Hmm.

This morning, before I'd even opened my eyes, I was wondering if anyone would notice if I did the school drop off in my bathrobe and ugg boots. My husband has been in Melbourne, so for two mornings in a row I have shouldered the burden of baking biscuits, preparing lunches, cooking breakfast (porridge with berries for three and a boiled egg with fruit salad for the other), making sure they eat said breakfast, overseeing school uniforms, doing hair and driving them to school, singlehandedly. Usually, we job share and I do all of the above except the getting them dressed part and my husband drops them at their respective schools en route to the office......in time for me to get my first load of washing out, clean the kitchen and get me and whoever is at home, to the Bikram Yoga studio. Getting four children and myself dressed in time to leave the house at 8.15am this morning proved impossible. I was hard at it for over an hour and didn't take my eye off the prize for one minute, yet this was how we left the house:

Oops, that is the AFTER shot, taken an hour later, when were finally ready to brave a trip to the butcher and the park.....no Bikram Yoga for me today due to the chicken pox. Anyway, prepare yourselves, as here comes the BEFORE shot:

Messy. I had the brainwave just before leaving the house, that if I donned my puffa jacket over the top of my bathrobe then anybody unfortunate enough to see me driving my car, five minutes down the road, would never even guess the true state of my dishevelment. As I have mentioned before, puffa's are an essential piece of clothing in Hobart, they are de rigueur on the school run. And today I wore mine.....with my bathrobe and my ugg boots....luckily I didn't have to get out of the car. I hope my husband doesn't read this.

When we got to the butcher, he of course, made comment that I hadn't been in his shop for some time. I told him that we had been on a self inflicted vegetarian, tee totalling challenge. He was surprised.....especially as he used to play rugby union with my husband and I don't think they understood the meaning of the words 'teetotalling' or 'vegetarian' way back then except as a tease. However, he was somewhat consoled after I paid him $65 for 6 thickly cut, free range, Wessex Saddleback pork chops from Mount Gnomon Farm. Expensive, yet that is what it cost. When you consider that these animals were ethically raised with minimal cost to the environment, it doesn't seem so expensive, really. And, let's face it, it will probably be another week or so before I am back at the butcher.

For some time, we have been worried that our four year old son's future career may be already determined:

If so, then we'll know what to get him for Christmas circa 2030....a tee shirt like this one:

Rx

PS Not speaking German, I googled what it actually says on this tee shirt to check that it wasn't anything licentious or derogatory. The translation is something along the lines of 'more attractive than you think'....and this image was part of a hugely popular advertising campaign for the German Trade Union, I kid you not.