Move over pillow talk. There’s a new theme in town.
Kitchen talk.
😉😁
It happened accidentally on purpose. I was washing up after dinner, and instead of Hubbie going off to do his own jobs in prep for work tomorrow… he hung around.
And hung around.
And hung around.
It was beautiful. Firstly, I wasn’t alone. Secondly, we got to talk and talk, like really talk, something we only get to do on Wednesdays, or Saturday nights. And we need us time, oh God we need US time.
There’s some things that you just can’t say or talk about with curious 8 year-old ears nearby, and so we had this lovely opportunity to spend time together, and it honestly felt like we were cheating, you know, gaining extra, forbidden time somehow.
Really we weren’t. We just put effort and attention into the right thing.
Love my Hubbie, love our talks. And love our new kitchen talks too. 🥰🥰
I can get comfy in my trakkies and no one can see. I could wear a bikini in summer, and no one would see either!
I can both work, AND make it to drop off and pick up baby girl from school.
I can feed the cat at a respectable time, and then let him out… then in… then out… 🤦♀️🤣
I can make a quick meal because ahem, I have the whole kitchen to myself! (I have been known to throw the ingredients for soup in a pot and get it going while I work!)
But today, and for the last week or so, it’s been something else.
The radio.
I’ve been leaving it on lightly as I work. I’ve never done this before because listening and accurately capturing what is being said is kinda essential for my work, hence why I go as far as wearing ear buds even though I am the only one at home.
But lately, I’ve been leaving the radio on, ever so softly, totally background vibes, so that as I work, I have a nice soundtrack taking me through the day. And at the same time, it’s not so intrusive as to interfere with what I’m doing. I guess, it’s like being in the office again, only I’m at home. 😀
And today there was a whole slew of great songs that took me through the day. Some of my favourites were:
Mondo Rock – Come Said The Boy
INXS – Don’t Change
The Cars – Drive
Dragon – Rain
Madonna – Crazy For You.
In these moments I usually take the opportunity to stretch my legs and take a break, and put the volume up as I warble along 🎶🎤😂
In light of lockdown, working today, and it being pretty cold and rainy, I have nothing much exciting on the new and exciting gratitude front.
But something funny did happen this evening.
My sister called as we were cleaning up after dinner. We’ve missed each other’s calls a few times now, so there was a bit of catching up to do, recent news, a lot of lockdown and vaccine talk as is often the case at the moment, and just random bits and bobs.
You know, life talk.
I was leisurely taking my time washing the dishes as I had her on speaker phone. Baby girl had gone off to her room. Hubbie was somewhere. We talked and talked, and by the time I finished cleaning up the kitchen we were hanging up.
It was so quiet in the house. I was wondering at this extraordinary event, when Hubbie appeared from apparently nowhere.
“Is everything ok?” he asked me.
“Yeah, why?”
I was asking him where he’d been, and he was giving me vague answers, instead asking “Is everything ok?” again.
“Yeah, it’s fine, we were just talking.”
“I just thought something happened you know… you guys only spoke for half an hour this time… I thought maybe you had had an argument, maybe I had to call the police…”
Oh you bugger you. He was totally hanging shit on us for not taking long, because usually yes, we can easily notch up over an hour just talking about basic things, without even delving into really deep and serious stuff.
If it’s the deep stuff, we need to get settled and get really comfortable.
As it turns out, he was bloody right about the half hour… the call length for our phone call was actually 29 minutes and 8 seconds.
BANG! on the money.
Thank you Hubbie for providing some light comic relief this evening. 🥰
I’ve previously written about the anticipatory excitement one gets when Friday rolls around.
For me, when 3pm on a Friday comes around. 😁😁😁😁
Hell yeah! It’s the best. Knowing you have days off ahead, is FAR better than any of those days off, let’s be honest.
It’s the anticipation.
So today as I clocked off from my work office at home, logged off my laptop, and headed into the kitchen where baby girl was happily waiting, I started singing…
“It’s Friday then, then Saturday Sunday what?”
We’ve been singing this song ever since a Friday has rolled along, ever since we saw the absolutely fantastic video of that guy that just jumps out of the car and dances to his hearts content when he hears the song.
And so we did. Baby girl and I ripped up a storm on the kitchen dancefloor, because…
Amazingly, I was happy to spend the day in the kitchen.
I enjoy cooking. I enjoy baking. I like finding new recipes, experimenting, and watching it all come together, the product of my hands putting it all to work.
I’ve been devoid of passion as of late, but I’ve been working through it, and getting by, bit by bit. This makes me proud, as having significant setbacks, it is then no mean feat to get up and keep trying. It has been freaking hard, but like my whole covid series, I am ‘getting there.’
Today, I made a yummy lentil soup that I got from my bestie’s nutritionist facebook page. I’ve made it before, and I’ve been wanting to make it again, but like I said, the whole lacking passion thing was a bit of a killjoy for getting anything done, much less making a soup I enjoy.
But I didn’t stop there. I made this apple cake recipe that I found months ago, and back then I even bought the granny smith apples I needed…. only to have Hubbie eat them when I never made the recipe, because you know…
LACK OF ALL PASSION.
But I bought those 4 granny smith apples again this week. I was feeling better, my mental clarity was improving, my emotional stability was settling, and it was all coming together, very slowly, once again…
So I made this today:
I actually wasn’t sure if it was baked properly, and kept it in the oven perhaps longer than I should have, until I read the facebook comments on the video and realised it was kinda like an apple crumble, and therefore was allowed to have that gooey kind of soft texture running through it.
Anyway…. YUM.
I am absolutely pooped from baking and cooking and washing dishes most of the day, but I feel really good too.
To some extent, I’ve been very slowly Spring cleaning since covid began in Autumn. Clearing out shelves, closets, drawers… throwing things out, making things neat and orderly, finding items a new home…
But then there is nothing quite like opening the doors and really getting into it, especially on a mild day like today.
Often I don’t plan to clean. Especially the major things… the motivation just HITS ME. Like today, I observed our kitchen fan, and how we had never cleaned it since our new kitchen was installed…
Um, almost 2 years ago now?
😳
So on a whim, I cleaned it all.
I just couldn’t stop there though. After that super-greasy task, I cleared through drawers in baby girl’s room, throwing out old stuff, went through other rooms, decluttering… and by 5pm, I realised one major thing.
Actually, two.
I was pooped. Exhausted. Cleaning things out of your life can be therapeutic but awfully tiring.
And… I had barely been outside.
I know. It was so lovely out, it was a shame to have spent the whole day inside…
So I called it. A quick family, 5 minute walk around the block before dinner.
Our home was showing signs of my Spring cleaning everywhere. And the front yard was showing signs of Spring too.
We had greenery sprouting everywhere. This one plant near our front door has literally grown 20 centimetres in a matter of a week. My tulips are reaching for the sky, the birds of paradise are facing the sun, the succulent is loving the season, and my roses aren’t blooming yet, but seeing their abundant green leaves gives me so much happiness.
Then we walked. Boy do I miss not having a mask on my face, to truly be able to breathe in the fresh air. But soon. I believe we are really getting there.
I think one of the best pieces of advice I could give to any current or future parents, is this:
Show them what you love.
In particular, music.
Baby girl is exposed to a whole range of styles. From 70s/80s Queen, 80s Prince, Madonna of ALL ages, pop Justin Timberlake, melodic George Michael…
to contemporary music like The Weeknd, SIA, Ed Sheeran, Justin Bieber, Tones and I, and then there’s folk music, rnb music, UB40, songs from movies…
There’s a lot of different styles that she hears from us.
When you show your child what you love, you’re showing them what makes you happy. What makes you sing. What makes your heart soar.
You’re not actually sitting them down and saying “this is what makes me happy!”
It’s in the everyday moments. Putting the volume up for a song on the radio that makes you smile. Dancing in the kitchen because Funny How Love Is came on. Laughing along to that really annoying/catchy tune “Pump it Up,” and then turning everything into that song…
“You know clean it up, you have to clean it up!”
You’re making everyday moments come alive, you’re making them more fun, and most importantly, you’re making memories.
Like today for instance. Following a week of letting everything fall to the wayside in light of more important things, I was on a cleaning frenzy. I had Queen on, FULL VOLUME as I went about the house doing my thing.
I was in baby girl’s room changing her bedding, when Bohemian Rhapsody came on.
As the pivotal moment drew near…
“Oh mama mia, mama mia
Mama mia let me go…”
I quickly threw some things in her wardrobe –
“…Beelzebub has a devil put aside for me…”
I ran out of her room –
“…For me…”
And ran down the hallway
“…FOR ME!” I squealed as I skid into the kitchen, with baby girl charging in from the lounge room.
And then we proceeded to do THIS:
Oh it was fun! The hair clip in my hair was knocking my head we were jumping and head banging so much.
And it was so cool, that I knew I could depend on her to run in to meet me near the stereo… just as she knew she could find me rocking out to a classic tune.
It’s got nothing to do with making your kids like what YOU like. That I am totally against. Children should be allowed to make up their own likes, dislikes, interests and passions, without their parents, or anyone influencing them.
I am fascinated to see what kind of young woman baby girl will grow into of her own accord, not from someone else she has tried to be like, or from someone who has made her feel she should be like them.
NO.
It’s about showing them your passions. They should be their own people. At the same time, it’s no wonder there are so many kids out there who followed in their parents footsteps, either by doing a similar profession, choosing a similar path, a like-minded interest… because they watched them obsess, fixate, and enjoy that thing, while growing up.
Baby girl doesn’t need to write. She doesn’t need to read. She doesn’t need to love Queen all her life.
But by sharing what it is that you love with them, you show them what a meaningful, purposeful, and beautiful life is.
At the end of day, whether it’s a life path of not… Creativity.
The arts.
Passion.
Inspiration.
Love.
These are the things that make the world go round. Teaching our kids about them can only bring beautiful things.
At the very least, really funny head-banging memories. 😉
Look closely, and you will see vine-ripened cherry tomatoes.
Not loads, but definitely quite a few, nonetheless.
Where in the world was this?
No where else but my parents back yard.
I was back in the backyard today! It’d been 3 months since I was last there. As much as it was cold, I did a little “ahh” of satisfaction when I stepped out amongst the sunny spots this afternoon.
Tomatoes. Tomatoes in Winter? You have got to be kidding me.
All I can say is, where there is a will, there is a way.
I love how at their house, something is growing where you would never expect it too.
And then apart from the produce… there was the produce prepared IN THE KITCHEN.
At some point, you just know dancing in the kitchen was gonna make this corona countdown.
This countdown, in trying to get to the ‘other’ side.
The music of choice tonight? Well baby girl is obsessed with our music. Whatever we play passionately and religiously, she devours it, and then proceeds to play it with even more gusto.
Just recently she has been putting my Dirty Dancing soundtrack on repeat.
I could laugh out loud. I don’t, I quietly giggle. She does ballet moves to the instrumental and jazzy pieces, floating from one end of the room to the other, pirouetting and doing flying leaps in the air…
While I cut cucumbers and sing in heartfelt tone to “do you love me?”
This routine has been repeating lately, and again it happened today. Both of us bopping along, she doing her own freestyle dance routine, me stirring pots and cutting vegies and acting like there is a mic in front of me.
“Will you still love me, tomorrow?”
Soon, Hubbie is home from work.
“Best movie soundtrack, EVER,” I proclaim.
“Mama,” baby girl begins, “maybe one day we can go to the movies and watch this movie?”
“Uh,” I start. “This movie is an old one, it isn’t in the cinemas anymore honey… but maybe one day we can find it somewhere, and watch it.”
(Uh, in my DVD collection? Shh).
“She can watch it one day,” I whisper to Hubbie, “when she’s 25.”
carcrashgratitude 