7 Quick Takes

____________________

1. I had an "aha!" moment this week while thinking about healthy eating. There are five people in this family. We are supposed to eat at least five portions of fruit and vegetables daily. If we are to achieve that I have to buy at least 175 portions each week, or 140 if I assume everyone drinks a glass of fruit juice or smoothie every day. I sat down and wrote a sample list of what I need to put in my weekly shopping trolley to meet that target. It is quite a lot more than I normally buy, even though my usual quantity looks a lot at the time. No wonder we are always running out of fruit. From now on I am going to "think 140" when I shop.

___________________

2. We are gearing up to the girls' biennial dance show frenzy. Full run through this Sunday, dress rehearsal next Sunday, then final run through, tech rehearsal and four performances the following week. Keeping track of costumes and making sure no bits and pieces go astray is always a challenge. This year we have a raindrop, a green alien, a car (or as the costume is a red unitard it may be a racing driver?), a stargirl, a chess piece (white knight, I think), water, a shadow, and black magic (Angel has to come up with something "dark burlesque" in black or neon colours for that. Eek!). The theme of the show is "The Old Curiosity Shop". Quite how it will tie that lot together I have no idea.

___________________

3. On the way to the supermarket yesterday Cherub suddenly announced, apparently randomly, "I want Star Wars". Huh? Is this something she picked up from the older two? Is she expecting me to suddenly produce the music on the car CD player? Irritated by the lack of response, her "I want Star Wars" got more persistent ... then I remembered an earlier conversation about what she could eat at the supermarket, in which we had discussed different shaped bread rolls. What she wanted was not "Star Wars", but "star rolls". Sorry sweetheart, they don't do star-shaped rolls.

___________________

4. Cherub's little friend N is with us again today. They have helped to bake carrot cake, played with Playmobil for an hour or so (why, when there are a dozen different vehicles, do they inevitably want to play with the same one?), and are now both slumped wearily watching Peppa Pig. We have had a couple of warm and sticky nights, and both have had interrupted sleep. I have making a new batch of playdough and building with Junior Meccano up my sleeve for when they perk up and want something else to do. When it comes to looking after two under fives, my policy is "keep 'em busy".

___________________

5. I just had a panic as I couldn't find the book with my foolproof, long-lasting, non-messy playdough recipe. Fortunately I posted it here a couple of years ago. Thank goodness for blogs.

___________________

6. Angel and J-next-door have come up with a novel arrangement: the two-house sleepover. Tonight they have two mutual friends coming to eat pizza Next Door and then sleep here. I think their theory was that if you don't ask too much of your parents, they are more likely to say yes.

___________________

7. Our new fridge-freezer was delivered this morning. I breathed a big sigh of relief as I was not at all convinced they would manage to get it into the house. They had to take the doors off (the fridge, that is), but they made it. I can't tell you how much I am looking forward to being able to put shopping away or lunch boxes into the fridge without feeling like I'm solving one of these.

___________________

You can find more Quick Takes at Conversion Diary