Showing Her Metal

In our family Emily is the geeky one, very clever, very creative but not always the most practical, and every now and then she will entertain us all with an 'Emily special' - her own brand of dim comment. One of her recent dippy remarks happened when we were driving into Leicester for her graduation. I saw a signpost and commented on a place name that sounded familiar. "Oh yes" said Emily, "there's a bus that goes there". It took a while before she realised why we were laughing.

Laura on the other hand in just as clever but very practical and street wise, so I was rather shocked when she made an Emily type remark. She has been looking a bit pale and tired recently, so I told her she should get some iron tablets. The next time I saw her she told me that she had looked for iron tablets at Boots but couldn't find any. I told her she must have been looking in the wrong place, but she was sure she had the right place because she saw some zinc tablets. She then announced that she had been tempted to just get the zinc tablets because zinc is quite close to iron in the periodic table!!

When in a Hole ......... 23.10.07

Robbie seems to enjoy living dangerously! He got home slightly earlier yesterday evening and he appeared in the kitchen to help me with the final few minutes of getting our meal ready. First he moaned about the burn mark on the iron (that he caused) because it will not come off. Then he criticised the way I filled the kettle, telling me that I wasn't even capable of filling the kettle properly. Having started to 'dig his hole' he seemed unable to stop and he went on to tell me that I was a liability in the kitchen! I took the hint and left him to it, after all I am a liability! He begged for help serving the food but I refused. Considering my inadequacy in the kitchen we had a very nice roast dinner and everyone cleared their plates, so I must have got something right! I was going to do a beef stew tonight - one of Robbie's favourites, but being a liability in the kitchen perhaps I should play safe and give him cheese on toast instead!! You may have guessed that Robbie didn't enjoy his evening very much - serves him right!

I have told him many times 'when in a hole stop digging' but he seems to do the exact opposite. Just as there was a 'slight thaw' in my attitude he messed it all up again. He had a moan about the quality of the ironing! Realising that he was now out of his depth, he said that he doesn't have enough shirts. I don't know how he could make such a stupid claim, it is like Imelda Markos saying she didn't have enough shoes! He seriously expected me to believe that he only has three, the true figure is nearer to thirty! When challenged he did back track a bit, first it was only three shirts, then it was only three long sleeved shirts and then it became only three white shirts! Oh well, I will do an audit today just to record the true figure, but if he thinks he only has three shirts he will not miss all the others, so I will stuff them into a couple of black sacks and take them to the recycling bank. I could take a few ties too, maybe some railway books as well. He can try being minimalist for a change, we could do with the space! At least I know what he wants for Christmas now.

A Bundle of Energy 03.10.07

Oreo was a pain yesterday evening, I'm sure a monkey would be easier to cope with than a naughty kitten. He still seemed to have a grudge against the iron and he managed to jump up at the bit of flex visible over the work top, he caught it and pulled the iron down almost on top of him. He survived unscathed, but smelling a little sweeter as he was sprinkled with ironing water as the iron fell. The iron wasn't so lucky, it is a write off!

Having fought the iron and won he stalked off in search of more mischief. He must be missing Emily because he had obviously sneaked up to her room and he crept back into the lounge with his prey. It was grey and about the size of a hamster, I was startled at first, but when he started to play with it I realised it was a small Eeyore soft toy from Emily's vast Eeyore collection. Laura took it away from him and he scampered off in disgust to return minutes later with more treasure, the tail of a larger Eeyore. I will not dwell on the reasons why Eeyore has a detachable tail! More stern words from Laura and he left the room minus the tail but looking defiant. When he returned he was carrying a pink fluffy bear, clearly he thought this was a good game, but it was easily solved -we shut Emily's door. Finally he was exhausted by all this activity and he settled down for a rest.

Choices 06.08.07

The new washing machine has been ordered, it was a compromise choice because we needed a prompt delivery, but it doesn't have a digital display! Now that the battle of the washing machine is a thing of the past I have to muster my energy to tackle a new problem, we need to buy a new iron and the likelihood of reaching agreement is minimal. The poor old ironing board is over 20 years old and is no longer up to the job so we have to get a new one. All that I am interested in is finding one that isn't too low, but no doubt Robbie will have an opinion on that too, I expect he will go for a gimmick instead of wanting one that is far more practical I am not sure if I have the energy for any more disagreement, maybe I should let Robbie rule the world!!