can’t live with him. can’t kill him.

Posted on March 30, 2010

I love Steve. Really I do. But remembering jobs to be done is something we clash over often. The long and the short of it is, I ask him to do stuff and he forgets.

After an in-depth discussion with good friends of ours recently, it was suggested a white board above his desk to write urgent jobs on would do the trick. It would be in plain view all the time and not get lost in the brothel he calls his desk. Today with lightness of step and hope in my heart, I went and purchased said white board.

And this is how it looks, sitting on the floor of our office tonight:



He doesn’t respond to threats and isn’t ticklish so there’s no point tying him down. Any suggestions for my next move would be appreciated.

easter kwaft.

Posted on March 30, 2010

Cassidy adores craft. Or “kwaft” as she calls it. She suggests little projects she’d like to do about a hundred times a day. Taking on ‘kwaft’ with Cassidy is not for the faint hearted.

God really must have a sense of humour because she is so very like me. She has very set ideas on how she would like to do things; what will work out like the picture in her head and what won’t. The trouble with this scenario is that she’s five, and to a five year old, all ideas are fantastic. Even using an entire bottle of Clag to make a paddle pop stick handbag would be within reason.

Tonight she wanted to make something for her friend’s easter baskets at school. She unloaded this information on me about 5pm and after a moment of screaming “noooooooooooo” internally, I set about trying to whip up a plan. Once again my hoarding of seemingly useless craft products saved the day and I found some plastic coloured egg shaped containers I had hid away. My cake decorating box provided us with mini chocolate birds’ eggs and my trip to the junk shop recently had supplied the fuzzy chicks and ribbon. The excitement, clasped hands and “ohhhh YESSSSSSS mummy!” when she came down from he shower to find this collection on the table said it all really.



And that’s where the sweetness ends. From there on, I was merely a necessary assistant to her creative genius.

She started by using her class list to assign color schemes to each of her friends. She chose which colour egg container they were to receive, filled them with mini eggs and a chick, chose the tissue paper and ribbon. I was assigned the lowly task of writing the name tags and tying the bows. Even that required constant supervision from the Kwaft Commander and I was continuously reprimanded for my obvious lack of skill.

“Oh okay mummy…you used the purple tissue paper on that one. I would have used the green, but never mind”.

“I’m just going to the toilet to do a poo. Don’t do anything while I’m gone. Well, okay you can write the tag for Natalie but don’t mix hers up with Kellie will you mum? And check with me before you choose the colours”.

I’m telling you, the child would have Martha Stewart cowering in a corner. And I haven’t even touched on the Teddy Bears Picnic she invited all her friends to last week at school. That was supoosedly on Saturday. At our house. That I was blissfully unaware of until I got a text from another mum saying “is there a teddy bear’s picnic on at your house today? Alice told me Cassidy gave her an invitation”.

I really should have given her Christmas present of notepaper and envelopes more forethought. I suppose if she lacked stationary she just would have emailed them anyway. She probably has cassidyloveskwaft@hotmail.com registered for all I know.

a birthday for pa.

Posted on March 26, 2010

Happy birthday Pa. You are loved. xox

I love the second shot with the “four” grandchildren with Pa holding onto Cassidy’s baby

jazza mataz.

Posted on March 24, 2010

Jasmine, Jaz, Jazza-Mataz and Jazzy Meow Meow.

We had a bit of a sad day yesterday. It was time for our pussy cat to be put to sleep.

Steve and I got her from the pound soon after we bought our first house. We had been married six months and, both being cat lovers, she was one of the first things we ‘bought’ once we had a house of our own. We picked her because when we walked into the cat enclosure, she was the first one to jump onto my lap.

She would often lie in the patch of morning sun that came through the sky light and I would look at her and long to be a cat. The only thing I’ve ever seen her claw is Toby the labradoodle when he had the audacity to try to come into ‘her’ laundry. The kids have dragged her behind them, put her in prams, squished her and pulled her tail. She would lie there with a “please God let it be over” look on her face, but never scratch or run away. She would spend most nights at our feet, on our laps or on our desks in the office. She had a bad habit of jumping up silently behind you when you leaned forward over your desk, only to lean back and sandwich a cat. She loved us.



Cassidy has been especially sad. We came home to “no Jazzy Meow Meow” that night (Cassidy’s nickname for her) and she quietly went and got the flowers off our entry way table and placed them in the laundry. “Flowers for Jazzy”, was all she said.

I will find it hard to move those flowers.

the final countdown.

Posted on March 17, 2010

…to thirty. Considering I turned twenty nine yesterday, I figure I’m well and truly on it. Considering I can remember my parents turning twenty nine, it makes it even more disturbing.

I asked both the kids yesterday did they think I was old. Cassidy said “yes”, followed not quite quickly enough by a “no”. Isaac said “no” a tad too quickly because we were about to serve up the ice cream cake and he had his portion size to consider. I am blessed in the fact that Steve will forever be two and a half years older than me, so he can’t really say much.

Truthfully, it was a rather hectic day but ended with pizza and ice cream cake with my family and good friends. Not to mention, the best present ever – Master Will-yum started walking. On my actual birthday. Now I want to squish him even more.



*thanks to the Image is Found for making me look okay. I took some work.

bright sunshiney day.

Posted on March 6, 2010

Miss What-not-to-wear herself walked in this afternoon in her gumboots and requested a rain walk. I said what do we do on a rain walk. She said we walk in the rain and we sing.

I figure the neighbours already thing we’re nuts, so why not.

So walk and sing we did.

A bright sunshiney day indeed.