the hat, picked her up and gave her the mummy cuddles she needed.
Lexi meanwhile was sitting at the table. Eating. Still. A full roast meal for lunch, then desert of jelly and ice cream. And then she spied the glass stocking full of M&M's, and someone else spied her spying them, so promptly upended the stocking to present Lexi with a veritable sea of M&M's and it was on. So my efforts to reduce the amount of M&M's that would make it to Lexi's stomach was to tell people how excellent Lexi's colour knowledge was and they could test it by asking her for a specific colour of M&M, which would then result in Lexi giving them the M&M they had requested, and that was one less M&M in her tummy. It worked for quite some time and the pile was reduced quite markedly, however she still ate more chocolate in that one half an hour period than she had eaten in the past 6 months combined. It's Christmas though, we can let these things slide.
Time ticked on, and with work beckoning Mick once again, and the knowledge of the car wreck that was our house post present opening still remained there to be cleaned, we bid the crowds our adieus and off we went.
Angus missed much of the Christmas hype. He chose yesterday to have a rather substantial growth spurt and so alternated between drinking absolutely enormous bottles and sleeping. As babies do. So he will be opening his Christmas presents today. Well, those ones that Lexi didn't get to anyway.....
I do love when there appears to be a "theme" with Christmas pressies.....this year it was a "cooking" kind of theme, receiving some lovely kitchen items which will be well used, including a new microwave (replacing the old one which I have had since 1997 and weighs the equivalent of a small adult) and a sensational cookbook. And my "secret santa" even inadvertently jumped on the theme bandwagon with a gift of a recipe folder (where you can put all your own recipes and clippings etc, brilliant idea). I did get a few other non cooking things, like a haircut voucher, which was much appreciated too.
And so the day ended, with all the kids in bed before 7, as per usual, and Mick and I polishing off the remaining mango, bacon and avocado salad from lunch with a perfectly cooked scotch fillet steak (if I do say so myself) and a gorgeous glass of 2004 red.
So today we will be taking down the tree, putting aside the Christmas things for another 350 odd days until it's time to do it all again, by which time we will have a 3 year old, a 2 year old and a 1 year old. The time it does just fly.
Christmas Eve we explained to the kids that we leave stockings out with our names on so that Santa can see who lives here, and that if you have been good then he leaves presents. They know the word Santa, and they know the word presents, and both are somewhat of a hit so it was all good. All the kids then snugly tucked up in bed before 7pm, same as usual, and then around 8pm santa started doing his stuff.
Although I don't think Santa went overboard, there were sufficient presents under the tree to make it quite obvious that "someone" had been, and when Lexi awoke in the morning, coming over to give me a cuddle (which she always does before doing anything else), I whispered in to her ear "do you think santa came?" to which she instantly leapt up screaming "SANTA" and ran to the tree with a grin from ear to ear, looking back towards me and back at the tree repeatedly.
Telling her she had to wait was the tricky part. Firstly Tabitha wasn't yet awake, and when we do things we do them as a family, so we had to wait for Tabitha. That was fine, Lexi agreed with that, grabbed a drink and sat on the sofa watching some quality programming on Nick Jr. Tabitha was up not too long after this, so I set her up with her bottle, she skulled that (as you do) and turned around to see the pile of presents under the tree. It was a tenuous little smile that followed, and she edged ever closer to the tree, turning around back and forth as Lexi had done.
And then I had to tell her to wait as well. Because even though the girls were up Mick was at work, so the present unwrapping had to wait until he came in. Theoretically I could have told them they could have opened the presents when they discovered them, but a huge part of the fun in Christmas is seeing the look on the kids faces as they open the presents, and Mick had every right to see that too, even though he had to (grrr on a mega level) work.
So Lexi and I decided that the best thing to do was keep ourselves occupied. Time to make the salad we were taking for lunch. Mango, avocado, bacon, sensational. And just as we were finishing up making that, Mick arrived and the timing was excellent.
First thing that was raided was the stockings. I say raided because no sooner had we said "let's see what is under the tree" Lexi had grabbed her stocking and started systematically removing the contents. We suggested to the girls that perhaps each of them sitting on their sofas may be the way to go. This of course had nothing to do with the fact that the contents of the stockings were almost entirely the same, save for variations - Lexi's finger puppet was Makka Pakka whereas Tabitha's was a Tombliboo and the like.
Tabith was quite intriguing to watch. She had removed her little finger puppet and seemed quite taken by him, until she removed a miniature chocolate bar. This little chocolate bar remained a permanent fixture in her hands for the next hour. The Mister Maker DVD was the only other item that peaked her interest, and those two items were stuck to her till we had to leave for lunch.
Lexi had shrieks of wow and oooooooh as she discovered more things in the stocking. Then it was on to the presents. Lexi ADORES opening presents. She opened all her presents, keeping an eye on what Tabitha was getting also. Santa chose to get the girls some things the same and some things different. Interesting choice Santa. Still, it is a lesson to be learned for the girls. Lexi is now learning that everything is not hers. When, later in the day, she was found opening Angus's presents she was told in no uncertain terms how naughty that was, and how they were Angus's presents, and how she is lucky that Santa doesn't come and take all her presents back. Mummy was ropable to put it mildly. I know she's 2.5 but it was Angus's first Christmas and I couldn't help being upset. Agh. There's always something.
Tabitha finally went down for a kip mid morning and we had to wake her in order to get her up in time to make lunch, which we were hideously late for, and arrived with everyone just finishing eating. Not ideal. I felt pretty ordinary about that and was quite close to just turning around and going back home because I didn't want to be a bother. But we were made to feel very welcome, and fought the driving rain to get the kids and bags into the house. I was saturated by the time I had made a few trips, literally dripping wet. Ah the joys of tropical weather.
So we all sat and had some lovely lunch. Lexi was as happy as Larry, anywhere food is Lexi is happy. Hollow legs. Must have. She could eat the same as a grown man and still ask for more. More? More pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeease. Tabitha stuck by my side. She is a little reserved in groups. She tends to shy away from people and just want to be with mum. This is widely accepted amongst our friends - they know that Tabitha is "precious" at times and know that she needs a little time to warm up to people. So when one of our friends approached her with the hat from a bon bon and put it on her head I knew it would end badly. As the hat, which wss quite obviously too large for a child's head, slowly slid down over Tabitha's eyes I could hear the whistle blowing and the temperature rising and the top about to blow....and by the time the hat had slid over her mouth and around her neck she had slid to the floor and was howling. Poor baby. So I removed the hat, picked her up and gave her the mummy cuddles she needed.
Lexi meanwhile was sitting at the table. Eating. Still. A full roast meal for lunch, then desert of jelly and ice cream. And then she spied the glass stocking full of M&M's, and someone else spied her spying them, so promptly upended the stocking to present Lexi with a veritable sea of M&M's and it was on. So my efforts to reduce the amount of M&M's that would make it to Lexi's stomach was to tell people how excellent Lexi's colour knowledge was and they could test it by asking her for a specific colour of M&M, which would then result in Lexi giving them the M&M they had requested, and that was one less M&M in her tummy. It worked for quite some time and the pile was reduced quite markedly, however she still ate more chocolate in that one half an hour period than she had eaten in the past 6 months combined. It's Christmas though, we can let these things slide.
Time ticked on, and with work beckoning Mick once again, and the knowledge of the car wreck that was our house post present opening still remained there to be cleaned, we bid the crowds our adieus and off we went.
Angus missed much of the Christmas hype. He chose yesterday to have a rather substantial growth spurt and so alternated between drinking absolutely enormous bottles and sleeping. As babies do. So he will be opening his Christmas presents today. Well, those ones that Lexi didn't get to anyway.....
I do love when there appears to be a "theme" with Christmas pressies.....this year it was a "cooking" kind of theme, receiving some lovely kitchen items which will be well used, including a new microwave (replacing the old one which I have had since 1997 and weighs the equivalent of a small adult) and a sensational cookbook. And my "secret santa" even inadvertently jumped on the theme bandwagon with a gift of a recipe folder (where you can put all your own recipes and clippings etc, brilliant idea). I did get a few other non cooking things, like a haircut voucher, which was much appreciated too.
And so the day ended, with all the kids in bed before 7, as per usual, and Mick and I polishing off the remaining mango, bacon and avocado salad from lunch with a perfectly cooked scotch fillet steak (if I do say so myself) and a gorgeous glass of 2004 red.
So today we will be taking down the tree, putting aside the Christmas things for another 350 odd days until it's time to do it all again, by which time we will have a 3 year old, a 2 year old and a 1 year old. The time it does just fly.
Friday, December 24, 2010
Some days you know
almost before you start something that it is going to end badly. Well, I had high hopes yesterday as I left Mick at home with the kids, two of which were sleeping, to brave the shops and get the final bits and bobs for Christmas. The drive there was uneventful, I listened to some music on the radio, had a bop, played the drums on the steering wheel, usual stuff.
Then I arrived at Canelands. The shopping centre. And as I saw the line of cars spilling over from the carpark onto the road I knew that this was going to be bad. I took one turn to the left in the hope of somehow making it to the spot that I had seen become vacant seconds earlier only to see my dreams dashed when I was mere metres away, realising someone had been stalking this spot far earlier than my eyes had caught sight of it. So on I went, and back to the right. I decided against the undercover car park - that would just be greedy. Instead I opted for the rooftop parking, thinking that perhaps there might be some light up there. Well, light there was, but only due to the fact that there were more small cars parked up there than I knew existed. I would approach a park and get all excited only to realise a Barina or a Getz was hiding behind the Landcruiser. Sigh.
I did not give up. I watched, and I saw a woman, reaching into her back seat from outside and yes, she was doing up a child's seatbelt. This meant business. I waited. Patiently. She made a phone call, as you do. Cars drove past me and I could sense their annoyance that I had found the holy grail, a parking spot at Christmas. As the car reversed out of the car park I could feel my blood pressure instantly rise. Was it from excitement? No. Sadly it was not. It was due to the Copper coloured HSV that accelerated at ten to the dozen from the END of the road and zipped in to the spot. And yes, I leaned on the horn. I was absolutely ropable. What the hell did this bloke think he was doing? I was very glad the kids weren't in the car for they would have learned words I would rather them not know. As I was just about to wind down the window and let said HSV driver know that I was less than pleased with his actions I realised what he had done. He had been perusing the aisle on the other side of the spot that I had spied, and driven past just as another vehicle had exited which left him unable to get back to the spot, so he tore around the end of the aisle and entered it "drive thru" style. So I didn't lose my spot, I was just made to believe I was going to lose my spot, made to get all angry, and then made to look like an idiot because I hadn't lost my spot.
As you can see, the excursion had not started well.
So out of the car I got, bags in hand (full of things needing posting), glared at the HSV driver (because he needed to know that I was suitably unimpressed with his actions and firmly believe that he needs some lessons in driver etiquette) and off I toddled down the stairs to the shops.
I had a list. I had a pen. I had a trolley. I was ready.
My first mistake was taking a wrong turn. You see they are rebuilding the mall at the moment and everything looks different. Due to the change facade of many of the areas of the mall I became confused and took the wrong path in search of the post office, and found myself instead at the end of the line and the gift wrapping section. Handy, should I have had presents to wrap, but not what I needed right then and there. Back I went, up and around and all about, and got stuck behind a woman with possibly THE most inappropriate shoes I had ever seen. She was built like a twig and the phrase "mutton dressed as lamb" does come to mind. As she perched precariously on what can only be described as hideous cane strappy platform heels I muttered under my breath wishing she would just move out of the way so I could zip past. But no, that did not happen. Her two children, boys, with sensational hair I must say - ringlet curls and absolutely brilliant - and no they weren't little they were 10 or 11 or so but their hair was amazing - started toing and froing in front of me. I had to make a break for it and soon or my arm was going to fall off. As soon as they lunged to the right putting each other in a headlock I saw my opportunity and bolted (as much as one can bolt while wearing thongs).
Okay, we're on track. No line at the post office, parcels posted, onto the next thing on the list.
Target. As I walked through the door and saw the queue at the checkout I almost turned around and left. And yes, it WAS that bad. I'm talking maybe 40 or 50 people all lined up, waiting, waiting, waiting. Ah well, I was there now, I had a list and I was going to get everything on it.
I browsed, I perused, I chatted to random people about the lack of suitable gifts for particular age groups (how old do I feel now). I saw mother's chastising their children for being children, which is a little sad. I saw father's with an almost visible thumbprint on their forehead, laden down with goodness knows what, shuffling their feet. You could almost visualise their thoughts - predominantly beer, cricket and sex. Odd combination? Haha. Not really, particularly not in a man's mind anyway. First is what they want, second is what they want to be doing while having what they want, third is what they reckon they deserve for dragging themselves around the shops at wifey's beck and call two days before Christmas.
I grabbed bits and pieces and headed to the checkout. It was not until I had advanced perhaps 20 metres down the line that I realised I was missing something. I had inadvertently put something down while looking at something else, and I had no idea where I had left it. So out of the queue I sadly went, back in search of that which I had left somewhere random. I decided it would be quicker to just go back to where I originally got it and grab another, which I did, and as I was walking back towards the checkout again I spied the one I had accidentally "dumped". Hmmm. The right thing would be to get it and put it back, but then I would hate for the Target employees to be short of things to do, because at Christmas, well, it's so quiet......
I didn't return it to its place, I had my hands full, and, well, sue me. So I kept walking and remembered I had forgotten something. So off I went on a tangent again in search of that which I had forgotten. I found it, I walked towards the checkout, I got there, lined up and realised that I had, AGAIN, put down the SAME item as previously and left it somewhere random. That was as good a sign as any that I wasn't meant to have it. So it remained in the store.
The line moved remarkably quickly considering how long it was and before you know it I was out. Phew. That was lucky. Zipped into Woolies, grabbed some milk and whatnot and off I went, heading home at last. And as I exited my parking spot I got a huge wave from a four wheel drive that was stalking my spot. Nice.
Last night was spent wrapping all the presents. I didn't realise how many I had, and suddenly remembered the wrong turn I had taken. If only I had taken that wrong turn AFTER I had visited the shops, then my wrapping would be done.
And tonight it is Christmas Eve. We shall hang the stockings somewhere, we haven't quite worked out where yet, the lounge will be clear of mini sofas and blankets, and presents will magically appear, and I can't wait to see the girls' faces in the morning.
And to all out there in cyberland, may you have a wonderful Christmas. I hope the jolly fat red fellow visits you all. Please drive safely, drink responsibly, eat excessively and remember that Christmas is about family and friends, and above all it is for the kids. So leave any petty arguments you may have until another day and enjoy the smiles and warmth of those you love.
Then I arrived at Canelands. The shopping centre. And as I saw the line of cars spilling over from the carpark onto the road I knew that this was going to be bad. I took one turn to the left in the hope of somehow making it to the spot that I had seen become vacant seconds earlier only to see my dreams dashed when I was mere metres away, realising someone had been stalking this spot far earlier than my eyes had caught sight of it. So on I went, and back to the right. I decided against the undercover car park - that would just be greedy. Instead I opted for the rooftop parking, thinking that perhaps there might be some light up there. Well, light there was, but only due to the fact that there were more small cars parked up there than I knew existed. I would approach a park and get all excited only to realise a Barina or a Getz was hiding behind the Landcruiser. Sigh.
I did not give up. I watched, and I saw a woman, reaching into her back seat from outside and yes, she was doing up a child's seatbelt. This meant business. I waited. Patiently. She made a phone call, as you do. Cars drove past me and I could sense their annoyance that I had found the holy grail, a parking spot at Christmas. As the car reversed out of the car park I could feel my blood pressure instantly rise. Was it from excitement? No. Sadly it was not. It was due to the Copper coloured HSV that accelerated at ten to the dozen from the END of the road and zipped in to the spot. And yes, I leaned on the horn. I was absolutely ropable. What the hell did this bloke think he was doing? I was very glad the kids weren't in the car for they would have learned words I would rather them not know. As I was just about to wind down the window and let said HSV driver know that I was less than pleased with his actions I realised what he had done. He had been perusing the aisle on the other side of the spot that I had spied, and driven past just as another vehicle had exited which left him unable to get back to the spot, so he tore around the end of the aisle and entered it "drive thru" style. So I didn't lose my spot, I was just made to believe I was going to lose my spot, made to get all angry, and then made to look like an idiot because I hadn't lost my spot.
As you can see, the excursion had not started well.
So out of the car I got, bags in hand (full of things needing posting), glared at the HSV driver (because he needed to know that I was suitably unimpressed with his actions and firmly believe that he needs some lessons in driver etiquette) and off I toddled down the stairs to the shops.
I had a list. I had a pen. I had a trolley. I was ready.
My first mistake was taking a wrong turn. You see they are rebuilding the mall at the moment and everything looks different. Due to the change facade of many of the areas of the mall I became confused and took the wrong path in search of the post office, and found myself instead at the end of the line and the gift wrapping section. Handy, should I have had presents to wrap, but not what I needed right then and there. Back I went, up and around and all about, and got stuck behind a woman with possibly THE most inappropriate shoes I had ever seen. She was built like a twig and the phrase "mutton dressed as lamb" does come to mind. As she perched precariously on what can only be described as hideous cane strappy platform heels I muttered under my breath wishing she would just move out of the way so I could zip past. But no, that did not happen. Her two children, boys, with sensational hair I must say - ringlet curls and absolutely brilliant - and no they weren't little they were 10 or 11 or so but their hair was amazing - started toing and froing in front of me. I had to make a break for it and soon or my arm was going to fall off. As soon as they lunged to the right putting each other in a headlock I saw my opportunity and bolted (as much as one can bolt while wearing thongs).
Okay, we're on track. No line at the post office, parcels posted, onto the next thing on the list.
Target. As I walked through the door and saw the queue at the checkout I almost turned around and left. And yes, it WAS that bad. I'm talking maybe 40 or 50 people all lined up, waiting, waiting, waiting. Ah well, I was there now, I had a list and I was going to get everything on it.
I browsed, I perused, I chatted to random people about the lack of suitable gifts for particular age groups (how old do I feel now). I saw mother's chastising their children for being children, which is a little sad. I saw father's with an almost visible thumbprint on their forehead, laden down with goodness knows what, shuffling their feet. You could almost visualise their thoughts - predominantly beer, cricket and sex. Odd combination? Haha. Not really, particularly not in a man's mind anyway. First is what they want, second is what they want to be doing while having what they want, third is what they reckon they deserve for dragging themselves around the shops at wifey's beck and call two days before Christmas.
I grabbed bits and pieces and headed to the checkout. It was not until I had advanced perhaps 20 metres down the line that I realised I was missing something. I had inadvertently put something down while looking at something else, and I had no idea where I had left it. So out of the queue I sadly went, back in search of that which I had left somewhere random. I decided it would be quicker to just go back to where I originally got it and grab another, which I did, and as I was walking back towards the checkout again I spied the one I had accidentally "dumped". Hmmm. The right thing would be to get it and put it back, but then I would hate for the Target employees to be short of things to do, because at Christmas, well, it's so quiet......
I didn't return it to its place, I had my hands full, and, well, sue me. So I kept walking and remembered I had forgotten something. So off I went on a tangent again in search of that which I had forgotten. I found it, I walked towards the checkout, I got there, lined up and realised that I had, AGAIN, put down the SAME item as previously and left it somewhere random. That was as good a sign as any that I wasn't meant to have it. So it remained in the store.
The line moved remarkably quickly considering how long it was and before you know it I was out. Phew. That was lucky. Zipped into Woolies, grabbed some milk and whatnot and off I went, heading home at last. And as I exited my parking spot I got a huge wave from a four wheel drive that was stalking my spot. Nice.
Last night was spent wrapping all the presents. I didn't realise how many I had, and suddenly remembered the wrong turn I had taken. If only I had taken that wrong turn AFTER I had visited the shops, then my wrapping would be done.
And tonight it is Christmas Eve. We shall hang the stockings somewhere, we haven't quite worked out where yet, the lounge will be clear of mini sofas and blankets, and presents will magically appear, and I can't wait to see the girls' faces in the morning.
And to all out there in cyberland, may you have a wonderful Christmas. I hope the jolly fat red fellow visits you all. Please drive safely, drink responsibly, eat excessively and remember that Christmas is about family and friends, and above all it is for the kids. So leave any petty arguments you may have until another day and enjoy the smiles and warmth of those you love.
Thursday, December 23, 2010
Santa Claus
is coming to town. Well, he's in pretty well every town shopping centre at the moment having photos taken, and that was where we ventured out yesterday, me, Mick and the three kidlets.
We wanted the kids to look nice so preparations needed to be made days earlier in order that this could occur, not for any benefit of Lexi's, she absolutely loves getting frocked up. Tabitha however finds dresses to be not quite her cup of tea. So we had to have a few trial runs frocking up before the big day. Thankfully it was worthwhile.
We arrived there at around 10 or so to a line some 9 families deep. That may not sound like a huge amount, but if you allow even just 5 minutes per family that still adds up to a 45 minute wait. As it was santa was no grinch and spent a decent amount of time with every family which meant the waiting time was pretty well double that.
Angus had awoken merely minutes before we headed out the door and was basically fanging for a bottle, so it was a race to get to the santa line just so that I could give him a bottle. Due to the lack of seating and whatnot I just gave it to him while he sat in the pram and that worked rather well. He had a drink, I picked him up for a bit of a burpy, and then he sat back down, had some more of his bottle and promptly fell asleep for half an hour. Gold!
Lexi was spending quality time with dad as they ran a few little errands while we waited in line. Tabitha, who usually has a sleep between 10 and 10.30 for a few hours was starting to look a little fatigued. She was sitting in the pram, oh so quietly, just watching the world go by. Then she would perk up a bit, laugh and throw her head around, then get quiet again. It was amusing to say the least. As the time approached 11 o'clock, the tiredness started to come into play a little more and Tabitha spent some time cuddling Mick and watching passers by, some of whom would stop and comment how sleepy she looked (as if we weren't aware) and chuckle at how gorgeous kids were (and of course we would agree!). As the time hit 11.30am I remembered that I had a grocery delivery coming, the delivery window being 12 til 6, and there was no way we would be home by 12. So I checked my mobile phone, and saw a missed call, panicked it was Woolies running early, returned the call only to go to voicemail of someone who I didn't recognise, so then I was concentrating on trying to work out who this could possibly be.
Anyway, back to Santa. I had a feeling that after Angus awoke from his little nap he might get the party started. Not in a crying sad sort of way, in a let's go red in the face and see what we can do in this nappy kind of way. I was right. Call it mother's instinct. And he chose to do it as we were at the front of the queue. As you would. So there's me, after having prayed for the line to move quicker for the last hour and half, praying that the people before us would take that little bit extra time so that I could remove the offending fragrance from Angus's nappy and get him all cleaned up before his first meeting of Kris Kringle. Luckily (although not for the parents) the young boy of the family in front of us decided Santa was in fact a rearranging of the letters of his name (Satan) and freaked out completely. This did buy us a little more time.
We had concerns also for the family behind us. It was a single mum and her mother, with the single mum's three kids who were 2, 3 and 4. Cute little girls, however 2 of the 3 expressed some hesitation and seemed to get more and more anxious the closer to Santa they got. And everyone knows that crying in children, just like yawning in adults, is highly highly contagious.
We FINALLY got to the end of the line and approached the big red fellow. And Lexi's eyes have never been wider! I firmly believe that the little personalised message we did for the girls at Portable North Pole had a huge impact on taking away the scariness that Santa can hold!!
We managed to get a great picture, with all of us in there, not just the kids. And I am rapt. And my heart could burst I'm so proud of my little folks. Absolutely bursting with pride. Santa spent so much time talking to Lexi asking what she wanted, and if she'd been good, and he was even able to guess the things that she loved to do (which freaked me out just a little bit). It's funny you know, they say that Santa has lots of helpers and they go to all the shopping centres, but this guy, he was the real deal. I kid you not. Such a lovely Santa.
After many attempts to get everyone to look to the front, some of which involved puppets, some involved bubbles (which in my opinion is a ridiculous idea because Lexi spent the entire time pointing at the bubbles and Tabitha spent the time watching them fall to the ground or trying to get them to pop on her arm). But we managed to get one with us all looking somewhat forwards, although the kids weren't smiling, but after nearly 2 hours waiting and behaving so well, well, I was chuffed. And I love the photo.
When we got home we chilled for a bit, Tabitha had a sleep which she desperately needed, even though she did go insanely hyper for a bit after we got home, and then in the afternoon I asked Lexi what she wanted for dinner. "Blue rice" was the answer. Random? Not really. She is addicted to a TV show called Mister Maker, and a friend very kindly sent a DVD of this show to the girls once they cut the show from TV. They watch it so often. Soo so often. And on one episode Mister Maker (who is basically a crafty let's make it young MacGyver sort of fellow) makes a clay boat in a bottle with blue rice as the sea. So anyway, I added some dye to the rice, popped it in to cook and bob's your uncle, blue rice.
Note to self - if children have blue rice the night before, PREPARE YOURSELF for what you may see in the nappy the next morning, for if you don't you will just about have a heart attack. That is all.
Oh, and here's the santa photo.....
And in case you remembered that I couldn't work out the person that had phoned that I had missed, I remembered, phoned them back, and was told that it was a competition I had entered into and had won a cookbook and they wanted my address. Great day all round :)
We wanted the kids to look nice so preparations needed to be made days earlier in order that this could occur, not for any benefit of Lexi's, she absolutely loves getting frocked up. Tabitha however finds dresses to be not quite her cup of tea. So we had to have a few trial runs frocking up before the big day. Thankfully it was worthwhile.
We arrived there at around 10 or so to a line some 9 families deep. That may not sound like a huge amount, but if you allow even just 5 minutes per family that still adds up to a 45 minute wait. As it was santa was no grinch and spent a decent amount of time with every family which meant the waiting time was pretty well double that.
Angus had awoken merely minutes before we headed out the door and was basically fanging for a bottle, so it was a race to get to the santa line just so that I could give him a bottle. Due to the lack of seating and whatnot I just gave it to him while he sat in the pram and that worked rather well. He had a drink, I picked him up for a bit of a burpy, and then he sat back down, had some more of his bottle and promptly fell asleep for half an hour. Gold!
Lexi was spending quality time with dad as they ran a few little errands while we waited in line. Tabitha, who usually has a sleep between 10 and 10.30 for a few hours was starting to look a little fatigued. She was sitting in the pram, oh so quietly, just watching the world go by. Then she would perk up a bit, laugh and throw her head around, then get quiet again. It was amusing to say the least. As the time approached 11 o'clock, the tiredness started to come into play a little more and Tabitha spent some time cuddling Mick and watching passers by, some of whom would stop and comment how sleepy she looked (as if we weren't aware) and chuckle at how gorgeous kids were (and of course we would agree!). As the time hit 11.30am I remembered that I had a grocery delivery coming, the delivery window being 12 til 6, and there was no way we would be home by 12. So I checked my mobile phone, and saw a missed call, panicked it was Woolies running early, returned the call only to go to voicemail of someone who I didn't recognise, so then I was concentrating on trying to work out who this could possibly be.
Anyway, back to Santa. I had a feeling that after Angus awoke from his little nap he might get the party started. Not in a crying sad sort of way, in a let's go red in the face and see what we can do in this nappy kind of way. I was right. Call it mother's instinct. And he chose to do it as we were at the front of the queue. As you would. So there's me, after having prayed for the line to move quicker for the last hour and half, praying that the people before us would take that little bit extra time so that I could remove the offending fragrance from Angus's nappy and get him all cleaned up before his first meeting of Kris Kringle. Luckily (although not for the parents) the young boy of the family in front of us decided Santa was in fact a rearranging of the letters of his name (Satan) and freaked out completely. This did buy us a little more time.
We had concerns also for the family behind us. It was a single mum and her mother, with the single mum's three kids who were 2, 3 and 4. Cute little girls, however 2 of the 3 expressed some hesitation and seemed to get more and more anxious the closer to Santa they got. And everyone knows that crying in children, just like yawning in adults, is highly highly contagious.
We FINALLY got to the end of the line and approached the big red fellow. And Lexi's eyes have never been wider! I firmly believe that the little personalised message we did for the girls at Portable North Pole had a huge impact on taking away the scariness that Santa can hold!!
We managed to get a great picture, with all of us in there, not just the kids. And I am rapt. And my heart could burst I'm so proud of my little folks. Absolutely bursting with pride. Santa spent so much time talking to Lexi asking what she wanted, and if she'd been good, and he was even able to guess the things that she loved to do (which freaked me out just a little bit). It's funny you know, they say that Santa has lots of helpers and they go to all the shopping centres, but this guy, he was the real deal. I kid you not. Such a lovely Santa.
After many attempts to get everyone to look to the front, some of which involved puppets, some involved bubbles (which in my opinion is a ridiculous idea because Lexi spent the entire time pointing at the bubbles and Tabitha spent the time watching them fall to the ground or trying to get them to pop on her arm). But we managed to get one with us all looking somewhat forwards, although the kids weren't smiling, but after nearly 2 hours waiting and behaving so well, well, I was chuffed. And I love the photo.
When we got home we chilled for a bit, Tabitha had a sleep which she desperately needed, even though she did go insanely hyper for a bit after we got home, and then in the afternoon I asked Lexi what she wanted for dinner. "Blue rice" was the answer. Random? Not really. She is addicted to a TV show called Mister Maker, and a friend very kindly sent a DVD of this show to the girls once they cut the show from TV. They watch it so often. Soo so often. And on one episode Mister Maker (who is basically a crafty let's make it young MacGyver sort of fellow) makes a clay boat in a bottle with blue rice as the sea. So anyway, I added some dye to the rice, popped it in to cook and bob's your uncle, blue rice.
Note to self - if children have blue rice the night before, PREPARE YOURSELF for what you may see in the nappy the next morning, for if you don't you will just about have a heart attack. That is all.
Oh, and here's the santa photo.....
And in case you remembered that I couldn't work out the person that had phoned that I had missed, I remembered, phoned them back, and was told that it was a competition I had entered into and had won a cookbook and they wanted my address. Great day all round :)
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
I'm on facebook
as are, I believe, about one quarter of the world's population. I don't have that many people as friends on there but I do have several hundred, but I'm thinking of cutting that number down. It isn't that I don't like the people I have as friends on there, and I don't accept random friend requests, but I am starting to get increasingly annoyed with the statuses people put. I'm all for putting statuses telling people how you are feeling and every now and then tagging someone or directing a status at them, but what I am completely 100% over is the consistently negative posts. Surely there is one day where something is going RIGHT for these people. But no, every status is something that is wrong, whether it is the children misbehaving (which let's face it they are basically made to do), or the bank or telstra or something has screwed up, or neighbours are annoying (I say that as I am hearing a lawnmower at 6.42am so I feel I have a right to make comment here!), or they feel ill or have a headache or can't believe they have to work and you get the gist. Just once, one day, I would like to see something like "what a great day to be alive". Something like that. Anyway I don't have time in my life for consistent negativity. I have enough going on to be burdened with someone else's misery half a dozen times a day in different ways. So I believe a "friend cull" may just be in order.
I discovered something yesterday. The little line they have on the milkshake maker's cup is not a suggestion as to how much milk to put, it is an instruction. Difference? Suggestion is a "thereabouts" measure where a bit either way isn't going to make much difference. Instruction is telling you how to do it. I went over the line while making the girls a milkshake. Let's just say there was somewhat of a strawberry tsunami arising from the milkshake maker and coating the bench in a lovely pinkish 'patina'.
Lexi and I made gingerbread cookies yesterday. I learned several things during the course of our baking. Firstly, Lexi adores cutting shapes out of biscuits, so we shall do that again. She also enjoys eating the raw cookie dough. Who knew.
I also learned that if you haven't made a biscuit recipe before, doubling the batch first up is probably not the best idea, for you will then spend the next hour and a half baking the plethora of biscuits tray after tray after tray because the oven simply isn't built to bake several hundred biscuits at once.
Another thing I learned that whilst it may be hot and you need the air conditioner on, if that air conditioner has a direct path of the air over the table where you will be making your biscuits, be prepared for the fact that when you go to sift the flour much of said flour will be blown all over the house rather than sifting itself directly into the bowl.
And as I listen to the dull hum of the lawnmower, wishing myself somewhere else, I can see young miss Tabitha stealing something from the pantry. I have bred common little thieves. Tabitha is the best at stealing Angus's half empty bottles as soon as I put them down to burp him. Lexi, well, she'll pick up anything she sees lying around, and both of them are little pantry raiders from way back. But somehow I don't think I'll give her the sweet potato, carrot and apple baby food pouch she has popped up on the table in front of a snack cup and a spoon.
Lexi has managed to find the cookie cutter we were using yesterday and is sitting hopefully at the table with an expectant look upon her face. Guess we'll be making some more biscuits today.....
I discovered something yesterday. The little line they have on the milkshake maker's cup is not a suggestion as to how much milk to put, it is an instruction. Difference? Suggestion is a "thereabouts" measure where a bit either way isn't going to make much difference. Instruction is telling you how to do it. I went over the line while making the girls a milkshake. Let's just say there was somewhat of a strawberry tsunami arising from the milkshake maker and coating the bench in a lovely pinkish 'patina'.
Lexi and I made gingerbread cookies yesterday. I learned several things during the course of our baking. Firstly, Lexi adores cutting shapes out of biscuits, so we shall do that again. She also enjoys eating the raw cookie dough. Who knew.
I also learned that if you haven't made a biscuit recipe before, doubling the batch first up is probably not the best idea, for you will then spend the next hour and a half baking the plethora of biscuits tray after tray after tray because the oven simply isn't built to bake several hundred biscuits at once.
Another thing I learned that whilst it may be hot and you need the air conditioner on, if that air conditioner has a direct path of the air over the table where you will be making your biscuits, be prepared for the fact that when you go to sift the flour much of said flour will be blown all over the house rather than sifting itself directly into the bowl.
And as I listen to the dull hum of the lawnmower, wishing myself somewhere else, I can see young miss Tabitha stealing something from the pantry. I have bred common little thieves. Tabitha is the best at stealing Angus's half empty bottles as soon as I put them down to burp him. Lexi, well, she'll pick up anything she sees lying around, and both of them are little pantry raiders from way back. But somehow I don't think I'll give her the sweet potato, carrot and apple baby food pouch she has popped up on the table in front of a snack cup and a spoon.
Lexi has managed to find the cookie cutter we were using yesterday and is sitting hopefully at the table with an expectant look upon her face. Guess we'll be making some more biscuits today.....
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
And here it is....
a photo taken during yesterday's morning festivities prior to Tabitha cracking it and my having to take the dress off her.....
A very happy fairy and a slightly tenuous little one in a blue dress. But don't they look gorgeous.....
And another one for the books, for how often is it that you can grab a photo at what is essentially the perfect moment.....
A very happy fairy and a slightly tenuous little one in a blue dress. But don't they look gorgeous.....
And another one for the books, for how often is it that you can grab a photo at what is essentially the perfect moment.....
I went to bingo
last night. I feel very old going to bingo, but to be perfectly honest with you I love it. I get little heart flutters when I only have one number left, and when/if I win I go off like the veritable frog in a sock. I get very excited about little things. I won a $25 chicken voucher at the leagues club a few years ago and you would have thought I'd won a jackpot. Ah well, better than getting no joy out of winning!
I finally got into a pair of my pre-pregnancy pants too. Anyone that has had a baby will know that there are pre-pregnancy clothes, pregnancy clothes, and stretched to billy-o tshirts and shorts and trackies for the very end. Or moo moo like dresses. Tents. Massive clothes to fit over the enormous bumps our children create in our stomach. Now I hadn't worn these pants in quite some time so was pretty impressed when firstly they made it over my hips and secondly when I was able to do the button up. Do not assume for one minute however that because the button is done up the trouble is over, for the zip can do a great deal of damage, even if the button is done up. Just a handy hint to remember there.
I have mentioned that Lexi has a fixation with washing her hands. Well, it's still going. Now she is keen on using soap too. Again these are not bad things, and it's probably just a phase. Actually I'm pretty sure it's definitely just a phase, because when I was cooking yesterday and she wanted to help I told her she couldn't help unless she washed her hands, and she chucked a tanty. Interesting. Washes her hands 50 times a day and then the one time she needs to she doesn't want to. Ah well, funny little mind.
I asked her what she wanted to wear yesterday. What did she choose? A fairy tutu, wings and a wand. Now I didn't buy these for her, they were a gift for her 2nd birthday that have been living in the cupboard because she has had no interest. But the fairy phase appears to have now arrived. And I must say she looks adorable.
Tabitha I tried to get into a dress again. Tabitha my beautiful little princess that screams and runs away if she even so much as sees a dress let alone puts it on. However I was pretty adamant that I wanted her to wear this dress, even just to get used to having a dress on. After a small amount of carry on I finally managed to get the dress on her, and 5 minutes of carrying on and crying and whinging became normality as Lexi must have cast a spell on her with the fairy wand. So we had a fairy and a little princess in a beautiful blue dress. Lasted about 20 minutes, but that's 20 minutes longer than usual so I'll take it.
Santa had to wait, we didn't quite get there yesterday, but it was a very good practice run. And I guess the nappy bag is now packed so that's one less thing to do tomorrow when we do go see the jolly fat red man.
I really need to get my backside into gear and get these gingerbread cookies made. I don't recall ever having made gingerbread before. I've made a gingerbread house before but it was prefab in the box. Not quite the same. It's just like making a pavlova using one of those little eggs "pavlova magic" or whatever they're called. Good end result, without the slog, but sometimes the slog is what makes it fun. Sometimes.
I will have to make a start on the next two assignments as I'll be missing a chunk in January when we head down to Victoria, a trip about which I am very excited. The weather here has been nothing short of ridiculous and I can't wait to escape it, even just for a while.
I had a great deal of trouble waking up this morning. Angus did his usual wake up at around 4.45am, but Lexi had been up at 11.30pm and I hadn't yet got to sleep after the huge excitement of my bingo outing (which by the way was unsuccessful), so I didn't get to sleep til after 12. 4 and a bit hours sleep is not enough. Not at all. So I'm going to have a coffee now. A strong one. And have a think about what we might do today.....
I finally got into a pair of my pre-pregnancy pants too. Anyone that has had a baby will know that there are pre-pregnancy clothes, pregnancy clothes, and stretched to billy-o tshirts and shorts and trackies for the very end. Or moo moo like dresses. Tents. Massive clothes to fit over the enormous bumps our children create in our stomach. Now I hadn't worn these pants in quite some time so was pretty impressed when firstly they made it over my hips and secondly when I was able to do the button up. Do not assume for one minute however that because the button is done up the trouble is over, for the zip can do a great deal of damage, even if the button is done up. Just a handy hint to remember there.
I have mentioned that Lexi has a fixation with washing her hands. Well, it's still going. Now she is keen on using soap too. Again these are not bad things, and it's probably just a phase. Actually I'm pretty sure it's definitely just a phase, because when I was cooking yesterday and she wanted to help I told her she couldn't help unless she washed her hands, and she chucked a tanty. Interesting. Washes her hands 50 times a day and then the one time she needs to she doesn't want to. Ah well, funny little mind.
I asked her what she wanted to wear yesterday. What did she choose? A fairy tutu, wings and a wand. Now I didn't buy these for her, they were a gift for her 2nd birthday that have been living in the cupboard because she has had no interest. But the fairy phase appears to have now arrived. And I must say she looks adorable.
Tabitha I tried to get into a dress again. Tabitha my beautiful little princess that screams and runs away if she even so much as sees a dress let alone puts it on. However I was pretty adamant that I wanted her to wear this dress, even just to get used to having a dress on. After a small amount of carry on I finally managed to get the dress on her, and 5 minutes of carrying on and crying and whinging became normality as Lexi must have cast a spell on her with the fairy wand. So we had a fairy and a little princess in a beautiful blue dress. Lasted about 20 minutes, but that's 20 minutes longer than usual so I'll take it.
Santa had to wait, we didn't quite get there yesterday, but it was a very good practice run. And I guess the nappy bag is now packed so that's one less thing to do tomorrow when we do go see the jolly fat red man.
I really need to get my backside into gear and get these gingerbread cookies made. I don't recall ever having made gingerbread before. I've made a gingerbread house before but it was prefab in the box. Not quite the same. It's just like making a pavlova using one of those little eggs "pavlova magic" or whatever they're called. Good end result, without the slog, but sometimes the slog is what makes it fun. Sometimes.
I will have to make a start on the next two assignments as I'll be missing a chunk in January when we head down to Victoria, a trip about which I am very excited. The weather here has been nothing short of ridiculous and I can't wait to escape it, even just for a while.
I had a great deal of trouble waking up this morning. Angus did his usual wake up at around 4.45am, but Lexi had been up at 11.30pm and I hadn't yet got to sleep after the huge excitement of my bingo outing (which by the way was unsuccessful), so I didn't get to sleep til after 12. 4 and a bit hours sleep is not enough. Not at all. So I'm going to have a coffee now. A strong one. And have a think about what we might do today.....
Monday, December 20, 2010
What are the odds
of two of your friends who are pregnant at the same time having their babies within three hours of one another, at the same hospital? Bizarre isn't it?! But fabulous, I'm so happy for them both. Both first time mums, one with a little girl and one with a little boy, and both of them are going to be great mums, I just know it.
And today my little tiny baby boy is 3 months old. 3 months. Until you have children of your own you truly can't understand it when you hear mothers say "they grow up so fast". Because they do, and not fast as in oh gee that year went fast and we did this and that, fast as in they go from lying down to crawling from rolling to walking from gurgling to talking, and all this happens at such an alarming rate that your baby literally becomes a little person in what seems like the blink of an eye.
I can see why some people choose to have large families. Aside from the fact that it is wonderful for the kids to have siblings as they are growing up, from a mum's point of view the "baby" stage is so very quick, yet it is such a beautiful little stage.
Take this morning for example. My little darling woke up at 4.45am, which is amazing considering he had been asleep since around about 6pm last night, and when he woke up he didn't wake up crying, he rarely ever does. He woke up cooing. Like a little turtle dove (well, it is the Christmas season isn't it....). And when I went over to his cot he looked up at me and his entire body smiled, sufficient to melt my heart yet again. And yes, I was tired, and he chose not to go back to sleep until the girls were awake, but what a lovely way to start the day....cooing and smiles from a little child who thinks you are their world. And you are quite happy to be that world for that little child.
We put the Christmas tree up yesterday. We only had one bauble fatality and it was a little one so we did relatively well. I have somehow managed to lose all my tinsel though. I'm a little upset by that as some of it was that nice big "fluffy" tinsel with three or four shades of colour through it, and I haven't seen it for some time at the stores. I have no idea where I initially got it but I think I bought it in the first place because it was different. Hmmm. Not rapt about that. Might have to retinsel somehow. Lexi found one of the little french horn ornaments and decided to try and mimic playing it, which looked adorable I must say, and then Tabitha, following suit, did the same only with a glitter snowflake. Consequently Tabitha's face was then, and still is now, covered in glitter. Glitter sticks. More than anything. And you will find it months later. Sand is similar though not quite as sticky. If your child upends a cup of sand in their hair from the playpit at playgroup, be prepared for many many washings of the hair. And weeks of finding sand. Angus ended up with glitter on him too, and he wasn't even in the room. How that works I have no idea. Airborne glitter? Maybe it's a Christmas thing....and he wanted to get involved..... Or maybe Tabitha ran in there and "patted" him hello. That's probably a lot more likely.
I'm building up energy to take the kids for santa photographs. Last year was not supremely successful and I ended up in the picture as well, arms firmly holding young Lexi. Tabitha, well, she was nonplussed by the whole situation and truly didn't give a care either way. It will be very interesting to see how the jolly fat red man is received this year.
It's been incredibly hot here of late. To the point where I am doing visualisations of snow to try and cool myself down. And yet over the other side of the world they are suffering through -9 and truckloads of snow. You'd think that somewhere on this earth would be a happy medium wouldn't you? I wonder where that is.....should I just google happy medium??
Tabitha has just run off with a bag chicken box. And she is in the bathroom. And there is silence. And I am wondering if I will need to throw the bag chicken box away after this. I really need to remember to shut that door.....
And today my little tiny baby boy is 3 months old. 3 months. Until you have children of your own you truly can't understand it when you hear mothers say "they grow up so fast". Because they do, and not fast as in oh gee that year went fast and we did this and that, fast as in they go from lying down to crawling from rolling to walking from gurgling to talking, and all this happens at such an alarming rate that your baby literally becomes a little person in what seems like the blink of an eye.
I can see why some people choose to have large families. Aside from the fact that it is wonderful for the kids to have siblings as they are growing up, from a mum's point of view the "baby" stage is so very quick, yet it is such a beautiful little stage.
Take this morning for example. My little darling woke up at 4.45am, which is amazing considering he had been asleep since around about 6pm last night, and when he woke up he didn't wake up crying, he rarely ever does. He woke up cooing. Like a little turtle dove (well, it is the Christmas season isn't it....). And when I went over to his cot he looked up at me and his entire body smiled, sufficient to melt my heart yet again. And yes, I was tired, and he chose not to go back to sleep until the girls were awake, but what a lovely way to start the day....cooing and smiles from a little child who thinks you are their world. And you are quite happy to be that world for that little child.
We put the Christmas tree up yesterday. We only had one bauble fatality and it was a little one so we did relatively well. I have somehow managed to lose all my tinsel though. I'm a little upset by that as some of it was that nice big "fluffy" tinsel with three or four shades of colour through it, and I haven't seen it for some time at the stores. I have no idea where I initially got it but I think I bought it in the first place because it was different. Hmmm. Not rapt about that. Might have to retinsel somehow. Lexi found one of the little french horn ornaments and decided to try and mimic playing it, which looked adorable I must say, and then Tabitha, following suit, did the same only with a glitter snowflake. Consequently Tabitha's face was then, and still is now, covered in glitter. Glitter sticks. More than anything. And you will find it months later. Sand is similar though not quite as sticky. If your child upends a cup of sand in their hair from the playpit at playgroup, be prepared for many many washings of the hair. And weeks of finding sand. Angus ended up with glitter on him too, and he wasn't even in the room. How that works I have no idea. Airborne glitter? Maybe it's a Christmas thing....and he wanted to get involved..... Or maybe Tabitha ran in there and "patted" him hello. That's probably a lot more likely.
I'm building up energy to take the kids for santa photographs. Last year was not supremely successful and I ended up in the picture as well, arms firmly holding young Lexi. Tabitha, well, she was nonplussed by the whole situation and truly didn't give a care either way. It will be very interesting to see how the jolly fat red man is received this year.
It's been incredibly hot here of late. To the point where I am doing visualisations of snow to try and cool myself down. And yet over the other side of the world they are suffering through -9 and truckloads of snow. You'd think that somewhere on this earth would be a happy medium wouldn't you? I wonder where that is.....should I just google happy medium??
Tabitha has just run off with a bag chicken box. And she is in the bathroom. And there is silence. And I am wondering if I will need to throw the bag chicken box away after this. I really need to remember to shut that door.....
Sunday, December 19, 2010
Saturday, December 18, 2010
I have decided
that I have too much stuff. Full stop. So I have made the executive decision to get rid of it and thus I have created myself a garage sale on facebook. As you do. And so as I find stuff I think I don't need I'm going to put it in there and hopefully get rid of it bit by bit. Why? Well, I think I might be a hoarder. Just a little bit. Well, not really, but a little bit, maybe. Or perhaps it is more appropriate to say I have a bit of an addictive personality. I'm addicted to "mystery packs" and things like that, and have done that many different party plan and whatnot things that I have been left with lots of leftover perfumes, my cupboards are literally overflowing with Tupperware and for a while there I had pretty well every colour of Avon lipstick. Why do I do it? I have absolutely no idea. I think it may have something to do with the fact that I love filling out paperwork. Insane? Yes. Totally. And making lists too. So with these things you get to order stuff and fill in the forms, and then you get deliveries of things so it's like you get good mail that isn't bills!!! So there is definitely method to my madness!!!
I'm trying to build up motivation to make the gingerbread cookies I was going to make 3 days ago. Haven't made them yet. Lexi is pestering me to do something, I don't know what though because whatever it is she is saying I haven't quite worked out how to interpret yet. She has an enormous vocabulary now, however not all her words are formed exactly as they should be so sometimes it's a little difficult to know exactly what she's saying. Tabitha on the other hand has a smaller vocabulary, still enormous for her age, but is very easy to understand. I wonder what Angus will be like.....
If anyone says to you they don't compare kids don't believe them. Everyone does, always. Not in a competitive way, just in a "oh, well my daughter never did this but my son did" kind of way. It is human nature. Accept it.
I'm thinking pancakes. I don't know why, I just am. With golden syrup. Oh sensational. I won't make them though, I'm just going to think about them. This is going to be my new diet....thinking. Instead of eating everything I want to eat I'm just going to think about it. I was watching Man Vs Food last night and he was in Amarillo Texas and it was meat and chilli galore and I was literally salivating watching them make the burger from hell. I could almost taste it in my mouth, could almost feel the heat of the cup full of jalapenos they use on every burger, could taste the bitiness of the cheese and feel the warm flowing glow of the habanero hot sauce. There were beers in a large bath tub full of ice as well. I could feel myself drinking one of those to quell the burning caused by the chilli. Oh my, it was sensational. Truly truly sensational.
And now I want a burger. Damn. Maybe it isn't going to work after all.
I'm trying to build up motivation to make the gingerbread cookies I was going to make 3 days ago. Haven't made them yet. Lexi is pestering me to do something, I don't know what though because whatever it is she is saying I haven't quite worked out how to interpret yet. She has an enormous vocabulary now, however not all her words are formed exactly as they should be so sometimes it's a little difficult to know exactly what she's saying. Tabitha on the other hand has a smaller vocabulary, still enormous for her age, but is very easy to understand. I wonder what Angus will be like.....
If anyone says to you they don't compare kids don't believe them. Everyone does, always. Not in a competitive way, just in a "oh, well my daughter never did this but my son did" kind of way. It is human nature. Accept it.
I'm thinking pancakes. I don't know why, I just am. With golden syrup. Oh sensational. I won't make them though, I'm just going to think about them. This is going to be my new diet....thinking. Instead of eating everything I want to eat I'm just going to think about it. I was watching Man Vs Food last night and he was in Amarillo Texas and it was meat and chilli galore and I was literally salivating watching them make the burger from hell. I could almost taste it in my mouth, could almost feel the heat of the cup full of jalapenos they use on every burger, could taste the bitiness of the cheese and feel the warm flowing glow of the habanero hot sauce. There were beers in a large bath tub full of ice as well. I could feel myself drinking one of those to quell the burning caused by the chilli. Oh my, it was sensational. Truly truly sensational.
And now I want a burger. Damn. Maybe it isn't going to work after all.
Fitting three children in the car
was tricky, but we did it. The two girls seats on the passenger and driver sides and Angus's capsule reverse facing in the middle. Fits okay now but I doubt it will fit when we need to turn it around in a few months' time.
So we had our first outing last night to see the Christmas lights of Mackay. At first we spotted just some little hanging icicle lights and the girls were slightly nonplussed by this, but then we saw some people who had really gone to a special effort....competition entries....they are a breed of their own aren't they? Anyway, pretty soon Lexi was saying "there's one", "on my side" and various other lovely tidbits of joy, and Tabitha was chiming in with "wow" and "none there" which was quite amusing to hear, talking about the houses that hadn't bothered with lights.
We saw some beautiful lights, we met some santas, some more rummed up than others, but I think it was a great way to get the girls feeling more comfortable with santa than previously. Years gone by has seen santa send the girls screaming, running towards me as fast as they can to shelter behind the incredibly powerful cover it seems my legs give. So to have them actually say "hi santa" as we saw the various different santas in differing states of intoxication was a step in the right direction.
I was feeding Angus yesterday afternoon when I heard what can only be defined as a ruckus. A good ole fashioned ruckus. Lexi had in her hand a toothbrush, and Tabitha had a small spoon. Together they were finding every item of furniture, or wall, that made a sound and bashing their respective implements on the different surfaces, laughing with glee at the different sounds they were making. In between the bashing I heard the thud thud thud of running (there is no pitter pat as the feet attached to the girls are anything but tiny), from one end of the house to the other. So I yelled to Lexi "what are you doing?" She came running and stopped, leaning, out of breath and replied "making noise". I asked, she answered.
It is yet another hot day in the armpit of Australia and the aircon has been on since the wee hours of the morning again. It's also muggy. Very very muggy. So when you venture outside into the searing heat, squealing like a lobster being thrown into a pot of boiling water, as soon as you get into the car your sunglasses will fog up. Instantly. Oh joy. And you will forget that seatbelts have more conductivity than any sort of metal as you go to place the sash across you.
So what is better? Searing heat or freezing cold? There are parts of Europe that are going through a record cold snap and there is snow absolutely everywhere. Me personally, I prefer snow. Of course I do, that's why I moved to the tropics. I'm so logical. Still, I do love the snow. Just thinking about it cools me down actually. Perhaps I should just do that....think about snow. Oooh maybe if I go to the video store and hire all the DVDs of movies set in the snow then maybe I'll feel cooler.
Genius! Think outside the square. Until then though I might just loiter inside the fridge and pretend to look for something.....
So we had our first outing last night to see the Christmas lights of Mackay. At first we spotted just some little hanging icicle lights and the girls were slightly nonplussed by this, but then we saw some people who had really gone to a special effort....competition entries....they are a breed of their own aren't they? Anyway, pretty soon Lexi was saying "there's one", "on my side" and various other lovely tidbits of joy, and Tabitha was chiming in with "wow" and "none there" which was quite amusing to hear, talking about the houses that hadn't bothered with lights.
We saw some beautiful lights, we met some santas, some more rummed up than others, but I think it was a great way to get the girls feeling more comfortable with santa than previously. Years gone by has seen santa send the girls screaming, running towards me as fast as they can to shelter behind the incredibly powerful cover it seems my legs give. So to have them actually say "hi santa" as we saw the various different santas in differing states of intoxication was a step in the right direction.
I was feeding Angus yesterday afternoon when I heard what can only be defined as a ruckus. A good ole fashioned ruckus. Lexi had in her hand a toothbrush, and Tabitha had a small spoon. Together they were finding every item of furniture, or wall, that made a sound and bashing their respective implements on the different surfaces, laughing with glee at the different sounds they were making. In between the bashing I heard the thud thud thud of running (there is no pitter pat as the feet attached to the girls are anything but tiny), from one end of the house to the other. So I yelled to Lexi "what are you doing?" She came running and stopped, leaning, out of breath and replied "making noise". I asked, she answered.
It is yet another hot day in the armpit of Australia and the aircon has been on since the wee hours of the morning again. It's also muggy. Very very muggy. So when you venture outside into the searing heat, squealing like a lobster being thrown into a pot of boiling water, as soon as you get into the car your sunglasses will fog up. Instantly. Oh joy. And you will forget that seatbelts have more conductivity than any sort of metal as you go to place the sash across you.
So what is better? Searing heat or freezing cold? There are parts of Europe that are going through a record cold snap and there is snow absolutely everywhere. Me personally, I prefer snow. Of course I do, that's why I moved to the tropics. I'm so logical. Still, I do love the snow. Just thinking about it cools me down actually. Perhaps I should just do that....think about snow. Oooh maybe if I go to the video store and hire all the DVDs of movies set in the snow then maybe I'll feel cooler.
Genius! Think outside the square. Until then though I might just loiter inside the fridge and pretend to look for something.....
Friday, December 17, 2010
Last night
the kids made me realise why it is that I feel the need to be super organised when it comes to study and timetabling when I get things done. Lexi was up and down several times before I even went to bed, and once pumpkin o'clock hit it was on for young and old with Miss Tabitha. By 3am I ended up giving her a bottle in the hope it would settle her. Thankfully it did, however a mere 20 minutes after I had flopped my tired, sorry body into bed young Mr Angus decided it was up and at em time. So he had a bottle, I popped him back into bed, popped myself back into bed to wake up to Lexi climbing on top of me for cuddles. I was absolutely knackered after a night of basically no sleep, but what a wonderful way to wake up. Little man was awake by then again too, and as I went over to him and said "how are you going mate" which is a pretty standard greeting for my little man, his whole face lit up with a smile that could light a whole city. Such a gorgeous little guy he is. And then of course it was not long before mini chick got in on the action too, and as I walked into her room she was standing up in her cot, looking over to me, and said "hi mum". Ah yes. You can be so exhausted and know the reason for your exhaustion is that which grows at an alarming rate in front of you, and just the look on their faces is enough to make it all better. Doesn't stop me getting annoyed with them over the course of the day, but they do rock. Quite intensely.
I love how the kids are growing up, but my god it's hard to keep up with them. As we speak Tabitha is opening and closing the pantry door, screaming "no" at the salt because it won't sit on the shelf properly. Well, there you go, it finally sat properly and she said "ta" to it. At least she has manners.....
Last night I had all three kids in bed and asleep by 6.51pm. That's pretty impressive by anyone's standards. Such a shame the train wreck that followed didn't take the path of good example set by how well the night started.
I learned something yesterday. In fact it was not actually something I learned so much as something about which I was reminded. If you leave a drawer open in the room in which your son's cot resides, you will find everything from that drawer placed, quite haphazardly, in said cot. Whether or not your son is actually asleep in the cot at that time is not the concern of she who places the clothes into the cot, however on this occasion thankfully there was no child in there. Luckily for me, and Angus for that matter, I become suspicious if I hear no sound for a period longer than 30 seconds and go to investigate. And then if I hear an abundance of sound, well, I'm almost scared to investigate. So silence is bad, noise is good. Really, when you think about it. At least if there is noise there is a definite location of where the children are.
I haven't lost the kids many times, but it has happened. Only in the house, but that's enough to freak me out. The first time Lexi disappeared I found her behind her little pink castle in the toyroom, surrounded by enormous care bears. The first time Tabitha disappeared I found her behind the wardrobe. As you do. Laughing. But only once I had found her. The next time Lexi disappeared I found her asleep under her bed. Now that was an impressive effort because I had literally only been speaking with her minutes beforehand. Yes, when my girl is tired she's tired and to sleep she will go. It doesn't happen often that she has random sleeps in odd places, but every now and then it does and when it does, well, I take photos.
I have another online grocery delivery today, and today shall be just a little different, for today is the first day I will be receiving substituted items. Hmmm. Interesting. They state that the item will be replaced with something comparable at no additional charge. I'll be very very interested to see how this pans out.....particularly considering the items that are being substituted range from fresh veggies right through to meat, and olive oil also. Interesting. Very very interesting.
Just as a note, ordering icing sugar from online grocery shopping is not a good idea. The truck is refrigerated (which is a good thing) but the refrigeration encourages the icing sugar into lumps and when you go to use it in your icing it will not work near as well. Just thought you'd like to know that.
I'm struggling with the realisation that yet another year is over. And then 2011 will be here. Just like that.
I'm also wondering whether it is worth doing a New Year's Resolution. Everyone knows that they tend to be just puffs of thought that 9 times out of 10 don't get followed through. I could resolve all sorts of things, but if I want to do that why do I need to wait for a specific date to do so? So I have decided that instead of doing a New Year's Resolution I'm going to do a random resolution. I've never used that random.org so I'm going to go there, type in the numbers and see when I am to do my resolution for next year. It'll be as good a day as any.
Well, I just did it. You're not going to believe this......
So theoretically my date to do my resolution instead of New Year's Day is in fact the 19th of December. Just in time for the following year.
That's my kind of resolution........
I love how the kids are growing up, but my god it's hard to keep up with them. As we speak Tabitha is opening and closing the pantry door, screaming "no" at the salt because it won't sit on the shelf properly. Well, there you go, it finally sat properly and she said "ta" to it. At least she has manners.....
Last night I had all three kids in bed and asleep by 6.51pm. That's pretty impressive by anyone's standards. Such a shame the train wreck that followed didn't take the path of good example set by how well the night started.
I learned something yesterday. In fact it was not actually something I learned so much as something about which I was reminded. If you leave a drawer open in the room in which your son's cot resides, you will find everything from that drawer placed, quite haphazardly, in said cot. Whether or not your son is actually asleep in the cot at that time is not the concern of she who places the clothes into the cot, however on this occasion thankfully there was no child in there. Luckily for me, and Angus for that matter, I become suspicious if I hear no sound for a period longer than 30 seconds and go to investigate. And then if I hear an abundance of sound, well, I'm almost scared to investigate. So silence is bad, noise is good. Really, when you think about it. At least if there is noise there is a definite location of where the children are.
I haven't lost the kids many times, but it has happened. Only in the house, but that's enough to freak me out. The first time Lexi disappeared I found her behind her little pink castle in the toyroom, surrounded by enormous care bears. The first time Tabitha disappeared I found her behind the wardrobe. As you do. Laughing. But only once I had found her. The next time Lexi disappeared I found her asleep under her bed. Now that was an impressive effort because I had literally only been speaking with her minutes beforehand. Yes, when my girl is tired she's tired and to sleep she will go. It doesn't happen often that she has random sleeps in odd places, but every now and then it does and when it does, well, I take photos.
I have another online grocery delivery today, and today shall be just a little different, for today is the first day I will be receiving substituted items. Hmmm. Interesting. They state that the item will be replaced with something comparable at no additional charge. I'll be very very interested to see how this pans out.....particularly considering the items that are being substituted range from fresh veggies right through to meat, and olive oil also. Interesting. Very very interesting.
Just as a note, ordering icing sugar from online grocery shopping is not a good idea. The truck is refrigerated (which is a good thing) but the refrigeration encourages the icing sugar into lumps and when you go to use it in your icing it will not work near as well. Just thought you'd like to know that.
I'm struggling with the realisation that yet another year is over. And then 2011 will be here. Just like that.
I'm also wondering whether it is worth doing a New Year's Resolution. Everyone knows that they tend to be just puffs of thought that 9 times out of 10 don't get followed through. I could resolve all sorts of things, but if I want to do that why do I need to wait for a specific date to do so? So I have decided that instead of doing a New Year's Resolution I'm going to do a random resolution. I've never used that random.org so I'm going to go there, type in the numbers and see when I am to do my resolution for next year. It'll be as good a day as any.
Well, I just did it. You're not going to believe this......
So theoretically my date to do my resolution instead of New Year's Day is in fact the 19th of December. Just in time for the following year.
That's my kind of resolution........
Thursday, December 16, 2010
I am a nerd
There is no other explanation for it. And it has taken 37 years for me to become that way, however there is simply no escaping the fact that nerd I am and nerd I will continue to be.
Here's my reasoning. I am studying two masters subjects this semester. Each subject has three essays, so that's a total of 6 essays. The first two essays were due on the same day (tomorrow), the following two are due within a week or so of each other, and the same with the third ones. The subjects seem to run in parallel. That's fine, that makes sense. So in order to make sure I allowed myself enough time I started one as soon as I got the topic and allowed myself half the time to do it, leaving the remaining half to do the second one. That meant that I had one essay done two weeks earlier than it was due, and one completed today, the day before it is due.
Now I have worked very hard on these essays, so when I logged on to the uni website today to see people still asking absolutely fundamental questions about the topic itself I realised that once upon a time that could well have been me.....partying and out and about and then realising the day before something was due that it was in fact due, and then going like a bat out of hell to get it done.
Well, I am no bat, although some of my days are hell. And here I am, both essays due tomorrow, and both completed, and I'm happy with them. Both of them. So I think that makes me a nerd. Still, I'm a nerd who has done the essays and can sit and chill tonight, as much as mums to three under three chill that is.
I'm even organised enough to have arranged a small extension on the next assignment because it is due the day I arrive back from Victoria. Ultra nerdism right there and then. Or is it organisation? What about organerdation? That seems like a good blend of the two.
I need an extra pair of hands at the moment.....Angus is awake and wanting a feed, Lexi has finished dinner and is ready for a bath and Tabitha is so close to being finished that by the time I finish typing this sentence her mouth will be chewing the last bite, ready to swallow and open her mouth to alert me, sirenesquely (I made that word up and I think I will continue to use it) that she is ready to hop down.
On a side note, there are several words that I believe should be incorporated into the English language. Nahmate is one such example. It's something that makes quite a bit of sense if you think about it. "I asked the lecturer for an extension and he nahmated me". It means nah, mate, not gonna happen. So if you haven't heard it before, will you accept my challenge to incorporate this incredibly meaningful word into our ever expanding language?? Are you up to it?? I hope you don't nahmate me.......
Here's my reasoning. I am studying two masters subjects this semester. Each subject has three essays, so that's a total of 6 essays. The first two essays were due on the same day (tomorrow), the following two are due within a week or so of each other, and the same with the third ones. The subjects seem to run in parallel. That's fine, that makes sense. So in order to make sure I allowed myself enough time I started one as soon as I got the topic and allowed myself half the time to do it, leaving the remaining half to do the second one. That meant that I had one essay done two weeks earlier than it was due, and one completed today, the day before it is due.
Now I have worked very hard on these essays, so when I logged on to the uni website today to see people still asking absolutely fundamental questions about the topic itself I realised that once upon a time that could well have been me.....partying and out and about and then realising the day before something was due that it was in fact due, and then going like a bat out of hell to get it done.
Well, I am no bat, although some of my days are hell. And here I am, both essays due tomorrow, and both completed, and I'm happy with them. Both of them. So I think that makes me a nerd. Still, I'm a nerd who has done the essays and can sit and chill tonight, as much as mums to three under three chill that is.
I'm even organised enough to have arranged a small extension on the next assignment because it is due the day I arrive back from Victoria. Ultra nerdism right there and then. Or is it organisation? What about organerdation? That seems like a good blend of the two.
I need an extra pair of hands at the moment.....Angus is awake and wanting a feed, Lexi has finished dinner and is ready for a bath and Tabitha is so close to being finished that by the time I finish typing this sentence her mouth will be chewing the last bite, ready to swallow and open her mouth to alert me, sirenesquely (I made that word up and I think I will continue to use it) that she is ready to hop down.
On a side note, there are several words that I believe should be incorporated into the English language. Nahmate is one such example. It's something that makes quite a bit of sense if you think about it. "I asked the lecturer for an extension and he nahmated me". It means nah, mate, not gonna happen. So if you haven't heard it before, will you accept my challenge to incorporate this incredibly meaningful word into our ever expanding language?? Are you up to it?? I hope you don't nahmate me.......
I had a frozen coke
this morning. It was not intentional. It was in fact purely accidental. And yes, I am drinking Coke again. As I may have mentioned I lasted 6 days Coke free, and now it is back in my eating plan. Not near as much though, I'm not trawling through litres of it, but I do allow myself a glass when I feel like it, and this morning I felt like it. So why did I have a frozen Coke? Well I think my fridge is having an identity crisis. It firmly believes it is a freezer. On top of the coke I also have frozen dip, frozen lettuce and frozen spring onions. Now I'm not sure if you have seen any of these things frozen but it is a state in which they do not feel supremely comfortable, nor one from which they will recover unscathed. I even had turned the fridge down (or up, I'm not exactly sure what is the correct expression referring to coldness) to try and avoid the freezing that was occurring. One day, one lovely day in the future, I will have one of those mega fridges, a side by side fridge freezer, with many shelves and many compartments and it will never freeze food unintentionally. It will be at the top of its fridgey class and have no identity issues. Its best friend will be a 900mm oven. And there will be little children, a popcorn maker and a fairyfloss maker, happily tucked away playing hide and seek until they are found and put to use.
I love kitchen gadgets. Oh so very much. Not so much the gadgety gadgets, just appliances. The most recent addition is a bread maker, which I love, yet am still to use properly. I have made only plain and French breads, with one little mediterranean loaf thrown in there. I am hankering for pumpkin bread too, but every time I remember I wanted to make pumpkin bread I have either forgotten to get pumpkin or my schizophrenic fridge has frozen it.
The slow cooker is a must for any mother. Absolutely invaluable. You can just chuck everything in in the morning, turn it on, then by the arvo there you go. Dinner. Just like that.
The pressure cooker is also a wonderful invention. It's like a slow cooker on speed. And meat comes out tasting oh so tender. There are a few traps for the inexperienced players though. Pressure cookers have a pressure valve, and in the "olden days" these valves had no little safety mechanisms on them, they were basically a metal whistle that sat over a steam hole vent on the top of the pressure cooker, and you would need to manually release the steam in order to get the pressure cooker open again after cooking. I used to have such a pressure cooker. That is until one day when I was making beef with a red wine and mushroom sauce. This was only my second attempt at using the pressure cooker in question. So when I released the valve I inadvertently completely uncovered the steam hole vent thus proceeding to coat my ceiling in a thin layer of beef with red wine and mushroom sauce. And before you ask, yes, it did stain. And yes, it did take an awful long time to clean. Consequently I had KFC for dinner that night and that pressure cooker found the direct way to kitchen gadget heaven.
Other items have found their way into our kitchen. The milkshake maker is something Mick and the girls adore. I don't drink milk so it isn't my cup of tea (or milk I should say), but I believe it played an integral role in getting Tabitha to actually drink milk rather than formula. The toaster, well, it's a toaster. We have a donut maker too but donuts in the donut maker just aren't the same as donuts from Donut King or one of those sort of places, so I'm somewhat hesitant to make more in case the disappointment is too much too handle. I love the fluffy, light, warm cinnamon donuts, with sugary cinnamony goodness that sticks to your fingers. Mmmmm.
My second essay is not finished yet. I sort of forgot, but sort of didn't forget, that it was due tomorrow. So the last few days I have been belting my brain trying to absorb facts about the international sale of goods, as you do. Today I hope to get this essay finished, and possibly even commence the next one. For we are going away on January 5 and shan't return until late on January 14, and the essay is due on the 14th. Hmmm. Not ideal timing there. And I should probably mention that as I am laptop challenged, I shan't be blogging during that time.
I wonder where I will put all my thoughts?? And I wonder if anyone will miss me......
Caffeine o'clock. TTFN.
I love kitchen gadgets. Oh so very much. Not so much the gadgety gadgets, just appliances. The most recent addition is a bread maker, which I love, yet am still to use properly. I have made only plain and French breads, with one little mediterranean loaf thrown in there. I am hankering for pumpkin bread too, but every time I remember I wanted to make pumpkin bread I have either forgotten to get pumpkin or my schizophrenic fridge has frozen it.
The slow cooker is a must for any mother. Absolutely invaluable. You can just chuck everything in in the morning, turn it on, then by the arvo there you go. Dinner. Just like that.
The pressure cooker is also a wonderful invention. It's like a slow cooker on speed. And meat comes out tasting oh so tender. There are a few traps for the inexperienced players though. Pressure cookers have a pressure valve, and in the "olden days" these valves had no little safety mechanisms on them, they were basically a metal whistle that sat over a steam hole vent on the top of the pressure cooker, and you would need to manually release the steam in order to get the pressure cooker open again after cooking. I used to have such a pressure cooker. That is until one day when I was making beef with a red wine and mushroom sauce. This was only my second attempt at using the pressure cooker in question. So when I released the valve I inadvertently completely uncovered the steam hole vent thus proceeding to coat my ceiling in a thin layer of beef with red wine and mushroom sauce. And before you ask, yes, it did stain. And yes, it did take an awful long time to clean. Consequently I had KFC for dinner that night and that pressure cooker found the direct way to kitchen gadget heaven.
Other items have found their way into our kitchen. The milkshake maker is something Mick and the girls adore. I don't drink milk so it isn't my cup of tea (or milk I should say), but I believe it played an integral role in getting Tabitha to actually drink milk rather than formula. The toaster, well, it's a toaster. We have a donut maker too but donuts in the donut maker just aren't the same as donuts from Donut King or one of those sort of places, so I'm somewhat hesitant to make more in case the disappointment is too much too handle. I love the fluffy, light, warm cinnamon donuts, with sugary cinnamony goodness that sticks to your fingers. Mmmmm.
My second essay is not finished yet. I sort of forgot, but sort of didn't forget, that it was due tomorrow. So the last few days I have been belting my brain trying to absorb facts about the international sale of goods, as you do. Today I hope to get this essay finished, and possibly even commence the next one. For we are going away on January 5 and shan't return until late on January 14, and the essay is due on the 14th. Hmmm. Not ideal timing there. And I should probably mention that as I am laptop challenged, I shan't be blogging during that time.
I wonder where I will put all my thoughts?? And I wonder if anyone will miss me......
Caffeine o'clock. TTFN.
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Mother nature
is a clever little chicken. In some ways anyway. Now there are a few things that are possibly less than clever, such as making the town in which I live alternate between varying levels of flooding with extreme heat and blazing sunshine with extreme heat and 98% humidity. Not the brightest idea. But then again there are some clever things, such as the nifty little things certain animals can do, or the way they look.
Cane toads are pretty ugly things aren't they? But they can hide very very well, as is proven when you go to take out a bag of rubbish at night only to inadvertently step on one. And yes, it does feel as disgusting as you would think.
Then there are those lizards that have the big wizard capes on to deter would be predators. That's pretty clever when you think about it, and my they look hilarious when they run too.....
Oooh actually I'm probably most impressed with chameleons. Anything that can change the way it looks purely to reflect and blend into its surroundings has my vote.
The one that does get me is the gecko. Gecko's are everywhere up here. No house is complete without at least one gecko. It may be your stock standard gecko coloured gecko, or it might be one of those translucent ones that just look odd. Little albino geckos. I can't say I have ever looked closely enough at one to see if it has pink eyes or not, but I have a fairly strong belief that they are albino and that's good enough for me.
Then there are the drop tail geckos. They have been given a mechanism by which if they are threatened in any way they can actually drop their tail. Ingenious. However, there are certain circumstances in which this mechanism is, for all intents and purposes, useless. One such example of this is when said gecko is trapped inside a zebra shaped tent with a 2 and a half year old child. Nature didn't plan on that one now did she.
Lexi has recently learned how to reach the sink and tap and as such she washes her hands literally dozens of times every day. As has been pointed out to me, yes, there are worse things she could be doing so it probably isn't the end of the world. It does however make for a treacherous path for miss Tabitha. For Lexi doesn't quite dry the hands properly and thus small droplets of water follow her wherever she goes. Tabitha also follows Lexi wherever she goes. Usually at speed. Our floor is lino. I think you can probably imagine the rest. Needless to say Tabitha's porcelain skin contains a fair portion of black and blue as well.
I'm no longer allowed to feed Tabitha. Much of the time she feeds herself anyway, but I would step in where things of a very messy nature were involved. Now, should I approach Tabitha with anything that looks like an eating implement I am confronted with the sound that one would imagine a cat would make should you try pull out its claws one by one. Not that I have ever done that, I'm not a cat person, but I can imagine. This realisation came for Tabitha upon the presentation of her plate of some incredibly messy looking spaghetti bolognaise last night. It was tricky bolognaise too as I had very finely grated carrot and sweet potato in there to give a sly dose of vegies. Worked a treat.
I have just been reminded that it is only 10 days until Christmas. I have absolutely no idea what we are doing and haven't even put the tree up yet. Might do that this arvo I think. If not, well, I'll do it at some stage. The kids will get a kick out of it anyway, hopefully not literally, although you never know.
Lexi is running in and out of the room and each time brings with her a tissue which she dutifully scrunches up before throwing it into the rubbish bin. We're up to the fourth or fifth visit now. And no, the tissues are not used. I wonder how many of those tissues are creating a yellow brick road from the tissue box to the bin.....and on that note I must explain to Lexi that tissues are not toys.....amazing the things you find yourself saying when you have children.......
Cane toads are pretty ugly things aren't they? But they can hide very very well, as is proven when you go to take out a bag of rubbish at night only to inadvertently step on one. And yes, it does feel as disgusting as you would think.
Then there are those lizards that have the big wizard capes on to deter would be predators. That's pretty clever when you think about it, and my they look hilarious when they run too.....
Oooh actually I'm probably most impressed with chameleons. Anything that can change the way it looks purely to reflect and blend into its surroundings has my vote.
The one that does get me is the gecko. Gecko's are everywhere up here. No house is complete without at least one gecko. It may be your stock standard gecko coloured gecko, or it might be one of those translucent ones that just look odd. Little albino geckos. I can't say I have ever looked closely enough at one to see if it has pink eyes or not, but I have a fairly strong belief that they are albino and that's good enough for me.
Then there are the drop tail geckos. They have been given a mechanism by which if they are threatened in any way they can actually drop their tail. Ingenious. However, there are certain circumstances in which this mechanism is, for all intents and purposes, useless. One such example of this is when said gecko is trapped inside a zebra shaped tent with a 2 and a half year old child. Nature didn't plan on that one now did she.
Lexi has recently learned how to reach the sink and tap and as such she washes her hands literally dozens of times every day. As has been pointed out to me, yes, there are worse things she could be doing so it probably isn't the end of the world. It does however make for a treacherous path for miss Tabitha. For Lexi doesn't quite dry the hands properly and thus small droplets of water follow her wherever she goes. Tabitha also follows Lexi wherever she goes. Usually at speed. Our floor is lino. I think you can probably imagine the rest. Needless to say Tabitha's porcelain skin contains a fair portion of black and blue as well.
I'm no longer allowed to feed Tabitha. Much of the time she feeds herself anyway, but I would step in where things of a very messy nature were involved. Now, should I approach Tabitha with anything that looks like an eating implement I am confronted with the sound that one would imagine a cat would make should you try pull out its claws one by one. Not that I have ever done that, I'm not a cat person, but I can imagine. This realisation came for Tabitha upon the presentation of her plate of some incredibly messy looking spaghetti bolognaise last night. It was tricky bolognaise too as I had very finely grated carrot and sweet potato in there to give a sly dose of vegies. Worked a treat.
I have just been reminded that it is only 10 days until Christmas. I have absolutely no idea what we are doing and haven't even put the tree up yet. Might do that this arvo I think. If not, well, I'll do it at some stage. The kids will get a kick out of it anyway, hopefully not literally, although you never know.
Lexi is running in and out of the room and each time brings with her a tissue which she dutifully scrunches up before throwing it into the rubbish bin. We're up to the fourth or fifth visit now. And no, the tissues are not used. I wonder how many of those tissues are creating a yellow brick road from the tissue box to the bin.....and on that note I must explain to Lexi that tissues are not toys.....amazing the things you find yourself saying when you have children.......
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Did you know
that if you leave bananas in the bunch they will ripen quicker? So if you can only find green bananas leave them in a bunch and when they ripen to your liking, separate them off and they'll last longer.
That's the handy tip for the day.
Why is it some days we feel like cleaning a lot? Granted they aren't that often, but some days I get fully insane wanting to clean and make everything as organised as possible. Yesterday I had a pseudo one of those. I feel the need to get rid of things we haven't used in a while. I figure if we haven't used them in 12 months odds are we aren't going to use them in the next 12 months, so they can go. I'll let you know how that works out.
I made pikelets for the girls for brekky this morning. No particular reason, just thought we'd have something a little different to normal. By we I mean them, I don't eat them because they have milk in them and milk and I are far from friends. So the girls are having them, and greatly enjoying them, and whatever's leftover Mick can have for morning tea.
I bought four different colours of food dye yesterday, and some teensy tiny patty pan cases. So I think we might make rainbow cupcakes today. I'll have to make sure Tabitha is well amused doing something else though lest she freak out at the sound of the electric mixer again. Actually I'm not sure if I have enough eggs. Hmm. Probably because of my "I want bacon and eggs and toast and don't want to share" effort yesterday. Doesn't that annoy you.....karma always comes and bites you on the bum. Still, it was very nice.....
Mini dude slept from 6.30pm until 5.30am. He is an amazing little man, what a brilliant sleep. I could have theoretically had a sensational sleep, however that would have required Tabitha not being awake between 11.30 and 2am (or thereabouts). Why? No idea. I'm thinking it's teeth. If in doubt, blame teeth. So I'm a little buggered this morning, just for something different.
I need to light a fire under my tush today though as the other essay which I have been avoiding a little is due in just a few days and is nowhere near finished. Noble as my cause is I really don't care if I don't ace this subject, but a pass would be nice. The other subject, well, I would love to do well in it. This one I'd be happy with anything above the 50 mark.....as I said, noble.....
We have calls of "oh no" coming from the table and I believe it is due to the untimely passing to the ground of half a pikelet. And as humpty dumpty runs through my head I shall go and see if I can indeed put the pikelet back together again. Wish me luck.
That's the handy tip for the day.
Why is it some days we feel like cleaning a lot? Granted they aren't that often, but some days I get fully insane wanting to clean and make everything as organised as possible. Yesterday I had a pseudo one of those. I feel the need to get rid of things we haven't used in a while. I figure if we haven't used them in 12 months odds are we aren't going to use them in the next 12 months, so they can go. I'll let you know how that works out.
I made pikelets for the girls for brekky this morning. No particular reason, just thought we'd have something a little different to normal. By we I mean them, I don't eat them because they have milk in them and milk and I are far from friends. So the girls are having them, and greatly enjoying them, and whatever's leftover Mick can have for morning tea.
I bought four different colours of food dye yesterday, and some teensy tiny patty pan cases. So I think we might make rainbow cupcakes today. I'll have to make sure Tabitha is well amused doing something else though lest she freak out at the sound of the electric mixer again. Actually I'm not sure if I have enough eggs. Hmm. Probably because of my "I want bacon and eggs and toast and don't want to share" effort yesterday. Doesn't that annoy you.....karma always comes and bites you on the bum. Still, it was very nice.....
Mini dude slept from 6.30pm until 5.30am. He is an amazing little man, what a brilliant sleep. I could have theoretically had a sensational sleep, however that would have required Tabitha not being awake between 11.30 and 2am (or thereabouts). Why? No idea. I'm thinking it's teeth. If in doubt, blame teeth. So I'm a little buggered this morning, just for something different.
I need to light a fire under my tush today though as the other essay which I have been avoiding a little is due in just a few days and is nowhere near finished. Noble as my cause is I really don't care if I don't ace this subject, but a pass would be nice. The other subject, well, I would love to do well in it. This one I'd be happy with anything above the 50 mark.....as I said, noble.....
We have calls of "oh no" coming from the table and I believe it is due to the untimely passing to the ground of half a pikelet. And as humpty dumpty runs through my head I shall go and see if I can indeed put the pikelet back together again. Wish me luck.
Monday, December 13, 2010
I went to the post office.
Twice. Why twice? Because the first time I went I remembered to take one parcel and the tracking number to pick up another. That's pretty good. It's a shame I forgot the other five parcels that were sitting ready to go on the kitchen table. So I had to go twice. That's fine though I killed two birds with one stone and took some baby clothes that Angus has grown out of over to a friend of mine who is due to pop any day. And I mean any day. She is doing washing like there is no tomorrow. This child will arrive very soon, mark my words.
I know quite a few people who are due within the next two weeks, two of them actually due on Christmas Day. Must be hard for Christmas Day babies once they grow up a bit to share their birthday with the whole Christmas Day festivities. On the plus side though, you would always have family close to you on your birthday, which most of us in all honesty can't say happens for us.
My nana died on Christmas Day. She had been ill for some time, but I maintain that she waited until all the relatives had flown from all over Australia to get to her bedside so that for once the entire family would all be together at Christmas. And we spent the day together, and at 8 o'clock that night she died.
I was very lucky, I got to spend lots of time with her. She was a fabulous person, truly fabulous. And you know I realised that part of my love for KFC is directly attributable to my nana. For she used to live behind the KFC and every few weeks we would sit together at her house with a few pieces of chicken and just talk. I just loved spending that time with her. And so I associate KFC with such a positive, feel good, happy and loving feeling that I just don't find elsewhere. Isn't it funny how things just all of a sudden make sense.
My grandpa died on Anzac Day several years ago, and 2.5 years ago on Anzac Day my first daughter was born. I actually love that this happened. I love the circle of life. To know that with every end there is a beginning somewhere.
I am feeling somewhat meditative today. Could be to do with the fact that I have been up since just before 4am, could be the horrendous heat, could be a combination of a lot of things. But that's ok.
I wouldn't call it a bad day today, just a thoughtful one. But bad days are okay too, because without the bad days the good days wouldn't seem quite so good now would they.
I know quite a few people who are due within the next two weeks, two of them actually due on Christmas Day. Must be hard for Christmas Day babies once they grow up a bit to share their birthday with the whole Christmas Day festivities. On the plus side though, you would always have family close to you on your birthday, which most of us in all honesty can't say happens for us.
My nana died on Christmas Day. She had been ill for some time, but I maintain that she waited until all the relatives had flown from all over Australia to get to her bedside so that for once the entire family would all be together at Christmas. And we spent the day together, and at 8 o'clock that night she died.
I was very lucky, I got to spend lots of time with her. She was a fabulous person, truly fabulous. And you know I realised that part of my love for KFC is directly attributable to my nana. For she used to live behind the KFC and every few weeks we would sit together at her house with a few pieces of chicken and just talk. I just loved spending that time with her. And so I associate KFC with such a positive, feel good, happy and loving feeling that I just don't find elsewhere. Isn't it funny how things just all of a sudden make sense.
My grandpa died on Anzac Day several years ago, and 2.5 years ago on Anzac Day my first daughter was born. I actually love that this happened. I love the circle of life. To know that with every end there is a beginning somewhere.
I am feeling somewhat meditative today. Could be to do with the fact that I have been up since just before 4am, could be the horrendous heat, could be a combination of a lot of things. But that's ok.
I wouldn't call it a bad day today, just a thoughtful one. But bad days are okay too, because without the bad days the good days wouldn't seem quite so good now would they.
Sunday, December 12, 2010
Tonight
was the Christmas party. It was starting basically almost the same time I usually get the girls ready and into bed, around 6.30pm. But, well, it's a once a year thing so no harm in it right? And so I got the girls dressed in their glad rags after their bath, and all was good. Although time was dragging, for all of us, because there was obvious excitement there. I had shown Lexi the machine the pig was being roasted on (one of those rotisserie jobbies), and we had heard the music being tested in the afternoon and there was much excitement.
And so around 6pm I decided I should put on some makeup and get myself ready considering the girls were both dressed in their gorgeous little outfits. Stupid stupid stupid. Why did I think that was a sensible thing to do?? Put on makeup you mean? No. Get the girls dressed so early. Well, while I was putting on my makeup Tabitha decided that she should venture into the shower. The shower had recently been used. It was wet. Consequently Tabitha was now wet. And so I had to change her outfit. So I did. But then I wasn't happy with what I put on her. So I had to change her again. Anyway, I finally got her dressed.
Long story short, took Angus and the girls to the party and I have never been prouder in my life. Tabitha usually takes a very long time to warm up to people, but basically as soon as we got there she got herself settled on a chair and started bopping away to the music and she was right. So I think music is the answer! Lexi, well, Lexi is Lexi. The most social creature on the face of the planet. Angus, well, he was asleep for a while and I stupidly passed him over to someone else so I could get some food and of course he woke up didn't he. Kicked myself about that one. Still, once we got home he had a bottle and went straight to sleep. And the girls didn't arc at all when it was time to go home, and both went straight to sleep.
My kids rock. That is all.
Oh, and I ate the equivalent of a small dog worth of crackling tonight and it was sensational. That, definitely, is all.
And so around 6pm I decided I should put on some makeup and get myself ready considering the girls were both dressed in their gorgeous little outfits. Stupid stupid stupid. Why did I think that was a sensible thing to do?? Put on makeup you mean? No. Get the girls dressed so early. Well, while I was putting on my makeup Tabitha decided that she should venture into the shower. The shower had recently been used. It was wet. Consequently Tabitha was now wet. And so I had to change her outfit. So I did. But then I wasn't happy with what I put on her. So I had to change her again. Anyway, I finally got her dressed.
Long story short, took Angus and the girls to the party and I have never been prouder in my life. Tabitha usually takes a very long time to warm up to people, but basically as soon as we got there she got herself settled on a chair and started bopping away to the music and she was right. So I think music is the answer! Lexi, well, Lexi is Lexi. The most social creature on the face of the planet. Angus, well, he was asleep for a while and I stupidly passed him over to someone else so I could get some food and of course he woke up didn't he. Kicked myself about that one. Still, once we got home he had a bottle and went straight to sleep. And the girls didn't arc at all when it was time to go home, and both went straight to sleep.
My kids rock. That is all.
Oh, and I ate the equivalent of a small dog worth of crackling tonight and it was sensational. That, definitely, is all.
How do we get
different sized chicken eggs. Does the size of the chicken determine how large the egg is? Or can one chicken lay a 50g egg one day and 70g egg the next? Is it the same as women having babies....you never know what you're going to get? I was thinking that as I was looking at some free range eggs, where of course they aren't sorted into sizes. Some were enormous, some were small. I do realise that there are a few different sorts of chickens in there, but it does make you wonder. Well, it makes me wonder anyway. I get some odd thoughts sometimes. Often actually. At least my life is never dull.
We baked this morning. Made some chocolate christmas tree shaped cakes. I have no idea what possessed me to fill the cake segments up to the brim, but for some reason I did that and thus I have very high shaped christmas tree cakes. And no green food dye. I wonder if you can buy food dye at the local shop or if I'd have to go into town to get it. The only other alternative is to ice them with white icing or red icing. I'll have to think about it. It would be nice to do the green, then I could do the leafy kind of look on them, and I have those little bauble things too so I could pop those on as decorations.
I'm making popcorn chicken for lunch today. It isn't as good as KFC, but it is better than the McDonalds try hard version of popcorn chicken, which I tried the other day and I must say I was quite disappointed with. Then again I probably shouldn't have had any expectation because coming from McDonalds and not KFC there was always going to be a problem with it having to live up to the high standards set by my hero Colonel Sanders.
KFC make gift vouchers now. I will be truly devastated if I don't get one for Christmas. And a bottle of Praise Ranch Dressing. Full fat. None of that fat free rubbish. I made the mistake of accidentally getting the fat free one last time I went shopping. Very very bad mistake. It is nothing like ranch dressing. Ranch dressing needs fat. 99% more fat than is in the fat free one.
I'm a bit tired today, although I did get a hunkachunka sleep last night. Angus didn't wake up until 4.45am which is sensational. Tabitha awoke early again but I just let her chill on the cot for a bit before getting her up. She was fine with that. She usually tells me rather vocally if she is unhappy being in there.
Tabitha has decided that everything is rubbish today. Everything, and I mean everything, is going in the bin. So far I have rescued bibs, hair clips, tea towels and more from the bin. Lexi has decided she needs to wash her hands. All the time. I think it's because now she can actually reach the tap and turn it on and off.
I'm in a bit of a cooking mood. I'll have to bash the google button a bit and see what I can find to make. Early lunch today though....hankering for that popcorn chicken......
We baked this morning. Made some chocolate christmas tree shaped cakes. I have no idea what possessed me to fill the cake segments up to the brim, but for some reason I did that and thus I have very high shaped christmas tree cakes. And no green food dye. I wonder if you can buy food dye at the local shop or if I'd have to go into town to get it. The only other alternative is to ice them with white icing or red icing. I'll have to think about it. It would be nice to do the green, then I could do the leafy kind of look on them, and I have those little bauble things too so I could pop those on as decorations.
I'm making popcorn chicken for lunch today. It isn't as good as KFC, but it is better than the McDonalds try hard version of popcorn chicken, which I tried the other day and I must say I was quite disappointed with. Then again I probably shouldn't have had any expectation because coming from McDonalds and not KFC there was always going to be a problem with it having to live up to the high standards set by my hero Colonel Sanders.
KFC make gift vouchers now. I will be truly devastated if I don't get one for Christmas. And a bottle of Praise Ranch Dressing. Full fat. None of that fat free rubbish. I made the mistake of accidentally getting the fat free one last time I went shopping. Very very bad mistake. It is nothing like ranch dressing. Ranch dressing needs fat. 99% more fat than is in the fat free one.
I'm a bit tired today, although I did get a hunkachunka sleep last night. Angus didn't wake up until 4.45am which is sensational. Tabitha awoke early again but I just let her chill on the cot for a bit before getting her up. She was fine with that. She usually tells me rather vocally if she is unhappy being in there.
Tabitha has decided that everything is rubbish today. Everything, and I mean everything, is going in the bin. So far I have rescued bibs, hair clips, tea towels and more from the bin. Lexi has decided she needs to wash her hands. All the time. I think it's because now she can actually reach the tap and turn it on and off.
I'm in a bit of a cooking mood. I'll have to bash the google button a bit and see what I can find to make. Early lunch today though....hankering for that popcorn chicken......
Saturday, December 11, 2010
I wonder
if the songs we get stuck in our heads get stuck in there for a reason. Currently I have "comfortably numb" stuck in my addled and heat affected brain, in particular the part before the song commences that says "is there anybody out there" in an insistent tone. Interesting. Then other days I will have the der gloomph song. Or some rubbish that Justine bloody Clarke sings. You get the picture. I just wonder what, when there is no external influence to guide, our brains decide to lump us with on the silent listening front.
I'm also listening to the rain, as well as Pink Floyd's rendition of Comfortably Numb, soon to morph into Shine on You Crazy Diamond because I haven't heard that for ages and thinking about Pink Floyd made me remember that I hadn't heard it for a while so I started thinking about it and Bob's your uncle, or Robert's your father's brother, there it is.
So hot. So so so so hot. Horrid day today. Truly horrid. The kind of day where the Devil turns on the aircon. Speaking of aircon, mine is still on. At 9.06pm. Because it is still so damn hot. I'll probably turn it off soon though. I never leave it on at night, simply because I would hate a cool snap to come in and then everyone freeze. It has however started raining. That may cool things down a little, but it will also up the humidity. Oh joy. I'm so excited. No. Really. I wonder if you can sense sarcasm through a blog.
You know I was wondering. Again. I wonder who is reading this? I wonder if anything that you (yes, I'm talking to YOU) read hits home, or if you wonder if that will happen with your kids, or if you ever did anything similar.
I wonder if I'm talking to air. I wonder if all these ramblings are just air in the world of cyberspace. I know people look at the page because I have this nifty little counter thing at the bottom, but I rarely see a comment, so then my mind starts wondering "I wonder what people are thinking when they read this". So by all means, feel free to tell me. I'm still relatively new to this whole blogging phenomenon but it would be nice to get some cyberfeedback. If that's a word. And if it isn't it should be.
I made a chocolate christmas tree today. Would you like to see it?
You have no choice, here it is :)
Turkish delight and chocolate. And lots of it. And no, I don't eat chocolate, I'm allergic. I think that makes making them easier....I don't end up with half of it in my mouth...and on my hips......
Lexi tried to help. It didn't work. Tabitha, well, I didn't let her anywhere near it.
I did actually log on here in order to say something but to be perfectly honest I'm just sweltering and have absolutely no recollection of what that was. So let's save it for another time shall we?
And on that note, one of sheer confusion, I bid you goodnight.
I'm also listening to the rain, as well as Pink Floyd's rendition of Comfortably Numb, soon to morph into Shine on You Crazy Diamond because I haven't heard that for ages and thinking about Pink Floyd made me remember that I hadn't heard it for a while so I started thinking about it and Bob's your uncle, or Robert's your father's brother, there it is.
So hot. So so so so hot. Horrid day today. Truly horrid. The kind of day where the Devil turns on the aircon. Speaking of aircon, mine is still on. At 9.06pm. Because it is still so damn hot. I'll probably turn it off soon though. I never leave it on at night, simply because I would hate a cool snap to come in and then everyone freeze. It has however started raining. That may cool things down a little, but it will also up the humidity. Oh joy. I'm so excited. No. Really. I wonder if you can sense sarcasm through a blog.
You know I was wondering. Again. I wonder who is reading this? I wonder if anything that you (yes, I'm talking to YOU) read hits home, or if you wonder if that will happen with your kids, or if you ever did anything similar.
I wonder if I'm talking to air. I wonder if all these ramblings are just air in the world of cyberspace. I know people look at the page because I have this nifty little counter thing at the bottom, but I rarely see a comment, so then my mind starts wondering "I wonder what people are thinking when they read this". So by all means, feel free to tell me. I'm still relatively new to this whole blogging phenomenon but it would be nice to get some cyberfeedback. If that's a word. And if it isn't it should be.
I made a chocolate christmas tree today. Would you like to see it?
You have no choice, here it is :)
Turkish delight and chocolate. And lots of it. And no, I don't eat chocolate, I'm allergic. I think that makes making them easier....I don't end up with half of it in my mouth...and on my hips......
Lexi tried to help. It didn't work. Tabitha, well, I didn't let her anywhere near it.
I did actually log on here in order to say something but to be perfectly honest I'm just sweltering and have absolutely no recollection of what that was. So let's save it for another time shall we?
And on that note, one of sheer confusion, I bid you goodnight.
The most blatant case of false advertising
since the neverending story. What is you ask?? 100s and 1000s. This may seem an odd thing to say but I beg to differ. When you think of hundreds and thousands you think of the happy go lucky little colourful dots of sugar yes? Yes. That's what they are. And you get heaps in a packet don't you? Yes. Now, when your 2 year old gets hold of the container in which they are kept and removes the lid, watching these joyous little balls of colour bounce happily all over the floor, all the way down the hallway, you will understand. There are FAR more than simply thousands. And they can get into some tight little spots too.
So most recently my floor coverings have changed from lino, to rice bubbles, to two minute noodles, to sultana bran buds, to rice noodles to 100s and 1000s. Change is as good as a holiday they say. By the way, they're wrong. I'd much prefer a holiday.
E-I-E-I-O. And on that farm he had a sheep. E-I-E-I-O. With a baa baa here and a baa baa there. Here a baa. There a baa. Everywhere a baa baa. Random. Actually no, not random. Quite clever in fact. What am I talking about? I'm talking about Mick telling Lexi to wave bye bye to McDonald's and she starts singing the above.... What a clever little chicken. He was telling me about it and it took me good few minutes to get the gist of what he was actually saying.
It's been rather warm here of late. That statement can be compared to my saying the ocean is slightly damp. Somewhat of an understatement. Oppressive to the point of causing insanity may be another more appropriate way of stating it. The humidity hasn't been as bad today as it has been the last few days, but it's still well up there, and with more rain expected (rain, again, being a statement that one could compare with someone saying you may feel a light shower if you decide to stand underneath Niagara Falls) they anticipate the humidity will rise.
Tabitha has become a little more fearless than usual recently. She has taken to standing on chairs. Terrifying to see, sheerly terrifying. Yesterday she took it up a notch. I was feeding Angus and in the space of time it took me to get from the kitchen to the swing to the sofa and get the bottle out, Tabitha had climbed up on to the kitchen chair, then climbed up on to the kitchen table and was atop the glass table on all fours, whimpering like a lost puppy dog. Nothing like that sight to rip your heart out of your chest. And so later when she was sitting on the kitchen chair I said to her not to climb up there again and told her to make sure she sat still on her chair, she kicked the table, thereby pushing herself and the chair so that both of them fell backwards, and I, standing there with Angus in arms, shot my leg out to try and save some of the impact. I managed to move the chair and thus Tabitha's head a further inch or so away from the oven towards which she had been headed however there was no escaping the slight knock she received, so Angus was put down on the floor so I could whip Tabitha up in my arms. And so he wiggled and looked at me as though to say mum what are you doing, but I'm glad you just swept the floor kind of thing, and Tabitha felt sorry for herself and nestled her head into my neck.
It's never dull.
I asked Lexi what she wanted for dinner last night. She brought out a packet of rice noodles. No problem, rice noodles are great, I love them. She's never had that particular sort of noodle before so there's another thing for her to try. Be aware, be very aware, that rice noodles, while tasty and healthy to some extent, are incredibly tacky. Tacky? Tacky. Sticky. They will stick to EVERYTHING once cooked. And so the clothing was covered in what looked like a massacre in the home of a white spider. And the floor, once again, changed in appearance.
As a further note, rice noodles look like worms. Little tiny squirmy worms. I won't go into too much detail, but just remember your child has eaten them. That is all.
I'm hoping today isn't quite as bad a day as it has been lately. I'm thinking we might do something christmasy today. We're putting the tree up tomorrow, but today perhaps we might make some decorations. I am actually going to be making a chocolate christmas tree, and will be very gamely getting Lexi involved in that whilst Tabitha is in bed. Should be interesting anyway.
Kettle's boiled, I'd best go check that it is working correctly.....might use some of that half a kilo of coffee I found stealthily hiding on the cupboard the other day.....
So most recently my floor coverings have changed from lino, to rice bubbles, to two minute noodles, to sultana bran buds, to rice noodles to 100s and 1000s. Change is as good as a holiday they say. By the way, they're wrong. I'd much prefer a holiday.
E-I-E-I-O. And on that farm he had a sheep. E-I-E-I-O. With a baa baa here and a baa baa there. Here a baa. There a baa. Everywhere a baa baa. Random. Actually no, not random. Quite clever in fact. What am I talking about? I'm talking about Mick telling Lexi to wave bye bye to McDonald's and she starts singing the above.... What a clever little chicken. He was telling me about it and it took me good few minutes to get the gist of what he was actually saying.
It's been rather warm here of late. That statement can be compared to my saying the ocean is slightly damp. Somewhat of an understatement. Oppressive to the point of causing insanity may be another more appropriate way of stating it. The humidity hasn't been as bad today as it has been the last few days, but it's still well up there, and with more rain expected (rain, again, being a statement that one could compare with someone saying you may feel a light shower if you decide to stand underneath Niagara Falls) they anticipate the humidity will rise.
Tabitha has become a little more fearless than usual recently. She has taken to standing on chairs. Terrifying to see, sheerly terrifying. Yesterday she took it up a notch. I was feeding Angus and in the space of time it took me to get from the kitchen to the swing to the sofa and get the bottle out, Tabitha had climbed up on to the kitchen chair, then climbed up on to the kitchen table and was atop the glass table on all fours, whimpering like a lost puppy dog. Nothing like that sight to rip your heart out of your chest. And so later when she was sitting on the kitchen chair I said to her not to climb up there again and told her to make sure she sat still on her chair, she kicked the table, thereby pushing herself and the chair so that both of them fell backwards, and I, standing there with Angus in arms, shot my leg out to try and save some of the impact. I managed to move the chair and thus Tabitha's head a further inch or so away from the oven towards which she had been headed however there was no escaping the slight knock she received, so Angus was put down on the floor so I could whip Tabitha up in my arms. And so he wiggled and looked at me as though to say mum what are you doing, but I'm glad you just swept the floor kind of thing, and Tabitha felt sorry for herself and nestled her head into my neck.
It's never dull.
I asked Lexi what she wanted for dinner last night. She brought out a packet of rice noodles. No problem, rice noodles are great, I love them. She's never had that particular sort of noodle before so there's another thing for her to try. Be aware, be very aware, that rice noodles, while tasty and healthy to some extent, are incredibly tacky. Tacky? Tacky. Sticky. They will stick to EVERYTHING once cooked. And so the clothing was covered in what looked like a massacre in the home of a white spider. And the floor, once again, changed in appearance.
As a further note, rice noodles look like worms. Little tiny squirmy worms. I won't go into too much detail, but just remember your child has eaten them. That is all.
I'm hoping today isn't quite as bad a day as it has been lately. I'm thinking we might do something christmasy today. We're putting the tree up tomorrow, but today perhaps we might make some decorations. I am actually going to be making a chocolate christmas tree, and will be very gamely getting Lexi involved in that whilst Tabitha is in bed. Should be interesting anyway.
Kettle's boiled, I'd best go check that it is working correctly.....might use some of that half a kilo of coffee I found stealthily hiding on the cupboard the other day.....
Friday, December 10, 2010
Y 2E76Y
That is apparently what "I" had chosen to search for on the computer. What that is is anyone's guess, but I'm tipping if you ask Tabitha she'll plead the 5th (if there is such a thing in Australia which theoretically there is because nobody really wants to say anything that is going to incriminate themselves now are they?).
I didn't get much done yesterday. Too hot. And I had a really intense and almost terminal case of the "cbf's". When they hit, well, my word, heaven help us all.
Yesterday was a first in my life actually. I got called up for jury duty. Interesting. It used to be that if you had studied law you were ineligible however they have now changed it such that if you are currently practising law you are ineligible, but if you are not in practice then you can still do it. Something about a shortage of the jury pool or similar.
I would actually really love to do it, but I doubt they'd let me bring the kids along. One of the pitfalls of living so far away from everyone is that on occasions where it might be easier to have a family member look after the kids it simply isn't possible. The only time the kids get looked after is usually when we have a wedding to go to down south. Or if I'm in labour. One or the other.
I hate getting up early. I really do. I despise it actually. I guess at least in Queensland when you get up to your child at the crack of dawn at least it is already becoming light. Angus had his wake up at 4.07am which I was actually really happy with being that he went to bed at 6.30pm last night. Tabitha however decided that an hour later was the best time for her to wake up. 5.07am. It's funny how they all seem to do things in runs, similar times, weird. Very very weird. Another thing that is weird?? That whole "i" before "e" except after c. Unless you look at the word weird, which instantly disproves that theory.
Tabitha is sitting up at the end of the table eating breakfast. She has taken to climbing up on the dining table chairs and just sitting there whinging. It's wonderful. No, really. Problem is she can get up pretty well without a hitch, it's the getting down. Mick asked me the other day why she gets up if she can't get down. I did point out to him that she can in fact get down, just not very elegantly and usually resulting in tears. Kind of like Buzz Lightyear....it isn't flying, it's falling with grace.
Today I think I will make something I have never made before. I'm not sure what that will be just yet, I'm going to do a bit of an inventory and see what I can pull together. It may involve puff pastry.... Let's face it though, puff pastry is basically just a posh sandwich replacement. You can put absolutely anything in puff pastry, piff it in the oven and come out with something wonderful. Sandwiches are pretty well the same. There are not many things that don't taste good shoved between two bits of bread. Except maybe more bread.
The rain has just started coming down. And I think we're in for more than just a light shower. Wonder what Mr Bom has to say.
Today is 10/12/10. Lots of those weird sort of days lately.... 8/9/10....10/10/10....all that sort of thing. Angus was born on 20/09/2010 - 2009 2010. Weird. Very very weird. When the receptionist at the clinic told me that 10/10/10 would be a cool birthdate (which granted I did agree) I just about choked that she even suggest that I contemplate remaining pregnant for that much longer.
I had a point when I started writing but to be perfectly honest with you I have absolutely no idea what that point is. Oh, but I did have another "wordy" revelation...... Pedometer. Ped is related to the feet yes? Pedal. PEDal. Feet. I know, nothing spectacular, but when you're sleep deprived late at night and something like that jumps into your head it's basically as though you've invented penicillin. And then the next morning you write it in your blog and you realise just how lame it is and feel just that little bit "special".
My coffee cup is empty. I had best remedy that situation.
I didn't get much done yesterday. Too hot. And I had a really intense and almost terminal case of the "cbf's". When they hit, well, my word, heaven help us all.
Yesterday was a first in my life actually. I got called up for jury duty. Interesting. It used to be that if you had studied law you were ineligible however they have now changed it such that if you are currently practising law you are ineligible, but if you are not in practice then you can still do it. Something about a shortage of the jury pool or similar.
I would actually really love to do it, but I doubt they'd let me bring the kids along. One of the pitfalls of living so far away from everyone is that on occasions where it might be easier to have a family member look after the kids it simply isn't possible. The only time the kids get looked after is usually when we have a wedding to go to down south. Or if I'm in labour. One or the other.
I hate getting up early. I really do. I despise it actually. I guess at least in Queensland when you get up to your child at the crack of dawn at least it is already becoming light. Angus had his wake up at 4.07am which I was actually really happy with being that he went to bed at 6.30pm last night. Tabitha however decided that an hour later was the best time for her to wake up. 5.07am. It's funny how they all seem to do things in runs, similar times, weird. Very very weird. Another thing that is weird?? That whole "i" before "e" except after c. Unless you look at the word weird, which instantly disproves that theory.
Tabitha is sitting up at the end of the table eating breakfast. She has taken to climbing up on the dining table chairs and just sitting there whinging. It's wonderful. No, really. Problem is she can get up pretty well without a hitch, it's the getting down. Mick asked me the other day why she gets up if she can't get down. I did point out to him that she can in fact get down, just not very elegantly and usually resulting in tears. Kind of like Buzz Lightyear....it isn't flying, it's falling with grace.
Today I think I will make something I have never made before. I'm not sure what that will be just yet, I'm going to do a bit of an inventory and see what I can pull together. It may involve puff pastry.... Let's face it though, puff pastry is basically just a posh sandwich replacement. You can put absolutely anything in puff pastry, piff it in the oven and come out with something wonderful. Sandwiches are pretty well the same. There are not many things that don't taste good shoved between two bits of bread. Except maybe more bread.
The rain has just started coming down. And I think we're in for more than just a light shower. Wonder what Mr Bom has to say.
Today is 10/12/10. Lots of those weird sort of days lately.... 8/9/10....10/10/10....all that sort of thing. Angus was born on 20/09/2010 - 2009 2010. Weird. Very very weird. When the receptionist at the clinic told me that 10/10/10 would be a cool birthdate (which granted I did agree) I just about choked that she even suggest that I contemplate remaining pregnant for that much longer.
I had a point when I started writing but to be perfectly honest with you I have absolutely no idea what that point is. Oh, but I did have another "wordy" revelation...... Pedometer. Ped is related to the feet yes? Pedal. PEDal. Feet. I know, nothing spectacular, but when you're sleep deprived late at night and something like that jumps into your head it's basically as though you've invented penicillin. And then the next morning you write it in your blog and you realise just how lame it is and feel just that little bit "special".
My coffee cup is empty. I had best remedy that situation.
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