anyresemblance

meow

There has clearly been some classroom instruction on behaviour and sanctions as the youngest daughter was playing an intense game involving pink slips, blue slips, being sent to your room, etc.  She asked me to play with her.

Please come into my office, Mrs Anyresemblance.  Now, I am rather concerned about your older daughter's behaviour.  I've been explaining to her that I will have to issue her one of these pink slips if she continues to not pay attention.  You can see I've put this sticker of a kitten on it.  But I don't want her to think this is a good thing.

lowers voice confidentially

Because the kitten is hissing.

The sum of the parts

I’m in the sexy secretary look today though more Miss Moneypenny than Maggie Gyllenhall given my advanced years.  It met with the approval of the junior fashion police who are always in favour of skirts and high heels.

NewClaire (as opposed to Swiss-Claire), our new babysitter, is fabulous.   Took the kids to the park, all homework was done, unpacked and put away my grocery delivery.  Plus she is prepared to come at 7am tomorrow and Friday while I drive to what feels like South Queensland for a two day training course.  When I got back on Monday night with the kids, my older daughter took the keys to open the front door while I unloaded the car.  But when she came out her younger sister followed and shut the door behind her with the keys inside.  I called my step-son who was in a pub but was prepared to go home and get the spare keys.  I called NC who offered to drive round with the keys, which she did.   And she is happy to babysit on Friday night while I go to an engagement party.  I have to buy a gift today since I will be stuck in the outer reaches of the city for the rest of the week.

Had a good day at work but it’s the end of the quarter and it’s very odd for me not to be in the rush of trying to close business deals.  I miss it but I’m going to have a chat with my boss this afternoon about where I think I can make a better contribution.

Last night was very cosy.  We snuggled on the sofa and watched more of season 1 Charmed and ate ice-cream sandwiches.  My youngest daughter got a certificate for student of the week.  She was so proud.  Plus she is reading up a storm.   We’re listening to this in the car.  The girls were very resistant at first but now they are quite into this quirky tale of the “rice boys” cricket team, the vindaloo eating fox terrier and the obsession with the floppy haired Warney.

Then I had a long call with a friend, wide-ranging topics, oddly relaxing to hear someone else’s voice on the phone, be lying in my bed, cats in a heap at the bottom of the bed, knowing my children were safe under my roof.  Life’s good.

True Confessions - part 2

Confession 1:  I used a bad word last night.  Well, several.  Bother, wasn't one of them.  I had written a long post, shamed by ganching at my slackness of posting recently.  I know my internet connection is a bit dodgy these days so I saved my draft before opening up another window to find some links.  And then the bugger didn't save.  I was too demoralised to write it again and ate a chocolate rabbit instead.

Confession 2:  I made moroccan lemon chicken inspired by hotwaterbath's preserved lemons but I had instant couscous with it.  I have prepared couscous traditionally complete with steaming over the vegetable stew, separating the grains by rubbing gently and resteaming and it is a wonderful thing. But frankly more suited to an appreciative audience of many than a single gal so I went the instant route which is more like polenta but what the hell.

Confession 3:  I did not know there was a deathbed scene in Million Dollar Baby.  Call me ill informed but I thought this was a triumph through adversity film.  Still, I thought Clint Eastwood was terrific, looked every bit of his 75 years but still fabulous.  So, add that to Mystic River last year and he'd have a stellar career on the basis of those two movies alone.

Confession 4:  I also saw Hitch.  I have such a weakness for Will Smith ever since Fresh Prince days.  I liked it though it could have done with some editing at the end.

Confession 5:  I went to see Hitch for the dating advice since I had a date on Saturday night.  I had a good time but maybe I shouldn't have had that third glass of wine?  I may have exhausted my entire supply of amusing anecdotes on the first date.  Well, at least he laughed.

In other news, I got invited to lunch with my co-workers on Thursday.  It was pretty ordinary Greek food but it was nice to be invited and one of them gave me aforesaid chocolate bunny.

Friday, I cleaned my house and got everthing in order.  I know I need a table but I just can't deal with Ikea again yet.  Saturday morning I went to the farmer's markets and bought ice cream, herbs, flowers, yummy tomatoes, smelly cheese and plums.  I have a fridge full of produce but I still have to do the tedious grocery shopping.  I read this book and was thankful for the freedoms I have.

I fell over twice this weekend.  On Saturday I slipped on the stairs and grazed my left knee.  Yesterday, I tripped over coming out fo the cinema and ripped my jeans and grazed my right knee.  Sober both times.

Today looks stormy.  I have to go and collect my children but I will be glad to have them back with me.  It's been a restful weekend.

A note for Holy Week

Could all children (except for Jesus) bring a black t-shirt and black jeans to wear on Thursday for our Holy Week Liturgy.  Could the Three Jesuses bring in something White to wear?

sweet

Soggerised

Oh boy, lifestyle shows.  I was hooked on watching gardening programs and cooking programs the other night.  Kylie Kwong cooking a lamb tagine.  I wasn’t convinced by putting galangal in Moroccan food but it looked pretty good.  But tell me, do any of these cooks have ordinary looking friends?   Plus, her friend hands her a large glass of wine and asks if dinner will be ready soon.  Two hours, she says.  Two hours with my friends and they’d all be half cut by the time the food was served but these ones all still looked very perky and sober.

I found myself a bit homesick for the UK.  Perhaps it was the endless rainy landscapes they kept showing in Rick Stein.  And talking to my sister who was wheedling for me to come back for my niece’s wedding celebration in August.  Or my dad writing to me about visiting the Eden project and the lost gardens of Heligan.  Both of which made me very envious.  He said they came back through Fowey.  We had a wonderful holiday in Cornwall years ago and I remember going to a quirky little museum in Fowey.  I think it was called something like Noah’s Ark and it had Daphne du Maurier first editions and all sorts of odds and ends.

If it were just me….but times that airfare by three and it becomes a very expensive proposition.  Have to see what bonus time brings.

Monday night we ate minestrone soup and today it’s raining and a bit colder so I am starting to think autumn dishes.

It rained so hard on Tuesday just because I was wearing my beautiful suede shoes.  I was drenched.  Soggerised as my children call it.  It just rained and rained and today it is raining still.  I don’t mind it today since I am equipped with rain coat, boots and umbrella.  Last night was very cosy with an extra quilt on the bed, a hot water bottle and the rain battering down outside.

Tonight I drove my children halfway to Canberra to be collected by their father.  An all day meeting I had tomorrow has been cancelled.  I have a four day weekend ahead of me and I am looking forward to not doing much.

Once bitten

I have a new babysitter.  Yeah.  She seems super-nice and she made the children laugh and she smiles a lot.  We had tons of calls in response to my advertisement and I saw three women on the day the ad came out.  Two of them were really good but my children preferred number three which, in the end, is what really matters.  She is helped by having the same name as babysitter before last and coming from a farm Wagga Wagga, the same area as the last one.  She is a psychology student at Sydney University, likes animals and is going to save my sanity.  She starts tomorrow and will pick the children up from school two days a week saving me from rushing out the door to get to after school care. Homework will be done and lunches prepared.

I made an error of judgement on Friday.  My daughter had asked to sleep over at a new friend’s house.  I had an uncomfortable feeling about it but I agreed under pressure.  I called on Saturday morning at 10am and the father told me they were still sleeping since they were up till 1am watching DVDs – these are nine year olds.  Then when I got there to collect her, the house was dirty – I mean dirty, not messy.  My friend P was with me when we collected her.  Neither of us have sheltered backgrounds but we were both appalled at the environment. The father was smoking a cigar in the house.  I put my daughter in the bath when she got home and she was covered in flea bites.  Then she told me they watched this movie.  She must have seen my look of shock as she said they only watched the start.  This is not a house she will visit again.  It was tough for me as I knew I should have trusted my instinct.  I’m angry that I allowed this to happen to my child but I am angrier that the other child is being raised in this environment.  I know she is a troubled child at school and I see the carelessness of parenting that is putting her on this path. 

Still, on the uplifting side, we had a lovely time with P.  She and my oldest daughter and I went to the market.  I bought sweet pale pink suede ballet flats for my oldest daughter who thankfully does not crave high heels.  We bought pretty fairy lights decorated with polar bears and penguins for younger daughter.  Then we went and had a long lunch at this place.  We had beautiful olives marinaded with lemon peel and chillis.  I had the linguine with blue swimmer crab and yabbies.  Then a wonderful honey and coffee semi-fredo.  And the most beautiful Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc which I’m buggered if I can remember the name of but I want a case of it.

After this indulgence we all needed a little lie down which is what the girls and I did.

Sunday, the girls went riding and had a good time with horses they liked (ie, all horses).  Then we did some rather tedious clothes shopping but they are more suitably attired for the onset of autumn.  We were going to see a movie but I could not be bothered looking for parking or even leaving the house so we stayed home, watched tv, read stories and snuggled.  Perfect.

A note from the editor

I'm starting to get spam in my comments.  I've deleted the offending ones and listed IP addresses as blacklisted but any other recommendations?

My new favourite herb

Thyme is the flavour of this week.  Last night I marinaded lamb cutlets with garlic and thyme  and we ate them cooked on the cast iron griddle with lots of lemon and salt.  I made hasselback potatoes or armadillos as my daughter calls them.  A big salad for me and broccoli for them.  Phew, it makes me feel better when I serve a proper dinner.  My older daughter is a big fan of the proper dinner. 

I am feeling a bit flat, a bit beset by money worries, but it's low level stuff.  Lots of house selling bills to juggle.  My bank are very helpful.  I am blessed with a "personal banking manager" ie, what everyone used to have before they became corporate behemoths.  Of course, this is because of the supposed mega-bucks I earn and the potential to lend me lots of money at rates of interest.  I am trying to curb life long profligacy and exercise some restraint but in the end I always find some money tree to shake and get something to cover the ends.  I am also low level anxious about yet another fucking money conversation with my ex tomorrow.  Sigh, the end really is in sight but it takes so long.

I had an instant message chat with my friend, K, who has moved back to NZ and we talked about how change is tricky even when you are looking forward to it.  I have advertised for a babysitter and have someone coming to see me tonight which may help ease my life a bit and allow me a bit more me-time.

I have watched almost nothing.  Not Lost, not the OC, not Desperate Housewives or any of those other shows everyone is talking about.  My life is too busy for tv at the moment.  I have just read The Snack thief, an Inspector Montalbano mystery which I really liked - and hey, a police story where he loves his boss who protects him from the hierarchy.  I'm not sure if I want to see the televised version or not.  I also read Mr Timothy by Louis Bayard which I thought clever.  Though the plot bored me, the characterisation was good and although it's been done a lot I like those Victorian pastiches.

The weekend, that was

I have had an excellent weekend.  First of all the sun has been shining but without the ennervating humidity that was February.  Friday evening had me traversing the highways of Hunters Hill (home to Cate Blanchett, I understand) searching for where my daughter should be for a school thingy.  I got talking to another parent who generously offered for the next one of these cross town things to collect her from school, feed her, take her to the event and deliver her home.  She also gave my younger daughter some hair scrunchies that she had made.  We promised to make another donation to Project Compassion as recompense.

On Saturday we took our fat grey furry menace to the vet for a check up on his ear.  Another nice vet pronounced him well but requiring to lose some weight.  Then we bought oldest daughter some much needed clothes at this place and wandered down to the Paddington market.  It was so unbelievably hot that despite some cooling lemonade and some yummy himalayan curries we had to head home.  We chilled out at home for a bit and then I wandered up here to buy a birthday present.  The stuff is so seductive and yummy that I ended up buying stuff for myself as well.  Later in the afternoon I took the girls for riding lesson.  They both did well and we sorted out a regular group lesson for them but at the price they charge it will not be a weekly affair.  Still, we all enjoyed being back around horses and it seems a really professional set up.

In the evening we ate grilled salmon with salsa verde, potatoes dauphinoise and broccoli.  It was lovely but potatoes plus salmon was awfully rich.  My daughter liked the salsa verde so I didn't tell her about the anchovies.  People tend to have such a prejudice against the poor anchovy.

A good day was marred by a very persistent mosquito in my bedroom last night.  I had to get up and light a mosquito coil to deter the little blighters.

Today was another great day with clear blue skies and temperaturesa around 30.  We went to Spotlight to buy green ribbon for my daughter's hair for St Patricks Day and ended up buying a few things for costumes for the gymkhana they are going to in May.  My oldest daughter wants to go as the Queen of Hearts and my youngest daughter as a cow girl.  Of course, all this is complicated by the fact that all outfits have to be a) worn over jodphurs and riding boots and b)  require the wearer to still be able to ride a horse.  Now that my dining table is in such a cramped position I am looking out for a longish table at which to sew.  I have a big space in my bedroom where it could fit but I would prefer not to spend money so I have been haunting the basement of the St Vinnie's shop to see if something comes up.

From Spotlight we headed off to the Library - how civilised to have the library open on a Sunday - then walked down to Redleaf pool.  This whole city beach, ocean pool thing is such a novelty for me.  The kids swam and I read.  When she came out of the water, my youngest daughter got out her library book which was a book of poetry and read to me.  It was such a kick to hear her reading poetry.

We came home and showered the sunscreen and the sand and the heat out of us and hung out for the afternoon.  I folded laundry, washed dishes, hung out more towels, swept the courtyard, wondered where the pump from my fountain had got to and generally passed time with all the usual household tasks.

We barbequed for dinner and ate at our outside table for the first time in this house.  The girls watched Charmed.  Then we all adjourned to my room where I did some work and one of them read to me about harp seals and the other played on the computer.  My room is lovely to hang out in since it is huge, has two sets of french windows, a full length balcony and lots of light.  If I owned this house, I could think of a lot of things to do with it but I am not sure the location is right for us.  I'm reassessing all my options since my Canberra house has not sold yet.  I'm thinking I'll stay in the rental market here for longer than I originally planned but move closer to the girls' schools.  This is a great neighbourhood but the parking is a nightmare and the commute to school is very tight and I do so long for a garden.

A voice from the past

No sooner had I proclaimed I was glad my teenage years were long over when a spectre rose from the past.  My boyfriend from when I was 15 or so turns out to work for the same company as me, albeit in the Edinburgh office.   I got an email out of the blue so the first I did was look him up on the internal phone directory (it has photos) and discover ... no picture.  Then he phoned me last night and told me how great I look.  He phoned me from Scotland.  Eek.  Thank goodness he is living thousands of miles away else he might turn up at my door next.  And he wasn't very nice to me when I was 15.  Plus I thought he was not that bright so it's galling to discover he holds a similar job to mine.

Still, I had a much nicer call from another former suitor who lives a lot closer.  Which could be fun.