Snow. The Dude And A Blow Torch

The Dude loves nothing more on a morning than sitting on the couch, drinking his chocolate milk and staring out the window.

The Current View From The Window

I have to admit, I often wonder what goes through that quirky mind of his when he's having this rare quiet time. This morning I got a little insight...

The Dude: "We need a big blow torch... like, BIG big!

I think this is what he had in mind!

Myself, Big Daddy and La-la all looked at him.

"What do YOU want a blow torch for?" I asked - almost afraid to hear the answer.

"Well, it's like this," he announced, "I see all these people shoveling snow and they've got it all wrong. What they need are giant blow torches and they can just melt that shit away and stay warm while they're doing it!"

He concluded this announcement with one of his big smiley faces - as if to say that's another problem solved for the world! 😁



The Dude & His Smiley Face!

Dude solutions - always unique and effective if not exactly safe or environmentally friendly! 😂

A Spark In The Night!

It's been a most interesting 24 hours at Mad Mammy Towers. My amazing electricity blasting powers worked again and I managed to plunge half the house into darkness!

I Be Like Storm!

This also meant the heating wasn't working - which wouldn't have been so bad if the temperature hadn't been minus 4!

So, having got the kiddies to bed (buried under extra duvets and fleecy blankets) I turned the fire on and wrapped myself in a fleecy throw and plonked myself on the couch and promptly fell into a semi-coma.

I was jolted from my slumber by someone banging on the front door at 1 am! I thought it was the local fire crew, here to tell me the house was on fire but it was the technician from the local power company - here to check the power supply - at 1 am! These Canadians don't hang about!

The Power Truck - Outside The House At 1 am!

He left around 2 am - assuring me the supply to the house was fine - that the problem lay inside the house somewhere...

The morning consisted of two children making their way around the house like a King & Queen of old with the fleecy blankets trailing after them like grand velvet cloaks. I finally got them fed and dressed and out the door to find my car encased in ice!

I got over that hurdle and got them to school, came back and found a lovely man waiting for me. He told me he was here "to fix my problems." Ha ha ha! If he only knew! For a moment I wondered if he was the electrician or perhaps an early Christmas present sent from God and all my problems were indeed going to be solved. Turns out he was the electrician.

And he proved to be a very efficient one at that! Half an hour later power had been restored and the lovely gentleman was wishing me a happy Christmas as he made his slippery way back to his car. I waved him off and couldn't help musing to myself how nice it would have been if all my problems were so easily solved! 😃

Nuts!

I don't know about you but I always find something funnier when it arises in a situation where I wasn't expecting to find anything remotely humorous.  Hence, I'm giggling away to myself for the last half an hour...

Let me explain.

The winter is coming here in Canada and by all accounts a Canadian winter is not something to be taken lightly - I'm half expecting hordes of Whitewalkers to come with it!

The Super Creepy Whitewalkers From Game Of Thrones

So, I'm starting my preparations early and am planning on including plenty of hearty and warming soups on the menu here at Mad Mammy towers in the coming months.  I made a start yesterday and made a big pot of chicken and vegetable soup.  It was generally met with approval but then the questions and comments started...

The Dude: "Did you put cucumber in this soup?"

Me: "No. Why are you asking about cucumber?"

The Dude: "Well there's little green things in here that I can't quite identify and I know they're not peas so they must be little bits of cucumber."

La-la: "That's celery."

The Dude: "But I don't like celery and I like this stuff so it can't be celery."

La-la: "It's celery I tells ya! I love carrots but I don't like these carrots!"

Me: "It's celery. What's wrong with the carrots?"

The Dude: "Hmmm... Maybe I do like celery."

La-la: "I dunno these carrots are not quite carroty carrots...if you know what I mean."

It went on like that for quite a while and no, I hadn't a clue what she meant about the carrots not quite being "carroty carrots" but I  made a mental note there and then that from here on in soup shall not have identifiable bits in it. On the outside chance my soup ends up in a line-up nobody will be able to point the finger and say, "the one with the carrots in it did it!" From this day forth my soupy creations will just be soup!

Yummy Looking Soup With No Idenitfiable Bits!

So this morning I went straight on to amazon (I have to say I'm loving the whole 24 hour delivery thing with my Prime membership 😃) and started researching blenders.

The hand held two speed blender from Kitchenaid had particularly good reviews and seemed to be just what I was looking for so I decided to have a closer look at the reviews and I found the following exchange in the questions and answers section:

Question: "Can this be used to crush nuts?"

Answer: "I'm pretty sure it can - but so could a can of Campbell's Cream of Mushroom soup. Go well my friends and remember to handle your nuts with care."

Ha ha ha! I have to say this came as a breath of fresh air after so many of the other more serious reviews. And to be honest, it also made me think of the many uses of a can of Campbell's Mushroom soup that I haven't considered yet... I mean, when you actually start thinking about it, the possibilities are endless! Nut crusher, doorstop, hammer, arm toners, murder weapon... I think I should throw a few cans of Campbell's soup in with the order for the blender!

Oh that reminds me - I've gotta go and finish the order! Go well my friends and in the words of our amazon friend - "remember to handle your nuts with care!" 😀

Do You Ever Wonder?

Do you ever wonder just by saying something are you actually sending a big fat challenge out to the Universe or God or who / whatever runs this whole show??? You know the old adage - humans make plans and God laughs. Well, I'm thinking there's something else at work when certain humans (like me!) make a big statement or dare to express happiness - it seems to convert into a sort of inter-galactic alert and some celestial committee decides these particular humans seem to be far too content with their lot - and it's time to screw with them!

The Universe, God, Whatever! There Seems To Be Something
Out There!

Honestly, it has been a delight to see the Dude so happy in his new school here in Canada. School and the Dude are not a natural fit and it has been a battle to get him to go ever since he started way back in Kindergarten.

Kindergarten Dude - Looking Decidedly Unsure!

I was fully expecting a complete nightmare sending him to a new school in a new country and at the worst possible time of year - final term. However, he has taken to the Canadian education system like a duck to water! And the day before yesterday I happily shared my delight at this fact with anyone who would listen! It would seem this was a mistake - I should have said nothing!

Yesterday came and it was a disaster! In his efforts to make friends at his new school he has played with both boys and girls and in the past few days has had great fun playing with two girls. So yesterday he was teased by some other girls and boys for playing with just these two girls.

It was probably harmless teasing along the lines of, "you've got a crush...blah, blah, blah" but the Dude takes all these things very much to heart and now he doesn't want to go to school! And when my stubborn, single-minded boy doesn't want to do something then he REALLY doesn't want to do it!

In the past twenty-four hours we have run the gamut of emotions from anger, to sadness, to tears, and only a mixture of threats and bribes got him out the door this morning.

I hope he has a better day today, maybe even a good one but I'll tell you something right now - you won't hear it from me if he does!

From Now On  - This Be Me!