Not According to Plan

I had a dentist appointment for 9 am this morning. My dentist's office called at 8:30 am and canceled as my dentist was ill.

Bailey was due to get the snip this morning. We dropped him off and returned to our car. Just as we were pulling away the vet nurse came running out to tell us they can't operate because Bailey has diarrhea. He didn't when we left the house. But he does now.

We loaded Bailey back into the car, took Abigail to Pre-School, and me home to get my car so I could go into my office.

I had a meeting in my diary for 2 pm but none of the people I was supposed to be meeting with had the meeting in their dairy. So I met by myself. Most productive thing I did all day!

I picked up Sebastian at school, started to drive off and Marc rings to tell me Joy (Jamie's mum) is trying to reach me. She's stuck in traffic on the motorway miles away and could I please take Jamie home with me? I back into the parking space and go get Jamie.

On my way home the traffic is a nightmare because there is an international dog show going on in Windsor and Jackie, the child minder, rings to see if I've gotten lost. I tell her I'll be right there!

Thank God it is Friday! I just want to go to bed.

Menu Planning

Planning daily meals for my family is the bane of my existence.

We once tried to split this reposnsibility between me and my husband. this was an unmitigated disaster. he served up pork chops, sausages and bacon for a meal. Not a green vegetable in sight. the whole balanced diet just didn't sink in his brain at school. If we had been on the Atkins diet this would not have been a problem. but for small growing children, perhaps not the best choice. It might have been a rouse to keep me from asking him to do his share with this task.

I aim to make a nutritious meal every night for my family. One meal. One dinner time. Everyone eating together at the dinner table. Well, that's the plan. It doesn't always work out this way and lately I've been so busy and stressed with work I am finding that we are resorting to eating out and take aways far more than I would like.

I try to draw up a weekly menu plan. As I write the plan I write the shopping list. I only buy groceries we need to make the meals. this is a great way to save money and avoid wasting unused produce. This is not so good for dealing with unexpected guests or really bad days when i simply don't have the energy to cook or hot days when I don't want to turn on the Aga.

I am also struggling with what I call Dinner Fatigue. I am so bored with the same old, same old. There are our standards: Spaghetti Bolgnese, Hot Dogs, Tuna Casseerole, Orange Chicken, Lasagne. I try to move these around on alternate weeks. I can cook these from memory. In my sleep. With one eye closed. In under 20 minutes. But boy, am I bored!

I've tried the whole cookbook thing. I love cookbooks. I can get lost in them. And do! Which is exactly the problem. I get distracted by the possibilities. I can never get all the ingredients I need. And they double my preparation time. Not just the meal prep but also the whole menu planning, grocery shopping process takes twice as long when I get out a cook book!

Tonight we are having salmon (cooked on the bbq), rice and carrots. Maybe some green beans.....Hmmmmm, green salad might just make it. I need to pop to the shops because we have nothing in the house due to my work schedule the last couple weeks! and would it have occurred to my hubby to do a spot of forward planning grocery shoppng? Not even on his horizon!

Got any bold menu ideas for the long 3 day weekend ahead of us?

Commuting

I used to commute into London for work. I stopped doing that regularly just over 5 years ago. But I still get a mild buzz each time I do. Yesterday, I had to go into London for a conference. Marc and the children dropped me off at the nearest train station (in Egham), I bought my ticket and stood on the platform waiting for the train. The sky was a beautiful blue so I had left the house without a coat. I had to change trains at Clapham Junction (which unbelievably I have never done before) to get to Victoria. That station is huge. Not sure where I might need to go to catch the next train, I followed the throng of people figuring the majority of people were going in the same direction I was so they would lead me in the general direction. They did. I found my platform and my connecting train was late which is good because I was late. I got a seat and sat back enjoying my own private world induced by my iPod and reading.

I disembarked (I love that word) from the train at Victoria and set off on the "short" walk from the station to the venue. I walked all the way around the block due to assuming the address represented the road the hotel entrance was on. Bad assumption, as this is rarely the case when in London. I arrived late (about 20 minutes) and went down 2 floors into the bowels of the hotel and made a quiet entrance in the back of the classroom.

I learned quite a bit from the morning session (all about testing usability of intranets) and hope to use much of it in the job. Lunch was a very civilised poached salmon with steamed veg. I was surprised when I came up from the basement to discover that the beautiful blue sky had turned dark grey and the heavens had opened up. Rain was pouring down.

I went back into the afternoon session, which wasn't nearly as good as the morning had been but there were still some nuggets of useful information so all in all it was a good conference.

Then came the time to leave. I darted for the train station without getting soaked to the bone. I took advantage of the fact that my train was not departing for 20 minutes. These days the station station is a bit like going to a shopping mall. Of course, I chose the book shop, WH Smith and picked up Lionel Shriver's new book, The Post Birthday World. I board the train and settled back to enjoy the trip home.

This nirvana was rudely disrupted when I changed trains at Clapham Junction and the train I board was more like a sardine can. I had to stand in the aisle and it is very difficult to balance hand bag, briefcase, juice and large book when hanging on for dear life in the aisle of a packed train.

Luckily most travellers disembarked (oh, I got to use it again1) at Richmond (the 1st stop after Clapham Junction) and I got to sit down. Well, I thought I was lucky. the man sitting next to men was falling asleep and leaning on me more and more the deeper he slept. Fortunately, he got off at the next stop. The enjoyed the remaining 20 minutes although I was freezing.

You will remember I hadn't brought a coat. the train was cold and I waited for Marc and the children to pick me up at the station for 15 minutes or so. I reckon my lips were blue by the time I climbed into our car. I announced I was freezing and Sebastian said "Well, that's what you get for going out without a coat on. I'll bet you take that into consideration next time." It did take him about 3 goes to say consideration properly but he told me!

Glad I don't do this commute everyday! Despite the brief moment of nirvana, I like my 5 minutes down the road!

Top 5 Most Frustrating Things

6. When the dog trips over the power cord to the computer wiping out the first draft of the top 5 most frustrating thing making this a top 6 list.

5. Typing a word incorrectly everytime I type it.

4. Not having all the ingredients in my cupboard.

3. Dishes put on top of the counter just above where the dishwasher is.

2. People who don't have an opinion.

1. Dehumanisation of the oppressed.

Way Forward

OK, so I figured out a way to get us through the last 7 years of bad governmental decision and policy making.

Impeach. Indict. Incarcerate.
Repeat as necessary for each neocon, as necessary.

PS I didn't actually invent this. I found it on Twitter. But I don't know how to attribute it to the author. If she/he reads it, leave me a comment and I will be happy to assign credit. If no one claims it, I will keep it as my own! Am actually considering changing my signature to this.

Bath/Shower Out of Order - AGAIN

I am still at home with a cough that is making my whole body ache. Nothing is helping. I am grumpy and fed up. Talking makes it worse. Laughing causes me to vomit.

WORSE: The drain that was broken and then fixed last week is clogged again......sounds to me like the job didn't get done right the first time. They were supposed to come round today to fix it but they haven't arrived yet which means it will be tomorrow morning. Grrrrr, I need a long hot humid soak.

Mac

For Christmas, my darling husband decided to give me a Mac. Now he did not come to this conclusion on his own and to be fair I tried to convince him that he really wanted one so that I could actually use it. So when I opened up the boxes Christmas morning I was super duper excited. Now (1 week after) not so much. Marc has gotten it all set up. In theory I should be able to run both computers and switch between the two with just the switch of a button. The reality is far off that. The button doesn't work for some reason and my wise hubby can't quite figure it out. It is bad when he can't figure something out.

To make matters worse my beloved puppy is eating the cables. that's right, first he ate the cable that goes between the 2 computers and now he has eaten through the cable to the microphone. Grrrrrrr!

Blogger Beta doesn't seem to work so well with Macs. I have no rich text editor and uploading pictures is a real test of my html skills and as you can probably tell from a couple of my previous posts I am failing that test. Who would have thought that I could learn a new trick? OK, so am still learning but getting there.....Think I will have to spend some time messing about with the Mac to get to know it and return to using the Windows machine for the time being. The trouble is I learn by doing so if I can't force myself to use it I won't. If anyone wants to give me some hands on lessons, I will more than happily sign up! Any Mac experts out there?

I'm struggling to download photos and edit them (although this is supposed to be one area that Macs do so much better than Windows. Now I hear Macs are great with movies.....well I've given You Tube a go so will see how this works with Macs. Will advise!

PS I am back to work and sifting through the rather large stack of email (although not as bad as it could have been given my Blackberry).