I'm an idiot.
Why on earth did I think there'd be ANY Easter eggs left on the shelves the afternoon before Easter Sunday? Um, only the fact that I know without a shadow of a doubt that come Tuesday (when shops re-open down here after the public holidays tomorrow and Monday) there will be a whole section of 50% off eggs. If I didn't know any better, I'd swear the retailers took lots off the shelves on purpose today so they'd have lots to sell (at deep discount, but whatever) on Tuesday. I was only in these same stores on Thursday and everything was stocked to the ceiling. Auuugh!
So I did what any enterprising mother would do - I faked it.
At the supermarket tonight I grabbed all manner of treats (most not related to Easter at all, but the kids won't notice) and a three wine gift bags (minus the wine) and when all's said and done, I'll have an awesome little giftbag for each of the kids.
Mother ingenuity? Tick!
But remind me next year to get in early, 'kay? The crowds were HORRIBLE today.
Saturday, April 11, 2009
Last Minute? It's What I Do Best
It's Easter Saturday and like any procrastinator worth her salt, I am yet to buy a scrap of chocolate. Not that we go nuts on that score anyway, but we do make up a little basket or gift bag for each of the kids, to be 'discovered' on Easter Sunday.
Waiting until the last minute serves two purposes. First, it removes the temptation from my perspective! Having easy access to many delectable treats is BAD - and if I know its in the house, the chocolate bunny's days are limited. And also, many stores today are heavily discounting their Easter goodies (nothing like the half-off sales that will hit from Tuesday onward, but still). So off I go today.
The Passion of the Christ is on tonight as well but the TV execs must have assumed its appeal has waned somewhat because it's not being screened until 11:40 pm and won't end till 2:10 am. Good grief. I watched it all the way through for the first time last year and loved it, so I was looking forward to it again this year. Yeah, I could go and rent it, but everyone else would have the same idea and most stores only carry the one copy of this five-year-old movie anymore so I'd probably miss out this weekend :) Is it strange that I intend buying snacks and snuggling my way through the film on the couch? It'll be nice :)
Happy Easter everyone :)
Waiting until the last minute serves two purposes. First, it removes the temptation from my perspective! Having easy access to many delectable treats is BAD - and if I know its in the house, the chocolate bunny's days are limited. And also, many stores today are heavily discounting their Easter goodies (nothing like the half-off sales that will hit from Tuesday onward, but still). So off I go today.
The Passion of the Christ is on tonight as well but the TV execs must have assumed its appeal has waned somewhat because it's not being screened until 11:40 pm and won't end till 2:10 am. Good grief. I watched it all the way through for the first time last year and loved it, so I was looking forward to it again this year. Yeah, I could go and rent it, but everyone else would have the same idea and most stores only carry the one copy of this five-year-old movie anymore so I'd probably miss out this weekend :) Is it strange that I intend buying snacks and snuggling my way through the film on the couch? It'll be nice :)
Happy Easter everyone :)
Friday, April 10, 2009
Dogs Rule And Cats Drool? Today I Am On The Cats' Side
The dog. THE DOG! The furry creature who spends half his time stealing shoes out of the basket near the front door and making a bolt for the backyard and the other half trying to scam Scooby Snacks, decided to be sick last night. And when I say night, I mean ALL night.
I have not seen a sunrise since, I don't know, 2002 when Moo stopped waking at night. I did, however, break that record last night...
He started up at 2am (before I'd gone to bed - don't judge me! I got my just desserts, believe you me!) when he wouldn't go to bed. We're mean and shut him in the laundry room overnight - it's that or feet in wayward wee puddles in the kitchen first thing and I think I'd have a breakdown if that happened so into the laundry he goes. But he wouldn't bed down. He scratched grooves into the laundry door in an effort to extricate himself.
This went on for an hour. I naively thought each little outburst would be his last but alas, IT WAS NOT and I eventually got up, grumbling. I hadn't slept anyway but with Talented Hubby making annoyed sleepy noises in the bed next to me - he had to rise at 5:30 am for work - I took the high road. What followed is a nightmare only akin to the newborn stage. I'd forgotten what it's like to be so bone-crushingly exhausted and yet this needy, squawking thing continues to thwart your plans for sweet slumber.
Over the next several HOURS Charlie vomited the gross doggy-vomit (if you're a pet owner, you get what I mean...) every hour or so. In between, he'd scratch, chew and claw his way around the family room, making sure I never fully went to sleep from my position on the couch. When he started making awkward choking sounds I knew the inevitable was going to happen so I'd get up, get some paper towels, clean up, and return to the couch. The cycle would start again.
At 5:30 or so he finally started to settle down and my eyes closed. At approximately 5:33, Talented Hubby gently shook me awake before returning to the ensuite to shower up. At 6:00 I wrote notes explaining the night I'd had on about seventeen Post-Its in which I also threatened the children with the pain of a smashed computer if they woke me before 9am. Then I went to bed.
The kids were fairly good. TH had left for work at 6:30 after first feeding our 'dawn o'clock' child (Jay) but the others were getting (rightly) hungry by nine so with MUCH coaxing, I made it out to the kitchen.
I feel ROTTEN.
The dog, however, has SLEPT THE ENTIRE DAY. Thankfully he appears to have suffered no ill effects but it did take me until 1pm this afternoon to be able to look at him without wanting to take him to the pound (I'm kidding...he's here to stay...sigh).
Tell me again why we agreed to a fur-kid?
I have not seen a sunrise since, I don't know, 2002 when Moo stopped waking at night. I did, however, break that record last night...
He started up at 2am (before I'd gone to bed - don't judge me! I got my just desserts, believe you me!) when he wouldn't go to bed. We're mean and shut him in the laundry room overnight - it's that or feet in wayward wee puddles in the kitchen first thing and I think I'd have a breakdown if that happened so into the laundry he goes. But he wouldn't bed down. He scratched grooves into the laundry door in an effort to extricate himself.
This went on for an hour. I naively thought each little outburst would be his last but alas, IT WAS NOT and I eventually got up, grumbling. I hadn't slept anyway but with Talented Hubby making annoyed sleepy noises in the bed next to me - he had to rise at 5:30 am for work - I took the high road. What followed is a nightmare only akin to the newborn stage. I'd forgotten what it's like to be so bone-crushingly exhausted and yet this needy, squawking thing continues to thwart your plans for sweet slumber.
Over the next several HOURS Charlie vomited the gross doggy-vomit (if you're a pet owner, you get what I mean...) every hour or so. In between, he'd scratch, chew and claw his way around the family room, making sure I never fully went to sleep from my position on the couch. When he started making awkward choking sounds I knew the inevitable was going to happen so I'd get up, get some paper towels, clean up, and return to the couch. The cycle would start again.
At 5:30 or so he finally started to settle down and my eyes closed. At approximately 5:33, Talented Hubby gently shook me awake before returning to the ensuite to shower up. At 6:00 I wrote notes explaining the night I'd had on about seventeen Post-Its in which I also threatened the children with the pain of a smashed computer if they woke me before 9am. Then I went to bed.
The kids were fairly good. TH had left for work at 6:30 after first feeding our 'dawn o'clock' child (Jay) but the others were getting (rightly) hungry by nine so with MUCH coaxing, I made it out to the kitchen.
I feel ROTTEN.
The dog, however, has SLEPT THE ENTIRE DAY. Thankfully he appears to have suffered no ill effects but it did take me until 1pm this afternoon to be able to look at him without wanting to take him to the pound (I'm kidding...he's here to stay...sigh).
Tell me again why we agreed to a fur-kid?
Thursday, April 9, 2009
The Capsicum Saga
* Before I launch into this story, it might be helpful to remind folks from the US that down here, we call them 'capsicums' and not 'peppers', LOL.
So yesterday my mother-in-law came for a quick overnight visit. The kids absolutely adore their Nana and an impromptu mid-week overnighter just ticked them pink. A few days before Nana arrived I'd sat down and run up a three week menu based on Talented Hubby's work schedule and really wanted to keep as closely to that as possible, so instead of defaulting to takeaway, I looked up what was on the planned menu for Wednesday - Chicken Kebabs (satay sticks and whatnot) and Fried Rice.
Now, it just so happened that I hadn't been able to make it to the supermarket to pick up a few missing ingredients and as the day wore on, as is usually the case, TH called me to see what I was up to. We chat like this perhaps once or sometimes twice every shift that he works - it helps us touch base when oftentimes shiftwork can mean we're like two ships passing in the night. He called toward the end of his shift on Wednesay and I mentioned I still needed to swing by the supermarket as soon as he arrived home (thus 'tag-teaming' the child-supervisory role because despite being an easy 10 min walk away, why take the kids to the store if you don't need to?) but I was concerned I'd miss his mother's arrival, to which he offered to call in on his way home from work instead. He called again as he was walking through the supermarket doors.
"Text me your shopping list," he said.
To which I thought wistfully back to the time of yore when mobile phones were the size of a brick and how technology has progressed to the point where I can SEND ME SOME ITTY BITTY WORDS VIA THIS HERE'UM TELEPHONICAL DEVICE.
I dutifully texted my list. In full, and unedited, this is what I wrote:
Later, as I got out the chopping board and prepared to slice and dice my way through the vegies for the Fried Rice, I suddenly realised I hadn't seen any capsicums when I'd unpacked the groceries earlier. I asked Talented Hubby where he'd put them.
"You didn't ask me to get capsicums! I got everything on your list and no-where did you say 'capsicums'!"
"I did so! I can drag up the text I sent you to prove that I did!"
And then it dawned on us.
We often buy a combination of regular (full fat) and 'lite' (about half the fat of regular) milk. Talented Hubby had very legitimately brought home these:
Green 'caps' for lite, red 'caps' for regular! Forgetting for a moment the word 'bread' sandwiched (bread! sandwich! *guffaw*) in between 'milk' and 'red caps', he had naturally assumed I was asking him to bring home both types of milk!
*Smacks forehead*
And yes, in case you're wondering, the resulting very-beige-coloured Fried Rice was still delicious, LOL, but now I can't pour milk into my cup of tea without thinking of capsicums!
So yesterday my mother-in-law came for a quick overnight visit. The kids absolutely adore their Nana and an impromptu mid-week overnighter just ticked them pink. A few days before Nana arrived I'd sat down and run up a three week menu based on Talented Hubby's work schedule and really wanted to keep as closely to that as possible, so instead of defaulting to takeaway, I looked up what was on the planned menu for Wednesday - Chicken Kebabs (satay sticks and whatnot) and Fried Rice.
Now, it just so happened that I hadn't been able to make it to the supermarket to pick up a few missing ingredients and as the day wore on, as is usually the case, TH called me to see what I was up to. We chat like this perhaps once or sometimes twice every shift that he works - it helps us touch base when oftentimes shiftwork can mean we're like two ships passing in the night. He called toward the end of his shift on Wednesay and I mentioned I still needed to swing by the supermarket as soon as he arrived home (thus 'tag-teaming' the child-supervisory role because despite being an easy 10 min walk away, why take the kids to the store if you don't need to?) but I was concerned I'd miss his mother's arrival, to which he offered to call in on his way home from work instead. He called again as he was walking through the supermarket doors.
"Text me your shopping list," he said.
To which I thought wistfully back to the time of yore when mobile phones were the size of a brick and how technology has progressed to the point where I can SEND ME SOME ITTY BITTY WORDS VIA THIS HERE'UM TELEPHONICAL DEVICE.
I dutifully texted my list. In full, and unedited, this is what I wrote:
Milk bread red caps green caps 400g ham shallots 1 onion and about fourteen chick kebabs. LOVE YOU.Now, that seems innocent enough, doesn't it?
Later, as I got out the chopping board and prepared to slice and dice my way through the vegies for the Fried Rice, I suddenly realised I hadn't seen any capsicums when I'd unpacked the groceries earlier. I asked Talented Hubby where he'd put them.
"You didn't ask me to get capsicums! I got everything on your list and no-where did you say 'capsicums'!"
"I did so! I can drag up the text I sent you to prove that I did!"
And then it dawned on us.
We often buy a combination of regular (full fat) and 'lite' (about half the fat of regular) milk. Talented Hubby had very legitimately brought home these:
Green 'caps' for lite, red 'caps' for regular! Forgetting for a moment the word 'bread' sandwiched (bread! sandwich! *guffaw*) in between 'milk' and 'red caps', he had naturally assumed I was asking him to bring home both types of milk!
*Smacks forehead*
And yes, in case you're wondering, the resulting very-beige-coloured Fried Rice was still delicious, LOL, but now I can't pour milk into my cup of tea without thinking of capsicums!
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Do I Scratch The Craft Itch?
I have the crafty bug. I think it's incurable, sigh. And I have got an itch so bad to go out tomorrow and buy a new sewing machine, totally exacerbated by this absolutely adorable blog I found today via a link on Twitter. See people? Twitter can be used for good, not evil!
Don't you just want to eat those little monsters right off your computer screen? Sigh.
And I'm frustrated tonight because the world economy (and therefore our household economy) is down the toilet and this means Very Careful Consideration Of All Discretionary Spending and gosh, isn't that depressing? I'm not a spendthrift but having just a wee bit extra right now to finally cross some things off our 'Buy This Before The House Falls Down' list would be lovely. I thought we'd be knocking a seriously large hole in that list over the next couple of weeks but now it seems likely that large hole will be more like a small dent. And I shouldn't be frustrated at that because hello? Google Reader just directed me here and now I'm feeling guilty for wanting all manner of things when there are so many who have nothing. Double sigh.
I spent the day trying not to fall asleep after finally dozing off at 3am earlier this morning. I rose again at 7:30 so you can see it's been an uphill battle, fueled by M&Ms, Pringles and noodle cups. I wanted to drag out Old Faithful and have a go at something creative but my brain wasn't kicking into gear. Not surprising considering the whole 'less than five hours sleep' thing. Tomorrow maybe.
I should be napping every single day this week for three hours at a pop - school lets out Thurday afternoon. Then it's two weeks of cabin fever. Redrum....Redrum....the less said on that the better. You'll be able to tell when I'm getting near the end of my rope when my posts start barking, LOL.
My delightful mother-in-law is coming for a quick overnighter tomorrow - yay! She's a hard core quilter so I will pick her brains about sewing machines. The dealer (two weeks ago) said the Mother's Day brochures will be out mid to late April and apparently sewing machines sell in May much the same way as hotdogs sell in the USA in July, so holding off a little might actually be rather beneficial.
Definitely does NOT help with the craft itch though.
Don't you just want to eat those little monsters right off your computer screen? Sigh.
And I'm frustrated tonight because the world economy (and therefore our household economy) is down the toilet and this means Very Careful Consideration Of All Discretionary Spending and gosh, isn't that depressing? I'm not a spendthrift but having just a wee bit extra right now to finally cross some things off our 'Buy This Before The House Falls Down' list would be lovely. I thought we'd be knocking a seriously large hole in that list over the next couple of weeks but now it seems likely that large hole will be more like a small dent. And I shouldn't be frustrated at that because hello? Google Reader just directed me here and now I'm feeling guilty for wanting all manner of things when there are so many who have nothing. Double sigh.
I spent the day trying not to fall asleep after finally dozing off at 3am earlier this morning. I rose again at 7:30 so you can see it's been an uphill battle, fueled by M&Ms, Pringles and noodle cups. I wanted to drag out Old Faithful and have a go at something creative but my brain wasn't kicking into gear. Not surprising considering the whole 'less than five hours sleep' thing. Tomorrow maybe.
I should be napping every single day this week for three hours at a pop - school lets out Thurday afternoon. Then it's two weeks of cabin fever. Redrum....Redrum....the less said on that the better. You'll be able to tell when I'm getting near the end of my rope when my posts start barking, LOL.
My delightful mother-in-law is coming for a quick overnighter tomorrow - yay! She's a hard core quilter so I will pick her brains about sewing machines. The dealer (two weeks ago) said the Mother's Day brochures will be out mid to late April and apparently sewing machines sell in May much the same way as hotdogs sell in the USA in July, so holding off a little might actually be rather beneficial.
Definitely does NOT help with the craft itch though.
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