Highlights

Sunday:

After we returned home from children's classes post party exhaustion set in, despite adamant assurances to the contrary: "I am NOT tired!" (Que spontaneous sobbing.) Only minutes after her impassioned declaration I return to the room to find this:

Note the attire. She woke up two hours later and was a much happier person for it. Meanwhile Ruhi got a little shut eye herself.

And Bayan, who slept through the party, attempted to Hi-5 the camera.

My own post party exhaustion enticed me to leave the mountain of dishes (and I do mean mountain) until morning. Something I soon learned to regret. Upon waking we discovered a geyser blasting the bushes in front of the bay window. As you may be aware Australia, well certain parts anyway, is experiencing a severe drought. Consequently the brick pavers at the front of the house have been doing all sorts of interesting things (for years), so really it was only a matter of time before the main water pipe leading into the house moved enough to crack. At some stage between 9:30 Saturday night and 9:30 Sunday morning the crack developed into a proper hole which lead to the geyser and also to a pool of water bubbling around the foundation.

We were only without water for a little over 24 hours. It is amazing how we can take for granted the simple act of turning on a tap. We are all overjoyed, especially Mehran, to be able to shower and flush toilets again.

Monday:

The plumber arrived before 9 am to tend the geyser. He was most amiable, took no more than 10 minutes and only charged $60.00, which left me with just enough to cover the girls' horse riding lesson in the afternoon.

We also made a special trip to the hospital, but that deserves it's own post.

Tuesday:

After my friend Sue dropped her son at school and I had dropped off Ruhi we took our remaining children: Anisa, Bayan and Sue's youngest daughter Amelia "ethnic" shopping near the city. Sue wanted to see the Persian shop, and buy some tea, dried figs and other unusual delicacies. The "Greek Shop", which isn't actually it's name, only what Mehran and I refer to it as, is a massive warehouse selling every imaginable Mediterranean culinary necessity and, as we soon discovered, Eastern European ones too. We discovered a mayonnaise (and yes, I realise that I am discussing mayonnaise in my highlights of the week - but wait till you hear...) with half the fat, (more on that later) less sugar and some other dietary bonuses when compared to the other brand that Sue and I both buy. It was also far less expensive. We selected a jar, made our other purchases, including a lovely spinach and ricotta ravioli and a massive tin (3.4 kilos) of tomato sauce, and headed home for lunch: veggie sandwiches with the fat reduced mayonnaise -of which we had high hopes. Unfortunately, we got more than we bargained for. The lid nearly blasted off as soon as a slight pressure and twist were applied. The brown sludge on the inside of the lid was the next indicator that something was amiss. Now, I know this sounds ridiculous, but as I attempted to close the lid (we intended to return the jar) the mayo wouldn't let me. I know, I know but you see it applied pressure to my pressure. More wary, as I now feared there may have been something alive in there, we left the jar on the counter wrapped in a plastic bag. As we ate our lunch (with the fat filled mayo) the mayo (on the counter) continued to expand upwards until the lid was at a right angle to the jar. Isn't this perfectly fascinating? Aren't you thrilled and grateful to be reading about mayonnaise? Don't despair. I am almost done. Sue's husband, a chemical engineer, said it has something to do with dysfunctional vinegar and a bad batch of yeast. Personally I think there may have been some poltergeist involved as well. The funny thing was that I didn't even consider taking a photo until after I threw it away (we never did get it back to the shop.)

Later Tuesday I took the kids next door for a play date and I had an informal beading lesson where I helped to create a necklace, a bracelet and headband. I'll get a more detailed photo when the camera has batteries.

Anisa also helped make the head band and I think I am going to have to learn how to make these properly as Anisa now lives in her jewellery, removing them only to sleep and bathe. As you can see she has moved on from her usual form of body art and is now coloring her nails with marker (where does she get that from?) and enjoys having her face painted (that part I get.)

Wednesday & Thursday

Work. Enough said.

Friday:

The daughter of a Baha'i friend is going to be living with us for awhile. Her father has remarried and is moving to China for a year or so. We have been in chaos trying to rearrange the house and rooms. She will have the front room, ensuite and closet and we'll be in the back; the girls room will remain unchanged; the formal lounge will now double as a play room; the nursery will be in our room and the computer room will be where the nursery was. Currently it's chaos.

And these are the photos I can bear to show you.

Somewhere in the midst of all this Mehran got his blood work back from the doctor. He is now on folate and vitamin D. He has high triglycerides, high cholesterol and seriously needs to loose weight - something he has known for awhile. He is pretty freaked out. It is scary and I have been making him live off of vegetables and meat with rye bread and some yogurt. He is exercising more frequently and has even just bought another piece of exercise equipment. I'll let you know how we go. In the meantime what exactly are triglycerides and how do you lower them? Mom?