Old McDonald had a farm ...

I forgot to mention yesterday that our freezer and cupboards are now full to overflowing.

Since my folks embraced the rural lifestyle, my mother now preserves, pickles and bottles anything she can lay her hands on. And they grow their own lamb - although thankfully they have ceased the practice of labelling the resultant meat with comments such as "Sausages from Big Ears" (the name of the sheep it came from).

And, in spite of my telling her that inviting her for lunch did not mean "BYO food", she insists on pressing it upon us every time we see her.

Our freezer is full of lamb. And my cupbards are overflowing with pickled onions, apricot jam, quince jelly (?!?!?!?!?) and more tomato sauce than I am likely to use in twelve months !!

Thanks Mum :)

The ties that bind ...

My folks came and visited today. Those of you who know me well will know that, for various reasons, my folks and I have had a rather tumultuous relationship in recent years. It's still a little tentative, but I have decided to make the most of our time down here in Dunedin and really try to forge a proper relationship with them again.

K rang them earlier in the week, asked them if they would like to come and watch his rugby game and invited them for lunch (his phone manners are really improving). I suggested they be here around 9.30 because it takes me until at least that hour to organise myself on a weekend.

They arrived at 9.05, which is 9.30 in Dad-time. So much for showing off the house in all its pristine, domestic-goddess cleanliness and splendour. At least I had the dishwasher loaded and S had remembered to pick up her clothes off the bathroom floor (grin).

So they came and watched K play rugby (they lost again : 11 - 10) and came back for lunch. And it was really ... nice is such an inadequate word, but it was. Although truth be told my father and my husband have very little in common so that's a little awkward at times. However, my father steadfastly refuses to move into the technological age and has yet to experience the wonders of the internet, but if you plonk him in front of the computer and show him how to use a search engine, he has a blast !!

My mother and I spent a couple of hours filling in family history in the book I bought last year. She's the last one left on her side ... and I want to be able to tell the rugrats about what things were like when they're older and want to know. It's why I scrapbook. And also why I blog I guess ...

PS : I found the recipe for bread and made it for lunch ... and it worked !!!

Fingers crossed ...

I have a real life job interview next Monday !!

Yay me !!

I'm so excited you'd think I actually got the job ... but this is a step in the right direction at least.

It will be so good to be working again.

Culinary experimentation ...

I have decided I am not so much a domestic goddess as a domestic peasant ...

1. One of the things I was the most thrilled about with our new house is the fact I finally have enough bench space to leave my breadmaker out and ready for action (I have major issues with my kitchen in Whangarei ... don't get me started). So I tried to make bread. I cheat when I make bread. None of this starting-from-scratch business for me. I use the store-bought ready-mixed just-add-water stuff. Unfortunately I had lost the recipe ... so I guess-timated how much water and yeast I should put in. Now guess-timating is not something that should be attempted with bread. Bread is something that needs military precision, especially in the measuring department. Suffice it to say my bread was not the most aesthetically pleasing loaf ever to emerge from a breadmaker, although K did say, very diplomatically, "it might look slimy, but it still tastes good"

2. In anticipation of after-school guests, I made scones this afternoon. I'm from the school of "if you don't have this ... maybe that will do". I now know that when a recipe calls for baking powder, baking soda is NOT an acceptable alternative. And I didn't realise how bad they were until after I had made the rugrats eat one each. I feel so bad that we're having ice-cream for dinner to cancel out the taste.

Just wondering ...

... if it's bad luck for a black cat to cross your path ...

... is it good luck for a white dove to fly across in front of you and nearly make you crash the car ?

Just wondering

Baldwin Street ...

Took the kids to the "steepest street in the world" this afternoon ... drove up and then back down it again ...

S screamed the whole way down because she thought we were going to crash (I'll admit it is a little disconcerting staring down) ...

K wants to come back tomorrow with his BMX bike and see how fast he can go.

Boots and all ...

So K lost his first game of rugby with his new team ... but it was close (15 - 14).

He's having a few problems with the game. See last year, for the first time, he was allowed to play "tackle rugby". Admittedly, he's an "assertive" wee chap (the only kid in his grade sent to the sin bin for fighting, although the other kid hit him first) but it's teaching him real rugby skills.

Down here in Dunedin they play a poor imitation of rugby called "ripper rugby" where the kids all wear these little belts with tags velcro-ed onto them and a "tackle" is when their tag is ripped off. However, after having just mastered the art of aiming low and going for the knees in a tackle, K is now finding he has to aim a bit higher ... and these things will take time ...

In the interim, he's just ecstatic he's allowed to wear rugby boots again (they don't up north) and that his feet aren't going to get muddy. My son, the city boy !

Did you know ...

... that a hedgehog has seven thousand spikes Mum ?"

He can't remember to put his pyjamas under his pillow, but this is the kind of news I am regaled with at 7.30 in the morning over the breakfast table :)

Angels in disguise ...

So we've bought K new rugby boots and we're sitting outside the store eating ice-cream (as you do when it's only 10 degrees and you're wearing both a scarf and gloves).

Angel No. 1 asks in a very caring-sharing way "would you like to try a bite of my ice-cream ?"

Angel No. 2 replies "no thank you, but thank you very much for asking"

:) :) :) :) :)

Tick the boxes ...

Now that the rugrats are settled in school, and the hubby's job is going along nicely, it's my turn to find something to while away the daylight hours. Whilst the idea of lunching and "doing coffee" sounds delightful, I have already run into one major snag with this theory ... I know absolutely no one here in Dunedin.

I'm going to have to find a job.

Job interviews bite. And job interviews with recruitment agencies are even bite-ier (hey cool, I invented a new word !!). Why is it necessary for me to prove I can type ? Do they honestly think I could have held down the jobs I have without being able to type ?!?!?!?

And really ... anyone can type. Heck, K can type and he's only seven !!! In fact, since we moved, and the computer is now in the nice warm lounge, I have had to fight to get to my computer because "I just want to send an email to my friends".

I knew setting them up with their own email address was going to come back and bite me in the butt !!

Cats and Little Boys

At dinner tonight the cat we appear to have inherited with our new house sat meowing at the back door. K burst into tears and said "Can I give him my dinner Dad, cos I've already eaten some and he's starving and he might die"

I think K's a monster sometimes and wonder what I ever did in a past life to deserve him, and then stuff like this happens and I realise we did alright, and I must have done something pretty damned great in a past life to deserve him.

(Oh ... after he went to bed ... I fed the cat)

Where have you been ?!?!?

After four weeks hard work, we've finally left Whangarei. We're driving south ... we left this morning with Dunedin our final destination. Having promised the rugrats a week in Fiji as compensation for the insane hours their father has been working, and that no longer a possibility, the road trip to Dunedin has become our family holiday.

We're travelling in two cars, so are using RTs to communicate. Being who I am ... we're running late for our first visit to say goodbye, so I'm panicking slightly. Over the RT comes "... just think, after today, no more deadlines ... we have two weeks to get to the South Island"

After a moments thought there's an excited little voice from the seat beside me. "Cool !! Are we going to the South Island ?"

We don't call it "Planet Possum" for nothing !