Bluebird's Nest

Ok, seriously, what is with this country and their lack of baking supplies??

Doing holiday baking is almost impossible when there is no “regular” vanilla (butter flavoured and lemon flavoured I could find no problem), no brown sugar, no molasses, icing guns are few and far between, food colouring is only found in the third grocery store you look in and the measuring amounts are completely different. Try making Gingerbread people in these conditions! Argh!

They don’t have molasses, they have melasse which tastes an awful lot like molasses, but you can put it on bread like honey. So I’m going to use that and see what happens. But I’ll tell you: when I tried the batter, it was not what I expected. I’m not suprised though, I also had to use regular sugar as I couldn’t find dark brown sugar (or light brown sugar for that matter).

You know how in Canada you can buy a 10 kg package of flour you hoist up on one shoulder? The largest size package they carry here is (that you can buy in a grocery store) is 1 kg. I’m not even exaggerating. How can a country that has amazing bread at every corner, only carry 1 kg packages of flour? I guess no one here is making their own bread. Or baking full stop.

They do sell cookie cutters though, that I know. So they must know what a homemade cookie here is. Unless, those are actually decorations for the tree, and everyone here thinks I’m crazy for using them to make cookies with.

Ok, life could be worse. But for a country that has baked goods (croissants, black forest cake, almost any pastry you can imagine, etc…), I don’t understand how anyone could bake a cookie here. Nevermind that baking powder is also almost obsolete.

Je ne commend pas Switzerland. Remind me never to do holiday baking here again.

I guess there’s one thing that good though: less intake of calories if I can’t bake!!

I know I haven’t blogged in a while (I’ve been feeling sorry for myself as I had a cold that was kicking my butt) and I had a totally different blog lined up for today actually, but something happened today that is completely unbelievable I just have to get it off my chest. It’s the kind of thing that makes my blood boil.

Let me set the scene, me and the tweenager had gone to H&M to get her some leggings for Winter. When she was in the change room, me and the wee babe waited patiently in the entrance of the change room. The tweenager’s backpack was placed on the ground in front of the stroller. I didn’t think it was badly placed but one of the staff thought so, so she picked it up and placed it on the table. Ok, not a big deal but I had an uneasy feeling about that.

The tweenager finished trying on the leggings and we promptly left – sans backpack.

We did some more shopping for groceries in two different shopping malls beside each other. When we had finished we were beginning to walk back home when I asked “Where is your backpack?” We both stopped dead in our tracks and remembered that it MUST be at H&M.

We hightailed it back there to the floor above where the change rooms are. (There was an elevator that I needed to get on to go down to the floor with the change room and it’s always busy and a bit out of the way so we decided that I would park the stroller at the top of the stairs in H&M and then the tweenager would walk down stairs, grab the backpack, and meet me back up the stairs. Lickety split.

Why oh why would I think it would go that smoothly.

She came back up the stairs – sans backpack – I uttered a “oh no” under my breath and asked “what happened?”

She said that there was nothing in the change room and that there was huge lineup downstairs so she was just going to ask on this level where there was only one person being served at the cashier.

She walked over to the cashier who was talking to her customer. I was watching from afar and it was taking FOREVER!! You ever get in one of those situations where the cashier just won’t shut up about something ridiculous and the line keeps growing and growing and she’s completely oblivious to it all? Yeah this is what was happening to the tweenager – thankfully she was next in line.

Finally after I’m sure it was 5 minutes, the cashier finally said goodbye to her new BFF and served my daughter. They conversed a bit, I saw her use the phone, and then grab a yellow pad of paper.

Time for the mama to infiltrate. (Oh and by the way, let’s try to remember that this next conversation is about to take place in French and I have a cold that has wreaked havoc on my vocal chords so I can barely talk anyway.)

I said to the tweenager “they don’t have it?” and she said “apparently not” and the cashier said “If you just give me your name and phone number we can call you if we find it.”

Then I said “it’s impossible that it’s not here. And we need to get it back today as it has all her school stuff in it. I’m going to take a look downstairs.”

So she said “why don’t you just give me your phone number and name…” and I cut her off while making a motion to leave while saying “I just want to check downstairs first before…” Oh and the lineup behind is now about 6 people deep…

So she said (like a broken record) “You don’t want to give me your name and phone number??” And I was stuck – do I just rudely walk away from this woman who doesn’t seem to get that I don’t want to give her my name and phone number, I JUST want to look downstairs???

The woman behind me could hear it all (and my terrible French and my thick accent) so she says in English, “you just want to go downstairs first right?” and I said “YES! EXACTLY!!” and promptly turned and fled for the elevator.

We get downstairs and walk to the back of the store where the change rooms are and things just get a little more weird.

There were two woman in the change room that work there so I ask them “have you seen a black backpack?” and they say “no, no one has seen it, we told the woman upstairs to take your name and phone number” and I said “it’s impossible that no one knows where it is… is there a back room or something where it could have gone?”

She says “Madame, everyone is aware of the lost backpack and no one knows where it could have gone. Where did you say you left it?”

I point on the table RIGHT beside me but they are both basically just brushing me off. I HATE to be brushed off.

So something in me decides to look under the table. I’m not sure what it was but it’s almost like I have a 6th sense. Eerie.

And as they say in French VOILA! There’s the freaking backpack. Right in front of their noses. From asking my tweenager if it was in plain sight for them, she said it was behind some empty hangers, so you put two and two together.

So I declare “C’est juste la!!!!!!!!!” (which means “it’s right there!”) Bitches…

As my friend Jenn says back home “They’ve been banned!”

And there you have it. My trip to H&M. I won’t even begin to tell you what happened with the tweenager and her key this morning or when I was standing in the line up at the grocery store and the wee babe was crying her face off while the lady older than dirt was filtering through her change… Let’s just say it hasn’t been exactly a stellar day.

There’s always tomorrow. Oh and only two more sleep until my mommy comes

Today was epic.

Or maybe I should say yesterday since it’s 11:37pm and I’m in bed, listening to my wee babe blow raspberries in the play pen at the foot of my bed. I am *willing* her to go to sleep.

We’ve had one of biggest days of her life so far.

Let me start at the beginning.

We woke up at 6:20. The wee babe decided it was time to wake up. So papa and her played for a bit in bed (he not much of a morning person so when she’s tired of playing on his tummy, I need to get up or breast feed. I chose breast feeding.) I breast fed her to sleep around 7:15 and managed to get another hour of sleep in before she woke again. That time she was serious. It’s time to get up.

Coffee, eggs and toast with a discussion on how the day was going to roll out.

I took off to CT to pick up a cooler for the trip. My hubby and tweenager sorted empties to take back to the recycling depot to get some moola. Last bottle depot trip.

I came home and got the tweenager ready for her dance rehearsal and recital. Hair and makeup.

The hubby came home and we all left for downtown. First stop, theatre to drop off the tweenager for her rehearsal.

My Swiss mister, the wee babe and I walked down to the harbour and stood in line for an hour to get fish and chips. if you’ve ever had fish and chips from Red Fish Blue Fish, you would understand why we stood in line for an hour.

I should interject her with the fact that it was a BEAUTIFUL day. There was also a bike thing going on in the harbour. BMX biking. They had huge ramps, jumps and a barge and blow up mattress thingy, food stalls and TONNES of people mulling around.

I got the text from my tweenager that she was done the rehearsal so after we finished eating we took off back to the theatre to get her.

After a quick visit back to the car to get changed, we headed BACK to the bike thing in the harbour so the tweenager could check it out. We perused around, saw some cool jumps, some weird people, a bunch of tourists, a dance floor outside, and lots of music. Oh yeah and a naked bike ride through downtown Victoria. My tweenager got some video footage of it (is that a bit weird?) but for now I’ll just post a still photo or two.

Then we decided to head to Wanna Waffel to cash in a Groupon that I bought. Not the healthiest of choices given the fish and chip smorgasbord that we devoured but what the hell. All the walking should have helped with the added calories. And anyway, this was probably the last time in 6 months that the 3 of us were going to be altogether in Victoria before we leave.

After that we grabbed a Frappacino (we had another gift card to there so why not) and walked on over to Bastion Square. Phewf. We parked ourselves on a bench for about 20 minutes and people watched the time away. It was a great break to recharge our batteries for the next leg of our day.

We headed back to the car to do another quick change and fix the hair and makeup. Pit stop at a Mexican joint to pick up a couple of wraps (yeah I know) and then off to the theatre.

Ok, this is where I get pissy. My tweenager takes off to where she’s supposed to be. My hubby, the wee babe and I get our 2 tickets scanned and just as we’re heading into the theatre when one of the ushers say, “You’re going to have to get a ticket for the baby too.”

“Huh? Why?” (get this)

“For fire marshall/safety reasons.”

“Are you kidding me? How much?”

“$15.” Actually it was $19.50. WTF.

Ever so calmly my hubby and I grill the ticket sellers. “Why? She’s going to be on our laps the whole time SLEEPING. Sure charge us but make it $5. She’s only 5 months for gawds sake! Is there any way around this?”

There’s 2 ticket sellers and the one we’ve been dealing with says “Nope, you have to pay.”

The second one says “Don’t tell anyone but sometimes people drop of tickets that people don’t need. If that happens we can hold it for you for you to have.”

I’m happy that she is sharing this information but pissed that this is happening. Immediately I decide that if I pay for a ticket and my baby cries, then I’m getting my $20 worth of crying in.

There’s something you have to understand. This theatre is a top notch theatre. Ok, I get that. BUT this isn’t the Phantom of the Opera. This is a dance recital that happens EVERY YEAR. Not to belittle the dance recital (they put on a damn fine performance.) But come on! Airplane tickets cost NOTHING for 2 and under.

So my hubby and I go outside. We contemplate setting up a sign and a hat to take donations of money or tickets to get our precious baby inside. (Ok, we had the money but I refuse to pay $20 for this baby to SLEEP through it.)

We tell everyone we see what happened. They are flabbergasted. Then we see another unsuspecting mom with a 4 week old. “Did you pay for a ticket for your precious bundle. No? Oh you’re screwed.”

Finally, someone comes through for us. It seems that a little sister is going to sneak in with her older sister who’s in the recital so we can have her ticket. There are small miracles.

As we head inside, another woman has over heard our story and happens to know the owners of the dance company and she says that if we had asked for a comp ticket for the baby we would have gotten it and that it’s outrageous that the theatre was making you pay.

You’re telling me and noted for next year.

Dance company = rocks. Theatre = sucks.

The performance is wonderful. My tweenager was fantastic. She worked hard all year to show us her stuff and it showed. I was so proud.

After it was over we congratulated her and headed home.

I haven’t done a rant in a long time and just the thing happened to me yesterday. Actually, 2 things happened to me yesterday that I just have to let out.

I was at the local rec centre just leaving swimming lessons. I walked up to my car and what do I see:

My car is on the left (of course). The van is quite OBVIOUSLY crowding me. I’m quite OBVIOUSLY parked perfectly. I was so enraged that I actually left a note:

It’s a DAMN good thing the baby’s car seat is on the passenger side. Oh and I’m not all the skinny but it made me feel so good to call myself that Does he/she think that because she’s on the line that that’s ok? Man oh man, some people… I had a look inside the van while I was pressed up against it and saw an Elmo lunch kit inside. For some reason I’m all judgy on Elmo now.

After that, I drove downtown and met a friend for lunch at a sandwich shop.

I grabbed my sandwich and luckily got there before the rush so I could see that there was plenty of seating on the other side of the restaurant. I just had to get there with my stroller.

Easier said then done. My stroller turns on a dime but the amount if stink eye I received trying to get there was incredible.

The first lady I asked to move her chair looked at me like I was effing joking. I almost thought she wasn’t going to budge and that she was just going to say “Are you kidding me?” I even had to tap her on the shoulder after I said “excuse me” 3 times.

Then I had to negotiate around another set of table and chairs where I needed to get a guy to pull in his chair. You would have thought I had asked him to move his car to ALABAMA by the look on his face.

I’ve noticed that when you are pushing a stroller or carrying a car seat there are two types of people.

1. People who bend over backwards for you. Grab doors when they’re clearly helping you out. Move chairs to help you get through. Offer to carry your bags when it looks like your struggling. Give you the elevator when they’ve already been waiting longer than you. Those people are amazing.
2. Then there’s the people who don’t give you enough room walking down the hall. Stand right in the way when you’re trying to get though. Don’t hold the door for you after they’ve JUST walked through it. Look at you as if you’re an alien with your car seat and/or stroller. These people should be left notes on their cars about their ignorance.

Rant over. Thanks for letting me vent.

Hair in the bathtub.

Hair in the sink.

Hair on the floor.

Hair stuck in the lint trap.

Hair stuck to my clothes.

Hair stuck to my daughter’s fingers and toes.

Hair in my food.

Hairy mouths.

Hair stuck in my bum crack (yeah I know that’s gross but admit it, that’s happened to you).

Hair in my bed.

Hair on my head. Or is it?

Hair falling out. Falling out. Falling out.

There’s something about post-pregnancy hair loss the is so unattractive.