“Families are messy. Immortal families are eternally messy. Sometimes the best we can do is to remind each other that we’re related for better or for worse…and try to keep the maiming and killing to a minimum.”
― Rick Riordan, The Sea of Monsters
Haven’t done a Sunday Gratitude or a weekly update in a while and figured, why not?
I can’t remember ever celebrating Easter on April Fool’s day – which makes sense because The Google told me the last time it happened was 1956. Before my time.
So I got curious about how often it has fallen on MY birthday because I remember celebrating it when I turned ten – I remember because it was also the same year I had my First Communion (I wore the same dress 😉 ). Matante Nicole shopped with me for it and brought me for the big shindig because my folks were off on some Caribbean holiday…
Turns out, it happened three times in 11 years: the year before I was born, when I was four and, as mentioned, when I was 10. The time before that was way back in 1895. The next time it’s scheduled? 2047! I’ll be an old lady of 83 by then. Of course, when that time comes around, 80 will be the new 60, right?
I’m sure that has totally fascinated you, hasn’t it? 😀 Between that and that cute kid… I know, you can’t take it. We’ll just table that into the “useless information file”…
“After a good dinner one can forgive anybody, even one’s own relations.”
― Oscar Wilde, A Woman of No Importance
On Saturday we suddenly remembered Sunday was Easter and had planned absolutely nothing. Got a call from Tracy that Sébastien was doing the ham, I offered to do the veg and, of course, as Iain’s birthday was the day before, I was bringing a key lime pie and Tracy said Sabrina (who turned 18 exactly one week before) wasn’t into lime, was into chocolate so I said, no problemo, I will bring something chocolate. The Sachertorte. Lisa was doing the potatoes and rice (because, just because) and the salad and supplying the “venue” so that was more than enough. Mom was making break and her “pouding au chômeur” – which translates literally to “Poorman’s Pudding” which really is a white cake with a sugar bottom. This stuff is to die for. And if you’re really piggy about it, you can add a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top (especially when it’s cold) and if your sweet tooth wants an extra kick, you can do like Sébastien and pour maple syrup on top. Ridonkulous.
Isn’t Iain’s key lime pie pretty? Well guess what? It’s a FROZEN key lime pie… so I told Shane to put it in the fridge instead of the freezer. Why? Sonofa…. It was more like key lime soup. Taste was there and since this isn’t Iron Chef and we have no blast chiller… we ate key lime soup. Sigh.
Took a couple pics of all the kids (9, including Willow, Aidans girlfriend) and realised Sabrina does not appear in them. Dang. She arrived a bit later and, when I took a pic of her brother and Iain (they are 2 months apart) I got just the top of her head. That won’t do. So pretend there is a beautiful blonde in the mix!
I have decided to do Camp NaNo again this April. Okay, okay… I have decided to not just add my name to the group and start for a day or two but actually work the whole month of April. I’ve mentioned it before and this time I’m going to get even further in my “Dear Mick” book of short stories which are basically memories of our almost twenty years together. I figure worse comes to worse, the boys will one day have a book to remind them of their dad. Which they may even read. One day. So our cabin is called the Plot Bunnies – but since we were all joking around about wanting to live our jammies, we are also known as the “Camp Plot Jammies” but only ‘coz we’re JAMMING on our plots! Woot. Our band of merry writers are: Joy from Tales From Eneana Gabriele from Flights of Fancy Lynn from Word Shamble Sammi from Sammi Cox Megan from Invisible World Crispina from Crimson Prose. Should be fun to give and get encouragement to go-go-go!
Oh! And on a final note, sometimes things happen for a reason. The fridge guy was supposed to pass by on Thursday morning. My ice machine in the fridge had decided that it would make ice until you can no longer open the door! I had a quick appointment five minutes away so I told the company to have him call when he left his his current appointment as, should I needed to step out but would be five minutes away. Well. He called at 9:44. His phone is a “private number”. My cell phone rejects private numbers. So I waited for the message to appear. It ddn’t. Shoot. My appointment had five minutes left and I got home at 10:03 to find the fridge guy’s business card with 9:55 written on it. Really? Come ON!!! I call the company and the receptionist says she’ll try to reach him. She couldn’t. I dunno… but if you are using a company cell phone, should you not be a “private number”? She told me he also called the house line and there was no response (and no message). Well duh. I’m thinking there are more and more people who no longer have land lines. That means, even if I had been home and gone to the bathroom, foolishly sans cell phone, I would have missed his call. Yes, I would have been here when he “took the chance” to stop by as he did. But still. I took the trouble to tell the receptionist I had a 5-minute appointment. They cannot guarantee what time they will pass so why cancel a five-minute appointment? BECAUSE THIS CAN HAPPEN!
Well guess what? I don’t need no stinking repair guy because my guy fixed the problemo… So
I keep forgetting to add to my list!
A few of the 10,000 things that make me happy and grateful
41. Fellow NaNo Campers – encouraging each other to write
42. Not needing the fridge guy after all – saving big buckaroos
43. Easter – especially when the whole family is present
44. Birthday cakes – even when they don’t quite turn out, they can still taste good
45. Sense of humour – see number 44
A Dalectable Life 