Lisa has a history of making wild purchases that she forgets about almost immediately. She’ll deny it, but there’s a legacy of clothes in her wardrobe that were bought years ago, but still sport the label from the shop. And there’s a wide range of obscure tat that inhabits our house that testify to the fact that she’s an impulse shopper par excellence.

The story of the juicer comes to mind. For months, all I heard about was how fantastic a juicer would be for us. We could make our own fruit juices and live long, healthy fulfilled happy lives with the taste of tropical drinks never far from our lips.

The juicer was used a maximum of 3 times and was offloaded to another impulse shopper via eBay after it was discovered at the back of a kitchen cupboard.

So, history has been repeating itself lately. “You know what we really need?” she asked. But it wasn’t really a question. “A bread maker.” It was one of those moments where a spousal decision had already been made without me.

However, Lisa knows that any failure in the breadmaker project will result in universal ridicule. She’s baking every other day at the moment, and trying out some unusual bread recipes. And so far, she’s managed to justify the purchase.

I remain convinced that this is one of Lisa’s faddy purchases and it’ll go the way of the juicer before long. Why? Because she’s admitted that the cost of baking your own bread is roughly the same as buying it and there’s a much higher investment in time, which we’re already short on. The only ‘benefit’ is that home-made bread is apparently healthier because it has less additives and stuff.

It’ll be interesting to look back on this post in a few years time and see how Project Loaf turned out….

[tags]Lisa, Hare Brained Schemes, Baking, Cookery[/tags]

Ever since the kids got into the PlayStation their grandparents got them for Christmas, there’s been a slight change in the way they talk. Whenever anyone needs a break, you’ll hear the immortal words “Pause the game, I’ll be back in a minute.”

This doesn’t just apply to computer games, they say it in ‘real life’ too. Outside, playing little games or whatever. They’re not obsessed (really!), but it’s funny how they use such a gaming type phrase in day to day life.

I’m trying to think of other little sayings the kids have, but in the meantime, feel free to share your own…

Quick post about something I’ve noticed recently - Jake grinding his teeth in his sleep.

I noticed it a few times when I was putting him to the toilet at night, but then he climbed into our bed one night and kept us awake with this awful grinding sound. It was unbelievable.

So. now we know this is going on every night. First, I’m interested to know what’s causing it. Second, I wonder if there’s any way to stop it, or if it’s something he’ll just grow out of.

Has anybody gone through this before?

Daniel’s latest phrase is “Yay, dat!” It used to be just “Yay!” whenever you offered him something he wanted (usually food), but this last couple of days he’s been adding “Dat”. Meaning “that” in case you were wondering.

One of the funniest things about him is the zeal he puts into this. You’d honestly think he’d won something.

In general, Dan’s speech is coming along pretty well. A few months ago he used the almost universal “Ushhh” to refer to anything and everything. These days it’s more refined. You’ll hear “Nink” when he wants a drink, “RoRo” when he’s talking about his sister and a very clear “Jakey” for his brother.

I had a brief bit of flashcard play with him tonight and was impressed with how well he repeated some of the words. It’ll be interesting to see if he starts remembering the words and using them every day.

Daniel is in the middle of a deadly phase - the sneaky dropping the toilet roll into the toilet phase! Because of his size and the distraction that the other two (and their friends) often present, he’s finding it very easy to sneak into the bathrooms and make a bog roll bomb.

I think all of our kids have done this at one stage or another. It doesn’t make fishing the damned things out any easier though.

Here’s the worst one though - one of the kids’ friends went to the toilet just after Dan had thrown a roll in. Couldn’t have been a number one, it had to be a full-on, rancid number two. Why is it that other people’s kids make ungodly smells when they visit our bathroom?

Well, anyway, I was off at work, so Lisa had the honour of removing the offending article. Not before phoning me and trying to pass responsibility to me. Thankfully, she didn’t wait until I got home and worked up the nerve herself.

As of right now, we’re locking the bathroom doors from the outside so that he can’t do any more damage. Up until today’s grocery shop, Dan had caused quite the toilet roll shortage through his little crusade!

Rachel’s fascination with the iPod continues.

At the moment, the shuffle at the side of my bed has the new Dixie Chicks album and Carrie Underwood’s debut. Because of the holidays, I’ve been letting Rachel lie in our bed and listen to some songs before she goes to sleep. When she gets tired, she switches off the iPod and puts it at the side of the bed. Still being careful with it.

Last night, I went into the room, and she was sitting there bopping along to the Dixie Chicks. She pulled out one of the headphones and said “Can you help me find my favourite song?” You have a favourite? Sure I’ll help you, I want to find out about this favourite song.

So, we sat for a minute or two until we found the song she liked (described as sounding like an elephant - there were a few heavy piano chords at the beginning). The surprise was when the vocals came in and Rachel sang along! Wow, she’s actually listening to the words…and remembering them!

What a powerful sensation to discover your daughter is developing musical tastes. As we sat on the bed, sharing headphones and being serenaded by Rachel, it was almost overwhelming. One of those lump in the throat parenting moments. Luckily, Lisa had the same experience this evening, so she didn’t miss out.

Rachel seems to be having a ball at the moment. I think the music is something that’s completely her own - not shared with the boys. It’s also something she can talk to us about, and I think she enjoys that new way to bond with us.

It started a couple of nights ago. Rachel - who’d been put to bed numerous times that evening already - visited me in the attic and told me she’d stolen my iPod. I corrected her - “borrowed it, Rachel. I don’t mind as long as you take care of it.”

So she disappeared down the stairs and that was the last I heard of her. I couldn’t understand why she wanted to listen to deafening rock music anyway, it’s not normally her thing.

When it came my time for bed, I went looking for the iPod to listen to while I went to sleep. Bad habit, I know, but I usually need something to disengage my brain before I can get to sleep. Anyway, it was nowhere to be found. Not in Rachel’s room. Not in the boys’ room (where she’d ended up). And not in my room.

Strange, I half expected to discover the headphones tangled and protruding from a quilt somewhere, but there wasn’t a trace of the iPod.

When I got home the next day, I asked her where my iPod was. I was completely expecting the thing to be in pieces, trampled underfoot by Rachel and her marauding gang of pals. Not so. She immediately led me to her bedroom and lifted a heart-shaped box off her shelf. She opened it up and there inside was my iPod, wound up as neatly as her five-year-old hands could manage. She’d even switched it off to save the battery.

As you can imagine, I was bowled over that she’d gone to such lengths to take care of the iPod. As you might expect, she was delighted to get so much positive attention for doing something so nice. The problem is, she’s borrowed it a couple of times since and each time hidden it in a different place. In fact, tonight she was a little bit put-out when she couldn’t find it. I had it upstairs charging.

I think we’re going to have to agree on a timeshare arrangement for this, or I’ll have to get her one of her own.