James' Super Power

So James has a special talent. I’m not certain that it is necessarily God given but he has such an enormous helping of it that it is amazing.  You see he has the ability to break, destroy, smash, annihilate, pulverize and generally render unusable anything that is even slightly precious.  Even when he is not physically present.  I will elaborate.

From the moment I met James, he has been systematically destroying all things that are precious to me.  It started before we were even married so I guess I can’t really say I didn’t know about it but I really thought it would get better with time.  I can’t remember the first thing that he broke of mine but one that really sticks out early on in our relationship was the time that he borrowed my sleeping bag and pack to go on a missions trip that involved extreme camping.  He came home after a month and delivered the pack and sleeping bag back to me.  He had managed to rip a small hole in the day pack part of my pack and also rip a small hole in my sleeping bag.  Add to that the fact that the sleeping bag smelled like it had been inhabited by a pack of skunks with questionable personal hygiene and I should have been warned.

Zucchini Bread

A few weeks ago I went to the local vege stand (which is actually way bigger than a stand).  Its owned by this old guy called Gary who is a bit of a hard case.  The first time I went there the shop assistant introduced me to Gary who was quick to point out that his corn is the best in the area and that since he had fathered triplets after eating it that I should try it too.  That was a no thanks on the corn but I did buy 3 enormous zucchinis.

I had decided that it was time to make a supply of zucchini bread for the freezer (and to eat warm from the oven of course).  I had first made it way back when I was a newlywed in my In Laws kitchen (not that I wasn’t a newlywed in other places too it was just that I made it in their kitchen at the time I was a newlywed everywhere).  I had used a recipe I came across in a recipe book there and by a stroke of good fortune I had been talking to my Dad about it and he had requested the recipe.  I had dutifully emailed it to him and now since that old recipe book is no longer with us (having succumbed to one of my mother in laws spring cleaning sprees) I was able to use that old and extremely yummy recipe after rummaging through my old emails.

Getting Even

I awoke the other morning to the not so dulcet tones of Kaitlyn screeching.  She wasn’t upset, mad or stuck anywhere.  She was just awake.  It wasn’t even at the top of her lungs, she has quite a large capacity for loud noises and this was certainly not her loudest.  We’ve tried to teach her about the perils of making such noises anywhere near a person who has yet to consume their first cup of coffee but to no avail.

It seems she has been conducting secret training sessions because Abigail is also becoming quite proficient at the loud screechy noises.  In fact I am wondering if perhaps the student might yet become the master in this ear piercing art.

Getting To The Bottom Of It

Yesterday morning I had quite a surprise.  James had got the kids out of bed (actually they had got him out of bed – they know not to disturb Mummy) and they were all downstairs doing breakfast things and James was madly trying to make up for not tidying up the night before.  That wasn’t my surprise, it was still to come.

James left for work and I was trying to work out my shopping list while the cleaners were cleaning my house (I know I am very spoilt but it does save my back from further damage).  I started to smell a curious smell and I had a pretty good idea where it was coming from.  I decided to wait until the cleaners had left before exploring further.

Arachnids Of The World

I am a little bit scared of spiders.  Some of you will be rolling on the floor laughing now because you know me well and can probably remember a time when I just about died of fright when a saw a spider from across the room.  Well I have improved a bit over the years and now I am able to kill my own spiders, not with my own shoe though, I usually find someone else's to use.

When I was younger I used to scream at the top of my lungs and have to get my dad to come and kill the little beasties.  It was not ok for him to just take it outside in a humane manner.  After all it knew where I lived now and I was sure it would round up a few friends and come back as soon as my back was turned.  I would sometimes come out in a rash from the fright.  It was pretty bad. 

It's An Upside Down World

Quite often I am lost.  I have a little problem, I was born and raised in the Southern Hemisphere.  Now you are probably wondering what that has to do with anything but the fact is I had a really good internal compass going on in New Zealand.  I could mostly point to where North was from anywhere I was and I knew my way around.  Unfortunately my compass is completely messed up in the Northern Hemisphere.  It doesn’t even point South which would be kind of useful.  I don’t know where it points now.  I think it just waves around madly trying to find its own North. 

This causes major problems when it comes to going anywhere.  Here in the US knowing the compass points is vital to being able to read directions.  Someone will say “ok to get here you just go west on 90 until you get to 291 then take that to 91 then go North until you get to exit 15".  It seems as if roads don’t even have names, just numbers.  This all poses a problem for me because not only do the numbers get mixed up in my head my compass is all twisted.  Even my 'Never Eat Soggy Weetbix' saying doesnt work.

Anatomy 101

I’ve known for a while but it was recently confirmed that carrying three babies inside my body has caused some damage to my pelvic bones and spine.  Not irreparable, just painful and of course I’ll never be the same as I was when I was young and unharassed.

So in order to keep me in some semblance of working order I’ve been regularly visiting a chiropractor.  He has been working wonders on my aching joints and improvement is being made.  At the beginning I was able to make appointments while Emily was at school so that I only had to take Kaitlyn and the baby (who couldn’t really move at the time).  Now it is the school holidays and Abigail has found her legs.

Washing Machines and Firemen

On April 30 we moved from Wilbraham to Littleton MA to be closer to James’ work.  We moved to a much bigger and newer house and one of my favourite features is the fact that the laundry room is located on the same level as the bedrooms.  In New Zealand we would say this is the 1^st floor, here in America they say its the 2^nd. 

The house came with a washing machine and a dryer but we also brought our own ones with us since they were only a year old and we weren’t sure what condition the landlord’s ones were in.  The landlord preferred us to use his appliances so we didn’t press the point.  I figured that since I had already convinced him to let me switch his old and extremely dirty oven for my nice clean and much newer one that I should just wait and see how the other appliances performed.

Doctors and Moles

My kids are totally different from me as a child (so I’ve been told).  In looks they do somewhat resemble my childlike self but in personality and temperament they couldn’t be more different. I was most happy when left to my own devices with a good book (still am actually).  I did climb the odd tree and growing up on a farm meant that I was pretty active but most definitely an introvert.  Although I was the only one of my siblings to actually break a bone (or two) but even then I did it in a very non spectacular way (stepping down 1 step, losing balance on a trampoline, etc).