Who's Morticia?

Daughter tried on a skirt today. She doesn't usually wear skirts, but she had a bad case of "nothing to wear!" so I braced myself, and entered the dungeon. er... Bedroom. Yeah.
Anyway, the first thing I did was look at her bed. She has one of those bunk beds with the double at the bottom, and the single at the top. Since her room (the former garage) has a long set of shelves high on the wall, she uses the single top bunk. The shelves run the entire length of her bed (a little longer, actually) and it gives her a massive bedside table thing. And the double bottom bunk is her teen-wannabe dumping ground. I don't think she realised I had entered her lair ... I mean bedroom ... until those dreaded words boomed out (I can have a carrying voice at times), "Beth, come here!" "That doesn't sound good"
So we had a conference. "What is clean and what is dirty?" The pile decreased. Well, shifted, anyway. Then I started looking through her drawers. We won't go into the whole folding issue at this point. She has promised (ha!) to fold her clothes. I started pulling out clothes, and found a long pencil skirt in dark brown. It has buttons up the front, and a split at the back. "Mum, it's broken!" "No, that's just so you can walk. So you won't be like Morticia."
"Who's Morticia?"

I have failed.

I have failed my duty as a parent, and especially as a mother, by neglecting my daughter's education so disastrously. How could I not introduce her to that most elegant of sitcom mothers? To the show that poked fun at everthing bland and banal? To the reason I love black ;)
Well, I made a good start with YouTube, but I think that I'm going to have to hunt down some DVDs. Wish me luck.

Oh, and once we had the whole "Who's Morticia" issue settled, then came the "What do I wear with this?" issue. I hunted through her drawers, and came up with three tops - one pink/purple/other colours stripey thing, one plain pink (bit more muted shade), and a green top. "Does green go with brown?" she asked.
"Sure it does," I assured her. "Have you never seen a tree?"
Now she's claiming tree status.

Learning to Cook

I don't really remember much about learning to cook. What I remember is, at age 10, being told to go upstairs and put the sausages on and start the potatoes. By age 14 I was the Chief Cook and Bottle-Washer, as Mum was working full-time, and was pregnant/had a baby, who turned out to be intolerant of cows milk, and required soy milk. And not the nice, neat soy formula you can get now. My 24yo brother was on tinned, concentrated soy milk that stained everything it came in contact with, before, during and after consumption.
Anyway, I want all my children to know how to cook before they leave home, and to be good at it. I want them to be confident that they can cook healthy, tasty meals from whatever they have, and also to be able to plan weekly menus to look after themselves and their respective families. So Bethy is learning to cook.
These photos came from a recent foray into the kitchen.

Having peeled the potatoes (because they had green skins) she is now carefully cutting them into chunks for mashed potatoes.

Carefully adding them to the boiling water.

I bought 'rissoles' from the butcher - they were cheap, but not something i really like to buy regularly.

Mashing the potato. Bethy wanted Vege Mash, which is something I started years ago to get the children to eat their vegetables. Simply make your mashed potatoes (butter, milk, cheese - yum!) and then stir in your steamed mixed vegetables. Of course, this won't work if you have a fussy child that can't abide things touching other things. I understand it happens, but thankfully none of mine are like that.

Drain the rissoles on paper for a few minutes before serving.

And I didn't do a thing. Just gave directions when she asked.

Tonight she made Tuna Casserole while I was shopping. Which involved several phone calls ;) I made her wait until I got home before adding the milk to the roux, as hubby has absolutely no idea, and he was the responsible-parent-at-home. The onions were a little ... caramelised ... but that was ok. It just gave a little more flavour to the sauce. The eggs were perfect! Hard-boiled without being rubbery, and no green rings around the yolks. I had been very clear about the cooking of the eggs (wait till they come to the boil, boil 10 minutes, remove from the heat and immediately drain the hot water, cover with cool water, and replace the water when it got too hot) and she did them perfectly. I let her know, as I was cutting them, that they were, indeed, perfect.
Unfortunately, there were no left-overs. Sigh...

Webb Park - Part 1

Would you believe this came out? All of it. Of course, the slope at the park is now totally denuded :o

You better believe it! I walked up that path twice! (What was I thinking?)

This actually was quite a slope. Even more so, I guess, from the top looking down.

There was also a play area at the top where we all retreated to after the children had had enough. (Or rather, we parents decided the children had had enough ;) )

There was also a flying fox.

Both girls had a go, though Gracey only went once or twice.

Poor Mark wasn't feeling well, so he didn't go :(