It's the hardest job in the world....

...being a stay at home parent.

Some days this is me.

Yesterday was one. I hid in the walk in pantry.

If I had a boss i'd tell him I want a raise...and time off....and a bonus....and a terms and conditions defined within a contract.

I don't have a boss, so to whom can I tender my resignation?

Don't even get me started on occupational hazards.

Sunday Fright Night

*disclaimer* Anyone with arachnaphobia should proceed to view the next image with caution.








One of these crawled out from under the lapel of a business shirt I was ironing last night.

Someone somewhere wants me to die of fright.

Seriously.

I

am

petrified

of

whitetail

spiders.

When I lived in Scotland a HUGE (ok, a couple of cm diameter) common house spider crawled down the front of my dressing gown onto my naked flesh. There began my fear of spiders.

Miss E was bitten on her foot by what we suspect was a whitetail last year. She was fine, but watching the wee one in a lot of pain simply perpetuated my fear.

I don't know if I'll ever get over either event. I know it's irrational.

All I know is, I'm pleased Music Man was there to dispose of the critter. Last time I found one on my own It took me 30 mins to pluck the courage up to get a glass over the thing.

My heart nearly exploded out of my chest.

Now if you excuse me, I'm off to call pest control to get the entire house sprayed.

A Golden Moment

These are my in-laws, last weekend we had a lovely lunch with the whole family (minus a couple of toddlers) to celebrate their 50 years of marriage. 50 years! Wow, Music Man and I have been married for a whole 6, I can't imagine 50.

50 Years and 4 sons later. I don't know what life would be like living with 5 men in the house. It's no wonder my lovely mother in law likes to collect porcelain dolls.

Miss E with her best friend, Poppa. Poppa emigrated to New Zealand in his early 20's from Holland. He has a wonderful sense of humour, very much like my Dad.

This is Miss E's other best friend. Her cousin that is 10 weeks older than her. He had a tummy ache from drinking too much lemonade and his Dad had to tickle the tummy ache away. It seems to work.

See, this was him before. What a cute face! Daddy fixed it.

The eldest brother, winding his wife up. Getting him to behave for a photo seemed impossible! They have two boys.

Music Man.

The baby brother and his wife. We had our older children 10 weeks apart and our younger 3 months apart. We feel each others' pain. The pain of motherhood is a bond that men do not understand.

The second eldest brother and his wife. They have two girls.

It was a really fun afternoon, great company, wonderful food and a joy to celebrate this milestone.