Catch’s blog

Ah, what luxury, what bliss, to lie back and relax in a hot bath at the end of the day ... after the baby had been shampooed and taken away, felis minor used it as a watering hole, baby brought back to "see what Mummy's up to" and splash some more, felis major come to inspect the temperature, bath toys strained out ....

As I was drying myself Twelvetrees shoved open the door again. Turns out he likes his bathwater LAST.

James thought he was on to a good thing - combining two of his passions (telephone cable and the cat), and discovering sophisticated tool use all in one go. The cat is a fickle creature, and she has lost interest in being fished for already. Time for a very disappointed infant to have a nap.

Also today, when placed standing holding onto the couch, he worked his way along crabwise to the end. I count that as 'walking'. Well done James!

If once around the 'block' is 3 km, and that distance in this heat half-kills me, how dead will I be on February 15th?
Nine months on minus nine months off equals what level of self-loathing?

What does half an hour of James whining times four days without cigarettes equal?

Kiwibank online banking has a new, compulsory security layer - you choose three personalised questions to answer.
Unfortunately, it turns out that I have a schizophrenic alter-ego who finds such opportunities for flippancy irresistable.

What drunken (presumably?) fool chose "whither Sibelius?"  and what the hell is the answer?

That's going to be an embarrassing phone call.

Once upon a time there was a DJ who left the country in '97 to return for a New Year's gig in Wellington. He visited an old flatmate and rediscovered his 'Triple J Hottest 100 '97' CD that he'd left with an old flatmate and ...

Minuit were very good. I had a big smile on my face. I also had 'flipper hands' and massively dilated pupils.

Happy New Year, all.  

All my to-dos checked off, Matthew came home to his exquisite little lamb steaks, mint sauce, apples stewed, baby fed and what have you.

Now I am dressed and ready to go out (two hours early). This is one of the nights when I wish that I had lost the weight I was already supposed to - Christmas was another. I have brutally squeezed myself into one of my pre-domesticity outfits.  If you see all the bright young things running about Wellington looking like a sausage in black satin next year, I started that tonight.

It's fantastic to have this chance to go out and have a good time, never mind that I'm broke at the moment, I will invest in a bottle of water and concentrate on dancing.

Here we go:

- I want to remember to be more grateful, and SHOW gratitude.
- I pledge to go cold turkey on the Trademe Messageboard. (Secret shame)
- Concentrate, concentrate, on weaning James. Poor rabbit!
- Sometime this year is the time to give up smoking
- Keep taking my citalopram, and at the same time, make a habit of going easy on myself - no hating!
- 65kg is my new UPPER weight limit.
- Ten dollars a week in my Christmas fund, up my housewife skills and manage the housekeeping well. Stay in budget!

I am amazed. Amazed at the variety of my life.

Harvested, sorted, processed and froze my celery crop today. Next time I try growing celery I will go 'old-school' and blanch it. This lot went rank and bolted, and won't be much use for anything but Irish stews. However, the important thing is that I have harvested it, and if I leave it in the freezer and throw it out in 4 months, I still have that sanctimonious glow of a job well done.

James had his first ever home-made meal in his new (my old) bunnykins plate today - potatoes, carrots, our own silverbeet and peas, and a little lamb grabbed from Matthew's dinner portion. Cooked and Mouli'd by his dutiful mother. Still to do today to earn my perfect housewife gold star - stew Matt's breakfast apples and prepare a fantastic meal with homemade and home-grown cauliflower cheese and mint sauce.

In fantastic contrast, our great neighbours have invited me to Toasted Sandwiches at shed 6 tonight and scored a comp for me. Matthew will be seeing the New Year in with Inspector Morse. I feel that I'm blowing all my brownie points in one go, but it should be worth it.