Tuesday Tidbits 5

1
Friend: Do you have an air conditioner at your kindergarten?
DD: Nooooooo, we don't have baths at kindergarten.

2
DD (listening to her nursery rhymes cd): Mummy! Mummy! They're saying my name!
Nursery Rhymes CD: The farmer's in his den, ee-aye-adeeo the farmer's in his den.
DD: See!? Did you hear it? (singing) Ee-aye-Adiele the farmer's in his den.

3
DD: Look, the shower is like a paddling pool. Can I paddle in it?
Me (cleaning the bathroom and a bit frazzled): No, just let me clean in here. Please.
DD: It's not only your home you know. It's both our homes.

Bathrooms Finished But Not Finished

So here'e the thing. Although the bathrooms are finished (here's the back story) and look very nice, you mustn't look too closely or if you do, you have to ignore the little flaws in the finishing off that the builder wasn't bothered about. It's an Israeli thing - they cannot attend to the details.

The Israeli Aircraft Industry which designs the finest up to the minute aircraft has to import design engineers from England to draw up the final plans because they have to be so exact that Israelis just cannot deal with it. - A friend met one of these British plan-drafters on a flight to Israel. Another friend lives in a luxury block of apartments where the corridor to the bedrooms isn't the same width at either end. My walls aren't just not straight - they're positively wavy. It's an impulsiveness to just get on and do it without too much planning or attention to detail because, hey, it'll be fine!

I'm trying to forget about the nick in the tile above the toilet that the builder covered with grout, hoping I wouldn't notice. Of course one wipe with a cloth and it came off. The rough finish on the shower surround which he did himself instead of getting his much more competent worker to do - obviously costs less that way. The three dots of grout on the wall below the shower curtain rail where he placed the rail too low and had to move it up. The blob of gummy sealant on the side of my new toilet that I can't get off. The plastic hinge covers from my IKEA cabinets that he threw away. The jagged edges on the bits at the back he had to cut away to fit round the water pipes - he is no carpenter....

But he never said he was a carpenter. The bottom line is that when I have the budget to buy the best and employ the expensive guys, I'll get the best. Meanwhile I have very nice... just don't look too closely.

BEFORE:

DURING:

AFTER:

My Other Two Daughters

I haven't done a 100 Word Challenge for ages but today's prompt instantly spoke to me. Go to Julia's Place for more interpretations of the photo below.

"When I'm big I can have a baby in my tummy." said DD. 

"Yes, then you'll be a mummy."

"Or a sister. Maybe I'll have a sister because I haven't got a sister? Oh, I want a sister."

There were two sisters. I think about them. They would've been 5 1/2 now. What would they be like? Would one of them be like DD? I would want one to be like DD because, had they lived beyond 21 1/2 weeks in utero, I would never have gone on to have DD.

In no case scenario could I have all my three girls.

Where Do Over Fifties Holiday?

Since they retired my parents have enjoyed travelling and seeing the world a bit. Not endless travel but now that they only have to take the two of them they found they could afford a couple of holidays a year.

For many years they owned a timeshare apartment in Tenerife (first fortnight in March) but hardly ever used it as they preferred to swap it for other locations around the world. It was a cheap way to ensure a holiday every year (or two holidays if they took two separate weeks in different locations).

Image by Don DeBold

One year they went on a cruise and Mum was hooked. Dad enjoyed it, I assume, and indulged Mum's cruise lust every couple of years.

However, on entering his eighties, Dad has been increasingly reluctant to travel abroad and especially reluctant to fly. Then this year both of them were quite ill over Easter while DD and I were visiting. And they had a Russian River Cruise booked for June. Moscow to St Petersberg? I can't remember but it involved flying to get there - Mum had had her way.

One morning towards the end of our stay I overheard a tentative and obviously rehearsed speech at the breakfast table. (Yes I was eavesdropping from the other room. Well it's a small flat.)

Dad: I have a suggestion. Why don't we cancel our booking on the cruise. If we do it now we may get some of our deposit back but if we don't it doesn't matter. Then we can find a nice hotel somewhere in England where we can sit and watch the world go by.

Dry Land Cruisers (not my parents)

That was the voice of 80-something. Mum, however, is a mere 70-something and doesn't really want to spend her holiday watching the world go by. At home they are both active - they play bowls, Mum plays bridge, they entertain, they go to the theatre...

It got me thinking. There has to be a compromise between jumping on and off a cruise ship and sitting watching the world go by. Places that are like cruises on dry land perhaps? With all the facilities but none of the perpetual motion. Places that cater to a mature clientele without noisy kids, unruly teenagers or raving young adults to interfere with a more leisurely pace. Places where the entertainment is geared to senses of humour and tastes ripened over 50 years. There are places like this.

Where do your parents go on holiday?

This post was written in association with Richardson's Holiday Villages - catered holidays for adults only, on the Norfolk and Sussex coasts, with full entertainment programmes.

Hokey Kokey Jerusalem Style?

Today is Jerusalem Day. We are celebrating taking back the Old City of Jerusalem in 1967 during the 6-day war, from Jordan, who took it from Israel in 1948 - having just been given it back by Britain who took it from the Turks in 1917. The Turks took it from the Ottomans who took it from the Romans (Have I missed anyone out? Mamluks maybe?) who took it from the Jews in 70 AD where King David had made Jerusalem the Jewish Capital in 1003 BCE. Full circle, but that's enough history.

Suffice to say that all the schools are doing something. DD's kindergarten which, as you know, is opposite our place had a very cute ceremony. I tried to send this very short video to all the parents but it was too heavy for my email to handle so I'm posting it here and sending the link instead. You can't even see DD as she's too close to the wall.

The Shoes At The Door

We pull the guest bed out in case she falls out of bed

You may have noticed my Silent Sunday to Silent Sunday week with no posts in between? We needed to redo our bathroom. All the pipes were corroded and full of rust and everything was falling apart. I had known this, deep down, for a long time but had been ignoring it due to lack of funds. However, with no choice (and parental help), I went ahead and got it done.

Details (and pictures) to follow but you need to know that I packed up the whole house and we moved out for two weeks. Thanks to very kind friends we had a place to stay. On Friday we came home. It was like moving house - unpacking all the cupboards, changing furniture around as we did a bedroom swap, cleaning the dust that was still circulating and settling after I'd cleaned and cleaned and cleaned again...

I prioritised getting DD's bedroom clean and ready to make her feel more settled and so that she had somewhere to play while I tackled the rest of the flat. I told her that her bedroom floor was clean but the rest of the floors were filthy. As she was climbing and walking all over her bed, she must put on shoes when she comes out of her bedroom.

Of course she kept forgetting and I had to follow her back with the wet wipes to clean her feet before she climbed on her bed again. Eventually she started to remember and I'd hear her approaching with the announcement, "I'm coming to tell you something Mummy but It's ok, I'm wearing my flip-flops!"

After supper (we ordered a pizza) and stories there was a lot of this coming to tell me something, but she eventually fell asleep. When I went to check on her I found she'd placed her shoes at the door so as not to forget to put them on when leaving the room. #meltingheartmoment