It’s a nice Friday after all.

I got this today.
______________________________________________________________
Dear Muks
Congratulations, you have been nominated for an Instant Values Award for living our values.
Your nomination was made by AD for the following reasons:
For your efforts and contributions to making the FIDS Newsletter a success
Please access the Values Awards website to redeem your £50 award, which can be exchanged for a wide range of products and high street vouchers.
______________________________________________________________

And…
______________________________________________________________
Dear Muks
Congratulations, you have been nominated for an Instant Values Award for living our values.
Your nomination was made by KA for the following reasons:
For the hard work you did and and great enthusiasm, diligence and teaming spirit you demonstrated on Project Sauna in the face of tight deadlines and quite complex technical issues we had to grapple with. Thank you very much.
Please access the Values Awards website to redeem your £50 award, which can be exchanged for a wide range of products and high street vouchers.
______________________________________________________________

I’m rich! Rich! Rich! Rich beyond my wildest dreams!!!

The omen

You know how grey London can be sometimes? Everyone wearing different shades of black and grey, the black cabs and the backdrop of buildings of glass and steel…

This morning, in the midst of such monotone, a vision (in techni-colour) appeared before my very eyes while on my way to work.

I think someone is trying to tell me something.

Shrove Tuesday

Shrove Tuesday is a term used in the United Kingdom, for the day preceding the first day of the season of Lent. Shrove is the past tense of shrive, which means to obtain absolution for one’s sins by way of Confession and doing penance.

Shrove Tuesday gets its name from the shriving that English Christians were expected to do prior to receiving absolution immediately before Lent begins. Shrove Tuesday is the last day of “shrovetide”, the day on which the English Christians use up their store of butter (lard) and eggs, foods severely restricted during Lent. Waste is a sin and extravagance is contradictory to the meaning of Lent, so Denty’s clever ancestors used it up by simply adding the unluxurious milk and flour to the butter (lard) and eggs.

Denty, Mitch (a.k.a. enk-Bob) and I did our penance last night.

Donuts at last

The attractive thing about Facebook is that you get to see how your old friends are looking. The most disturbing thing I noticed is that stick-thin childhood friends seemed to have all ballooned up after their respective marriages.

That will NOT happen to me.

I swear… while I sit here polishing off my second donut of the day, courtesy of MM.

Aquatic accidents

I woke up at 7.40 this morning. It is a lot later than my normal weekday routing, but it is Saturday today. Hence, it is an exceptional case. What made me do it? Well, I thought I heard a van outside the house. You see, I was waiting for a delivery of shrimps.

Shrimps, you ask? Well it is not the edible type (although Mitch a.k.a. enk-Bob) would tell you otherwise. They are red cherry shrimps… Now, how on earth did I end up ordering shrimps? Me? The person with a life long phobia of dead fishes (pet ones, not the edible ones) having an aquatic hobby???

It started this way…

One and a half years ago, Denty and I bought a house in the suburbs. It is a nice little house with a lovely sized garden. I loved the idea of edible gardenning, so I starting having plans and dreams of creating a magical (and organic) edible garden.

Amongst the herbs, fruits and vegetables, I thought it would be a great and whimsical idea to establish a little pond in a giant whiskey barrel. I got the barrel, stuck a solar fountain into it and then planted lots of watercresses (is that the plural form?) into it. A month after establishing the barrel pond, Denty peered in and discovered millions and millions of mosquito larvaes swimming in it.

Well, I wanted to keep the garden purely organic (hence Mini sMapps can run around and eat whatever he wants) so we couldn’t just pop in some larvae killing nasties. Denty and I went online and repeatedly saw one (and only one) viable biological solution. We needed to get red rosy minnows. They are tiny little community fishes that live well in ponds and cope with icy winters.

So we got them. A few weeks later one died. Another few weeks later, a few more followed suit. One Saturday morning (this was back in 2007, mind you), Denty rushed into my room and announced “I think your pond is dying”. I rushed out to check. Lo and behold, another floater.

I quickly scooped out all the survivors (four of them) and put them into a bucket. I looked online and found out the cause of deaths. Whiskey barrels have alcohol in them… making them into ponds require one year of soaking so that all the alcohol leeches out to become fish safe. D’oh.

I was stuck with the minnow. They could not live in the bucket for a whole year! So, I bought a baby biorb. I chose it because it was good value for dummies (all inclusive).

Anyway, in the summer of 2008, the pond was finally safe and the minnows went back in. I was left with an empty biorb. Darn.

So… little by little, the obsession ate into me… it went “shrimp… shrimp… shrimp…” I withheld for six months!!! One day in December 2008, while I was nosing around ebay, I saw this dude selling of his private collection of shrimps (about 20 for £25). The normal price of this shrimp is between £2.00 to £3.00 each! So, I made a bid. I lost out as I wasn’t seriously bidding (in the kinda want it but still trying to be sensible mood), but then I left a message to the seller saying that if he has anymore excess shrimps, could he sell it to me as I would be interest.

One month later, out of the blue, he emailed me and said that he has some extra shrimps. He asked if I would like to buy them. It was fate! I said yes immediately without thinking it through.

It was due to arrive about 4 weeks ago, but with the snow and the extreme cold, we decided to delay the shipment. Until the last week… it turned warm again… so the shrimps have arrive!

With the shrimps, came many shrimp favoured plants. I spent three hours planting and arranging my baby biorb…

At 10.30, after acclimatising the little critters to the water temperature, I released them into the wild…

This is not where the accidental aquatic pets stops… out of the kindness of his heart, the seller dude gave me 3 or 4 or maybe 5 rainbow bosemani fish fries…

D’oh… I need to buy a bigger plantable tank soon.

Dinner possibilities

It is official. Our fridge is completely out of food, well, unless you consider the half packet of Philadelphia cream cheese food. We’ve ordered for our groceries to come tonight, but we only managed to book the time slots 8pm to 10pm tonight for delivery.

I am not the person to wait for dinner that might come at 8pm to 10pm… and to add cooking time on top! *Muks shrieks and runs around the office hysterically* *Muks fall onto the floor and starts kicking, causing self to moving in a circular space*

Denty is having kicking practice (wing chun- apparently it is a girly kungfu) tonight, and Mitch (a.k.a. enk-Bob) is going to try to lift a wooden sword (don’t ask why, but she is odd like that) so the both of them will be late. I’ll get something brown and ovenable for Denty when he comes home about 9.30pm and Mitch is in charge of her own meal tonight. This means, I get to have whatever I want to have for dinner tonight!

Woo hoo! Woo hoo! What shall I have? What shall I buy?

Mussels in white white and garlic sauce? Laksa? Oysters? Tom yam? Steak? KFC? Oh, the possibilities are endless.

Mad bag

Who was the mad person dashing around the office with a slice of cheesecake in her handbag?

Muks, interrupted.

Sweet thoughts

Four things were floating around my thoughts today.

Little people and half pints

Following the previous depressing post on little people, which may or may not have triggered a discussion with someone who may or may not be Denty. We may or may not have concluded (by calculator) that my initial words apply.

I don’t really like Little People as a class, but when I do get to know the unfortunate few who crosses my path, I do think them really sweet. I would not choose to produce Little People before achieving a certain money generating status (maybe because if we run out of food, I am not sure I will be capable of forgoing for the sake of Little Person). Anyway, I rather have a choice to choose to not, rather than be left with a choice by default.

On a happier note, Dentette (sister of Denty and who is also mother of Mini Mr Dentette) will be producing an upgraded version of Mini later in the year. Now, how do people afford to do it?

Well, I’ll just sit back and plant peas. I bought a pack of half pint pea seeds. They are tiny plants for growing on the window sills. Who thinks they will soon be appearing on every window sill in the house?

I do know of a Little Person who does like his peas.

Little people

How on earth can people afford raising little people? Denty and I both make “above average” London wages, but if I drop out, Denty’s net wage won’t cover our monthly mortgage and loan repayments, let alone food and heating.

What makes a person willingly give up (or at least, forestall) their career and interest for the sake of raising a child? How is the notion of such sacrifice even conceivable? Is “coping” with an encumbered life really worth sacrificing the “enjoying”?