Last night I was making a casserole for dinner. Since moving here I cook more at home than I ever have before. Many foods and ingrediants I normally used are not available to me or are too expensive so the only answer was to make my own variation of recipes. So I have had a recipe book going for a long time with all my substitutions and ones I made up.
Well, I am getting ready to make our dinner and I put the recipe book on the oven (you can see where I am going with this) and turned on a burner. I start cutting potatos and talking to T who is playing with baby girl and all of a sudden it occurs to me that the house is getting really smokey. Turn around and see my recipe book on FIRE! I put it to close to the burner that was on and the edge caught fire and quickly spread. Without a second thought I grabbed the edge and threw it in the sink and turned on the tap. Smokey, smelly and soggy is what my recipe book is now. You might add in "Ruined"
So Check out this Commercial, it cracks me up.
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
Saturday, July 28, 2007
Who Said Poop?
Baby Girl did! Today, she told me she pooped. First time. Doesnt seem like an occasion for excitement but it really is. Means she is aware of what she is doing and she needs a change.
We went through another round of doctor's visits here. Somehow she managed to pick up some food poisoning. The doctor told me that she is bound to catch more viruses and other fun stuff being new to the area. That gives me something to look forward to. not. I have been spending my time sitting on the couch with her while she sits in a half doze. Thank goodness she got a clean bill of health on Wednesday though she is still a tiny bit weak.
To celebrate, daddy took us out to our favorite fancy Japanese restuarant here. Now that I think about it, perhaps just getting over food poisoning and then celebrating by going out to eat was probably not one of our smarter ideas. She packed in the food though. She is crazy for the tofu there and she ate alot of Daikon radish as well. As a special, special treat we let her have her very first REAL ice cream. Green Tea Ice Cream! My favorite! I don't let her eat many sweets and she had problems with eczema excluding her from dairy for awhile but it seems to be passing so we have let her eat cheese now but anyway, you should have seen her face with the first spoonful of ice cream! This look of utter joy passed over her and she enthusiaticly yelled "MMMMMMM"
She charmed the waitress as she does most everyone she meets so she got her own bowl of ice cream. She realizes chopsticks are for eating with but hasnt got the knack of them but she tries very hard to use them. She mostly stabs her food with them.
Earlier that day we had gone by the 'ol Pack N Save or as we call it The Pack N Slave cause you have to bag your own groceries. We bought a 10 kg bag of potatos but when I opened them today they were completely moldy and sprouted like you wouldn't believe. Today we had to go back and return them, they were nasty.
Which reminds me of a funny story I meant to write awhile ago but I forgot. Some weeks ago we went to Subway and Daddy ordered subs for all three of us and the girl behind the counter couldnt speak english that well and he isnt always readily understandable at times himself. Immediately I noticed the girl behind the counter was Japanese. The two of them limped along trying to get our order done in this terrible mixed up english that had me rolling on the floor because I realized they could speak Japanese and get it right in no time. After minutes of torture, I couldn't stand it anymore and yelled "Just speak to each other in Japanese, sheeh!" and they did and it took a minute to get it all right.
New Zealandism of the Day
Boy Racers - Means exactly that I suppose. The kids racing around in what we usually call "Tuners" Japanese import cars with loud mufflers pretending they are in "The Fast and the Furious" The authorities periodically announce some plan to abolish boy racers.
We went through another round of doctor's visits here. Somehow she managed to pick up some food poisoning. The doctor told me that she is bound to catch more viruses and other fun stuff being new to the area. That gives me something to look forward to. not. I have been spending my time sitting on the couch with her while she sits in a half doze. Thank goodness she got a clean bill of health on Wednesday though she is still a tiny bit weak.
To celebrate, daddy took us out to our favorite fancy Japanese restuarant here. Now that I think about it, perhaps just getting over food poisoning and then celebrating by going out to eat was probably not one of our smarter ideas. She packed in the food though. She is crazy for the tofu there and she ate alot of Daikon radish as well. As a special, special treat we let her have her very first REAL ice cream. Green Tea Ice Cream! My favorite! I don't let her eat many sweets and she had problems with eczema excluding her from dairy for awhile but it seems to be passing so we have let her eat cheese now but anyway, you should have seen her face with the first spoonful of ice cream! This look of utter joy passed over her and she enthusiaticly yelled "MMMMMMM"
She charmed the waitress as she does most everyone she meets so she got her own bowl of ice cream. She realizes chopsticks are for eating with but hasnt got the knack of them but she tries very hard to use them. She mostly stabs her food with them.
Earlier that day we had gone by the 'ol Pack N Save or as we call it The Pack N Slave cause you have to bag your own groceries. We bought a 10 kg bag of potatos but when I opened them today they were completely moldy and sprouted like you wouldn't believe. Today we had to go back and return them, they were nasty.
Which reminds me of a funny story I meant to write awhile ago but I forgot. Some weeks ago we went to Subway and Daddy ordered subs for all three of us and the girl behind the counter couldnt speak english that well and he isnt always readily understandable at times himself. Immediately I noticed the girl behind the counter was Japanese. The two of them limped along trying to get our order done in this terrible mixed up english that had me rolling on the floor because I realized they could speak Japanese and get it right in no time. After minutes of torture, I couldn't stand it anymore and yelled "Just speak to each other in Japanese, sheeh!" and they did and it took a minute to get it all right.
New Zealandism of the Day
Boy Racers - Means exactly that I suppose. The kids racing around in what we usually call "Tuners" Japanese import cars with loud mufflers pretending they are in "The Fast and the Furious" The authorities periodically announce some plan to abolish boy racers.
Monday, July 16, 2007
Sunshine!
Hooray! we had one day of sunshine, we managed to get out to the lake. Lately it seems baby girl is growing up so fast my head is spinning. She is taller and more much, much more vocal. She speaks alot, not always in words anyone can understand but her vocabulary is bigger every day. Yesterday she learned the word "chicken" of course we had to hear "chicken" over and over but it was cool.
At the lake, there was a brand new baby slide. All by herself she climbed the steps and slid down all alone without my help. I was so proud of her! She does everything without hesitation, without worry. She is very strong and brave. She slides down, then jumps to her feet and with sparkling eyes begins to clap her hands. What a performance! Take a bow!
We were having fun at the playground but two little girls and a little boy came along and the little boy started throwing dirt all over the place, I kept asking him to stop because I was afraid that Baby girl would get dirt in her eyes but he wouldnt stop. As I grabbed up baby girl and started walking away, his mom came up and apologized. I was glad she apologized but a little supervision might have helped.
Back at home, I went back to the realities of having no dryer. As I always say, at times, its like living in the 1800s with no dryer or other major appliances. I am probably spoiled but you get used to these kind of things. Without a dryer you have to hang your laundry out in the yard and when its very cold like this it doesnt dry! then you bring it inside and it doesnt dry there either because its been raining and everything is wet. All our clothes smell mildewy but a friend of mine suggested putting vinegar in the wash to erase the mildew smell and it worked!!!! Now I dont have to worry about that anymore. Though one of my major wishes is a dryer. Keeping my fingers crossed. Dont make fun of me, lol, I dont know these things. I think I am becoming a different person since I moved here. Maybe it will make me stronger.
At the lake, there was a brand new baby slide. All by herself she climbed the steps and slid down all alone without my help. I was so proud of her! She does everything without hesitation, without worry. She is very strong and brave. She slides down, then jumps to her feet and with sparkling eyes begins to clap her hands. What a performance! Take a bow!
We were having fun at the playground but two little girls and a little boy came along and the little boy started throwing dirt all over the place, I kept asking him to stop because I was afraid that Baby girl would get dirt in her eyes but he wouldnt stop. As I grabbed up baby girl and started walking away, his mom came up and apologized. I was glad she apologized but a little supervision might have helped.
Back at home, I went back to the realities of having no dryer. As I always say, at times, its like living in the 1800s with no dryer or other major appliances. I am probably spoiled but you get used to these kind of things. Without a dryer you have to hang your laundry out in the yard and when its very cold like this it doesnt dry! then you bring it inside and it doesnt dry there either because its been raining and everything is wet. All our clothes smell mildewy but a friend of mine suggested putting vinegar in the wash to erase the mildew smell and it worked!!!! Now I dont have to worry about that anymore. Though one of my major wishes is a dryer. Keeping my fingers crossed. Dont make fun of me, lol, I dont know these things. I think I am becoming a different person since I moved here. Maybe it will make me stronger.
Thursday, July 12, 2007
Can't Spell
I enjoy life in New Zealand on the most part but one thing always drives me crazy. Some Kiwis can't spell. No offense to anyone but I haven't seen so many misspellings in my life. Granted I am not perfect but there are official town websites with typos, grocery products, advertisements, you name it. You could make the claim that is American English versus British English but I would like to submit to you the following evidence:
All questions asked by Kiwis on trademe the New Zealand equivalent to Ebay. Reminder, these are all real, legitimate questions written on trademe.
1. that sounds like a fair price do you have a contact mumber i can ring you one preferablay a home numner not a cell, as could we sort a test drive i take your word its a good box but 1.5 is a lot of money just piece of mine
2. 40 mins total play time
Comes With origanal packing and books
All questions asked by Kiwis on trademe the New Zealand equivalent to Ebay. Reminder, these are all real, legitimate questions written on trademe.
1. that sounds like a fair price do you have a contact mumber i can ring you one preferablay a home numner not a cell, as could we sort a test drive i take your word its a good box but 1.5 is a lot of money just piece of mine
2. 40 mins total play time
Comes With origanal packing and books
| 3. greatg house only 4 years old in sub division huge back yard double bedroom ,warm ,alarmed parking on drive way or rd . exsiting flatmates 2 females in early 20's awesome bathroom close to parks shops bus stops QE2 swimming pool 5 min drive to the palms mall Smokers OK, no pets. | |||||||
Furnishings:
misspelled. Check out the bottom of the page. http://www.akaroa.com 5. This is from a Forum: Contact? You had you're far share when you lost your ductail spolier giving one of the cef's a love tap on the last lefthander. I think you had your far share. 6. Latest Trademe question: do you still have purchase receit , so if any problems this could be returned under gurantee? I am not writing this to be mean, simply I am worried, I try and do my best at spelling and I hope this isn't a reflection on the school system here. Is it just lazy writing? or is spelling not high on the list in school? I am wondering if I will have to teach spelling at home. There are many times on trademe when I cant honestly answer questions because I really don't know what they mean! I never have this problem on ebay. |
Library
It's been incredibly cold and rainy here and we cant afford to pay the fee yet for playgroups so I have been taking Meggy to the library lately. This is fun and ultimately irritating all at the same time. She loves other kids and thinks they love her in return so it's alot of her trying to talk to other children and trying to make them play with stinky old piggy. I can see in her eyes the hurt she feels when other children don't respond to her. She likes to run up and down the book aisles yelling "HI" at the other people in the library, she runs behind the counter, she hits the keyboards of the free to use computers, she takes the cd's out and runs with them, she pulls books out and tries to give them to people. It's like a whirlwind is loose. I can tell the librarian is alternately amused and irritated. That goes for most of the other people in the library too, I think.
Today we went a little early hoping to beat the crowds that have been there because of school vacation and the rain but it was very busy. Alot of kids were there. Recently I have been dwelling on whether I am a good mother or not. Someone I know tells me I let Meggy watch too much tv and its been bothering me every day lately even though her playgroup teacher told me I am a very good mother and T tells me that all the time. We were sitting on a couch in the children's area and there was a small boy picking out books near me while Meggy was at the young adult section pretending she can read older people books, there were two adults talking near me and one was the little boys mother. He became bored with his story book and was trying to get her attention, she ignored him so he got louder and louder, suddenly she looked at him and screamed at the top of her lungs "Don't you yell at me, you will not get any book from here if you keep yelling at me" I was so shocked I couldnt even get my thoughts together for a second. Meggy started to cry. The little boy went back to his book as if he was used to this. The other woman she had been talking to didn't even say anything they went back to their conversation like nothing happened.
I tried to cheer up the little boy by reading him a story and he seemed to enjoy it. (no thank you from the mom btw) Meggy patted him on his head. I couldnt believe someone would yell at their child like that, especially in public. Yesterday at the supermarket I saw a couple with a little girl about Meggy's age arguing about something and the little girl wandered away almost out the front door of the supermarket while they weren't paying attention. So I guess my point is, I might be worried about being the best, but I dont think I am the worst. Meggy is kind, brave, inquisitive, active, intelligent, playful, and fun to be around. I think I am doing all right.
I did get a bunch of kids cook books from the library. I was thinking if we could find some easy recipes maybe she can help me cook. We also got an activity book and a children's book about Japan. I have been reading a book called The Swarm by Frank Schatzing. Its a big one, but completely riviting. I only picked it up because the cover looked nice and Meggy was driving me nuts running in circles so I grabbed something fast. Turns out to be a great read. It's all about what would happen if the ocean turned against us.
I forgot to mention, it's so cold here our olive oil turned into a solid!
New Zealandism of the day: Green Milk or Blue Milk
This confused me alot for awhile. Everyone kept referring to either green milk or blue milk. I was looking for blue milk in the store. Then I realized that the plastic top of whole milk is blue and the plastic top of skim milk is green. I haven't had this confirmed by a Kiwi, but I think this is the solution.
Today we went a little early hoping to beat the crowds that have been there because of school vacation and the rain but it was very busy. Alot of kids were there. Recently I have been dwelling on whether I am a good mother or not. Someone I know tells me I let Meggy watch too much tv and its been bothering me every day lately even though her playgroup teacher told me I am a very good mother and T tells me that all the time. We were sitting on a couch in the children's area and there was a small boy picking out books near me while Meggy was at the young adult section pretending she can read older people books, there were two adults talking near me and one was the little boys mother. He became bored with his story book and was trying to get her attention, she ignored him so he got louder and louder, suddenly she looked at him and screamed at the top of her lungs "Don't you yell at me, you will not get any book from here if you keep yelling at me" I was so shocked I couldnt even get my thoughts together for a second. Meggy started to cry. The little boy went back to his book as if he was used to this. The other woman she had been talking to didn't even say anything they went back to their conversation like nothing happened.
I tried to cheer up the little boy by reading him a story and he seemed to enjoy it. (no thank you from the mom btw) Meggy patted him on his head. I couldnt believe someone would yell at their child like that, especially in public. Yesterday at the supermarket I saw a couple with a little girl about Meggy's age arguing about something and the little girl wandered away almost out the front door of the supermarket while they weren't paying attention. So I guess my point is, I might be worried about being the best, but I dont think I am the worst. Meggy is kind, brave, inquisitive, active, intelligent, playful, and fun to be around. I think I am doing all right.
I did get a bunch of kids cook books from the library. I was thinking if we could find some easy recipes maybe she can help me cook. We also got an activity book and a children's book about Japan. I have been reading a book called The Swarm by Frank Schatzing. Its a big one, but completely riviting. I only picked it up because the cover looked nice and Meggy was driving me nuts running in circles so I grabbed something fast. Turns out to be a great read. It's all about what would happen if the ocean turned against us.
I forgot to mention, it's so cold here our olive oil turned into a solid!
New Zealandism of the day: Green Milk or Blue Milk
This confused me alot for awhile. Everyone kept referring to either green milk or blue milk. I was looking for blue milk in the store. Then I realized that the plastic top of whole milk is blue and the plastic top of skim milk is green. I haven't had this confirmed by a Kiwi, but I think this is the solution.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
