Just another day in the land of Pooh..

FIL is in the kitchen having a chat with the cleaning lady. Sash is down for her nap. I am waiting for lunch. Doug is buying Christmas lights. Just another day in Pooh-land.

Family members have been calling up on a daily basis, concerned about the workload we have taken on taking care of the "cranky patient". We brush off their concerns. Not because we are polite, or want to reassure them that their Dad is in good hands, but because it really isn't much work. We all wake up by 10am, and FIL is just happy with eggs on toast. I suppose when you live alone having company for breakfast is the treat, not the eggs sunny side up. We hang about while Sash goes through her Christmas present stash. Yes, she has found her grandfather's stash and he has, after watching her drag around unopened boxes of whatever noisy toy for days, grudgingly allowed her to open one toy. Did I mention that FIL is a Scot/Canadian therefore somewhat frugal, but loves sales so he stocks up his Christmas presents extremely early. We are quite happy that she has only opened one because the toys we buy her are usually educational, preferably not requiring the use of batteries. We find however the toys she receives from others gobble up batteries and have no volume control...like this one she has just opened which is a Toddler karaoke set which plays 10 songs sung by irritating cartoon characters in disco beat. This one will definitely be left behind when we fly back to Toronto this Monday. FIL bought the darn thing and he is jolly well going to suffer along with the rest of us when she plays with it.

Lunch is soup and toast. Without fail. So it takes me 3 minutes to prepare. Now, if I had a Malay FIL I would probably have to make bubur (rice porridge) or at least curry and veggie to accompany rice. I like this soup in microwave business. Oh yes, and the toast.

I cooked dinner the first few days we were here. Nothing much, steak and potatoes, spaghetti bolognese, that sort of thing. Now that FIL is somewhat on the mend we have eaten out for the past three days. Doug thinks he likes eating out when we are around because he does not get to often enough as he lives alone, and as a rather frugal Scot (I am being nice here. The stories Doug tells me about his Dad's cheapness are legendary) he cannot justify eating out on his own. I think it is because he does not like my cooking. Am I insulted? Hell no. I like eating out. We are going to a nice Thai place tonight. FIL loves the "traditionally Thai" lychee smoothie. He takes pride in his adventurous excursions into ethnic restaurants. It is my responsibility to order the blandest dish on the menu for him.

And then we have breakfast again the next morning...So you see, there really is nothing to it.