Sad

Our "new" fridge stopped working.
Judging by the temperature of the food in the fridge and freezer, it hasn't been working for a little while. I don't know if it's a good or bad thing that it's the long weekend and we are going away.

Quotables

Me: Look at Nomi bouncing!
G: Whyyy is she bouncing?
Me: That's how God made her.
G: No, that's how Daddy made her.

Me: I'm going to open the window and let some fresh air in.
G: I'm going to close the door, and keep the old air in.

After a little too much chatter...
Me: Can you please stop talking? I need some quiet.
G: No, I need some noisy time.

After bowing my head and closing my eyes to pray:
G: Amen! I said 'Amen' and then Mummy woke up.

And Counting

One: amazingly, marvelously fantastic husband
Two: beautiful children
Three: years of parenthood
Four: years in our "new hometown"
Five: "extravagent" trips
Six: years of wedded bliss.

Happy Anniversary, Rodney. I love you more than I can say.

Beauty

Washer Woman

Laundry is one of my favourite domestic chores. Sadly, the weather hadn't been cooperating lately, so by Tuesday, I had an awful lot to keep me busy. I started with the diapers, since, for the first time ever, I had actually run out of clean ones. I put them in, and merrily went on with my day. And then along came G and informed me that the washer wasn't working.
Sure enough, the washer wasn't working.
I paused to think of what to do and remembered that the last load we had done a few days previously had had a similar problem - it wasn't draining. I called Rod (it's wonderful being married to a handyman) and asked him what to do. He suggested I try to drain it, if possible, and to otherwise call in the repairman. My Dutch sensibilities balked at the latter suggestion, but my uncertainty of my handywoman abilities balked at the former. But, the Dutch sensibilities won out and I found myself taking apart part of the washer to try to drain it.
I did the best I could: I did the Cookie -Sheet - Slide - Roasting - Pan - Dump. Many, many times. It was not my finest hour. (Literally: "hour"). Perhaps it wouldn't have been quite so bad if it wasn't diaper water. Or if I didn't spill so much. Or if G wasn't quite so "helpful." But, in the end, there was an end. It was drained.
Remembering that Rod had made mention of an unbalanced load, I tried to re-balance this load. And then I pushed the start button again. Hopeful....easy does it...away she goes....here comes more water and some sploshing....and a big "nope."
And so I drained it again. Much like the first time. (It was around this point that I realized there is a fine line between "optimism" and "foolishness.")
I called the repairman.
Thankfully, he came later in the day (I am, after all, addicted to laundry). He asked some questions about the washer, fiddled, grunted, and worked, asked about how old the baby was (she had woken up when he came). Apparently that was his segue...I didn't clue in...
And then he held up the culprit: a nursing pad had gotten stuck in the hose.
Problem solved.

No Use Crying....

....over spilled milk.
Even so, a litre is a lot of milk to clean up.
Just so you know.

The RunAround

I always enjoy it when things that are actually on my grocery list go on sale. This past week, such was the case with baby wipes. They were on for half-price, which, combined with the coupons I had (Yes, I use coupons) was going to give me a steal of a deal. Very exciting.
So, I made a special trip to the grocery store, grateful to finally fill up my depleted reserves. I went down the wipes aisle, noticed the bright tags advertising the sale price and……they were gone. All of them. I looked up and down, over and across. None. I looked for a large display. Nada. I looked for an associate. I found one in the dairy and, acknowledging that it wasn’t his department, asked if even so perhaps he had some wipes in the back? He didn’t. I thanked him, and went to the check-out with my few purchases. I asked the cashier if she knew how long the sale would last, and if by any chance I could take a raincheck? “No” on both counts. But, she called another associate and asked if he knew of any.
Happy day! - A large display by the dairy section. How could I have missed it?
With her permission, I left my purchases with her and rolled my way to the far end of the store. I looked. No wipes. Was I blind?
“Over there,” an associate pointed for me.
I looked. Why couldn’t I see it?
He pointed again. “Over there.”
I must have looked like I needed an awful lot of help, because he came over to me and pointed me to the massive display. (All seven feet high and fifteen feet across and five feet across of it.)
“That’s pop.” I blurted out.
“Yeah,” he answered. “What were you looking for?”
“Baby wipes.”
“Oh. They’re over here.” And he walked me to the wipes aisle.
“Well. They should be here,” he said. “They must be out. Sorry.”
Back to the cashier.
“Did you find them?” she asked.
“No,” I answered. “He misunderstood.”
“Oh,” she responded, “let me look.”
She left her station and went to the wipes aisle.
She came back with the final verdict: “No wipes - we’re all out.”

Quotables

Compliments of G.....all of them.

"Are you washing your hands?"
"Yup. On my toothbrush."

"I got boogers. From my juice."

"Soon, Nomi will be *haaandsome*."

"I and my penis are in bed."

And, Anatomy 101 for us all:
"This is my head. This is my bum. Poop comes out."

Klein Meisje

She's a pure-bread Dutchy.


Whether she likes it or not.

(Rod says she's really going to dislike us for her baby pictures one day. Sorry, little girl.)

As an aside (but still heartfelt) - Happy Birthday to my fantastic Mother-in-law, whose birthday we celebrated yesterday.