Root Shoot Marry #7 - Let's get personal

Right you lot. Time to get personal. No hunting down 007s or ogling the drugged out gazes of people who are too drunk to fuck, too rich to care.

(and by the way, nicely diverse work on the mugshots dudes, even Nick Nolte scored a pity bonk.)

This week, we're playing the same only different. Intimate, even. But rest assured, it's still within the rules of Root, Shoot, Marry as we're not being asked to make the beast with two backs with any family members.

Your choices this week are:

1 - your first high school crush
2 - your most attractive boss so far
3 - the most desirable spouse of a friend (yes, this is within the rules as long as neither friend nor spouse is present and it makes for excruciating game play in real life version of RSM)

So, go at it. I think this should cover both male and female players and - yes, no matter how nice all three of your choices might be in reality, one of them still has to die.

If it was too easy, it wouldn't be fun, now would it?

mtc
Bec

Joke's Five Meme, spiced up a little (I can never leave recipes alone, either)

What does it say to you when you get tagged for a meme that even the tagger found dull to complete?

Hmm. Well I'm not complaining too bitterly because I was tagged by chance in a sneaky Joke-y way that I intend to repeat at the bottom of this post so I'm not telling you what it was. Yet.

But, while I'll conform enough to comply with a tag, I refuse to follow the meme game so closely that I become just the latest in a long line of bored bloggers - yea, even unto the middle ages. So, I'm going to try to spice it up a little. Given Joke's culinary interests, we might just call it the Five Spice Meme from now on...

Here's the original, and if you want to go there, feel free.
Five things in my freezer:
Five things in my closet:
Five things in my car:
Five interesting things in my backpack:

And here's (maybe) a more testing version, with a fifth category added because - what up with the four times five thing? - I can only assume somewhere in the meme's travels the original fifth list was lost in a hasty cut and paste.

Five things I wish were in my freezer:
A bottle of Absolut Citron;
the pesto I should have made last summer;
the chicken stock I used up this winter;
a spare litre of milk (now we don't live around the corner from the 7/11);
a big box of blackberries.

Five things that shouldn't be in my wardrobe:
Gorgeous black ballet flats, a size too big;
gorgeous Von Troska dress, two sizes too small;
a pink t-shirt that fits like a dream but gives me far more boobage than I can comfortably admit I've got;
my last ever maternity bra (just too goddam comfortable);
two bikinis (who AM I kidding?).

Five things I hate about my car:
Carpet held last summer's sand all winter, resisting even professional cleaning;
bad blind spots through the rear view mirror and driver's side pillar;
front cup holders are too close together so coffee cups won't fit side by side;
rear hatch door opens just high enough to crack you on the head when you straighten up after pulling groceries out of the back;
and finally, despite all its compact styling and cleverly concealed third row of seats, it still looks like a freaking soccer mum's van.

Five things I should throw out of my handbag/purse/briefcase/backpack:
Lipstick with a loose cap;
a Barbie princess crown with a broken side piece;
receipts, receipts, receipts!!;
hair elastics that aren't - elastic, that is;
and (gentlemen, look away) a free-floating tampon that, despite its appearance, just cannot still be hygienically sealed.

Five things I don't want to admit are in my bathroom:
A small army of bath toys where my candles and oils used to sit(but I'll be sad when they're gone);
denture soaker (not mine!!);
head lice treatments (not mine!!);
sleeping pills (ahem);
cockroaches - despite the $200 treatment last month!


And finally, tagging the first five people to comment here. That way I can follow you round and see which version you do!

mtc
Bec

I've had a secret: they call it M.I.R.L.

I have a confession


I've been keeping a secret, a special bloggy secret with a special bloggy name: MIRL.

Yes. I had a Meeting In Real Life with the lovely Pea Soup in Sydney Airport last Friday night.

Who knew there were good things about being close to the flight path? Here's the main one: when an un-met friend emails you on the off-chance that you live close enough to the airport to meet her during a one-hour stopover on her way to her aunt's funeral.

And I do. And we did.


And what with Sydney traffic being a nightmare and me being late, and what with them cunningly hiding anything that might look like an open bar, it ended up being less than an hour before the boarding call, even with Suse boldly ignoring the first call...



We got the very last two mini bottles of these available in the airport. But the man had put all the glasses in the dishwasher. So...


















And we swapped real names for our pseudonym children and husbands. And we talked of this and that, and books and knitting, and then there was no more time for defiance of boarding calls and we promised there would be a next time, and for longer.

And I decided to sit for a bit. Because it's quiet at the airport after the bar has closed. And we had an extra child at our house. And the lights out the window were very pretty.




















And there was still a bit more wine left in the cup. Couldn't waste it, now could I?

















And why did I keep it a secret until now?

Well, because Suse was travelling for sombre reasons and it didn't seem appropriate to take that situation and turn it into
GLOATING GLOATING GLOATING BECAUSE I GOT TO MEET A BLOGGER IN REAL LIFE AND IT WAS GREAT!

But now she's back, and we're Out. And now you know everything.

mtc
Bec

The Story of a Wet Weekend - or - the Perils of the Pea Princess - or - Why a Digital Camera is a Mum's Best Friend

Readers of the Ladies Lounge have not heard so much about the Pea Princess lately. Those who travelled here via Glamorouse may remember some snippets, like, for instance, the reason she is known so aptly as the Pea Princess (in real life and long before Blogland).

The eldest child, she comes with a manual. It's a large manual and requires constant and sometimes surprising updates. The best way to keep on top of the many rules required in the care and feeding of a Pea Princess is to focus on the big red warning on the front cover of the manual:
CAUTION:
SENSITIVE
MATERIAL
INSIDE

So when, on a recent wet weekend, the innocent indoor activity of muffin making took a wrong turn and the muffin mix exploded all over the Pea Princess' favourite jumper (and dress, and face, and hair, and floor...) the sensitivity alarms went off.

And I, being a Mother of Invention, grabbed the camera.



















If you look closely at her cheek, you will see I wasn't quite fast enough, but the smile came through in the end.

























The Gorgeous Boy, he likes the camera too.




















The Sparkle Twin did her usual, which is to say she waited til all the larger, noisier and older (by four years and one minute, respectively) children were occupied in a major drama and then grabbed the best job for herself.






















But then, since Sparkle doesn't actually eat muffins but is happy to help make them, the other two muffin-eaters can hardly begrudge her the nicest part of the process, can they?

mtc
Bec

Yum

Pre-school recently sent home the annual note for school photos. It seemed a bit more expensive than usual, but hey, what can you do? So we signed up and I expected the usual badly painted disney background and fake smiles.

I guess you get what you pay for.

For the record, are these not the coolest official pre-school photos ever?

mtc

bec