Gus has a couple of best friends. Rip-a-Lee, Oukie, Bimza, Shrek and Giggles. When we go out Gus will ask if one of his friends can come too. This short exchange will go something like this.

"Get in the car Gus."

"Can Oukie come?"
"Sure."
He'll then find his friend and say to him, "Yay! Oukie you can come."

A week ago we go in the car without the usual song and dance. As we were pulling out of the driveway I asked Gus if he was okay. He says to me "No Mum Oukie slap-da-me."

I was suprised and a little amused as I said "Really Gus? Why did he slap you."
"He just slap-da-me."
"Did you get cross with him?"

"Me telled him off."

"What happened?"

"He didn't listen to me."

"Oh well you can just play with your other friends when we get home. Okay Gus?"

"No Mum, Shrek slap-da-me, Bimza slap-da-me, Rip-a-Lee slap-da-me, Giggles slap-da-me."

"What did you do?"
"No, I didn't do anything they slap-da-me!"

"Okay Gus you're okay now. We'll be at Granny's soon."

Oukie

Shrek

Bimza

Rip-a-Lee

Giggles

I love him

Like a breath of fresh air I come home every day to the love of my life. You spend all night working and come home in time to look after our children so I can go to work too. And when I come home I know you are extremely tired. I tell you to go to bed a hundred times but you want to see me so you follow me around the kitchen. I love you sweet heart and I can't wait to spend more time with you.

"I'm tired, so freakin tired"

Just over a month ago I was awake 'til all hours of the morning as I tried to watch as much of Le Tour De France as possible. I was on school holidays for the first two weeks of the three week event. Of the 21 nights I believe I saw 4 or 5 finishes, at least two of which I was woken from slumber by Poppy just in time to catch the last 5 k's. Some nights I would remember to watch the highlights while I was making dinner but for the most part I missed the end of many more stages than I caught. And for all of my trouble I was still woken at about 6am by The Boys.

Ten days ago my sleeping problems returned with a vengence. The Olympic Games began auspiciously. I took the kids up to Kristies house, where we watched the opening ceremony and ate Chinese food together. At 11pm when all the dancing was done and athletes were entering the stadium I thought it was time to make the 45 minute drive home with my sleeping babies. About 25 mins into the trip I knew we would not make it home safely I tried to get there in one continuous run. I would blink my eyes and they had become sluggish and disgruntled. They did not want to stay open. My only option was to pull over and join my children in the land of nod. I turned off the main road and parked between a church and a school. I double checked the locks on the doors, reclined my chair and slept for 40mins. I awoke when Poppy stirred as she would soon need a feed and I had no bottle to give her I started the car once more and drove home safely. Since that night I have been home to watch all of my evening Olympic events so that I can sleep within the peacful confines of my own bed when I get too tired.

Wii, wii, wii all the way home.

Wii are a gadget sort of family. Wii have always enjoyed playing on the computer. When wii were married 6 months Mick used our first combined tax return to buy a very awesome computer, I think it had 80gb harddrive. Now wii have two computers, a his and hers, and his has a terabyte of harddrive space. Wii used to have the original Playstaion but somebody "borrowed" it. Then wii got an Xbox and that has mainly utilised as a DVD player as Mick used his computer as a gaming device. About a year ago, when Zac was about 3 1/2, he became interested in playing on my computer. Wii then let him play on the Xbox and wii spent many afternoons playing together. Somedays I couldn't tell if Zac had had a turn because everytime I walked through the family room Mick was "helping" him get a new level. Two weeks ago wii got a Wii. Since then wii have been playing on the Wii a lot.


Now wii have to get a bigger TV!

Me thinks she doth protest too much.

Maybe I do still cook a little bit.

Nana used to make awesome soups. On alternate Sundays we would go and spend the afternoon or evening at Nana and Papa's house. She would cook a sufficient meal with ingredients from her garden, cucumber or dill. I remember most fondly her milky cabbage soup and borscht. During the course of our stay we would try not to get in Butch's way. He was a Pomeranian who guarded Papa well. My favourite days were ones when Nana would let me play with her jewellery box. She had some great clip on earings that dangled just right with necklaces to match. There were some items that were off limits and every now and then Nana would sit down and show me her pieces of amber. They were so facinating so warm and unique. I remember her saying that one day she wanted her grandaughters to have them.

While I was at the Central Market with Mum on Saturday I got a little nostalgic and thought that I would do a bit of cooking in the next week. I bought the things that I thought should go into borscht (beetroot soup). Last night when I brought out the recipe I found that I had not gathered together some ingredients that were in the recipe. So I improvised. I used potato instead of cabbage, tinned tomatoes instead of fresh and parsley instead of dill. I also didn't go with the measurements of the recipe. I used the 'little bit of this' method and I think it turned out just like Nana used to make. Very good.

first bite

If you look really close you can see Poppy's first tooth. She's had it about a month now and I just love to put my finger in her month and give it a rub as though it were the Blarney Stone. Admittedly I'm also checking for more sharp spots because I missed the initial appearance of this one.

I have spent the last two weeks watching my baby NEARLY crawl, listening to Gus's jokes and running through emergency procedures with Zac. He's very conscientious.

I don't cook any more.

About four and a half years ago I stopped cooking. I was well on my way to cooking like my Mum and Nana. You know the type, the guest asks "How did you make the pastry for the tart? It was so sweet and moist." The cook responds "Well...The recipe says... But I just did..." The guest asks "Can I have the recipe for your rissotto?" The cooks answer is "Well...I make it a bit different everytime. I don't really have a recipe."

Four years later the only thing I cook from scratch without using a recipe is pancakes. Put some self raising flour in a bowl with some sugar. Add one or two eggs, depending on how much flour you put in. You can put some vanilla essence in if you want. Then pour in milk until it is just right. Pour the batter into the hot pan. Sometimes I add a couple of grated, peeled granny smith apples and cinnamon. Sometimes I add drinking chocolate or milo to the flour. Sometimes we just have plain with lemon and sugar on top. And sometimes I make these for dinner. To cook them it is best to heat vegetable oil in a pan so you can shallow fry the pancakes and this gives then a lovely crisp edge. But it is also okay to cook them in a non stick pan for the fat conscious family members.

But I digress. For the first four years of our marriage I made many awesome home cooked meals that were enough to feed many more people than ate at our table each night. I would come home from work excited about what I had planned for dinner that night. I shoulder part of the responsibility for Mick's weight gain in the early years of our marriage as I indulged him with my enjoyment in the ktchen.

When I was dating him his idea of a balanced meal was two minute noodles with frozen vegetable. Then we came together and I cooked stuffed capsicum and chilli chicken with marinade I had made from scratch. I made muffins with apples I had stewed and decorated cakes with chocolate swirls I had made the day before. I enjoyed cooking. I think I still do. I just don't make time anymore nor do I have enough brain power to plan a meal more than an hour in advance. So now I make beef strog from a jar, just add beef, mushrooms and sour cream. I make cakes with Betty Croker. And when I say, "Boys lets cook today," we make jelly.