Moved.

Find my new blog location at The Blethering Spot.

Strictly Business

I know I am a terrible, faithless blogger, but I need to pop in and tell you all that I'm going to change my blog address. When I started up the blog in 2006, I didn't think anyone would ever read it. I called it "the Blethering Place," regardless of the fact that there is a tea room in Victoria by the same name.

But now that the blog has been open for a couple years, and I occasionally have readers, I'd like to change the name to one that's not associated with a real, honest-to-goodness business.

You'll be able to find me at http://bletheringspot.blogspot.com. If you subscribe to the blog, well -- you're on your own there, honey. I imagine you'll have to re-subscribe to the new address. And if you have lost all faith that you will ever again be entertained by me, this is a convenient excuse to just bow out altogether, and perhaps I will just assume that you were lost in the shuffle. It's a win-win situation, really.

And if, God bless you, you have actually linked to me somewhere out there (on your own blog reading list, perhaps), you will have to change my address.

Just give me one more chance. I do plan to start blogging again. Very soon.

Three Months

We have been waiting three months for a referral....

Mmm, Mmm, Mmm

• Marshmallows toasted: ~25
• Hot dogs consumed: 12
• Mosquitoes slapped: 350
• Other campsites occupied: 1
• Percentage of fun: 100
• Likelihood of repeating experience: excellent

Angel Food Cake with Marshmallow Flowers

(aka the Easiest Cake Decorating Style In The World)

1 prepared Angel Food Cake, completely cooled
1 recipe Snow White Frosting
mini coloured marshmallows

My basic rule of cake decorating is this: before frosting the cake, put little strips of waxed paper around the bottom, to cover the cake plate. This enables you to slop the frosting all over the place without worrying about keeping the cake plate clean. When you're done frosting, just slide the pieces of waxed paper out, give them to your children to lick, and presto! the cake plate is clean and tidy.

Step One: Brush all crumbs from the cake, and frost generously.



Step Two: Using clean scissors, cut a handful of mini marshmallows in half. Place the cut halves onto the cake to form 5-petal flowers, pinching the ends slightly as you place them.


Step Three: Slip the waxed paper out from underneath the cake. See how clean the cake plate looks? Awe your friends and family with this trick.

Step Four: Admire your cake for a few moments. Take some photos to show on your blog.


Step Five: Carefully pack up the finished cake in the cool early-80's Tupperware Cake Taker you got from your mom when your sister was living in an apartment and unable to store large Tupperware items. (Score!) Take the cake to Home Group and present it, with a flourish, to your friends.

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As a side note, may I draw your attention to the first of the tickers at the bottom of this page? We have been in the adoption process for over a year now. Imagine that!

• Check out the "Look How Far We've Come" list on the sidebar
• See "Twenty Simple Steps to Intercountry Adoption" for our timeline.

If you just cannot bring yourself to spend more time poking around The Blethering Place, I can tell you that we are two and a half months in (see second ticker) to an approximately 24-month wait for our referral. The time is passing pretty quickly, though I admit that it's a bit difficult.

Des*perate House*wives

It started out innocently enough. On a bright Monday morning, I awoke to the sounds of robins singing, and eagerly climbed out of bed. I sat sipping my tea, admiring the blue sky through my kitchen window. "What a perfect day for laundry," I thought. Cheerfully, I pulled the sheets off the bed and trotted downstairs to put them into the washer. Half an hour later, I stepped onto the deck with the clean sheets in my arms, when I noticed my neighbour's sheets dancing cheerfully on her clothesline. "Egads," I thought to myself. "She must have started early today."

On Tuesday morning, I woke up a little earlier. "Ah HA," I murmured as I hurried down to the washing machine. "If I start the washer before I put on the kettle, I'll definitely get mine on the line before she does. Not that it's a competition." And sure enough, her clothesline was naked and ashamed as I hung out our clothes. Forty minutes later, I spied my neighbour as she sheepishly hung out a load of socks. I smirked to myself.

On Wednesday morning, I gathered up every towel in the house and stuffed them in the machine by 7:45. I drummed my fingers on the top of the washer as I hovered around waiting for the spin cycle to stop. But when I threw open the deck door and charged out to the line, I ground my teeth in frustration.... my neighbour's own towels were swaying in the morning breeze, mocking me. I scowled as I set down my basket.

On Thursday morning, I set the alarm for 6:30. I feverishly gathered up my children's clothing from their hampers, tripping over a pair of jeans as I flew down the stairs and to the washing machine. "Go, go, go," I muttered breathlessly. "Come on!" At the end of the cycle, I nearly caught my hand in the still-spinning machine. But triumph was mine that day. I stood at the kitchen window, furtively staring at her deck door until I saw her sneak out and hang up a load of whites. I smiled cruelly.

On Friday morning, the alarm went off at 6:15. My husband bleated a weak protest when I pulled the sheets off the bed, right out from under him. "Didn't you just wash these?" he moaned. "Who cares about the stupid clothesline?"
"Give me your pillowcase," I snapped. "I don't have time for games right now."
But when I took the sheets out to the deck, I saw that my neighbour had hung out her bathmats. "That's not even fair," I shrieked silently. "I bet you put those out last night!"

By unspoken agreement, we took the weekend off. And it's been rainy these past two days, so there has been a cease-fire. But I've been saving up all our laundry ("Mom, I don't have any clean socks! Can I please just do one load?") and the forecast is for sun tomorrow.

Victory shall be mine!

You Who Tend the Holy House of the Lord Apollo

Opa!

I spent Thursday listening to Nana Mouskouri and making Greek, Greek and more Greek, including:

* Chicken Souvlaki (YUM, YUM, YUM.)
* Unusually Good Rice (ie/ used chicken stock and loads of butter)
* Spanakopita
* Tzatziki
* Mila Psita (ie/ Baked Apples)

The fantastic thing about homeschooling is that a girl can throw down the books at any time, trot into the kitchen with children in tow, and just start cooking. We completely abandoned grammar and French, and focused instead on fractions (ie/ cooking measurements), history (Greek myths) and Social Studies (played "Geography" with Greek cities). I feel no guilt or worry about doing these things. If nothing else, my girls will be able to bake up a mean Baklava, deftly shape Dolmathakia Me Rizi and entertain guests with racy stories from Greek mythology. Who needs grammar, with those kinds of social skills?

Outside the kitchen, we have been busy indeed. Shockingly, we have all but finished school for this year. The only work we have to complete is Science 5, the Human Body. As you can see from the photo, I finally got sick and tired of hearing the giggles and snorts while talking about Mr Boddy, our Science 5 mascot. "Enough!" I bellowed, with red face and bulging neck veins. "That's it! I've had it with you rude young Philistines!" Mr Boddy is now sporting some snazzy Bermuda shorts, and my children are no longer very interested in studying the Circulatory System. Needless to say, the Digestive System chart will not be making an appearance this year.

It's spring, hallelujah! I've been bitten by the de-cluttering bug again. I don't know where all this garbage comes from. Here are some of the items piled by my computer:
1. a looming pile of recycling
2. a Roman Soldier costume (from the Christmas Pageant)
3. three paint cans, two brushes and a nasty looking roller
4. potting soil
5. a box of [insulin] syringes
6. a human brain made of modelling clay

Why? Why? Isn't there a place for everything? Why isn't everything in its place?

All right, enough wasting time on the computer. I owe the butcher for the meat, and God for my soul.... I'm off to get some work done. Tra la la! Goodbye!