given that i have today experienced and remembered many other crack moments, i may have to dedicate regular blogs to this topic. but for now, let’s move on.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHARLES!!! you know him as magnificent, as chuck, chuckles, balls, coldballs, cbdc…whatever, it is his birthday today and he is stuck in bangalore india alone!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

can i please ask every one to send him a special happy birthday message and to remind him to finish the list of stuff he has to do before i get home? the link to his blog is on the right of this blog….thank you……

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

you know when kids have their special blanket? and as the child slowly grows out of the stage where they need their special blanket, the parents sometimes clip a square of the blanket and tuck it away, so their child will always have a piece of the blanket that gave them such comfort.

i have something even better than a blanket…i am the proud owner of a velour sweat suit, a pink one at that.

as pictures attest, i get plenty of wear out of my fuschia juicy ensemble. bought with wonderful (and now gone..sigh) friend lucy, i loved it from the point of purchase even though i suspected i looked a lot like a giant bottle of pepto bismol when wearing it. but i care not.

what qualities has to oft-worn hotpink ensemble provided me to result in such fondness?? where to start! but here we go.

1) it is easily familiar. when i am pushing the cart amongst the aisles, sebastian can easily find me as he races across the grocery store. doesn’t need to stop, just turn when you see the hot pink.

2) the inevitable banana, weetabix, yogurt, dubious origin smears are easily disguised. this is velour baby, yah! the smears simply make the velour look like it was rubbed the wrong way. what a clever camoflauge.

3) there aren’t too many hpvss around, and so my kidlets don’t have to experience that frightening shock while climbing up the leg they think belongs to their mother and realise with a start that it doesn’t. chances are, if they are climbing up a furry blindingly pink leg, it is mine.

4) this outfit washes like a dream.

5) it is so comfy

6) the top has pockets for the essentials: kleenex and cherry flavoured chapstick.

7) jokes aside, i love the colour. it cheers me up.

8) have to emphasise the outfits ability to get filthy and still look okay. i can sit on the rocks and not worry about it staining or running, this is a GREAT outfit.

9) you can wash it in hot water, cold water, delicate wash, and without soap (as i discovered the other day), and it looks as good as new when the wash is over. if possible, don’t dry it, but it survives.

10) it is warm, and YELLOWKNIFE IS NOT.

11) when you’ve got three kids sitting in between your legs and another one on your knee, you don’t want to be wearing a skirt.

re-reading this list i feel a renewed sense of love for my hpvss.

hpvss has been a low maintenance reliable friend since the word go. you may get tired of me sporting it in every single picture i am in, but while there are babies, there will be the hpvss.

and one day when the kids are cleaner, walking more, needing less picking up, and don’t lift up skirts, i will wear something else. hpvss and i are not exclusive. but when velour violently goes out of style or when the hpvss discintegrates, chances are good i will clip out five little pieces of the hpvss and put them in the babies memory books. and keep one for myself.