Author: charlestess

card one and two

our next door neighbour had these words written on a slip of paper that stayed stuck on her refrigerator for many many years. a frequent visitor to this home, these words had an impact on my life.

the three steps to success:

start strong

keep going

finish well

today, i looked at the pack of WHAT TO DO IN HK WITH KIDS cards, and decided there was no time like the present to begin. and so, i began. (how exciting!) i made plans to take all four kids to the bird market, located in prince edward, kowloon side. this involved a bus ride, the mtr and walking.

the boys quickly determined that they would rather bash each other with their light sabers. the girls however were game, and by this time they had danielle with them. all of them were wearing little headbands. so with my junior flashdancers in tow, we set off.

we stood in line for the 54. at one point, as i was turning to tell carys not to pick up a piece of gum she had dropped, two men jumped the queue. i tapped them and said no, and motioned to behind us, and they laughed. everyone else in line was very cheesed off. anyway, this ended up meaning that the three girls shared the very back seat of the bus (made for two) and i was in the front seat. they were very well behaved and if they occasionally kicked the seat in front of them (conveniently occupied by the queue jumpers) i did not say anything. by the time we got to kennedy town, the bus had thinned out and i had carys on my lap as i sat across from the girls. the driver, thinking that the girls were so easy going at one point wanted to pick up another fare and told her to sit in between the girls! i suggested that was not a good idea.

so, on to the mtr. the girls loved putting the coins in and getting their tickets.

we had six stops until prince edward. it was an uneventful ride. and then we emerged on kowloon side, oriented ourselves, and started walking. the girls were fantastic and focused until we got to the flower markets. and then they were lost. i love it here! let’s stay! can we get these flowers? and these ones also? these flowers smell so beautiful!

it took us about 20 minutes to make it to the bird market. our goal was to find a pink bird, and lo and behold, we did find a pink and grey one. there were also toucans, parrots, goldfinches, cockatoos, budgies, and some very pretty birds that i wasn’t so familiar with. much to the girl’s interest and disgust, bird food – grubs, worms and crickets – was also for sale.

it was fascinating.

the bird market isn’t particularly large, and after our stroll, the girls wanted to cross the street and visit the playground. after half an hour there, it was time to head home, via the flower markets.

did i mention that danielle is blonde? of course people thought that i had triplets, and technically, i do. they just don’t include her. and, it was too much of a hassle to explain that only two were mine, they weren’t twins, so i just went with my familiar, sam-goe. the kids got a lot of attention.

interesting, in the flower markets, the flowers they wanted were roses. for less than $20us we bought 27 beautiful roses of all colours. beautifully scented, tightly wrapped… the girls were thrilled. i made them carry their bundles. they weren’t as thrilled with that.

the shops are gearing up for chinese new year, and the girls were impressed with the decorations. we did some window shopping and then, we were at the mtr. once inside, we went to 7-11, where i bought iced lemon teas and mentos for us all, and then we caught the train home.

there was no sitting room, so i told the girls to sit on the floor, and hold on to the pole. they eagerly dropped to the ground, and would have sat with their legs outstretched, propped against the pole if it wasn’t so inconvenient for the rest of their fellow riders.

it was a great day and they will sleep well tonight.

and i realised, i have TWO cards down, three actually: goldfish market, flower market and bird market. this deck of cards is diminishing rapidly.

until magnificent posts pix, here is a link to the hktb website:

http://www.discoverhongkong.com/eng/attractions/kln-bird-flower-goldfish-market.html

wii the people

a couple of months ago i wrote about "routine or rut" – my despair about the unexplored areas of hong kong i am afraid my family will never venture into.

in that blog, i mentioned that our routine included the boatclub every weekend. and i wanted a little bit more of a spontaneous, wanderlust existence.

so can someone explain to me what i was thinking in promoting us buying a wii for Christmas? and enforcing to the kids as i suggested that mummy play one more game of boxing "just to show them how it's done" that the wii is only for wiikends? they're never going to want to leave the house!

a practical (and cool) friend gave me a pragmatic tool for Christmas, "flash cards for exploring hong kong with your kids". (HOORAY!). it made me smile and i said outloud upon receiving the gift with a sidelong look at my spouse, "WE HAVE THE BOOK TOO!" she knows i want to get out more and provided me ample ideas. don't you love friends that DO something with your angst?

today, we had the pheasant kids up until around noon. andrea popped up from 1a and susan came down from 18a so we had a little tea. then after lunch we wii'ed for a while. charles saw me getting a little antsy, and i suggested i get something from our deck of cards. the skies were darkening though….should we stay home?

THERE WAS NO WAY I WAS GOING TO STAY HOME. i had my window of opportunity. we took the kids and their light sabres to the nearby pokfulam reservoir and started walking. and it was raining "baby rain". we walked the flat bit and then started the incline. the kids were fabulous and although this road is very familiar to me (i run this a lot), it was an adventure for the family. and no one was whinging! HOORAY!

the rain started coming down a little harder. sebastian was still sprinting around the place, jasper was lagging. but we kept going. i was almost afraid to make eye contact with charles, because i thought he might suggest that we head back…and i wanted to forge on.

we prayed that the rain would stop, but thanked father God for giving the trees water that they need to grow. and we kept walking. and MADE THE TURNOFF TO THE FAMILY PATH. we were going to do it! we were going to have our adventure!

the kids kept skipping along, and the rain ceased in its frequency. they lifted the hoodies from their heads. sebastian took the lead. the path smelled loamy, muddy and fresh. there was a bit of mist, and it was lovely.

jasper and i brought up the lead and i encouraged him along by calling him "jedi jasper". i helped him jump up and over rocks and breaks in the path, and he was having a fun time. he prayed outloud when we went down the final long stairway and said, "please father God, make the stairs go away and help me not to fall."

when he had completed the steps, he said, "mummy, i told father God 'thank you' and he said in my heart, 'you're welcome, son!'"

sela and carys had been stellar throughout. i was so proud of them. they are such good girls. sebastian had been creative and fun. charles looked at me and said, "pizza at home?" and i said, "or how about the boat club?"

we went to the boat club. the kids were thrilled and so am i. it was a great day.

i am going to get through that deck of cards, you know.

what i have lost

while i am sure there are several hundred millimetre sized doll hands, battery enclosure covers and other items missing, i have lost something else.

it has been missing for a while now, but i am only able to write about it now.

i have lost my "cuddly boy".

jasper is no longer content to wander up to me in the middle of a playdate and crawl into my arms, smile seductively, and relax, gently stroking my arm with his fingers. or after lunch. or…or. you get what i am saying.

he is still a loverboy, and still quick with the winning words, but the spontaneous and lingering* cuddles just aren't there anymore. the thrill is gone,the thrill is gone baby.

this has hit me rather hard. sebastian never was a cuddler, and as you might suspect, i was grateful when the majority of the triplets STOPPED their cuddling phase, since it coincided with clinging. i was so grateful to see them exploring their world, it did masses for my guilt relief. and besides, i had jasper, my cuddler. my dozy, goodnatured little lad who could always be counted on to roam, not too far, and return for some love.

the other day we were at playtown (an indoors playground) and the kids were racing around. jasper came for a drink of water. it had been a while since i had seen any of the kids, so i beckoned jasper to me. he gave me "the smile" and sidled over. i picked him up and plopped him on my lap. he was still for less than five seconds, then upright again. "i have to go! my team is looking for me!" he declared.

as he ran away, i looked at janne and said, "i am losing my lover"

and she put her hand on my arm and replied, "yes, you are."

*i should add that when jasper knows he should be a) getting ready for bed b) in bed c) cleaning d) doing something he finds unpleasant, jasper is more than willing to approach me and cuddle. but really, how do i feel knowing that he sees cuddling with me as the lesser of two evils? am i that desperate and longing for a baby cuddle?

truthfully………sometimes.

my friend sandi is very fond of saying “you can’t be serious” when you explain you haven’t tried something. upon hearing my mother had not tried caviar, sandi did the entire, “you cannot be serious” schtick until progressing on to, “in this day and age, i don’t see how it is possible that….”

i try to avoid that “you can’t be serious” statement. especially about food. so when my girlfriend susan (aussie) explained that she had never had pumpkin pie, but kept hearing about it, i decided this was a perfect opportunity to:

a) make her a pie

b) make a COUPLE of pies (you cna’t make just one pie crust) and take the other pie to Christmas day lunch.

so i made the pies. really, the crust wasn’;t great. i was using a new shortening i didn’t like and i was in a hurry and used my hands instead of two knives to smooth the shortening into the flour. but, the pie was great…is great and i am quite pleased.

i took the still very hot pie up to susan’s (i gave her half a pie, the other half is for marianne), and had the satisfaction of watching her take the first mouthful. granted, susan and paul were pretty satisfied already, it was 7.30 and their kids were in bed. but she did seem to like the pumpkin pie. so tick that gastronomic experience off the list.

i think next year i am going to have to make a pumpkin cheesecake. i have a sudden craving for it and a really nice recipe for it.

it is officially Christmas day, and Christmas eve passed very uneventfully… we attended the Christingle service at st john’s cathedral. the only reason we attend that service is because it starts at 5pm. if union church’s service started at 5pm, i would attend that one. but theirs is at six, and can i tell you the difference it makes getting your kids home, bathed and fed and in bed by 7.15 vs. 8.15? HUGE DIFFERENCE!!!

the service was lovely, and the kids were well behaved. we went with the pheasants and sat in the exact same seats as we had last year. at least we had seats! in front of us was carys’ great friend danielle, and halfway during the service, when ella went to sit on andrea’s lap, danielle came and beside carys.

sela woke up at 5.45am today and has been tired since. whingy is a bye-product of tired. she nearly didn’t come to the service because of her attitude, but at the end, we let her, because we believe in grace! she was sitting on my lap, and i was giving her cuddles, and although the shadows under her eyes were massive, the tension and anger was easing out of her body. at “hark the herald angels sing” i noticed that there were tears in her eyes.

was it a Christmas miracle? was sela, overwhelmed by the music and atmosphere, repenting her repulsive behaviour and about to beg forgiveness? it was like a hallmark movie of the week! i leaned foward, and just as the line God (tess) and sinner (sela) reconciled rang out, i asked her, “what is wrong?”

and she replied, “my bunch isn’t tight enough and my curls don’t look nice!”

so she was the first in bed, but the whole family watched the old version of rudolph the rnr infront of the television, while eating sausages and plain white rice. the kids thought they were in heaven, until they saw the carrots.

heaven on earth. it is pretty wonderful when you consider that your home is as wonderful a place as anything you can imagine, simply because of the fun things you allow, or the rules you decide to abolish for the night.

enjoy your heaven tomorrow, whereever you are.

Christmas – diy vs stress free??

even the most anal among us (slight raising of hand despite typing) admits that the making of Christmas dinner is a bit stressful. it's not even the anticipation of the kids announcing that they don't LIKE mashed potatoes and gravy all they WANT is a bowl of plain white rice that is the stressful bit.

i can pre-slice carrots and potatoes (and save the water of course), pre-make desserts, have the table laid the night before, fill the pepper and salt shakers (see how nice i am? i put salt on the table when we celebrate our Lord's birthday)…the last hour before the food goes on the table can be stressful. all the sort of last minute things.

it isn't entirely a bad stress. it is anticipation stress. like a wedding?

so anyway. here we go.

this year, we have been invited to spend Christmas lunch at a friend's house. and she is making the ham, turkey, greens, etc. they aren't big on sweets in their family. literally, there is not a lot for me to do but to try and make a dish that involves vegetables that my kids will eat.

i am SO UNCOMFORTABLE with the concept of being catered to on Christmas Day! i am sure if we were in canada our various families would treat us very well, but we would all pitch in…right?

i have bought champagne and i will make a happy birthday Jesus cake because that is what we do on Christmas day. but friend and her fam aren't so big on sweeties, so the cake is no good to them. friend is very competent but not controlling.

what to do, friends? every time i suggest what to bring she says, "darling, you're making some vegetable that your kids will eat and that Jesus cake! enough! i have everything taken care of!"

i am sure she does. should i just accept the gift? take the grace? i don't want to take advantage of a friend. not used to accepting in this way.

my family is so much bigger and louder than hers!

!!!!!!! eee!! after you comment here, head on over to charles' blog and check out my sans makeup face from this morning's annual gingerbread house decorating extravaganza.

we always have teams of two. this year it was girls vs. boys. we had a lot of fun. though both houses were great, i do need to mention that charles brought in outside decorating assistance that the girls team did not have access to. he brought in his special icings that he uses for cakes.

the kids inhaled all the leftover m&m's (at 8am) and have been on a red dye hyper haze all day long. and tomorrow is the church pageant!

because the oprah to my gayle also has thrush at this time, consider this the year end public service announcement i'm too lazy to write myself.

http://www.womenshealthlondon.org.uk/leaflets/thrush/thrush.html

moving on.

DAY THREE OF TABLETS OF WONDER

today was a fun day for sebastian – he basically played all day long at school. it was a "pot bless" lunch  – every child was asked to bring in something and the tables were a united nations.

we had sushi, samosas, meatballs, sausages, pakoras, sandwiches, chips, crisps, sausage rolls, fruit kebabs, cheeses, apple pies, cupcakes, choc treats, etc. and i know you will be pleased to hear that i only scoffed two samosas and several thousand spring rolls. heaven!

and my charming son ate — crisps. plates and plates of crisps. how can that BE when there were so many other divine goodies? i don't know, but everytime i saw the fellow, he was ploughing a fistful of crumbling crisps into his gob. fittingly, my donation to the class party was..crisps. not even my fave flave, salt n; vinegar, but the rather mundane sour cream and onion.

(did you know that our pta sells worcester flavoured crisps?)

family drama: i just had to settle affairs between carys and sela. carys spat on sela twice. sela, all tears and stamping feet, came to inform me of this fact.

carys shut herself in her room. i called her to me. reluctantly, she dragged and stamped her feet to me.

me: carys, did you spit on your sister?

carys (quietly/inaudibly): yes

me: i am very surprised. how many times did you spit on her?

carys: once

me: oh?

(behind carys, sela is waving her arms and mouthing, twice, two times she spit on me mummy)

me: carys, how many times did you spit on your sister?

carys (again, inaudible) two times.

me: really? again, this is surprising. why, kitten?

carys: i spat on her the second time because i did not want her to tell you about the first time i spat on her.

apologies were made and reconcilation occurred. but honestly! did i mention that sebastian woke up at 5.45am and jumped into bed with magnificent and me to read this morning? (above: sela sleeps upside down due to her sister's backwards logic.)

DAD: SHUT YOUR EYES UNTIL YOU READ THE WORDS MONEY ON THE GROUND.

update: sunday morning i dashed off to ever faithful fanda, but all they had to offer was a SIX day course of tablet treatment. beggars/choosers, i bought them. and i am on the mend.

MONEY ON THE GROUND

yesterday i hosted my fourth annual bake exchange. (fifth?). it was a great afternoon. new addition meg (there's more to her than that) rushed in just as i was looking at my cheesy bread dip and announced, "i've just been reading about your thrush!" had brought champagne, so the mulled wine (which was really good this year) was rather ignored for a while. i only went through one bottle of mulled wine, although the veuve and one bottle of rather nice australian white were finished in impressive time.

MC has asked for my stocking stuffer list.

10 – mac blush (too lazy to get up and look at name, but old one is beside sink)

9 – nice cheese fork (scratch that, mc just found the one we bought in bangkok)

8 – silver framed preprogrammed digital photo frame since CHARLES IS TAKING HIS TO THE OFFICE

7 – a couple of nice highlighters. thinner ones. at least one pink. and a couple of nice pens would be fantastic too.

6 – starbucks after coffee cinammon mints

5 – a cool looking three ringed notebook just like my current one.

4 – cherry flave chapstick

3 – people mag (but not a year's roundup or Christmas special, they don't count) or clean living

2 – a new lulu lemon red headband. thin all around not larger on top one. (but don't get it at pure yoga, because they are only using them as GWP's when you buy more than $800 and if you spend more than $800 there i will seriously be v cross and my entire Christmas will be ruined.)

1 – a new white undershirt from marks and spencer. one of the longer ones. thin straps so it hides a bra.

yay charles!

where's my list, buddy?

did i forget anything?? please let me know, i can always do revisions!

thrush aint just a bird

it is only rarely that magnificent sticks his nose in my blog, but today when i came home fuming after a run in at mannings, the "health and beauty store" in hong kong, he said, "you need to blog about this".

so even though it means losing my male readership (STOP HERE DAD PLEASE) i will give it a go, because it is only rarely that that language barrier in hong kong: a) is a problem b) makes me angry and shouty at people.

i woke up this morning to the charming realisation that i was the proud owner of thrush/a yeast infection. oh yay.

i take care of some tasks, one of them being watching an episode of frasier with my husband and then inform him that i will just trot into nearby chi fu, grab some cranberry juice and visit mannings for a three or one day course of tablets to take care of the thrush. no worries.

it does sound simple. but dare i mention that chi fu is a rather local part of hong kong.

when i get to mannings, i realise that i don't know what the packet looks like. i wander through the nearby areas, and scour female protection, sanitary products, birth control (you don't need a script to buy the pill, it is sold beside condoms here).

a chirpy salesperson approaches me and asks if she can assist me. i ask, and i mean this truthfully, politely, "where is the medicine for thrush, please?"

she looks puzzled. "for THRUSH?" she says in a loud voice, and a western man looks over and scurries away. i know him from school. i rapidly try to remember if there is anything remotely skanky that i could get thrush from. toilet seats? multiple partners? shared needles?

helpful but essentially useless girl brings over her friend. again i repeat my query. again, my query is repeated. this time, i add in YEAST INFECTION and it is seriously repeated back to me. they are trying their utmost to assist.

a third person, possibly the assistant manager during lunchtime, is beckoned over and she joins our trio. what a fun time we are having! she is rapidly brought up to date on the situation (I assume, or else the girls could have been asking her about their lunch), and then says, "can i help you." i ask, and my teeth are gritted, "DO YOU HAVE ANY MEDICINE FOR THRUSH OR YEAST INFECTION."

she perks up at the word infection. "WHERE ARE YOU INFECTED?"

and i have to say it. MY VAGINA. and i dont roar vagina, but i certainly don't whisper it either.

i probably should have drawn a picture.

assistant lunch manager looks scared (has the disease started to affect her brain or is that chlamydia?) and scurries away. she is on the phone for a while and then hands the phone to me. "IT IS HEAD OFFICE TO TALK TO YOU ABOUT YOUR VAGINA THRUSH" she says. anyone english speaking in the shop is aware of the story. i fancy that those who don't have Christmas shopping to complete are hanging around, wondering if i will lay hands on the coveted packet…forget inscense and myrr…will tess get the canesten?

"hello" says tess who has no pride but does have thrush.

"yes! this is head office. you have…" (her voice drops) thrush?"

"i do. do you sell canesten here?"

"is there a pharmacy there?"

"you're head office? you don't KNOW?"

"ha, ha,,no, i don't."

"well, write it down" (can't you just see me descintegrating?) "there is no pharmacy here."

"well, then there is no canesten."

there's a bit more unattractive talk (no swear words), just me asking where the nearest pharmacy is and them saying central, is that too far and me saying and i believe this is a quote, "well it aint close, sister", and then me hanging up. but i did say thank you.

i then went to park n shop downstairs for some yogurt.

gah!

who’s letting go of CHRISTMAS CONTROL ISSUES?

getting in the Christmas spirit, here is tess' list of how she is giving, and getting that good feeling in return. and if the mathematically inclined among you note that there are not 10 listed…well, it isn't the 25th yet. 

10) it is a known fact that i want to be like my friend who doesn't let her kids decorate the Christmas tree. she is in design and has a gorgeous tree, resplendent with bows and minimalist items. LOVE IT. her kids decorate other bits of the house, but the tree, is hers.

but last night, when it was time to decorate the tree, sebastian pinched one of the branches of our very charlie brown tree and said, "this is the cutest tree we have ever had", and suddenly, we very much had a family Christmas tree. the kids haphazardly placed ornaments ANYWHERE, (i won't even talk about the lights and the ropes of silver beads because it makes me feel faint), and they had a great time except for the time when carys knocked jasper off a step.

and if i made firm suggestions every once and a while, possibly you can just focus on the progress i have made so far. and note, I DID NOT ADJUST ONE THING THEY DID TO THE TREE AFTER THEY WENT TO SLEEP. i am so proud of myself!

9) today was carys' Christmas pageant at small world. she was an angel. i decided to give her free rein in choosing a costume (also figuring, how much damage could an angel do? she'll wear white, she'll wear wings!) well…this is true, BUT the little cow decided that she wanted to wear a mangy dress with permanent red marker stains on it, that was too long in the arms and streelish looking. and then she wanted to wear flip flops. (!) and, peeps…I LET HER.

i know, you're asking, who is this mother? (by the looks of my child as she walked into school today, a mother who can't be bothered to do laundry!)

but we are not done.

8) we had to bring a plate of goodies for the post play production. carys and i made cupcakes. i had a dream of choc cupcakes (kids fave) with light pink icing. when it came time to add the red food dye to the icing, carys asked if she could help, and i said YES. and OF COURSE the light baby pink icing turned out magenta. it looked like each and every frigging one of those cupcakes should have chalk outlines around them, but carys was enchanted. i KNEW she was going to put too much dye in, but i let her. and then, i thought yellow and purple sprinkles would look good. she wanted orange and red. what colours (and let's not even talk quantities!) do you think made it on the cupcakes? (and later mouths)

she was absolutely gorgeous. if we all ask charles nicely…maybe he will post pix tomorrow???

xoxoxo

kid scars

the other night charles and i went out to the very swanky hong kong club for dinner. we were guests of members and the menu included items like boar, tripe, all sorts of truffles, and other such delicacies.

although he normally loves his steak, charles ordered liver, which didn't surprise me at all. charles loves liver when it is done properly. (i have never attempted to make liver for him out of fear that i would do it badly).

i had a spinach salad and halibut with seafood risotto. very nice, esp. the halibut.

but i noticed something particularly shocking during the meal. our hosts have daughters in their late teens, while mag char and i are still quite close to the memory of those kiddy years. and mag char and i were absolutely wolfing down our meal in comparison to our hosts.

what is it with us? i tried to pin it on our boorishness, but mag is no boor.

i was telling a friend how appalling we were, and she said, "nah, you're still getting over kid curse."

"uh?" i said.

"you shovel in your food because you didn't know how long you were going to be able to sit down for, when the meal would end, how long you had until you were catering for someone else."

friend reckons we have three more years until we are able to eat like regularly digesting humans again.

meanwhile, the tree is up and i am very very pleased to be smelling it.

and the nightmarket, for better or worse, is OVER. (and believe me, it is worse…we did not raise nearly as much money as we did last year). but, yay! the kids had a great time.

so that is that! roll on next week, where i have three Christmas plays to attend, one pta meeting, one board meeting, one all day fair to work at, one book club, one junk, and one class party. and that doesn't even include weekend parties!