Writing Lists...

The Babyproof Bucket List

A few months ago my father in law was diagnosed with cancer. As you can imagine, my lovely hubby was having a pretty hard time of it so I suggested a treat; a yummy meal and a movie on the telly. Now to those of you who still have a life, I know that doesn’t sound like a big deal, but for those of us who usually have just about enough energy for half (yes indeed half) an episode of ‘The Wire’ before we nod off, a whole movie is HUGE.
So I decided on something called The Bucket List which looked like an amusing diversion - Nicholson and Freeman - what could go wrong? Nicholson and Freeman with terminal cancer - what could be a worse choice (you stupid stupid cow, read the synopsis next time you idiot)?

Anyway, after recovering from that faux pas, I got to thinking about Lists (of the Bucket variety, hence the capital L) and whether you could still have one if your main priority was your newly burgeon-ed family unit... And I figured yes, you can but it need to be babyproofed. And so here goes, my Things To Do Before Ya Cark It List:

1. The American Road Trip: Starting in Alaska and ending up in Patagonia, in a bloody great gas-guzzling palace on wheels (I’ll plant some trees as I go). Not til CK is old enough to handle being strapped in for more than 12 minutes without screaming - so probably 2020...
2. Learn a new language: So I always make an effort to be able to ask for my egg and chips in the vernacular, but I have never been able to hold a conversation, or go beyond the basics. I suppose Spanish is the best choice to aid with List Item 1 (am already fully fluent in Yankee Twang).
3. Become a pianist: I play the saxophone (or used to at least) and while that is lovely, no-one has ever wanted to gather around it and have a singalong. In fact most people want to get about 3 rooms away to spare their hearing - I played it for little CK the other day and she cried. So am thinking maybe piano is more versatile, more sociable? All I need now is a piano, and a teacher, and some time (and will) to practice.
4. Bite the Bullet and eat Michelin: Anyone who knows me, knows I like my food. And I love to eat out. And I LOVE Masterchef and their obsession with stars. But I have never been able to bring myself to go to a starred restaurant - all that money for something you are, eventually, going to flush - surely that’s not moral? But I want to! I want to!
5. Own a dog: Man's best friend, every family needs one, easier (marginally) than having another child.

That’s the start - what have I forgotten? What would you put on your Bucket List? I’ll let you know as soon as I tick anything off the list - but don’t hold your breath for too long!

The Mummatron

A Bit of A To-Do

In the days of BC (before Children) I seem to remember that I was an efficient and organised kinda gal. I found time for all sorts of jollys, I planned and threw parties; dinner parties, fancy dress parties, loud music parties, parties with games, grown-up parties with complicated guest lists and parties which featured a lot of alcohol and some less legal substances – don’t look so shocked it was the early 70’s. I baked my own bread, sifted my own lentils, made my own marmalade, and, but not at the same time - cut my own hair (yes, well that may have been a mistake but hey, money was scarce). All this, while working and being newly married. Then along came children.

From then on it seems that I needed to write lists for everything; shopping, jobs to be done, where I needed to be and when. I can remember going to the supermarket, glancing down to see why the floor seemed so slippery, and realising I was still wearing my slippers. Did I have my purse or shopping list? What do you think? Of course not. Parties? Give me a break I couldn’t have organised a pig-out in a doughnut factory!

Then, of course, when my little darlings started school they clamoured for birthday parties so I had to gird my proverbials and start making lists… And I must say that those parties were always very successful and here’s my secret: I would get a pal to help and ask her to arrive an hour before the start time, at which point we would open a bottle of white wine and drink the lot! Yeah! Boy those parties went with a swing! (Though I have to admit that there were always other mothers there to drive to the hospital if any of the little party-goers came to grief).

However, I digress… once my daughter was at school my brain seemed to become my own again, I felt lucid and efficient once more. I read the newspapers, organised trips with friends, trained the puppy, managed reasonably well-informed conversations and was able to get through a whole day without a single list to tell me who I was and what I should be wearing. Unfortunately what I didn’t know at the time was that it was merely the ‘eye of the storm’ and now at nearly 60 Lists are once again the order of the day. So if you are at home with your little ones wondering if your brain will ever work properly again, the answer is probably not, but try to think of it as the perfect training for how to make great lists to sustain you in your old age. Who am I again? Oh yes,

Granny Bloggings

Take 5 Places... Listography

Mummy2's Top 5

So over at Kate Takes 5 (one of my favourite fellow bloggers) there is a weekly challenge to do a 'top 5' and this week it really called out to me as the challenge is to compile a list of your top 5 places. Oh yes, me likes. So here, with no further ado, and in no particular order are my Top 5 Hot (and cold) spots:

1. Sossusvlei - you know on Windows you can get a sand dune as your back

drop? That is Sossusvlei; well actually it is the dune just behind the vlei (that's a salt pan to you and me). When we visited there on our African Adventure, hubby insisted I get up before 5am, yes that's right before 5am, to see it in it's glory. Surely it wasn't going anywhere, I protested,

surely it won't be any different at 7am. But (and I HATE to admit this) he was right. We were there alone, as the sun rose, surveying the whole of the Namib desert which lay in front of us. Wow.

2. My house - smug much? Yep, I love my house. It is cosy and comfy and warm and has the biggest couch you have ever seen. A couch which will save us wh

en God sends the flood; a couch on which you truly could fit two of every animal. And this couch of prodigious proportions, it faces the TV. What more does a girl need?

3. Palenque, Mexico. In 2007 the much beloved and I decided to holiday in Mexico and we fell in love with it (once we

left Cancun and all the Starbucks bloody franchises behind - don't get me wrong I love a frappucino every now and again, but I don't go for an 'exotic' holiday in order to get a mini sanitized American experience). We loved the beaches, the food, the culture, the history and t

he ruins. We did not love hurricane Dean which hit when we had no accommodation and only our little tiny hire car to shelter us. So when

we heard he was coming, we packed up and headed in land and found

ourselves in Palenque. And what a find... a deserted

Aztec city hidden in the jungle. My very own Indiana Jones fantasy come to life... Except that my lovely hubby is not quite (almost, but not quite) Harry Ford. Dream on.

4. Loch Katrine - Growing up in Scotland this was one of our favourite family spots for long walks and even though I probably moaned the whole time (Oh come on, it was my job, I was a child) I have very fond memories of picnics and ice creams and roller skating around there.

I

even (believe it or not Granny B) have fond memories of

climbing the mountains nearby. And yes, I moaned all the way up and all the way down. I have perfected my technique nowadays though - always have a bar of chocky to eat at the top - it makes the whole ascent so much more worthwhile.

5. So I reckon I seem like a bit of a coutryphile (countryfile?) from these entries, but the truth is th

at big wide open spaces scare me and I would much prefer the crush of a city street. I love nothing more than romping around the alleys and winds of a foreign hotspot, grazing, gawping and generally gallivanting about. So my finally entry is Istanbul. What an awesome city - no really , it inspires awe in me. It offers everything one would ever want; history, culture, big stuff to look at, tall stuff to climb up, yummy (really yummy) stuff to eat, and we

t stuff to sail about on. Oh and some bloody good moustaches. Thus.

PS Sorry I am so crap at adding photos - other people seem much more proficient at this one.

Granny B's Top 5

I find it interesting that my top 5 places do not completely coincide with my daughters’. By the age of eight my daughter had travelled, with us, right round the world so I thought our 5 places might have been more shared, perhaps we should have left her at home and saved the airfare!

My top 5 places, like everyone elses’ are places where I have been happy, the weather has been, like baby bears porridge, juuust right, the company has been juuust right, the scenery/people have been juuust right…..

1. Milford Sound in New Zealand. We stayed the night in a little camper van, all alone facing down this most beautiful Sound. During the evening an opossum dropped from an overhanging tree onto our roof and then sat looking apologetic at our feet when we tumbled out to see what had happened. A couple of Kia (parrots) decided the liked the rubber on the windscreen wipers and tried to steal it, and when Gramps went for a pee in the middle of the night he found he couldn’t perform as he was accompanied by two curious Kakapo (different parrots) who seemed very interested in his wedding tackle (sorry). It is a truly awesome place and not to be missed.

2. OK here I agree Loch Katrine in Scotland was a favourite haunt of ours; where small visitors fell in the lake, daughter and friends broke the sublime silence screaming past on roller blades, bikes and skate boards, the Wrinkles strolled, friends sat and painted, and American visitors ‘wowed’ a lot.

3. A place on the Dorset coast which will remain namless because, although, dear reader, I love you very much I do not want to share my special place with you! Suffice to say, it is wild and woolly and requires quite long walk to get there but to perfect the experience there is a pub nearby where you can sit by a log fire and eat a pie with brown sauce off a paper plate – ye ha.

4. My daughters house, not because of that ridiculous sofa but, because my favourite people in the world live there.

5. My bed.

Having travelled a lot in my time and been very impressed with things like the Grand Canyon and loads of beautiful beaches I find it interesting that those are my top 5 places, it just goes to show that it is not all about the scenery.

Granny Bloggins