Monday 1 February 2010

Week commencing Feb 3rd

A few things to do this week:

1. Write up interview I did on Friday for PowderRoom Grafitti. Thought I was being dead cool and reporter-like with my teeny little tape recorder. (Note to self - learn how it works before interview.) We talked for over an hour and a quarter, which of course meant I had to sit down and listen to it all when I got home. That produced five pages of small-print notes, from which I now have to construct the write-up.

2. Finish writing up piece for Expat Focus web site. My deadline isn't till next week but I canvassed so many people on my particular question that it'll take me ten hours just to find all the replies and record them. I should've just made it all up - but I'm more professional than that aren't I?

3. Help Little Guy write up Valentine poem/letter/sloppy note for his classmates. Valentine's Day is HUGE here and we are already gearing up for it. There will be a big display outside his classroom of nice things they will say to each other. I am going to let him do it on his own, (she says lazily) with a bit of spelling help. I'm sure it'll go something like - "I like all my classmates, especially when they give me their cookies" or "I only like my friends when they do what I want." Perhaps some mommy editing will be called for.

4. Attend Queenager's College Counselling meeting on Wed evening. And of course, the Ball & Chain will be out of town meaning that I have to get Little Guy fed and bathed before I leave, and the Man-Child (the babysitter) coached on how to put him to bed gently, rather than throwing the covers over him and forgetting to have him brush his teeth. Last time apparently, instead of saying all the usual "Night, night, sleep tight" etc, the Man child said "Yeah whatever...". Bless!

5. Help Queenager get application together for summer journalism program. There is more to this than my US citizenship application required. Three recommendations from school teachers, examples of already published work, school grades and reports, and a three hundred word essay on why she wants to attend this course. Given that she rarely says anything in under a thousand words, this should be interesting. Oh, and a $50 application fee. And don't even mention the fee for the course if she gets accepted.

6. Think, nay panic, about dinner on Saturday night. Friends are coming over and one happens to be an Italian chef. Yes. I know. Eeeek. Think, think, think.

.

22 comments:

  1. at least you now have a comprehensive list for what sounds like a mammoth week. Bloody good luck with that. You must be a supermum

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  2. There is only one solution. Cup of tea, read some blogs, read some more and then wander off and refuse to address anything for a few more hours at least.

    Time honoured solution. Fails to work every time.

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  3. Your life is a tapestry . . . or a crazy quilt.

    Good luck with your week. This too shall pass, somehow.

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  4. Clearly you need to dig out some sort of relatively obscure classic British cuisine that the Italian chef could not possibly judge...

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  5. Just noticed that I put Feb 3rd when today is Feb 1st. Oh well, so much for being organised.
    NFAH - I was just about to say "Bubble and Squeak" or "Toad in the Hole" when I remembered that he cheffed in London for a year so can probably do those too!!
    This is a pretty typical week. Somehow it looks worse when I write it down.
    Oh and of course, the Ball and Chain is out of the country till Thursday night! Mind you, that's not always a bad thing when I need to get things done!

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  6. Ahem. Without wanting to add to the pressure: What happened to the plan to cook and blog about it? Am I confusing something? Was that another bloggess who wanted to do that?

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  7. The Valentine's Day thing is freaking me out - completely screwed up last year - had no idea it was such a big deal. My week may include a trip to Target.

    Have a great week!

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  8. Oh Lord, I knew there was going to be some huge Valentine's thing we had to do. I just didn't know what. Do they have to give cards to all their friends?

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  9. Oh yes - Valentine's Day. I would check with the teacher first. Some schools try to keep it low key (relatively) and others let you let rip - in which case you're going to be very busy next weekend!
    Fortunately, most shops will sell cheap little cards that the kids just hand out to each other. Do yourself a favour Nappy and just do them. In the past I have eschewed such cheap and nasty commercialism, but I am older and wiser - and obviously don't have so much time on my hands.

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  10. Valentine's Day sounds like a nightmare. HB and I don't even remember cards for each other most years. Luckily we both think it's just commercial claptrap and we don't care if we don't get anything.

    As for the cooking - Chinese? Thai? Indian? Just anything but Italian!

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  11. Dinner. I have a fantastic recipe for Austrian pork and pears. It is VERY easy. You do it in advance and there's no faffing at the last minute. It always seems to impress. Let me know if you'd like it.

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  12. Shepherd's pie. It's the only way...

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  13. I think it's a toss up between coq au vin (where you can shove everything in at once) and Iota's pork. Can you send me the recipe sweetie. (expatchicago@gmail.com or the other one.)
    I am counting this meal as the once a week where I have to break out and try a new recipe BTW.
    Sorry Potty - I do S Pie a lot so need to think outside the box, or the pie in this case!

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  14. My God, I feel exhausted just reading your post. Good luck with it all!

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  15. I think I'd go with Brit in Bosnia there or else go tcompletely potty...and as for Valentines Day cards haven't we just had Christmas???!!! Forget Tea pass the wine!

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  16. It's as bad in Canada with Valentine's Day. We British were brought up to exchange a card with the one you love, not every soul in the land..........another very confusing and over rated occasion if you ask me.......gosh that make me sound so old and cynical.

    Gill in Canada, who has now had her second column published in the Eden Valley Messenger!!!!

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  17. I am sure your chef friend will appreciate anything. The fact that you are making an effort at all speaks volumes.
    I once read an article where Jamie Oliver said no ones invites him to dinner as they feel to over whelmed and he would be glad of anything. So maybe Shepherd's Pie is the way to go.

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  18. Please excuse spelling mistakes. I blame the cat that is parading across my keyboard.

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  19. Ha ha ha. If I wasn't alergic to them I would get a cat to cover up all my writing errors!!!
    And yes, his wife always tells me he'll eat anything, but there is a certain amount of pressure none the less. When we go to their house we sit in the kitchen where he is cooking. My kitchen is an entirely seperate room - for a reason!!!

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  20. omg i would not cook for a chef. nevernevernever. i would book a restaurant, say the bill's on me and damn the expense because that is the price to pay to avoid humiliation of a particularly total variety.

    of course you could be a good cook and just modest.

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  21. Good luck this week. Don't cook Italian. How about something English? Chicken tikka masalla?

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  22. christ, and I thought my life was busy...looking at that list i realise it is not, by a long shot. good luck with it all.

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