Today was so awesome. Awesome in its 'un'-awesomeness, in its sameness.
And I swear I tried to find the time to do everything we were supposed to do. I tried. But I fell two steps behind every single step of the way.
We were supposed to go to brunch. Just Smilin' Vic, Kiddo and I. Friday brunch in Doha is always a fun thing. An excuse to put on a fancy dress and heels and have sparkling wine at noon. Kiddo doesn't get to enjoy the wine, but they always have fancy deserts. So everyone wins. Yaye!
But today was the brunch that wasn't. I got up early but got caught up filling out my MegaMart coupons ... a chance to win a Mercedes is nothing to sneeze at.
Thing is I had about two months' worth of coupons to fill out. I get about 20 coupons a week. Writing out the date, my name, my telephone number and my National ID number 160 times took a lot longer than I'd expected.
By the time I finished, changed out of my pi's and headed off to buy the weekly groceries, it was already 11:00 a.m.
Since I have a disability which makes me the slowest grocery shopper in the world, I was the last person at the till after the store had closed for Friday noon prayer. I knew then that we'd never make it to brunch at noon.
All was ok, though. I'd already decided I'd buy the makings of a ''blupper''. A combination breakfast, lunch, and supper. A smorgasbord of culinary delights. I bought fixings for pot stickers, coconut shrimp and peanut sauce. Add in avocado and pita bread for homemade guacamole and chips. Salted Syrian string cheese and sun-dried tomatoes in oil for a salty side dish. Blue cheese and pomegranate for a fresh hoity toity salad. Humungus onions for homemade onion rings (Kiddo's favourite). Zucchini that I'd shred for scrumptious zucchini-pesto croquettes. And when I got home I boiled some eggs so Kiddo could devil them up to top off our feast. Then I juiced a dozen oranges and a dozen lime for mimosas.
What. The. Hell. Was. I. Thinking?
I got home with my sundry and took an hour to put everything away. Because I'm THAT slow.
I tried to speed things up, I really did.
I then set off chopping and dicing and grinding and blending. By 5:00 p.m., every pot in the house had been used, the spice cupboard had been emptied, there were no more clean spoons, the dishwasher had already been cleared twice, and I was just getting ready to fry/steam the pot stickers.
I gave up on the illusion of sipping champagne and eating canapés while the sun still shone. Smilin' Vic brought me a glass of wine. I started frying up the coconut shrimp. As I looked at the MOUNTAIN of food on the kitchen island, my heart sank just a bit.
This was meant to be blupper for three. It could have fed 40 lumberjacks. The kitchen island was collapsing under the weight of all this food. This wasn't going to work. As I threw the last of the shrimp into oil, I made an executive decision; I'd serve up the Asian fare tonight, everything else would be stored in the fridge to cure tomorrow's mimosa hangover.
Smilin' Vic and Kiddo were salivating by the time all was ready. They'd set up the table outside, and around 6:00 p.m. we sat down to enjoy the feast with our mimosas (Kiddo's was champagne-free), our appetites, and our sweet kitty cat peering out the screen door.
And despite my disenchantment at serving blupper 3 hours late and not quite as I'd pictured it, Smilin' Vic and Kiddo tucked into their potstickers and coconut shrimp like there was no tomorrow. I'd laid out the devilled eggs as well, because Kiddo had worked hard to get them just right, and everything disappeared in a flash.
The jug of orange and lime juice was a hit as we revelled in the falling Doha temps (24 C tonight).
I'd recently downloaded Monty Python's ''The Quest for the Holy Grail''. We hadn't had the chance to watch it, so we headed back indoors to do so and explain 70's acid-riddled humour to our 9-year-old. We failed miserably, but even Kiddo couldn't help but laugh at the sight of the soldiers trying to recreate with coconut shells the sound of horses' galloping.
For some reason, I can't stop laughing at the thought of King Arthur being asked ''so where'd you get the coconuts?''
I wanted to write, I'd wanted to all day but hadn't found the time. Plus I didn't have much to write about. I decided I'd try anyhow.
When I switched on my computer I received a prompt from Bloggingme.net to list my blogging heroes, which got me to re-read posts by all my blogging buddies. I got distracted. Lost track of time. I got Smilin' Vic to check one of my favourites out as I was reading, which led to an 'interesting' debate on what was worse: (a) your kids licking sandwich meat and then putting it back in the packet or (b) your boss sleeping with your wife.
If I didn't blog and read the blogs of others, these conversations might never happen. I'm really glad I take the time to blog, even when there's not that much time.
As Smilin' Vic walked away from our debate and into the house, he walked right into the screen door. Spilt his wine.
Now, just so you know, Smilin' Vic has a 30-second rule. After 30-seconds of him seriously hurting or humiliating himself, I'm allowed to laugh. I didn't make the 30-second cut. I failed. This was the one single time today where time wasn't too short. My guffaw was spontaneous and immediate. Literally split-second. But seriously, folks, it was REALLY funny.
And so I'm sitting here, at 1:00 a.m., sipping wine and blogging. Because I have the time. And all of a sudden, now that I've got time, I've got nothing really to blog about. Other than the mundane, or whatever you see above. Oh, well ...