My exceptional 31st celebration

I have a great birthday celebration that cannot be rivalled.

On the eve of my 31st anniversary I ate something sticky and nasty as did Petit Suisse which resulted in stomach cramps for me and projectile vomiting for Petit Suisse. Petit Suisse is especially susceptible to food poisoning, stomach bugs and viral infections much like Shrek. If there is even a hint or trace of it Petit Suisse and or Shrek will surely catch it. The worst part is that Petit Suisse can be projectile vomiting for several days and be lessivé by the bug of the worst kind. It is quite spectacular and I dread his episodes of poisoning/stomach bugs.

Needless to say that my 31st birthday was spent quietly cleaning up vomit and taking care of two cases of food poisoning, one more violent than the other. Add to the mix a bored toddler namely Baby Taz with a tendency and penchance for wreaking havoc and chalking up mischief and naughty behaviour. He has successfully drawn on walls, chairs, bedding sheets, blankets, pillows and himself with a texta. He likes to play with his food and refuses to be spoonfed leaving a mess under his high chair. He also managed to spill and pour pepper all over the dinner table and floor.

I do not have much to do except to clean up after messes and Baby Taz is exceptionally good at creating jobs for me. I will never be jobless and I cannot call in sick ever or take a day of leave.

Breakable

Melanine ware dropped from a height of more than one metres will shatter and break into a thousand pieces. I made this astounding discovery thanks to Baby Taz who has broken one melanine presentation plate and an IKEA coffee mug (which has been the recipient of thousand upon thousand of coffee refills.)

Biological lesson

There are three factors that affect the degradability of food hence rendering it unfit for consumption.

These are temperature, time and humidity. It is said that at room temperature (it is aggravated in summer) natural humidity induced by the presence of moisture in food is an incubator for bacteria to develop.

At room temperature and with a normal ambient level of humidity (presence of water or other cooking liquid) the critical time is 12 hours. After said period has elapsed it is mandatory that one throw said food out.

I should have this lesson down pat by now but it seems that for some inexplicable reason (frugality perhaps) I still have not learnt my lesson.

It is a delicate subject matter.

Oh well as it is often said 'You are what you eat' I will proceed to improving this aspect.

I expect Shrek to improve certain aspects of his 'idiosyncracies' as well.

I want to pass on this important lesson to my children and hope that they will not have to endure the same predicament as me.

Swiss admin (in)efficiency

I have yet to encounter such a pathetic system of administration.

I called up the library today to renew some books and to reserve places for next Wednesday's children's spectacle.

The conversation went something along the lines of ...


Me : Hi, I would like to reserve places for next Wednesday's spectacle please.

Librarian : Sorry but I cannot help you, the library's lending services will be open from 3pm onwards.

(me wondering what the heck this so called librarian was doing when she could have easily fished out the reservations page and simply note and why the hell she answered the phone in the first place if she was not supposed to 'help' or 'offer any service' )

I soldiered on

Me : In that case can I at least renew books under my borrower's card please ?

Librarian : No you cannot do that either. You will have to call back at 3 pm or from 3-6pm, that is when we 'officially' open.

Me : So you cannot help me out with 'jack'* can you ?

Librarian : 'apologetically' I am afraid not.

I was again wondering what good a librarian was when she could not simply look up the reservations page and note my name or type my name and click a code for renewal of the books. She was there to answer the phone and to inform people that the library's lending services (and all related services) are only available during limited opening hours and even if you call and hear a voice on the other side outside of these opening hours you will get shit all.

Please refer to my previous post regarding pathetic opening hours.
I guess I can draw a conclusion Swiss are not library-goers or users hence there is no need for 'decent office/admin opening hours'.

One more reason as to why the Swiss admin system cannot advance or make improvements and they are representative of most systems here... I rest my case.

*Jack is slang for nothing at all.

Sugar hit

Sugar Can Enhance Alertness

Sugar is your brain's preferred fuel source -- not table sugar, but glucose, which your body metabolizes from the sugars and carbohydrates you eat. That's why a glass of something sweet to drink can offer a short-term boost to memory, thinking processes, and mental ability.

Consume too much, however, and memory can be impaired -- along with the rest of you. Go easy on the sugar so it can enhance memory, without packing on the pounds.

Above is an excerpt from the webmd.com website

I have one more reason to indulge in my extravagances and peché mignon or NOT ?

Short term energy boost is not a good enough reason to forgo long term health. If only !!!

Regret

I sorely regret having gotten married too young and letting somebody else dictate the making of the decision to having kid after kid after kid after kid soon after.

I believe that frank and honest communication is important in all relationships be it in marriage or de facto partnership or parent-child type relations. I will not hesitate to say that a lot of children born are a result of an accident and/or lack of contraception thus unplanned pregnancies.

Perhaps I will ultimately serve as a reminder or example/role model of what not to follow for my own kids. I will say that I did not plan on having four kids before I turned thirty. Kids need to feel wanted and loved but not lied to about how they were conceived.

I have witnessed many big families: safe to say that three or more children nowadays qualifies as large families displaying more discord than harmony. There is no reason why a closely-knit family of two children will have less joy than that of a family with four bickering kids on semi-to no-speaking terms or displaying alarmingly and unbecomingly incompatible and irreconcileable differences. I have seen some strong bonds between two siblings and lots of discord and dispute between siblings from a larger family. Although subconsciously I think people do try to replicate their own family from childhood memories which are often seen through rose coloured glasses and not a real reflection of the reality now. The model they have seen sets a precedence and they will attempt to reproduce this chemin just like Shrek has done. I could care less and frankly it would have sufficed for me to have two children:well raised and taken care of than to have a small army of kids who have to have attention divided etc. Granted children from big families learn some important lessons in life like the need to share and the older children will in time be asked to help out with household chores and other tasks because their mother is just overworked: thus life and basic survival skills. This does not necessarily as I have seen translate to the last child because sometime the smallest becomes a self-centric and egoistic spoiled brat- funnily enough is usually the case of a unique child syndrome. In short it is somewhat dependent on how the children are raised and their character and not being given preference/favouritism because they are the smallest or mummy/daddy's favourite.


Quite often I feel like the thankless tasks that I fulfill everyday are just taken for granted. I realise that my children are too young to understand whatever feeling I emote let alone comprehend how to alleviate my anxiety or pain. I do feel however often misunderstood. I try to commiserate with the workload and stress that a working person (namely the father in this household) feels and that lack of sleep etc... leads to less than agreeable manners. I myself have my no less stressful and frustrating days at home. I do feel however that by being plunged unwillingly into an unplanned and much too soon pregnancy that I was in no way ready for somebody forgot that it wrought much apprehensiveness,anguish and tenseness into our already troubled communication.

I will opt for the solution perhaps the less communication there is the calmer the ménage. Maybe if we do not come to an agreeable and open sort of connection or exchange then it is better to converse less lest there be more tranquility in the house.

There is some angst-ridden fury all the more enraged by a hormonally charged pregnant woman up in arms about how unfair it is.

I do try my best to be understanding and sometime maybe even most of the time fail but whenever the screaming match begins and the row/quarrel intensifies with livid exchanges I realise that nothing has changed and that I have a case of hopelessly misplaced confidence in someone I thought was my partner.

Drawing me to a conclusion that I should distance myself and measure my words and actions much more carefully before it is too late.

My lack of green thumb

I see the sorry state of the indoor plants that I have and wonder why I prolong their suffering. I do really want to revive and keep them until spring which is a long 3 months away from now. I am pathetic ! Two measly plants... and they are dying on me.

Shrek has been busying himself relentlessly slogging away at his day and night job so my endeavour to entrust him with the caring for the plants is to no avail.

It is getting rather desperate...all the more so when I feel like I hardly have time to do anything other than occupying and entertaining and feeding and general upkeeping the 3 and a 1/2 kids I have.

I will refrain from posting actual pictures of the pooor poor things. The real reason is I would have to take photos, upload and that takes precious time away from my other main activities.

Robotics

When I first met Shrek many yonks ago, I was under the impression that he belonged to the Sensitive New Age Guy (SNAG) breed. The bait was so convincing that I was sucked in like a sinkered fish.

Fast-forward to les scènes de menages nowadays and Shrek has transformed into a veritable ogre.

I have only myself to blame. The happy ending of fairytales have nothing to do with harsh realities.

Shrek appears to respond to 'Yes', 'No' and black or white. He responds to complex problems in this same robotic manner. He is a 'Mr I can fix anything and solutions, solutions'. Unfortunately I never bargained for such monotonic behaviour and would rather shoot myself in the foot than to endure this...