Tales from the kitchen
Tag: family wellbeing
All over it. Or not.
There are days when you're all over it. And then there are those days when it's all over you. No prizes for guessing.
The day started, like most before it, with the obligatory cup of tea. With tea poured, one of the junior recipe testers and I went to read a book on the couch. Just before I sat down I managed to drop my cup.
It landed on the edge of the seat of the couch...
#BeBoldForChange - IWD 2017
Happy International Women's Day! The theme of IWD for 2017 is #BeBoldForChange. Dinner on the Table has pledged to be bold for change for women with disabilities.
Today is a great day to celebrate the very many roles women take. Just over half the Australian population are women, and a great many of us become mothers at some point in our lives. For many girls, there is an expectation, either subtle or outspoken, that they will have children of their own "when they grow up".
But some women are never expected to become mothers...
The trumpet shall sound...
We are learning the trumpet. Well, when I say "we", I mean one of us is learning the trumpet. But the walls in our home are such that we're all right there amongst it. For every huff, groan and occasional note that emerges.
I am not complaining. I was the one who encouraged the pursuit of music. The senior recipe tester is blessed with a great many talents. Music is not one of them. As my aunt once fondly commented, "Bless him. He can't get within a bull's roar of a note."
But I digress. We now have in our possession a beautiful instrument, on loan from the school music department. We cared for it diligently for perhaps twenty four hours before we had a problem.
Relaxation and chilli sauce
There are occasions that you wished you hadn't tried so hard to relax. In fact, sometimes it might be more relaxing not to relax.
We recently planned a lovely picnic for dinner. The junior recipe testers were particularly excited about it, as was the senior recipe tester and I. We were picnic-ing with extended family: there were sibling-type senior recipe testers to drink wine with, and plenty of junior cousins to play with. A relaxing evening all round.
Back to school...
For me, going back to school means one horrifying, terrifying activity. For the uninitiated, I advise you to avert your eyes, to close your browser, to read no further. Nothing they tell you in antenatal classes will put you off parenting. Buying school shoes just might. Fortunately for our junior recipe testers, this dreadful activity precisely coincides with a time that it is too late to change your mind about being a parent. At that point, you can rarely give your children back.
We're in the news...
We are so excited to appear in the Hills District Independent magazine this week.
I don't want to get run over by a garbage truck
I don't want to get run over by a garbage truck. My guess is, neither do you. And for this reason, if no other, we need to realise the importance of dinner.
Really.
The other week I was chatting with someone about how daily life happens in her house. She has a son with significant disabilities. In amongst the usual afternoon and evening activities found in a busy household, was dinner. No great surprise there. Except, as this woman explained, her son with disabilities needs to be fed. He is unable to eat his dinner on his own.
I still don't get how...
Parenting's hard, but if I may be bold
There's a lot, 'fore we're parents, we're simply not told.
Like how little juniors, would seem without warning
To wake in the morning and promptly start bawling
There's a lot, 'fore we're parents, we're simply not told.
Like how little juniors, would seem without warning
To wake in the morning and promptly start bawling
And so 'twas our fate, the morn before last
One junior woke up and just gave us a blast
And right in that instant, confirmed all my fears
For an effortless morning, yep- a junior in tears...
One junior woke up and just gave us a blast
And right in that instant, confirmed all my fears
For an effortless morning, yep- a junior in tears...
The force of force
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...
If you can't beat 'em, cook with 'em
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...