No silver bus this week

It's off having a new door put on after my recent crash into the post. We have a second small car that Chris takes to work and he's been dropping the bigger kids off at school in the mornings as well. Yesterday I walked down to school to help with reading and to take the younger kids to a toddler music group that's just started up in the school hall.

So three days in, we've been surviving okay without the big car. It's off-road time has been well timed in some ways. I think some quieter time at home is good every so often. And I need it at the moment to concentrate on some of Rowan's eating issues.

Anyway, this morning, I decided we'd get out into the fresh air and sunshine, and walk up to the local neighbourhood shopping centre to buy a couple of treats for lunch. It's usually a brisk five to ten minute stroll from home when I'm by myself. Today I discovered it takes at least twice as long with a walking toddler and a baby in a sling.

We don't go to this shopping centre all that often. If we do, it's mostly on weekends where we might pick up a newspaper or a loaf of bread or something. I don't go there much during the week. The only reason we went today was because it didn't involve walking home up a steep hill the way walking to the local Coles supermarket would have.

So after all the effort of walking what felt like a very long way with two small children, you can imagine my joy when we walked into the little IGA express supermarket and saw a student of mine stacking the shelves there.  I'd just failed her on her major assignment. And, even better, she'd sent me an email first thing this morning to query the mark she'd been given. She's not going to get it changed. It wasn't good enough.

Awkward.

How did I manage this situation, I hear you all asking? Well, not exactly with poise and confidence. I lowered my head, picked up my bananas and hot dog sausages, paid as quickly as I possibly could and escaped to the relative safety of the bakery next door. A jam doughnut there assisted my recovery.

I'm hopeful she may not have recognised me in my mother disguise (broad brimmed floppy hat, baby attached to front in sling, cute toddler who often draws attention away from me). I'd like to think my presentation in University tutorials would be vastly different to today's look.

But by the way she suddenly started paying extremely close attention to the cans she was putting on the shelves, I'm thinking she probably did know it was me. And she probably felt equally awkward.

The exam for the subject is tomorrow. I hope she had big plans to go home and study for the rest of the day and night so she can blitz the exam. Because otherwise she's not going to pass. And it's a subject they have to pass or they have to repeat it next year.

On a quest

To find the most ridiculously named mens' deodorant on the supermarket shelves.

The brand I use has sensible names like "Cool" and "Fresh."

Last night I bought two spray cans for Chris. He's not fussy about what brand he uses so I am just looking for the ones with the stupidest names.

So for the next few weeks he will be using "Africa" and "Voodoo."

Observations during grocery shopping

Our local Woolworths has had new trolleys for the past few weeks. All new and clean, complete with coffee cup, baguette and flower holders. Sadly, every one of them I've tried has shown absolutely no improvement in steering control compared with the old ones. What a disappointment.

On the up side, I think I've mentioned before in here that I quite like grocery shopping at night. The night shopping crowd seem a bit more laid back than the daytime shoppers. There's no trolley push and shove, even though when the shop is about to close up for the night everyone arrives simultaneously at the single check-out that's open. And the staff then manage to actually appear helpful as they open another one to help get the last minute rush of customers out the door.

Tonight I shared a moment of camaraderie with the elderly lady in front of me in the check-out queue. She complimented me on my choice of Streets Mini-Magnum iceblocks (on special this week). I said to her that I like to tell myself they're healthier than the big ones just because they're a smaller size. She said she tells herself the same thing. A real meeting of minds. Then she went a step further and said she likes to bite through the top of the chocolate shell and dip the icecream section into crushed macadamia nuts.

That sounded pretty good. So now you know what I'm about to try for dessert....

Chris is braving IKEA today

He is getting a few Christmas presents. I didn't go with him because it's a wet day, I would have had to find somewhere quiet to feed Rowan (difficult in IKEA, I believe) and, probably most importantly, I would have been tempted to buy a whole lot of things that we don't actually need.

So he just called to say how much he hates the IKEA experience. We don't go there very often so he was also confused about where to actually pick up the flat packed version of what he is buying. Having to walk one way through the shop is a pain in the neck. He's annoyed that the size of the item we are getting seems very small for the price we are paying for it.

It sounded chaotic in the background. Lots of toddler-ish sounding screeching (a mixture of happy and sad) and mothers chatting and giggling.

I told him to just get the things we want and then get out as quickly as possible. But I think that might be easier said than done.

Snappis

For those unfamiliar with these, Snappis are used to fasten cloth nappies.

A lot of modern cloth nappies come with snaps or some other kind of fastener already sewn in. I have a few newer ones that I bought when I had Rosie, but lots of my cloth nappies are older ones since I've had them since the boys were babies. The old ones are fitted nappies but need the Snappi to hold them closed.

In the past I've always been able to find Snappis at the supermarket in the baby aisle. We recently lost one of Rosie's so I asked Chris to look at the shops for another one when he was picking up milk on the way home from work a couple of days ago. He came back with a pink one and said it was the very last one in the shop.

So then I thought I should probably buy a few more since we'll need them for the new baby. So yesterday I went out and checked most of our other local supermarkets and a couple of chemists as well. No luck. I guess the demand for these isn't as big as it used to be.

Thank goodness for eBay. I came home exhausted after the shopping trip and looked online. Found someone selling them in packs of six, and for the first time I discovered they actually come in two different sizes (birth to 18 months, and 18 months upwards). $16 for a pack of 3 small and 3 larger sized ones. I like the bright coloured ones in the picture, especially the purple and lilac ones, but the ones I'm getting are mint, yellow and white...I think. They are advertised as "unisex" colours anyway.

And they will be in the post today. Hooray for online shopping.

Why oh why...

Do they have six customer service points in our local Medicare office, but there are only ever two of them that seem to be staffed at any single moment in time??

I ask the same question about checkouts in supermarkets, although at least there they will make some effort to open one if the lines at the already-open ones become too long.

This morning at Medicare, I was in a queue of at least ten people. Old people, women with small children, heavily pregnant woman (me). And four unoccupied customer service points. Which remained steadfastly unopened.

Is it just to create an illusion that fast and efficient processing of customer's claims might be able to happen in some utopian world?

Encounters at the shops

For reclusive and easily sensory-overloaded types like me, grocery shopping in the peak hour on Saturday mornings can be a bit too much sometimes.

This morning in Woolworths, I saw our next door neighbour and her teenage daughter at the deli counter (not relevant to the story, but we were both buying olives). I haven't seen our neighbour for a while, other than to wave to when we've been driving in and out of our street, and so for the first time this morning, I noticed she had lost a lot of weight. So much that I had to look twice when I saw her to make sure it really was her.

I wanted to tell her she was looking really good. But before I could say that, she got in first and started talking about all the usual pregnancy related things....she only realised I was pregnant when she saw me at school drop off during the week, when was I due etc etc. And then smoothly moved on to tell me that I looked huge and like I was due much sooner than November. She said it twice, just to make sure the point sunk in.

Thanks for that. After she said it, I didn't feel much like telling her how good she was looking. So of course, I didn't.

If I was a better Christian, I would have thought nice thoughts and brushed off the irritation. But that was difficult at the crowded deli counter. I mumbled something about it being my fourth baby, there wasn't much to hold my tummy in anymore, and moved on.

On my way out of the shopping centre with my heavily laden trolley, I saw Chris' admin officer at the bakery counter. The position he is acting in at the moment comes with its own administrative position, which is a bit of a novelty since he's never had this before. We affectionately call her "his girl" because we've been watching too much Mad Men lately, even though she's much older than either of us.

I met her for the first time earlier this week so I only realised it was her after I had walked past. Then there was an awkward moment on the down ramp to the car park when she was pushing her trolley behind mine and I avoided eye contact instead of doing the right thing, which would have been to say hello. If she did actually recognize me (I live in fear of saying hello to people I've only met once or twice and receiving a blank response) she probably thinks I'm very rude.

But all I really wanted to do was escape the crowdedness and find some peace. This is why I like shopping in the evenings. Just me and the shelf stackers and only one checkout open.

Life at home is chaotic sometimes. I'm looking for quiet time when I go grocery shopping, not crowds and awkward social moments.

The random layout of Asian grocery shops....

....makes it very difficult to just duck in quickly to grab something.

Today I was after Chinese cooking wine. Rosie was asleep when we got to the shop so it wasn't going to work trying to get her to walk. I picked her up and hoisted her up over my shoulder (she's not too heavy, but she feels that way when she's half asleep), thinking I could see a row of bottles straight inside the doorway. Hoping they were Chinese cooking wines.

No. Had to ask an assistant. She directed me to aisle 7. Near some non-food items. Quite a few of the aisles are like this, an interesting mixture of clothing, packet noodles and various sauces.

This probably shows my ignorance of Asian cultures. Maybe the layout makes more sense if you can read the labels on things and realise they are in fact related to one another?

Annoying gift

The lady at the express checkout in Coles this morning gave Rosie one of those big red hands. Because I am unable to say no to a free gift (however useless it is), we took it.

At least she was only momentarily interested in it. And it was a good way to teach her the concept of pointing down rather than up.

The guys on The Gruen Transfer had an even larger one of these on their show last week. I should be grateful that we didn't get the jumbo sized version.

Op shop finds

I spent this morning sorting out pool water dramas. Recently the water has turned green in the excessive humidity which usually means an algae problem. The pool is not normally my problem since Chris normally deals with it, but he has been busy at work and unable to take water samples to the pool shop so that part of the pool care has been allocated to me for the moment. This is the second time in a week I have been there. I didn't think the water looked too green this time last week so I wasn't given strong enough chemicals then. Now we need the heavy duty algae killer.

And so I have become aware of how much pool chemicals actually cost. Not cheap at all.

So to give myself the feeling that I was cutting down on spending in other areas of our life, I went shopping at a local op shop that I had heard good things about.

I feel much better now. A fantastic skirt and a nice top, both of which will be fine to wear at work and elsewhere. My work uniform is optional and I wear it most of the time but some days I just like to have something different. And only $15 combined cost. Excellent.

Monument to materialism and self-absorption

AKA our closest mega-mall. Shops screaming "buy, buy, buy" at every turn. The in-your-face message that we need even more stuff than we currently have. We went today for the annual school shoe shopping trip. Thoughts of this trip never fill me with joy and today it lived up to all expectations.

This particular shopping centre prides itself on having a state of the art carparking system with little lights that tell you whether there are carparks available in it. Green lights mean there is a free spot. Whenever we go there, green lights are few and far between. Generally it's not a comforting beginning since you know in advance how crowded it's going to be inside.

So we found a carpark because someone was leaving, and then entered the fray at David Jones to look for shoes. For the past three years, I have taken the boys there to have school shoes fitted. The reason I have travelled a bit further from home is because the sales assistants measure the kids' shoe size properly, we get individualised service and we usually get a discount on the shoes with the post-Christmas sales. This year it didn't go well. A large sign in the shoe section announced "Please queue here for service" and with it was a little pile of numbers (a bit like deli service at the supermarket). Measurements were taken after a short wait but then the problems began. I wanted black school shoes that double as sports shoes because this saves me buying school shoes and sports shoes for each child. Neither of the sizes my kids took were available. No other options. The saleswoman seemed fairly distracted and it was difficult for her to slow down long enough for me to tell her what I was actually looking for.

So I gave up on that and we ventured further into the shopping frenzy. We had to find a computerised information directory (extra walking to find one of those) to look for other shoe shops. Eventually we found Mathers and a very helpful young girl fitted both the kids with the shoes I was looking for. She even got her supervisor to double check the sizing, and I ended up with a $20 gift voucher as well when I paid for them. This was good, since I need new shoes. In the end, though, all this could have been done closer to home since there are two Mathers stores within five minutes drive of our house.

Back to DJ's for new socks. Success finally. The next challenge on the list was a present for a girl in Liam's class whose birthday party is tomorrow. Spent some time in the DJ's toy section trying to discourage the boys away from "Zhu-zhu pets." She would probably love one but I think they are a pointless toy. Where's the imagination in a fake hamster? As I was trying to get them away from the Zhu-zhu display to the art activity display next to it, a guy and his son were having an in-depth discussion about the Zhu-zhus. From a phone call the guy took while we were all standing there (that I was trying hard to get away from as I was praising the virtues of drawing and creative play to the boys), I assumed he was a doctor since I heard the opening line that must fill everyone listening to doctors with great confidence "Which patient was that again?" After we'd paid for our stuff he came to the counter loaded up with Zhu-zhu accessories (apparently you can buy a hamster run for them to "play" in). We ended up buying a "Fingerprint art set" for the birthday girl.

Escape at last. As we were leaving, I noticed a BMW in the carpark with the personalised plate BMW 4ME. Seriously. Back out on the street we saw a friend from church parking her car in the street parking at the front of the shops and I honked and waved madly at her. She looked straight through our car without noticing who I was.

That just about sums up my feelings in these places really. Insignificant and invisible.

I am over it. I think I will use my ABC gift cards in their online shop. After today, I can see why the rise of online shopping has been so appealing to consumers.

Today...

I went shopping and found (almost) everything I went searching for...and maybe a bit more....

1. New hairdryer

2. New bathmat (not exactly the one I was looking for but one with bobble things on it, it feels great on the feet) and chair covers

3. Liam's birthday present (books and Nerf guns)

4. Ladybug backpack for Rosie to take to child care.

5. New tops for me

6. Sushi for lunch

Came home to a lovely clean house thanks to my wonderful housecleaning husband. Now to decide on what birthday cake to make for Liam tomorrow. Chris is the cake-making expert in our house so he will take care of the cooking and decorating.

Then my plan is to get back to my puzzle. That's proving more difficult than I thought. Not only is the picture of a lot of very similar looking wine corks, but sadly the picture on the front of the box doesn't match the puzzle inside it. The corks are there...but they are all in a different order to the ones on the photo. It will get quicker as I go along but at the moment I am placing pieces at a rate of around five per day...not very rewarding but it is good to be challenged.

And for our holiday Bible readings, Chris and I are working through the latest Briefing readings on guidance. Good stuff. It's been a while since I read Guidance and the Voice of God so it's nice to review it again in a slightly different format.

Hope everyone is enjoying time with family and friends this holiday season.

Rain rain go away

I need to buy a few things at the shops.

But there is no point in going anywhere near a shopping centre when it is pouring rain outside. Post-Christmas sales plus wet weather = bad news for people like me who don't do well with crowds.

Unusual shopping list

I've been out shopping this afternoon for the following:

1. Wahu football (Christmas present for my nephew)

2. Brandy (to soak the fruit for my Christmas cake)

and

3. New swimmers. From clearance sale at local community hall. Nothing too fancy. When a sale is advertised as "nothing over $20" you can be fairly sure that the nicer swimwear items you see on the supplier's Facebook page are not going to be on offer. But I did find something. Wearing new togs now while I think about whether it is still warm enough to get into the pool.

In a follow up to Wednesday's post....

....last night at the DVD shop, where we were hiring a few DVDs to balance out the football overload on television this weekend, we saw a girl of similar age to the one in the supermarket on Wednesday, also wearing flannelette pyjamas. Somehow, though, it seemed slightly more okay there. Is that because the activity of watching DVDs is often done while wearing pyjamas? Or are there public places where it is socially acceptable to wear them?

Sorry if I'm sounding a bit obsessed. It's just happened more than once in a short space of time and I'm genuinely curious.

Anyway, to change the topic, this was the movie that Liam and I watched last night while Dad and Aidan went to Brisbane to watch the Titans lose. Liam loved it. I didn't mind it either, good fun and not much violence beyond oversized food falling on top of people. G-rated too. So now I'm keen to find the book it's based on for the kids to read.

How old is too old....

...to go to the supermarket in your pyjamas?

I was at Coles just before 6pm tonight doing a bread and milk run. I saw a mother and daughter shopping. Not a quick race in to the shop to grab a couple of things since they had a trolley. The daughter, who to my eyes looked at least 10 years old (older than my kids, anyway), was wearing a pair of yellow flannelette pyjamas.

My opinion is that perhaps it's acceptable for under 5 year olds to wear their pyjamas to the supermarket, although this doesn't happen in my house. I won't even step outside our front door to check mail or bring in a bin if I'm wearing pyjamas, so my kids don't either. Well, occasionally they might, for example at Easter to do the morning egg hunt or something like that. But never to the shops. If kids are wearing pyjamas here, it's because they've either just got up, or they're on their way to bed.

What do other people think? I suppose it would have been worse if it was the mother wearing the pyjamas.

Reducing pollution at the local supermarket

Today I was shopping in my local Woolworths supermarket. They were having some issues with the BBQ chicken machine in the deli, which was spewing large clouds of smoke all over the deli and fruit and vegetable section. It was so smoky I thought the fire alarm would go off, but it didn't so there were crowds of shoppers peering through the smoke as they tried to avoid bumping into other people's trolleys. The deli workers were looking embarrassed, so I suspected they had already fielded some complaints about it.

The irony? That the chicken machine is located right underneath a rather large sign espousing Woolworths' commitment to reducing greenhouse gas emissions by a large percentage in the next five years.

I think they have some way to go before they achieve their target.