6 June 2014

Have You Been Thinking About Visiting Me?

Have you been thinking about visiting me? Well, this weekend would be the perfect time. You see, we have a clean fridge. I cleaned it out all by myself. Yes, I tossed out all the old food and scrubbed the shelves. The fridge looks good! If you arrive unexpectedly on our doorstep this weekend, I won’t have to panic if you approach my fridge, looking for milk to add to your coffee. Gemma-Rose was impressed by all my work: “Wow, Mum! I nearly fainted. You cleaned the fridge!”

You’re probably wondering what all the fuss is about. You probably have a clean fridge all the time. I have to admit I am not a very good housekeeper. Oh yes, our home looks good on the surface. It’s liveable, but there are lots of jobs I put off doing because I’d rather write or do something with the girls.

The girls haven’t been well this week. Nothing serious, just colds. I hope they’re all recovered by Sunday. It’s Pentecost and our choir singers will be needed for some special Pentecost music. The other day I said to the girls, “I’m not very good at organising feast day activities, am I? We never do any craft.” I might have felt a bit guilty but Imogen replied, “But we sing, Mum. We’re always preparing special music. And we eat cake.”

Yes, the girls like baking cakes. They used to make this fabulous white chocolate mud cake covered with white frosting, and decorated with 12 fondant icing fruits, to represent the Fruits of the Holy Spirit. Used to? That cake is packed full of sugar and the girls won’t let me eat sugar any more. Of course, we eat it now and then when we dine out, and we eat a fair bit of dark chocolate. We’re not fanatical about it. But we no longer buy sugar for cooking. We used to buy bags and bags of it. The girls decided all that sugar wasn’t good for me (or them). I can’t say we miss it. I guess we can get used to anything.

We might need two cakes this weekend. Monday is a public holiday in honour of the Queen’s birthday. The girls will probably want to make the Queen a cake (though we will eat it for her). Any occasion is a good excuse for a cake, as far as the girls are concerned.

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Because the girls weren’t well, it was a quiet week. We didn’t do anything exciting, unlike my son Callum. The other evening he drove to Sydney, so he could race his car (the low-to-the-ground one that has an engine that growls). It was an organised event. The cars were inspected for safety,
and helmets had to be worn. “How fast did you go?” I asked Callum when he returned home. He said it took him 15 seconds (or something like that) to race along the track. He travelled for two hours to get to Sydney and of course, he did the same trip back, so he could race for 15 seconds? It doesn’t make any sense to me. But Callum came home with a grin on his face. He was happy.

I wasn’t unhappy, but I didn’t see the value of Callum’s racing experience. Not that I’d tell him. It really has nothing to do with me. He’s going to race whatever I think about it, so I might as well sound interested and supportive. He likes it when I take an interest in his cars. I wonder if Callum will be working on his cars this weekend.

How shall the rest of us spend our three day weekend (besides eating cake)? The first thing we need to do is go to the shops. We need some ingredients to make our cakes. We also need some ordinary groceries. When Andy stuck his head into my clean fridge, he said, “Where’s all the food?” I told him we don’t have any. “We’ve eaten everything.” Yes, both the fridge and the pantry are bare.

Perhaps you’re thinking it might not be such a great weekend to visit us after all. Don’t worry, tomorrow morning we shall go to town. We shall return with bags and bags of groceries. We will have plenty of food to offer any unexpected visitors. So are you coming? Or do you have other plans for the long weekend?

Image: Sophie had a Fruits of the Holy Spirit cake when she was confirmed.

Sue Elvis

I'm an Australian blogger, podcaster, and Youtuber. I write and speak about unschooling, parenting and family life. I'm also the author of the unschooling books 'Curious Unschoolers', 'Radical Unschool Love' and ‘The Unschool Challenge’. You'll find them on Amazon!

12 Comments

  1. Sheesh you've reminded me that it is Pentecost this weekend! We too have a clean fridge! and the cupboard is also currently bare, are we on a parallel universe you and I? Still there is time to organise something, I'll bring the main course since you are providing tea and cake!

    *smiles* San xx

    • San,

      I often don't realise where we are in the calendar until the last minute! My fridge is still clean but no longer bare. We have been shopping! So come on over whenever's convenient. I'm looking forward to tasting your main course. I'm looking forward to seeing you even more! xx

  2. I had a clean fridge once. Sorry you didn't get to see it; I really should have taken photos to prove it really did happen.

    And how very kind of you to eat the Queen's cake for her.! Imagine if she had to consume all the cakes baked in her honour!! Have a fun long weekend!

    • Nancy,

      I wondered if I'm the only person who makes a big deal about a clean fridge. Surely everyone else's fridge is perfectly clean every day of the week? I don't feel so bad now after reading your comment. Obviously you and I are so busy writing we don't even notice the states of our fridges!

      Oh yes, we are very kind and considerate offering to eat the Queen's cake for her. She would certainly get fat if we made her eat all the Queen's Birthday cakes. We can afford to eat the cake because we've decided to have a family run, followed by a picnic on Monday. We want to try out a new path we've never run along before. Have a great weekend too!

  3. We don't clean our fridge very often, either! When we do clean it, though, it's a relief to everybody in the house!

    Ah, cake for Monday, that's precisely what we'll need! I'm sure the queen won't mind if we eat it for her.. I'd send her a piece, but I doubt she'd get it (or, if she did, it wouldn't be in good condition!).

    Also thank you for the reminder that it's Pentecost this weekend!

    • Helena,

      I don't think cleaning out the fridge is anyone's favourite job. Yes, it's a relief when someone finally does it. Then we are safe again. No one is in danger of being poisoned by old food!

      I hope you had a happy Pentecost Sunday with your family. More cake and more celebrating tomorrow. Enjoy the Queen's birthday!

  4. Sue
    I read your post aloud to Timmy, who's sitting right here as I peruse my fave blogs, relaxing after a hot day in teh sun at the ball field. I've 5 loads of laundry and tons of mess that need to be cleaned up, but here I am acting like my house is clean! Same thing here, Sue,…..my house is "surface-clean" but either I'm busy doing fun stuff with the boys or stuff I "need" to do with HSing! It's funny how this sort of thing would have bothered me in the past: it doesn't really faze me any more!
    ANyway we got a good laugh out of the fridge being empty! and Calkum driving all the way to Sydney and back to drive for 15 secs…and your reaction to it! Very cute.

    I can't think of anything I'd rather do tonight or tomorrow that to come over! And you wouldn't even have to fuss and cook for us….If only we weren't,, oh, 9000 or so miles apart!!

    Love the pentecost idea too! 12 fruits for the fruits of the Holy Spirit! Great idea!

    Enjoy tomorrow, Sue! We'll think of you with that delicious fruity pentecost cake!

    xoxoxoxoxo

    • Chris,
      Yes, there's lots of things that are more important other than housework. I'm very relaxed about it too… until, we get an unexpected visitor!

      I can just imagine you and Timmy reading my post together. Such a pity we live so far apart. Our fridge is full of food again, and we could have shared a meal together. One day maybe…

      It is now the evening of Pentecost Sunday. We had a happy day together. I hope you are enjoying your day too! I shall check your blog next week to see if you baked a Pentecost cake!

  5. I love visiting you…here on this blog. It will have to do for now. As for clean fridge? Yeah, I've done that before. Maybe a couple times. But surely as soon as it gets cleaned someone will spill something. Usually me. Oh well, but I think I might give it a bit of a scrubbing today because it is almost completely bare. I did that on purpose because I was trying to use up all of the old stuff before shopping day tomorrow. Good timing on this post. Wasn't going to clean it, but what the heck…. It'll just be a harder task the more I put it off, right?

    Have a happy day/night/week…until next time. Smooches <3

    • Virginia,

      We used to clean the fridge, one shelf at a time, spreading the job over a number of days. This worked okay. But recently we haven't even done that. Oh well, no one ever looks inside my fridge except us. We don't often get visitors. I was thinking only this morning, I'd be very lonely if it wasn't for my online friends. I'm glad you love visiting me here. I always love seeing you have dropped by! Thank you!

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