Supply vs. licking
Last night I informed Christian we were out of poultry toothpaste. I inform the poor man of a lot of things, most of probable little interest to him or likely to add anything to his life. I didn’t stop there: I declared I had no intention of buying more.
Christian: ‘Why?’
Me: ‘Because when I brush Mira’s teeth without toothpaste it works a lot better.’
Christian: ‘Oh really? She interferes that much licking like a little fool?’
Me: ‘Yes’.
He understood. Mira though, that’s another story.
(Image from here).
He likes the uneven ones better
Ten years ago I called him in Melbourne from France. 9 years ago we were in Vienna and got drunk at breakfast (damn hotel’s fault for giving us champagne!). 6 years ago we were in Amsterdam in the freezing winter and to look nice I wore a skirt – and subsequently got burn marks from the cold on my knees (still wearing stockings! What gives Holland?). All the others in between: Melbourne.
Every single birthday of Christian’s has felt like a present for me, and a privilege that I get to spend it with him. Today is no different… Happy birthday to my darling!
By the way, he really does prefer his age to end with an uneven number.
PS: I just realised we’ve never spent his birthday in France! Crazy! Next year Chris?
(Image from here – who knew there is a ‘33′ Flickr group!)
What I’m sniffing today and why
I don’t eat sugar: I swore it off around my 18th birthday and I’ve pretty much stuck to that principle since. To be clear, refined sugar (in anything) – fruit and I, we’re all good. I know: why, right? Many reasons. That’s all you’re getting from me in terms of an explanation right before dinnertime.
But with all this in mind, in my pantry I still have a teeny packet of vanilla sugar. I have it for one reason only: my grandmother kept a huge jar of it and the smell of vanilla sugar is woven into many of my memories of her. Today I took the little packet out and sniffed it at length, repeatedly: it’s her birthday (she would have been 96). I miss her just that little bit less when I smell vanilla sugar (I said I didn’t eat sugar, I didn’t say I don’t like the smell!).
(Photo and how-to for making vanilla sugar from the amazing-looking Baking Bites).
Is something wrong with me?
If given the choice between a bowl of (vegan) ice-cream and a bowl of grated carrots (with flax meal on top!), I will take the carrots.
Yes, really. So I ask again: is something wrong? Because I feel totally normal.
(Image is from here).
Hard to digest
I hail from a line of lightweights when it comes to digestion (having inherited my Maman’s very sensitive stomach), and this image pretty much sums up how I was feeling yesterday.
Except I didn’t take any Alka Seltzer. Or shoot an arrow into a bear’s bum.
(Can’t remember where the image is from… I did a ‘laugh and grab’ on this one).
Longing
Me: It is starting to hurt my spirit.
Christian: The lack of neo-classical buildings in Melbourne?
Me: Yes.
Must outdo the Death Book
A week from today it is Christian’s birthday.
Last year, I bought him something hard to find that he really liked (and a watch, just because I wanted a back-up present in case he didn’t like the first one. I’m chicken that way).
If you have seen ‘Road to Perdition‘ (Christian and I have and it is one of his absolute all-time favourite films) you might remember in Jude Law’s apartment some crime scene photographs hanging off the wall. It turns out, they’re real – real New York Police Department 1920s crime scene photographs. And they were compiled into a book called ‘Evidence‘. So I tracked down a copy and gave it to him for his birthday (I flipped through first, to make sure it wasn’t hyper hyper gross. Err, maybe not but still really kind of graphic. Anyway).
He opened it and looked through and said ‘What is it?’. So I explained. And then I asked him if he liked it. He thought about it for a second, then said ‘You bought me a Death Book! Yes, I like it.’ He even said it was really thoughtful.
For next week I have something for him and I’m getting really jittery he won’t like it (I get present anxiety just before giving, always). I have been forbidden to buy anything else – he gets really embarrassed by gifts so one is about his limit.
If I am going to openly rebel and spend more money, it has to be on something as good as the Death Book. Or better. I’m in a tight spot (as George Clooney would say in ‘Oh Brother‘): you see, a Death Book is hard to top.
And yes, we have ‘Road to Perdition’ on DVD already. I really am in a tight spot…
Cheap thrills
I am right now thoroughly enjoying a bowl of beetroot and corn, and wearing one of my favourite pieces of clothing (a white blouse with some circular embroidery going on all over).
Now usually, when I eat beetroot, I put on an apron. Yep. Because I’m kind of clumsy. But today against my better judgement I am relishing the laziness and have skipped the apron. So I’m eating something purple that stains like nothing else, and wearing white.
It makes me feel like I live so dangerously and on the edge. Yep. Sad.
All the landmarks and airports a baby would need to know about
My gorgeous friend Jess sent me this the other day.
To put it to good use we just need to:
*Make up our minds once and for all whether we want children.
*Agree on names – which have to work equally well in both French and English AND have the same spelling in both languages (because I don’t want my children to have a multiple split personality thing going depending on which language they introduce themselves in), not end in -ie for girls (Christian’s foot down) or be Charles or Félix for boys (Christian’s foot again, based on mental connections with British royal family which he’s not fond of, and tv show ‘The Odd Couple’).
*Agree on number of middle names – 2 (my foot down, because in France we have at least that number).
*Agree on where we want them: Europe (yes, yes!) or Australia (far, far – from family and cousins – but current foreseeable country of residence).
You know what? That cute Paris map also comes printed on a bag. I think I’ll take that instead for the moment. And keep on bugging my sister to have a second baby :)
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