belgianwaffle

Wildlife in the Classroom


Posted in: Princess, Reading etc.

There was a mouse in the Princess’s classroom yesterday. The teacher stood on her chair and yelled. They all had to decamp to another room while the principal (God love him) caught it to “send to the pet shop”. He tells me he has had to fork out €800 to Rentokil to make sure that all the mice in the building make it safely to the pet shop.

And today’s links:

We get to find out what Mike has been up to. And very interesting it is too. Particularly, if you are interested in furniture and design.

My sister-in-law is losing the will to blog. Go on, give her a comment. Yes, I know, not only am I nagging for comments here but there too. It’s all too much. Thank you for commenting here, by the way. You might like to know that, on foot of that last post, my mother has offered to buy us a dryer for Christmas. Mr. Waffle won’t let her because of the environment.

My brother drew my attention to this interview by a cranky Cork footballer. Cranky, but I suppose he has a point.

Ireland has been underwater for a couple of weeks. Except Dublin. Dublin has been pretty dry. For days, the Irish Times had to put pictures of places outside Dublin on its front page. The pain. Obviously, there was a flood (ha, ha) of complaints as the Dublin Intelligencer (as my father calls it) ignored the needs of its nearest and dearest. On Monday, they could stand it no more and, with most of the rest of the country under several feet of water the Irish Times ran with “Debris is washed ashore as southwesterly winds lash the South Wall pier at high water in Dublin yesterday” and a nice picture of the local debris risk.

Blessed are the merciful, for they shall be mortified. Oh dear.

Domestic felicity


Posted in: Family, Mr. Waffle

I don’t work on Wednesday afternoons. Today, I picked the children up from school. Brought them home. Made them change their uniforms. Got herself to do her homework, played trains with the boys. Then while the Princess doodled, the boys and I made ginger biscuits (from Delia, recommended for making with small children, also very tasty) which were just ready as Mr. Waffle dropped in at 5 between various work engagements. While he had his tea and still warm biscuits, I put on dinner. He rushed out to be productive and I looked after the children until he came home at 11.15. I greeted him with great anxiety as the internet connection was down and I am not going to give up NaBloPoMo at this point. He unplugged and restarted various devices several times and to my mixed delight and chagrin, this approach worked. This post may be sub-standard but I had to get it out against a deadline. I feel like some kind of 1950s superwoman/new millenium internet nerd hybrid.

Injury


Posted in: Middle Child, Twins

Daniel came down to breakfast claiming that he had a sore foot. I didn’t believe him. We carried him all morning and brought him into school. Amazingly, the heartless muinteoir was actually quite sympathetic. I thought he was malingering. Mid-morning, Mr. Waffle got a call from the school – Daniel’s foot is still sore. The teacher said he wasn’t complaining but she felt he was quite genuine. Poor Daniel. The next day, he was fine. Growing pains?

Eeek!


Posted in: Cork, Family, Ireland, Middle Child, Princess, Twins

My children do not enjoy as diverse a diet as I did when I was their age. In part this is because I am not at all as good a cook as my mother and in part because they are the pickiest eaters in Ireland.

I am spending a couple of days with my parents (photos of flooding may follow, hold your breath) and this evening my mother cooked prawns for the offspring. It was then that I realised that they had never even had a frozen prawn before, let alone one still encased in its shell. They gazed in horrified fascination at the little bodies laid out for their delectation. They winced as I screwed off the thorax and pulled out the edible part. The Princess then began to create new bodies using the heads and pincers. The boys were too afraid to even touch them. So, your best guess, did they eat any dinner tonight?

A new twist to a classic tale


Posted in: Middle Child, Mr. Waffle, Princess, Twins

Princess: What’s “The King and I” about?
Mr. Waffle: A woman goes to Siam (explanation that this is now Thailand, eye-rolling in the back of the car from herself) to be governess to the king’s daughter.
Me (feeling that this is an important plot point): And the King’s wife, the Princess’s mother, is dead.
Daniel: I don’t want my Mummy to die.
Me: Mummies almost never die. Don’t worry. It’s very unusual.
Princess (impatiently): What happens?
Me: They fall in love.
Her: The king’s daughter and the governess?

Different styles: please note that we were brought up by the same parents


Posted in: Siblings

From: Me
Sent: 20 November 2009 12:45
To: Errant brother
Cc: Sister (birthday girl)
Subject: Re: I note radio silence
Assume you are happy with tonight’s arrangements. See you in the Shelbourne at 8 unless I hear to the contrary.

From: Errant brother
Sent: 20 November 2009 12:45
To: Me
Cc: Sister (birthday girl)
Subject: Re: I note radio silence

sorry for not getting back…..yeah that suits fine.

Later,
Dan