Tales from the kitchen

I assume it's not just me, others too, find themselves in this situation. But there are times in life when you are forced into the most ridiculous conversations. Living with one or more  junior recipe testers under the age of five will mean this is a daily occurrence. But it is made even more problematic when you are forced to have a ridiculous conversation in a very public place.

Now, I realise, I am at high risk of over-sharing here. So if you are prone to embarrassment, please do avert your eyes.

I recently had need to visit the GP....

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Recently, I had one of those days. Not the good one. I had a bit to get through, so I made a list. Lists are good. They keep you on track. And there's that sense of great personal fulfillment when you tick something off.

My big problem is, I lose little pieces of paper on which I write lists. But I will not be deterred. I now write them on my phone. And then they do not get lost. Very often...

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Most days, I work on the proviso that we start every day with a certain number of energy points. These are there for the picking, spent as the situation requires. Some tasks, of course, require a greater number of energy points than others. Occasionally I find I can achieve two tasks using a single energy point, and in those rare moments, I feel supremely smug.

Over the years I have learned three things:

1. Getting an overdraft is difficult.
2. Sometimes I am over-expended by 8.32am.
3. My application for an overdraft, logged by 8.43am, is usually denied by 9.03am.

Here's how the tally went today:

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A force is any interaction with an object that, when unopposed, will change the motion of an object. Put another way, forces are the push or pull on an object. Heavy objects require greater force to move them than light objects. In short, you have to push or pull harder to get heavy objects to move.

I am so excited to tell you that we bought you an oven. The oven we had in the big kitchen is still perfectly serviceable. It was just getting a little on the small size for your dinners. The new oven is large. It is also heavy.

The senior recipe tester, being the kind and generous sort that he is, went to collect the new oven for you. For this task we hired a truck with a lifting device to overcome the significant downward force of the oven on the floor of the depot. A forklift lifted the oven into the truck for the senior. Lifting it out of the truck, and into the big kitchen, he had to sort out himself. We called a friend for backup...

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The virtues of eating meals with your children are long heralded. The benefits, we are told, are untold. Everything from lofty educational attainment to absence of delinquency are certain gains.

What they don't mention is that eating with those significantly younger than you, can be quite unpalatable...

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Learning, I've come to realise, occurs in stages. Whenever one starts working with new tools, for instance, there is that stage in which you're stretched until your functional knowledge and proficiency catch up to your skill need. Psychologists call this stage "conscious incompetence": a point at which you have at least recognised a deficit in your understanding or skill.

This week I have made some inroads to stemming my incompetence:

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The week just gone was National Carers Week in Australia. It's a chance to say thank you to those who provide care in all sorts of ways, and to recognise their valuable work. Informal carers save government in this country over $1BILLION each and every week: over $60billion annually. That's a lot of dollars in anyone's language.

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...today, big excitement
Was happ'ning at school
We rushed to be part of it,
Downing our tools;

A stellar performance
... Well, it wasn't quite Wembly.
One junior and class
They were running assembly...

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