Weekend Shenanigans

It’s been a mixed bag of a weekend.

Saturday: Maintenance arrived while we were out.  They opened the drain.  They did not fix the ‘plug’.  So we have no bath in which to bathe two shower-averse children.  Well, it’s not like they are filthy or anything is it?

Oh.  Wait.  They are.

You see, on Saturday I actually had a little bitty bit of ‘me time’ and I GOT MY NAILS DONE!

See:

In the daylight:

In unnatural light, but against a white background:

Aren’t they beautiful?  I’m in love.  I found this gorgeous salon (well the hus-creature actually gave me the details) in Cambridge.  It’s a spa type, which I admit was initially more than a tad intimidating when I first walked in, as I was in my standard SAHM getup of jeans and t-shirt.  But they were wonderfully friendly and accommodating, and actually made me a decent cup of tea (I will forgive them the UHT milk as that’s a sensible option for any business).

 

My new tech is called Lily.  She’s no Nat, but she’s equally thrilled at the idea of a new client who basically hands her full free reign and says ‘get the glitters/additives/chromes and go nuts‘  Sadly there wasn’t time for more than basic (if snazzy) polish and one glittery nail as we need to book extra time for ‘nail art’.  Which I have done for a fortnight’s time.

So that’s great, I have a new lovely lady I can build a rapport with right?

But, see, we’ve recently moved to a new town, in a new state, in a new goddamn country.  And one of my ‘things’ (alright, call it what it is, an issue) is terror of getting lost, which has apparently been exacerbated by the move.

Hus-creature to the rescue.

We had lunch in Cambridge, then he corralled the kidlet while I was salon-ing.

They went to Cambridge Common.  There was a playground.


TT also saw her first guggle. Sorry, we mean squirrel.

Cute right? But there was also sand.  And water.

Do I need to draw a diagram of where this went?  Yup, cue one Tiny Tyrant covered in sand.  #1 Son was equally filthy but it was at least dry filth.  He took immense (and smug) delight in informing me that he had stayed out of the sand whilst TT had not.

Well, not a problem, kids will be kids right?  Well remember that we have no bath?  And two shower-averse kidlets?

#1 Son took one for the team and had a good shower and hair wash last night.  TT absolutely refused.  And I wasn’t in the mood to wrestle a sackful of cats and octopi so we left it yesterday, I just tossed her overnight sleeping bag in the wash today.

Last night was our first date night since we got here.  Oh it was so nice to get out and just be Fliss and Jo for a few hours, rather than SAHM and Working Dad.

Happy people. We went to Legal Seafoods. Had glorious food (Tuna Sashimi, Swordfish  and pudding) A bottle of lovely wine was also shared. I originally ordered a bottle of Moscato off the “sweet but not dessert wine” list.
It arrived and was clearly a dessert wine, and so with a tiny hint from the hus-creature I sent it back and exchanged it.
I wasn’t British about it! And as such we had a gorgeous bottle of wine that went stunningly with our spicy tuna.
After the meal we decided that we were too full for cocktails and do we went for a lovely and romantic walk along the Charles river:

Please do not fret dear audience.  The children were safely in the care of a lovely sitter who I had telephone interviewed earlier in the week.  She was lovely and emptied the dishwasher and put everything away for us – wonderful woman!  Yes, I left her a 5* rating and glowing review on care.com

 

She was sadly not graced by a visit from her catliness, but the kidlets were excellently behaved, so I believe all parties concerned would be amenable to repeating the transaction.  I do plan on having more than one person on speed dial so to speak for practical purposes, but this is a load off for now.

 

The cat clearly was miffed at us for abandoning her with a stranger and showed her displeasure by peeing on TT’s splash mat.  FFS.  I mean, if she’d deigned to emerge she’d have had all the fussing and cuddles she could have dreamed of.  Stupid animal.

 

As for today, we had planned to return to the scene of the breakfast crime on our first morning here – The Friendly Toast Diner – for lunch.  We did not book in advance.

 

Rookie Mistake

 

There was a wait of 45-60 minutes.  With two hungry kids this wasn’t good.  So we bit the bullet and decided to go to a BBQ place just across the square.  They didn’t appear to have a kids menu… we were concerned.

Fear not brave audience, for they did buttermilk chicken sticks.  Which both children nommed up.

I ordered brisket (which I remembered from our jaunt to Florida six years ago) and corn bread (always wanted to try real corn bread) and pit beans – which were more sharp and vinegary than I’d expected but tasty.

I thought it was glorious.  Problem? So did TT!!!  The little bugger nommed up half my corn bread (which was effectively cake) a good portion of my brisket, and the beans!!!  My lunch dammit.

 

I also tried three authentic BBQ sauces – Sweet (bleugh 🀒), Hot (woah that blew the roof of my mouth off 😑) and Gold (num num NUM 😻😻)

 

The hus-creature was gobsmacked I loved that one – it’s mustard based,  But honestly, that is one delicious sauce – and I don’t like BBQ.  He’s bought me one for home use!!!
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TT needed a shower so I bit the bullet and hopped in with her. Holding a pissed off flaily toddler whilst trying to wash her hair was… fun. 
She’s also almost certainly ready to start potty training too – so this is a warning to my audience. Disgusting updates for non parents may be upcoming
But it won’t be til we move – hardwood flooring is a must for this after what we went through with #1 Son. 

 

 

Author: Fliss

Wife, mum (of two), yarn-obsessed cat-slave

One thought on “Weekend Shenanigans”

  1. Hi Fliss,
    What an enjoyable way to start the week, with a lovely long update! (I know we spoke last night, but I couldn’t see the fab nail photos!)
    Please make sure you have some Gold sauce for us to try in November! It could join the Trader Joe’s wasabi mayo on the list of things I always bring back from the States (or cajole, beg or blackmail Olivier to bring me).
    If there is just a hole, with no cover at all, in your bath, there is a very simple solution: there is a travel accessory called something like “universal plug hole cover”. We’ve had the same one for decades. They work!
    XXX

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