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This past weekend, I bought a bread machine. I know, it's sort of like, 'hey, what don't I own currently - oh I know!' But I'd read an article on the amount of unnecessary crap that goes into commercially produced bread. Did you know that to keep bread fresh on the shelves for a longer period, they add fat to it. It's totally unnecessary. Some manufactured breads contain as much fat in three slices as you'd get in a chocolate bar. Uh - wow. That freaked me out a little. Plus I like the idea of baking for my family. Well, what I mean is 'pouring flour and stuff into the machine and letting it do all the work'.
So viola! A bread machine I shall have and my already cluttered countertops will just have to get over it. I made a loaf of wholemeal and a load of cheese bread to take on our picnic yesterday. The whole meal was very dense (as I think it's supposed to be) but was really tasty warm with butter. The cheese bread, however, was really amazing. I'll definitely make that again. I think this coming weekend I'm going to attempt to make bagels - very exciting.
 Happy Late Spring Bank Holiday/Memorial Day.. We enjoyed a day out in Blackheath today with the Family Futers - having a picnic and then a trip to Mary Catherine's first ever Fun Fair. (actually, my first fun fair in the UK as well) For it to be almost June, it was incredibly chilly (see weather pic to the left) - we spent most of the picnic craving warmth and laughing at ourselves, which was really good fun. The fun fair was enjoyable until we decided Mary Catherine was brave enough to handle the Tilt-A-Whirl and while she did really well, it got a bit rough when the people running the ride helped us spin. Even Andrew and I found it rough - they did stop us when they saw MC was upset. She's fine now - but wasn't too happy at the time. She says her favourite part of the fun fair was fishing for a dolphin and winning a prize.
Andrew and I are now relaxing watching a Cirque du Soleil DVD that I rented, Alegria. Mary Catherine was watching it with us earlier and has decided that she's really bendy (after watching a contortionist) and that she wants to take up the trampoline ('but I'm too young now,' she says).
Not that I'm blaming it 100%, by any means, but I'm wondering if my incredible bad mood (and I'm serious, it was bad, really bad) was linked to my re-start of taking evening primrose oil. I mean, in the past, I've always thought it was helpful in balancing me out, but I wonder if this time.... well.. I dunno. Maybe. Whatever it was - I seem to be over it and had a really good day yesterday.
We hung out at the Wharf/Motor Expo with our friends, Katherine and Jason and their fabulous children Toby and Rosie. It seemed the day was going to come to a VERY early end when MC had the tantrum/bad attitude (probably hereditary) of the year. It seems we are definitely going through the 'threenager' stage and man, oh man, is it ever frustrating sometimes. For what it's worth, I don't think it's much fun for her either.
Fortunately, her attitude improved and we were able to carry on with our day. The motor expo was fun enough, if you're into cars. We did get to do the LandRover experience where you get driven around a track of obstacles - Mary Catherine and Toby were allowed to go (after we agreed to not to hold LandRover responsible for anything). They loved it - MC said her favourite part was driving up and over a lorry (or semi if you're American). Andrew and Jason went with Toby and MC, apparently there was much squealing.
Today, I have no idea what we're going to do. We might venture to Ikea, as we have things to return.. we might go to Costco to stock back up on 9,876 rolls of toilet paper (we're down to only 43 rolls, you know).. we might go to Bluewater (because we haven't been in at least a week, gosh forbid).. Oh the adventures that await us!
I'm grumpy at the moment - and I have no idea why. Before you comment and tell me to snap out of it (Mother) I'm just going to take a few minutes and be completely and utterly in a bad freaking mood.
I'd say it's about 30% work, 10% needy child, 40% husband, 5% lack of general fun, 5% hormones and 10% the rut I seem to be stuck in. This coming weekend is a holiday weekend and we don't have anything planned. That irritates me. When did I become this person who constantly has to have something to look forward to? Why can't I be happy playing things by ear? I feel frustrated when we don't have plans (and I don't mind if the plan is to do nothing - I just need to know that's what we're doing, if that makes any sense at all).
I promise you, I used to be fun and carefree. Honest, I did. But lately, I am just this person who goes through the motions of being someone's wife, someone's mother and someone's employee. There doesn't seem to be anything more to me. It's not that I mind being wife/mother/employee, I'm certainly thankful for all three, with employee at the bottom of the pile, but I just feel... not bored, per se - just not wholly enthralled with anything.
I adore my husband, child and family. I like my job, my commute is pretty easy and I work in a nice area. I have a lovely, albeit cluttered, flat that I own. So what the hell is wrong with me? Why am I tense?
Yet another rainy day in London. At least Mary Catherine is enjoying wearing her wellies every day. She only has four pairs of them! Today's wellies are her black and purple glitter Halloween ones - complete with a witch on the side that glows in the dark. Fabulous, yes, but they don't exactly work for spring. She has the cutest pair of pink ones that have white polka dots - will she wear them? Uh, no. Actually, these days anything I think is cute she pretty mch doesn't like. She dresses herself every day, and for the most part chooses reasonable outfits, but every now and again really comes up with a doozy.
 I've just found a really cool site, via Howie's (a clothing company that I admire intensely). It's called 10x10 and is an interactive exploration of the words and pictures that define the time. The result is an often moving, sometimes shocking, occasionally frivolous, but always fitting snapshot of our world. Every hour, 10x10 collects the 100 words and pictures that matter most on a global scale, and presents them as a single image, taken to encapsulate that moment in time.
Each hour is presented as a picture postcard window, composed of 100 different frames, each of which holds the image of a single moment in time. 10x10 runs with no human intervention, autonomously observing what a handful of leading international news sources are saying and showing. 10x10 makes no comment on news media bias, or lack thereof. It has no politics, nor any secret agenda; it simply shows what it finds.
Today Andrew and Mary Catherine^ went to her new school for a 'circus morning'. It was basically a get-to-know you event for all the new nursery and reception students who will be starting in September. They had lots of activities for the girls inside and out and after a snack of milk and smilie face cookies, they had ballet and circus skill classes. We got to meet Mary Catherine's new teacher and classroom assistant, both seem very nice and very in tune with the children. Mary Catherine liked the ballet class, as we've been doing 'good toes, naughty toes' and basic ballet at home for a year now (I've not been able to find her a ballet class). She will take ballet at her new school once a week, which will be great. I started ballet when I was three and while I'm not the most graceful, poetic or coordinated mover, I can keep a beat and get my groove on if I so desire. It's important to me that Mary Catherine do some form of dance/music class, so this fits the bill nicely. After the classes, they had a cute packed lunch for the girls. We sat across from one girl who looked familiar - she's in Mary Catherine's swimming classes and will be in her class at school. It was a nice feeling to have a 'small world' moment. We go there again in June for a more serious entry prep talk - I'm so sad, I'm totally looking forward to getting more information on her uniform! I think it's because I didn't grow up like that and it's a whole new world for me. Oops must dash - time to get off train. (^ email me and I'll explain)
What fun we had 'swanning off' to Paris this past weekend. I had Mary Catherine with me here at the Wharf all day on Friday, so we were in full pre-minibreak mode and went to lunch together. After I picked her up, we popped to Marksies and bought lovely food for a picnic on the train. We met up with Andrew at Waterloo and were late enough to just walk onto the train without waiting to board. I'd booked enough in advance for us to have the coveted table seats in the carriage and we were lucky enough to have a spare 4th seat.
We had a LOVELY weekend. We walked all over Paris - it's strange, in retrospect, we didn't actually do that much, but we saw loads and felt like, once again, we'd managed to see a great deal of Paris (on and off the beaten track). We saw the Louvre, Notre Dame, Tour Eiffel, Sainte Chapelle, the Marais district and took a boat cruise on the Seine. We walked down the Mary Catherine loved everything - from the robes and slippers at the hotel (Hotel Marceau Bastille, we would definitely stay there again) to the playground we found in a leafy park with tall trees by the Seine. We had lunch at Angelina, a famous tea room, on Saturday and ate far too many pastries for breakfast both days. Saturday's dinner was at Hippopotamus, which was incredibly child-friendly.
Speaking of child-friendly.. I wasn't sure how Paris would be with a three year-old. When I'd been before, I'd always found Parisians to be a bit, well.. grumpy. I'd always chalked it up to my American accent and non-frenchness. We noticed that they were really good to Mary Catherine wherever we went and were much nicer to us by association. Now, I know I have a cute child - but I do think that the French like children in general. She got to use her French words quite a few times (she uses bonjour, salut and merci easily in context now) and seemed keen to learn words for other things like colours, different foods, etc. On Sunday morning, we watched cartoons in french and she didn't even blink an eye.
All in all, we had a great time and will definitely go back when we can. Mary Catherine was very upset that we had to come back to England on the train last night and as we were pulling out of Gare Du Nord, summed things up well. She said, 'Goodbye Paris, I'll be back soon, don't be lonely..'
My thoughts exactly. Our photos from the weekend are here.
Oooh the new season of Big Brother started last night. I was tucked up on the sofa getting the last of my freelance work done so only got to watch most of it through my periph-vision. As much as I love Big Brother, and yes, I know I'll get more into it as the weeks move on, I'm just not that into it anymore. It wasn't as fun as I remember it being years ago. Or is it just that this is the 8th BB that I've watched and it's getting a little stale and I'm getting a little old? Time will tell.
This morning Mary Catherine and I took the bus and the Underground to get to the Wharf today. She's at 'Wharf School' - she loves it there, so it's just the first treat of many to come this weekend. She and I will brave the Tube again this evening to go to Waterloo to meet up with Andrew to catch the Eurostar to Paris. What a full day we have in front of us - I'm tired already!
On a fantastic note, School dinners in England will be free from chocolate, crisps, fizzy drinks and "low-quality" meat from the autumn, the government has announced. Yay!
Surfing noteables...
One of my favourite blogs, Loobylu (Claire, the author can really, really draw - man that woman is talented) has just launched a new great site for parents called Kidley. You should check it out.
I'm also still really enjoying BabyGadget. They continue to find some envy-creating stuff for parents and tots alike.
Check out this post about Hasbro, the makers of Play-Doh, releasing a limited edition Play-Doh fragrance to celebrate Play-Doh's 50th birthday. Can you imagine spritzing yourself with that? It's so bizarre, I almost certainly must have some!
In other news, Apple killed the Powerbook range yesterday with the introduction of the complete MacBook family. That's just what we want to read when we shucked out zillions for a Powerbook a mere five months ago, isn't it? Actually - I don't care, but I do wish my Powerbook had a built in iSight camera. Other than that, eh.. not bovvered. Interesting to point out that the MacBook that replaces the iBook now comes in black. At a £200 premium.
Finally, Fisher Price is launching a Kidtronics range that will include a digital camera and MP3 player. The camera is pretty ding-dang cool and I'd definitely buy one for Mary Catherine. MP3 player - probably not. Mainly because she only listens to the soundtrack of Mary Poppins (stage not screen) these days anyway.
this could be tricky..
I just called a restaurant in Paris to make a reservation for Saturday evening. I started out with the usual 'Bonjour, parlez-vous anglais?' and the woman said 'non'. After that she babbled in French and even though I was on the phone, I just nodded my head. I can read it - but I can't speak it.
So I think that we're just supposed to show up to this restaurant on Saturday. Well, that's what we're going to do anyway. I tried to book a meal at one of the restaurants in the Eiffel Tower. Nice try.
Mary Catherine is very excited (as am I) about going to Paris. She's been drawing us maps of Paris for the last few days. Every now and again, she'll come out with a nonsense word and when we ask her about it, she'll say 'oh, I was speaking french!' It will be interesting to see how she reacts to things being in a different language. We've watched shows in multiple languages (heck, we've even watched Mulan in Mandarin) so I'm not sure it'll phase her.
So Friday night, we're off to Paris. Ooh La La. Now, what to pack... what to pack. I'm going to force myself to follow through on my earlier declaration of packing light. This will be the first trip we're taking without hauling any toys with us. I'm taking crayons and a pad of paper and that's it. I'm hoping to pick up a few French childrens books while there. Hey, maybe they have 'Je suis un seul enfant et je suis heureux!'*
* 'I am an only child and I am happy!
In the past two weeks, Mary Catherine has begun a campaign for a new baby. I think it's directly related to the fact that we recently found out a good friend of hers is expecting a new little sister or brother. She hasn't let it drop.
We've tried to explain to her that there is no way we will be having another child in the near future and possibly remote one either. Every few days she'll ask me if I have a baby in my tummy and on a few occasions has told me that I do have one in there, not accepting no for an answer!
We've tried to dissuade her by mentioning that she wouldn't be able to go to private school, she would have to share her room, that babies cry a lot, that she would have to share her beloved toys and her even more beloved parents. She just shrugs and says, 'I wouldn't mind...'
Why is it that there are plenty of books for children to help with their compliance with a new baby/sibling, but none to help you talk your child out of wanting a little sister? Where are the titles like 'Mommy and Daddy can't afford a sister for me' and I'm the only one and that's okay with me!' etc?
Yesterday afternoon, on our way to the LSO concert she asked me if we were having a baby and I said no. She then said, 'but you have two floppy boobies, so of course you can have a baby!' Andrew about drove the car into a wall.
Yay
Hey my uk passport just arrived - I can go to paris as a brit!! And given how much better the picture is than on my usa one, I wish I could use it to enter the states!
I've found a new blog and I'm really enjoying it.. Vegan Lunchbox. I totally want a Bento box lunchbox 'system' for Mary Catherine when she goes to school. I would also like a personal chef to cook up the amazing meals this woman serves her child!
Yesterday, Andrew and I looked at the term dates for Mary Catherine's new school on iCal. Now, I knew that private schools had more..erm, shall we say 'liberal' holiday schedules than State schools here. But holy childcare issues, batman! The girl is going to be out for NINE weeks over the summer and NINETEEN weeks over the next school year (including the summer nine). Kill. Me. Now.
Saturday we went and saw The Sultan's Elephant in central London with Katherine, Jason Toby and Rosie. As it was forecasted for 'heavy rain' I feeling very mediocre about going to see it. I am SO glad that we did. It was positively amazing! We managed to catch up with it on the Mall heading towards Buckingham Palace. I think we were all dumbfounded when we got to stand up close to the Elephant and see just how much machinery/technology/engineering it took for such a magnificient event. I was so glad that we got to see it up close as when we saw it later, it was so crowded that we only saw it from a distance. Truly stunning and from the crowd levels - a complete success. Well done to the Arts Council and to the City letting them effectively pedestrianise a good portion of central London. I wonder where the Sultan and his elephant will go next?
Sunday we went to Spitalfields to have lunch and walk around the stalls. It was forecasted for heavy rain, but was a bright sunny and gorgeous day. Mary Catherine made friends with a woman at a stall and this woman was so entranced by her that she stood there chatting with Mary Catherine for about 10 minutes. MC just talked and talked and the woman just kept telling us how advanced and intelligent she was! Then more people gathered around from neighbouring stalls and joined in the conversation. At one point there were five adults being entertained by Mary Catherine just talking and talking and talking. The man at the stall next to us said we should get a stall and charge admission! It was too funny. After we left, Mary Catherine turned around and asked me if we could go back next weekend and 'see those nice people again'!
Yesterday we also went to the Children's Classics concert at the Barbican. It was good - but 4pm is a horrible time to try and get 800 children to pay attention and the woman leading the concert was keen to do just that. They'd encouraged everyone to bring an instrument to play (and when they played certain pieces told the older children what key to play along in, which I thought was very good) but got frustrated when there was a lot of noise from the various tambourines, etc during the non-audience participation bits.
Next weekend we have another concert there (an hour earlier) so hopefully it'll be a bit better.
Fantastically enough, it's Friday already. I love four day weeks. Fortunately, there's another bank holiday coming up at the end of May. Then it's nada until one teeny day in August and then we're working until Christmas. Blergh.
Anyway - Andrew emailed me from the car this morning with this picture of Mary Catherine from their journey. I have no idea where she got the paper - but she certainly seems into it. All that's missing is a cigar and calling Andrew 'Driver'!
"The jury’s verdict against the death penalty — when three of the twelve cited as a mitigating factor the “minor role” that they thought he had had in the 9/11 plot — is a blow to President Bush. The Government has faced great pressure to hold someone to account for the attacks and has been criticised for not putting on trial other, more senior figures in al-Qaeda who are being held at secret locations outside the US.
In his response Mr Bush noted that the jury had spared Moussaoui’s life, “which is something that he evidently wasn’t willing to do for innocent American citizens”."
(click here for full article)
Nice spin, Dubya.
Man, there's a lot going on in London for families at the moment. It all makes my little artsy heart beat a little faster as Andrew and I really try to take Mary Catherine to as many cultural activities as possible.
The Science Museum has a Pixar exhibition at the moment.. and starting tomorrow, the Sultan's Elephant arrives in London. I'm talking about a 40 foot high, 4 ton mechanical elephant! It's being billed as London's largest theatre event and it's been four years in the making. They've had to rip up roads and reroute traffic for the four days it will be in town. I think we will definitely have to catch up with it at some point this weekend.
This Sunday we're going to a classical childrens' concert by the National Symphony Orchestra at the Barbican. We're all looking forward to it, as we've taken Mary Catherine to many classical concerts before and we all enjoy them very much. This concert will feature Ravel's Bolero and Bizet's Farandole, both of which I'm stoked to see.
Next Sunday we're back at the Barbican for the London Symphony Orchestra's Frankenstein!! concert. The LSO is our favourite - so that will be very good fun.
We've also just booked a weekend getaway in Paris for later this month. The kind person I work for has been incredibly generous with his Eurostar miles, so we're heading to Paris to relax and have a fun weekend. I think we're going to skip the Musee d'Orsay this time around, but may venture to the newly re-opened L'Orangerie to show Mary Catherine Monet's Les Nympheas, which are his series of panoramic water lilies. The museum reopens on 17 May after eight years of rennovation. I was last there in '97, so can't wait to see how it's changed.
On a final note - we bought Mary Catherine (and us, to some extent) the soundtrack to the Mary Poppins (as MC calls it) 'theatre-show' the other day. It's different than the movie, as it's based on the books by PL Travers. The version of 'Supercali...' is great because they sing the spelling of the word, all 34 letters of it. MC and I can sing all the way up to supercalifragil.. and that's just after two days. Wonder how far we'll get by next week?
Okay - memo to self... the next time we go and paint pumpkins (which was a good idea and we'd definitely do it again) and I get the great idea to put the pumpkin on Mary Catherine's dresser in her room so she can enjoy it.... please remind me not to leave it there until May! I'd been checking it every now and again to see if it was starting to go squishy and marvelling at how long it was lasting.
Uh. I obviously hadn't checked it in a loooong time. When we found it this evening (only because I picked up something on her dresser and noticed it was wet) it was only half there, the bottom half had melted into the dresser.
Sadly, the dresser is a bit worse for wear and I can't stop thinking about how icky it was. Blergh. Lesson learned.
File under hmmmm...
I read somewhere that the average Londoner is caught on CCTV, on average, 300 times per day. That freaked me right out until I thought about it. I'm on public transport twice a day, work in a major metropolitan area chock full of big businesses and I work for a very, very large company. I'm a film star! Man, I bet that means that the average person is also caught doing icky (yet normalish) things like nose picking, tight straightening, bum scratching and wedgie picking more times than I care to think about!
Legoland was great yesterday - it was raining when we got there and fortunately the sun came out almost immediately. Thank goodness, because Andrew and I were completely worried that we'd made the wrong choice to go. The crowd level was completely manageable and we had a really nice time. It's a really nice park and we went ahead and renewed our annual passes. Guess that means I'll get to bore you with photos for yet another year!
Today's a bank holiday in the UK - so we have the day off. We've spent it doing things around the house. Andrew is currently up to his elbows in the spare room turning the furniture to his liking. I've spent the day with MC - we've painted potatoes (her idea!) and watched Joseph, singing and dancing along.
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