The Day is Getting Better

So it is mid afternoon and I have to say that the day has improved.  Work was work-like but not too tragic, except for the notification that I need to start work at 6.30am on Friday morning.  I had to leave early to take boy-child in to the hospital for a review of his bionic elbow.  I preempted a long long sit at the hospital waiting.  I was organised, we had a lunch box, a snack bag, kid books, a book for me and a fully charged phone.  Surely that would cover us for the potentially huge wait.  He was in and out for the xray and then it was time to go see the orthopedic surgical consultant.  The appointments are scheduled for an hour apart but it seems that the times are arbitrary so we went straight upstairs.  It is never a good sign when you arrive at the clinic to be confronted with a sign saying the clinic is closed for lunch and will re-open at 1.30pm and it was only 1pm.  Out come the supplies and we settled in to wait.  The waiting area filled quickly.  Soon there were no seats left and still more people were arriving and I was happy to have my book.

Eventually the reception area re-opened.  Boy-child showed very assertive skills, surely not inherited from me, and was able to gain his rightful place in line to go through to the clinic.  Still, I wasn’t sure if appointment times would be adhered to, so I kept my book out and boy child was happy to keep playing on my phone.  Let’s say that I was pleasantly surprised when we were called through to see our doctor right on the scheduled appointment time.  The doctor is lovely and is very pleased with the way that boy-child’s arm has healed.  He has regained about 90% of his extension and full flexion.  He almost has full rotation and no pain, even when you press on the screw that is now visible since the swelling has finally reduced.  In fact he is so pleased with the progress that he has started the progress of booking him in for surgery – at this stage in late September, during the school holidays.

We were in and out in plenty of time.  I didn’t even have to worry about getting a parking ticket.  (Of course I am too tight to pay for parking at the hospital, instead we park around the corner where it is free for 2 hours and then a ginormous ticket after that!)  We even had time to do a grocery shop before heading back to collect girl-child from school.  Despite spending an hour trying to arrange a contingency plan for girl-child to be collected from school should the need arise, I was glad to be back in time to collect her myself.  (Thanks for being there to help out again E.)

By the time we all made it home, I was starving.  Just because I was clever enough to have packed a snack bag doesn’t mean I was smart enough to eat any of it.  I couldn’t decide what I wanted to eat so I convinced girl-child to bake a cake so that I could eat the batter.  We both ate way too much batter, bringing on a sugar rush head spin but it was worth it, it was totally delicious.

The cake is cooked but looks like half a cake, I think we ate far too much.  I will include girl-child in the blame game for this although she ate very little batter and instead ate cheese.  Perhaps we should have used a smaller tin but I figure that the larger the surface area of the cake the more frosting it requires and now that the cake is cooked it is all about the frosting!

I am sure that by the time I finish (I need to start first) putting the shopping away the cake will be cool enough to frost and I will be ready for another sugar rush.  That sugar rush will pass and then it will be time for take-out, cake and bubbles to celebrate a friends birthday.  First things first, shopping away, feed the kids and settle them in bed and let the relaxation begin.

Kids Cook Monday – an unexpected choice

When I picked boy-child up from school, he was really excited – Freddy the Class Teddy was coming to our house to stay for a night.  He excitedly informed me that he would have to do something interesting for Freddy because he had to write in a diary about their adventures and you have to write in the grown up diary too.  Hooray homework for me!

Being Monday – Kids Cook Monday, boy-child got home from school and started flicking through recipe books.  He wasn’t interested in the kid cooking books today, apparently they had too many recipes with lots of eggs in them.  Instead he chose a recipe that was a little unexpected – Honey Mustard Chicken served on a bed of Kumera Mash with broccoli and carrots.  

After recipe selection, it was then time to collect girl-child and go shopping for the remaining ingredients.  Man-child had had a bad day in the office (but that is another story for another time) and was home early.  He felt the need for some quality family time, so off we all trekked to the shop.  Naturally a quick shop took much longer than usual, but it was fun.  

Time to cook dinner, girl-child was in charge of the mash, peeling and cooking the kumera before she mashed it.  Boy-child made the marinade for the chicken and set it to bake before getting the extra vegies on to steam.  Next the table was set ready for a special dinner with Freddy the Teddy.

Dinner was delicious.  The chicken had much stronger flavours than I expected (we didn’t really follow the measurements) but both kids loved them.  We made more than we needed, so there should be enough left to add to a salad tomorrow.  I think that honey mustard chicken will be on the menu again.

In other matters, going back to work was a pleasant distraction from the rest of life’s happenings.  I am settling back into routine, and enjoying it.  That being said, it did take my entire work day to read 2 and a half weeks worth of work emails.  Of course, that was reading the emails only, I am yet to respond to them, that will take another day I am sure.

Oh the mundane pleasures of routine…

Kids Cook Monday – Maggots

For a few months now, the kids have been cooking dinner for the family of a Monday.  Normally we would flick though a cookbook and choose a recipe together and wander around to the supermarket to get any additional ingredients if we needed them.  Being a lazy public holiday, we really didn’t want to wander around to the supermarket, besides boy-child didn’t want to get dressed! Instead girl-child selected her new favourite recipe – maggots.

Now at our house, maggots normally come with chips and some plastic toy and are picked up from a fast food outlet when we are too tired (or hungover) to cook.  Girl-child made maggots for dinner last week and loved them, her recipe – chicken pieces, dipped in mayonnaise and coated in crushed rice bubbles.  She bakes them for around 20 minutes.  Tonight they were served with snow peas, mini roma tomatoes and grated cheese.

Boy-child and I helped to make the maggots and to prepare the vegetables, it was very messy, but lots of fun.  Dinner was delicious.