I love being able to lie in bed and blog/facebook/whatever. Oh Ethel my iPhone, where would I be without you!

I am full of the slugginess bought on by lack of sleep. Asthma baby strikes again!

We've had a deeelightful weekend so far of Friday birthday ninner, afternoon tea of cake overload and today we meet the grandparents to see a kids theatre show and then lunch.

Oo and I successfully purchased Superman jammies with detachable cape for Torby yesterday which makes me laugh.

Now to drag my arse out of bed whimperand hang washing up and start the long process of making our house presentable so KT doesn't think she's living in a crackhouse when she house-sits for us.

Ten things I love about the munchkin.

I love that his vocabulary is expanding almost hourly. He's been reading really well for a while now and enjoys sounding out words and asking what things mean and what they rhyme with and and and. He likes to sit in bed and read stories by himself now and not just as a delaying tactic at bedtime.

I love the father/son nerdy bonding time that occurs when they play Lego Starwars together. It's Torby's most precious and beloved game at the moment and he estra loves it when Nw is home to play it with him. I think that Nw secretly loves it as well. Given that both of his parents enjoy computer games, it's nice to see that he does too. He's also very very very fond of card and board games. I like that he uses his brain and figures stuff out and remembers rules and strategies (not always succesfully, but we're getting there).

I love that he's having a great time at pre-school and it really has helped with him dealing with crowds of kids better. I love the updates I get when I pick him up of an afternoon. I hear about how he read a book aloud to the other kids, how he looks after the little kids, how he and another boy will be the lead dancers in the christmas pageant, how he leaps off the play equipment and hits his head. Okay maybe not the last one.

I love that he still loves hugs and kisses and snuggles. As annoying as it can be in the morning when I'm trying to eat breakfast and check emails and he decides that he needs to sit on my lap and have my arm around him, I will really miss it when it stops. Getting told 'I love you so so much mummy' is also a pretty good way to start the day.

I love that he is getting independant and confident. That he wants to do stuff on his own, that he is looking forward to school next year, that he runs all the way home from preschool but still stops at the roads so he can hold my hand across, that he uses my keys to open the gate when we get home, that he has figured out to pull a chair over to the lightswitch when he wants the lights on and we're too asleep/lazy to do it for him, that he will happily sleep over at people's places.

I love that he tries to negotiate. 'I have a really good idea....I will have 2 treats tonight and then tomorrow I will only have 1' was last night's effort. You can imagine how succesful that was. In fact most of his "really good ideas" make me laugh. The other day we got 'I have a really good idea. I will stay home and play starwars with no-one to look after me and then I'll have treat for dinner.Yes? yes?'

I love that he will storm off to his room in a huff. Not because I like that he gets grumpy or upset, more that I know I can then go in after a few minutes and talk about what happened and why he got upset and why he feels the way he does and ways to fix it. I like that he is figuring out ways to deal emotions rather than just give into them. It's a long slow lesson that even I haven't quite got the grasp of sometimes.

I love that he is starting to eat a wider variety of food. okay okay it's just pasta and chicken that's been added to the repetoire, but it's something. He will now mostly try things without having hysterics over it. Once again, we repeat the mantra 'he eats lots of fruit and vegetables, lots of fruit and vegetables'

I love that he enjoys the garden. He will go potter out there and come back munching on some parsley or mint. Love that the cousins will go out there when they're over and the weather is good and plant things..sesame seeds for instance.

I love that for all he is growing and changing and becoming such a big brave clever kid, he's still my baby boy and still needs comforting sometimes. He still retreats to us and demands hugs, he still carries around his special blankie in the mornings, he will still cry out for us in the middle of the night if he has a bad dream, he still likes to sit on my lap when he's tired and needs a quiet moment. I dread the day when we're no longer so immediately nescessary. Dread it and look forward to it as it will show that we've done our job of raising an independant human being who can function usefully in society. But mostly dread it.

Yesterday I went and picked up Torby's document of identity. (victory!) I almost didn't believe it was actually going to happen there after my experience with Australia Post.

In a direct contrast, the people I spoke to at the Passport Office were lovely and helpful and useful.

6sleeps to go.

Dinner at Restaurant Blancmange was deeeeeelightful!
The walk to and from was lovely and slightly spooky through Petersham Park. Parks at night are always a bit spooky and never to be attempted without company.
We ate dericious food (mmm velvety melty house-cured trout mmm) and drank a really nice bottle of wine (Principia Pinot Noir 2007 for future reference)
The service was lovely and charming and amusing.
Not only did Nw get a sparkler and Happy Birthday written on his cheese plate but I must have mentioned it was our wedding anniversary as we got a lovely scoop of blood orange sorbet with Happy Anniversary scrawled on the plate.
We got to chat and giggle and argue over correct knife and fork placement and pretend we were grown-ups again.
Deeeeeelightful!

It's been an 8 years (plus the 4pre-wedding) filled with ups and downs and good bits and bad bits and boredom and over-excitement and I wouldn't have it any other way.

Yay with added Woot!

Yay for today!
Today marks 8 years of marriage and 41years of there being a Nw on the earth.

Nw got awoken with pressies and a handmade card and birthday breakfast (nuttella on bread, laden with many candles) and many hugs and kisses from the munchkin (and possibly just a few from me)
Tonight we ditch the munchkin and go out for lovely dinner to celebrate 8years of mawwiage.
Friday I make nachos.
Saturday is other people's birthday afternoon tea celebrations.
There is also talk of more food on Sunday.

Along with last weekend with it's dinner at Perama on Saturday (mmmm porkbelly baklava) and Sunday yum cha, September has apparently been decreed the month of food. I'm not even ready to contemplate the week on Norfolk Island with the family and the amount of delicious food that will be consumed. (because all food consumed on holiday is delicious..it's the rules)
I guess it's just giving my stomach training for the whole christmas period.

Only slight off on a tangent...there are only 3 weekends in December! Christmas Day is on the last Saturday this year. Very rude of it I say. Doesn't it realise how much we need those weekends. Munchkin's birthdays (*cough* keep 4th December free *cough*) and christmas parties and shopping and sca events that are just around the corner so probably should be attended all have to be squeezed in.
Woe woe is us with our delightful social occasions and friends and family to be seen. It's a dreadful life, truly it is.

Apparently I've been far too happy of late and my brain would like me to maintain the cranky.

No really!
Another night of weird dreams but this time all of them were annoying.
Instead of visions of sugar plum fairies dancing through my head, I got a cavalcade of people eating with their mouths open and twitchy legs and Youth of Today (tm) being rude and lads with their pants halfway down their bums and various other petty annoyances some of which really are too insane to be shared.
What on earth is my brain doing to me???

Ninner tonight...

I have some chicken mince (Coles now does free-range chicken mince - Hoorah) and a memeory of making little thai-esque meatballs that were yummy.
Apparently we also ate the recipe and Taste.com.au is refusing to give it to me.
So....

thai chicken patties in lettuce cups?

lemongrass and ginger chicken rissoles?

coriander chicken balls with rice noodle salad?

I think the last one was the closest.

and yes, lets not dwell on the fact that I have cookbooks sitting in the bookshelf behind me and quite a few of them deal with Asian food.

The trials and tribulations of getting Torby a 'Document of Identity for travel to Norfolk Island'

Attempt the First.

Make appointment at Australia Post.
Attend Aust Post with all the forms and pictures and passports etc.
Man 1 looks at all documentattiona nd suggests that it's unnacceptable because the top and the bottom of the form were clipped when they printed, blue ink is used and the guarantor signature goes a mm or 2 outside the box.
*twitch* *twitch* *twitch*
Man2 comes along,looks and allows the blue ink (it's dark blue) and the signature but not the clipping. You can still scan the barcode and read all the writing but it's still not allowed. Have to come back on Monday.
Froth with rage, return to work and try to get everyone arrested.

Attempt the Second

Attend new appointment armed with newly printed form that Nw fiddled with to make sure it prints out okay, all the other associated documents including a letter from my Superannuation Company in case they want something with my address.
Woman1 looks at all the documentation, gets me to write Camperdown instead of Sydney, asks for address, I hand her the letter, she announces that it's not proof enough because it doesn't have my full name on it and I will need to come back with something else so she can tick the box.
I pull out all the cards in my wallet and show that half of them don't have my full name and ask why on earth is this letter not enough especially when it's not anywhere on the form from the website that I should bring broof of address in anyway.
She goes, checks with someone, ticks the box.
I grin. She scowls.
She asks me for the certified copies of my passport, his birth certificate etc. I state that I don't have any as I wasn't told to bring any. She sighs, photocopies, and certifies.
She declares that his photos are unnaceptable as his head is a mm too low.
I explode (politely) and state that his photo was deemed okay last week and why on earth wouldn't it be now
She asks who approved it, I state that I didn't feel the need to get his name and date of birth as I didn't believe it was going to be an issue.
Oh yeah, we're practically bestfriends at this point.
She confers with someone. Photo is allowed.
She demands that I do a priority service because we haven't allowed 15days turnaround.
I reply that it should only be 12 days according to the website because surely Australia Post is capable of delivering a form to the passport office 5 streets away within a day or two. I am however paranoid enough that I was planning on priority service anyway.
I pay, she hands me reciept and documents.
I do a victory dance.
I'm expecting an inviation to dinner any second now.

15 sleeps to go!

dreams

I commented over on Facebook that I had had a night of odd dreams.
There was the one where MissJimmy decided to conquer her fear of fish by wearing a fish costume for 4hours a day.
There was the one where I had to collect all the coffee beans in the world (no I have no idea why, but it was very nescessary at the time) - it was not as hard as it sounds because I had a coffee bean tracker and could do it all through my computer. Sattelites and robots were involved.
There were a few others that I can't really remember. All of them were amusing and odd. Except for one.
The one that got me frustrated was that I spent a weekend being fed by people but it was annoying because everyone was making food that I normally make and it was making me cross.

I should explain. I firmly support sharing recipes. It's the same as sharing where you got those shoes from or what book has that picture in it and where that fabric came from etc etc etc. It's polite and nice and to do so and I'm never entirely sure why people don't.
I am quite fine with people then making the food that I that the recipe is for (indeed a bunch of the food I cook comes from someone else's brain or a recomendation of a cookbook).
My problem seems to be when people make that food and then feed it to me. Not that it's happened very often at all. People generally have enough of their own yummy recipes and books that it's never really been an issue. Apparently though it's enough to make me dream about it and wake up feeling slightly grumpy. I know, I know, I pick odd things to get woogy over.
Mind you all I have to do is think of Jimmy in her fish suit and I cheer back up again.

My brain scares me sometimes.

Slow cooker

So, we bought a slowcooker a few weeks ago. The appeal of having the bulk of ninner be mostly ready when I get home is strong. I do wish there was a timer option for when it turns on though. We really need dishes that take at least 8hrs and preferably more. That's the time between Nw leaving in the morning and me getting home in the afternoon. This lends itself to dishes that are very gloopy. Which is nice but I would like to find something less gloopy to add to the slow cooker repertoire. I have hopes for the lambshanks we'll be having tonight.
I did use it to make dessert for Saturday night (lemon custard creams) which worked a treat.

Anyone got good recipes?

drugs are good mm'kay

Torby has his asthma puffers;
Nw has his anti-inflammatories and Vitamin D tablets;
Stampy has her anti hyper-thyroid cream, antibiotics for any infection she gets from scratching her face and neck open (a side effect of the old thyroid drugs), drugs to settle her stomach and one other one that I can't remember now;
I have...nothing.
I feel all left out.
Healthy, but all left out.
:-)

oo-de-lally

The new movie of fascination at Casa du Huntington-Smythe is none other than the 1973 disney version of Robin Hood.

Yay for liking the same movies I did as a kid.

Oh the thrills and excitement of life around Casa de Huntington-Smythe

The whole family (except for Stampy of course) will soon have new glasses. Nw got his eyes checked and picked out new frames yesterday. Yay!

We bought a slow cooker on the weekend and tested it out last night. Well, we used it overnight because I wanted to be home for it's first use in case something went horridly wrong. Figured we'd hear the smoke alarms in our sleep. In fact I knew that we would because I set them off while browning the meat. D'oh. However, it all went well, nothing melted or was on fire this morning and hopefully dinner tonight will even taste good.

We got a digital set-top box (after discovering that the old one we had in a box somewhere no longer had a remote and rattled with cockroach poo). The new one works and there was much rejoicing! Yay for ABC2 and Go and all the other channels I hear about and can now see.

Am sending the lads off to a pub somewhere on Saturday night to have some super-fun-out-of-the-house boytime and they can begin their Sunday with a hangover. Us lasses shall stay at home with the children and eat salads and maybe sip a light sherry or something suitably feminine and discuss how to be better wives and mothers. *snort*

20 sleeps until Nw's birthday and our wedding anniversary. Soon the magical number of married years will be 8 (I think)
28 sleeps until the big family adventure to Norfolk Island. Really really looking forward to it.

May have to have a bbq in between there to celebrate.

Saw Cat Empire last Sunday. Oh baby how they go off in concert. Much leaping about and very very good music and my betsest CE gig buddies (minus MissKrin who was missed) and all was really good with the world. Until of course the soreness sets in. Ouch ouch ouch. Did I mention ouch?

Yay for food and tv and gigs and glasses and fathers of children.