Birthday # 4: A legendary one

Started to write this 22 August 2014…

School started Tuesday (19 August 2014), and boy does Birthday celebrating take a sad shape, when school is in session. Everything just becomes so bla-ha somehow. I wish I could persuade at least my older children, to celebrate their Birthdays, at least the party part, on weekends. It would make it so much more festive, when we are all home, all day. But none of my children are really willing to do this. So, today, we just had to sit and wait, forever it seemed, till everyone was home, so we could celebrate E. and her big day.

She has been walking around for a week, singing “I am sixteen going on seventeen…”, since she feels quite upset about it soon not fitting in on her. I reminded her that she can take “Rolfe’s” part instead, singing “I am seventeen going on eighteen…” but she was not amused. I was amused though, going in on IMDB to see what they all look like today, and reading that “Rolfe” met his first wife on set. She was the Austrian stand-in for “Liesl”. I guess, romance did not last long, like with all Hollywood tralala romances.

While we waited, E. got busy decorating all of her three cakes. Yes, I know, it sounds insane, but we were afraid that there would not be enough. Thinking in the old ways, a ninth person in the household, who used to eat like a bucket with a hole in it. She had opted to not have a bakery made Princess cake this year, but to put together our own cake or cakes, with supermarket bought cake bottoms and then fixing everything else by ourselves. We made two with pineapple/cream and strawberry/cream layers, thanks to the above reason. Not that we expected him to join us, not at all, but because we did not think straight. The third one became the younger ones’ cake with banana/cream and strawberry/cream layers. Does it sound weird? Well, it was this lady in church that gave me this tip many years ago.

She had children that were not that hip on Birthday cake, because cakes tend to be very dry when you make them yourself at home. What her mother had always done and then herself was, instead of for example spreading banana on one layer or whatever, she mashed a couple of bananas and then mixed them with cream. Most children love bananas.  And then she would mix strawberry jam with cream. These two fillings, she would spread on two layers of the cake and then as usual cover the cake with cream and add some funny decoration. She also did a mix of pineapple and cream, since pineapple is very juicy and REALLY prevents the cake from tasting dry.

In our family, “Cookie”, “Kitty”, “Boo” and “Gubby” will not go near pineapple, even if one smuggles it in to a cake. So first mistake today, was making two pineapple cakes. Second mistake was, E. forgetting which cake was which so I accidentally gave “Gubby” and “Boo” of the pineapple, before my strong-smelling sense revealed the truth. I said nothing, to see if they would swallow it, but alas they were not fooled. “Gubby” happily ate but then I noticed that he had managed to save all of the pineapple filling on the plate having scraped off the cake on both sides. Grrrrr!

E. had bought all sorts of candies that she wanted to decorate the cakes with, and she did, but acted like a tookey child, when it was time to eat the cake with the “Lion’s” bars and Ahlgren’s cars on it, since her siblings had to hand over the decorations to her for eating, which had ended up on their pieces. I let her be. I just did not want to start an argument about it. Just  shows that even if you turn 17 you can still act like you are just THREE! “Mine, mine, mine…”.

When we were all feeling like we could not eat any more cake, we put all the leftovers on one plate and realized it was an entire cake! And that made us discuss, that had Johannes been there, it had been gone. Well, his siblings said so but I had to inform them that no, he would not since he is obsessed with dieting and exercise, and IF he had eaten anything, he would immediately have gone and either put his fingers down his throat, which I suspect he did from the time he started this craze, or he would have eaten the pills he put on the table by  his place, that prevents the body from taking in the fat. He was so obsessed, like he gets with everything. T. shook his head and informed us all that he would not have gone near the cake at all today, because his girlfriend is a Vegan so of course he has had to become one as well. That young man is still the teenage rebel that can not think a sound thought on his own. He has been phoning T. to  convert T. to the cause and telling his father what an idiot he is. He just can’t leave us alone. And what about the Word of Wisdom then? Both of them are members of the church, but I  guess they just poo poo on the dietary law we  live by. Where God says that we shall  eat of everything.

When I visited the dietician at  the hospital with “Kitty” a couple of weeks ago, the most  important thing he told me was “Do not cut out things from his diet because when you do, you ALWAYS run the risk of becoming deficient of something.” That goes for both children and grown ups. All healthy food has nutrition in it, necessary for us and our bodies. To cut out  bread deprives you of important grain and everything that gives you. Our  bodies need carbohydrates whatever LCHF people say. Our bodies need the calcium in milk, the protein in eggs and meat… All dietitians insist on this as does God in the Word of Wisdom, and anyone that says different, is a lunatic and deserves to get ill. I was contemplating removing all gluten from my diet, because all thyroid experts said, that gluten kills the thyroid. Well, for most people gluten is not a problem at all. And the problem us people with Hashimoto’s have with gluten, is probably an isolated one. I decided against removing the gluten, since it is not economically possible to do so. I trust my Heavenly Father that he will keep me alive for my children, whether I eat gluten or not. It was not a tough decision at all, since the food the dietitians told me to eat instead was red meat, onions and all the sorts of foods which I can not eat, because I also lack a gall bladder on top of the Hashimoto’s.

So, do not come and talk about stupid diets and removing food out of one’s life. I know what it can lead to. And I trust that God knows best. Who else can one trust? Obviously my oldest son and his young lady, feel that they are above him and know better. Typical teenagers in other words, even though they are 24 and 25 years old. Birds of a feather, eh?!

We put the left over cakes in to the fridge and people nibbled on them for three days. But I can not recommend three-day old cake. Ghastly tasting! The only one who still enjoyed it, was “Gubby”. What a little vacuum cleaner!

Before we sat down for the evenings film, and in reality, before we had the cake, E. received her presents. It is not easy to shop for someone who doesn’t write a wish list and never has. “Cookie” had bought a travelling mug and “Boo” had made a necklace in school for her with his assistant. I had done the stupid thing and had bought a pair of 3/4 length black jeans on sale, because she has complained that she has too many shirts and hardly anything to wear on her lower body. I know the feeling. Same goes for me, since I hate buying skirts and trousers, having the C-section bag which makes me look fat in everything! (The following image is not of MY belly, but this is what you will look like after three C-sections. Image taken from a woman after having just ONE C-section, so you can imagine what my bag looks like!) But surgery cost 35 000-45 000 :- (£ 3065-3941/ € 3816-4906/ $  4944- 6356) so I am forced to live out my life looking like this and receive people’s disgusted looks! Because everyone’s eyes are drawn to this misfoster belly which always destroys every outfit!

Unfortunately, my daughter did not bother putting on the jeans for two weeks and when I got home from having fetched her brothers one day, she informed me that she can not get them over her hips. And you only have three days to return sale items, so now we are stuck with a pair that noone can wear! And she still is short of things to wear from her waist down. If that is not depressing, what is?

At Legoland, I ran in to the yearly sale there, on name brand clothing. T. was standing in Duplo-land, waiting for a ride on the airplanes. It was hot and I needed to go to the loo, so I did that and also ran to the clothing shop, to see if they had something fun on the sale and something I could afford. I saw this periwinkle hoodie, lovely in colour, by Esprit. It was 30% off and somehow in all the calculations I did in my head, from Danish to Swedish and then 30%, I came up with a sum I could accept. Till it was time to pay and I realised that I had counted wrong. Too late! I needed to get back to Duplo-land and the queue, since I had promised to take a photo. I need not have hurried with the purchase or back because the queue had hardly moved at all. But this is also what she received. An over-priced hoodie, even on sale!

Finally came the yearly Thomas Sabo charm. E. plans on going to New York or London when she graduates from gymnasium, and make it big on stage. Her life circles around films, film stars and actors. That is all she and her father talk about and I just want to stick my fingers down my throat, since I think it is unhealthy to be obsessed with these self-absorbed people who can’t tell reality and fantasy apart. Who make the decadence of the 1920s seem like child’s play in comparison. Every year, I pick a charm which symbolize her life right now or her character and this is the charm she received this year:

She loved it and thinks it is the best of all her six charms. Somehow I knew she would feel that way about this year’s charm. Well, she has two years left of school and things can change. I am not saying that she does not have talent and she certainly has the diva part down to a T. But is this really the right thing for a smart girl who basically can become anything, having a head for studying? And how many good actors are there not out there, who are unemployed because the jobs don’t grow on trees? I just watched part of an episode of the last TV-show (The Crazy Ones) that actor Robin Williams did. Pure and utter garbage. No wonder he was depressed! To be such a great actor and to be offered a part like that. I had to change channel!

When it was party time in front of the TV with crisps, cheese doodles etc. I of course had not chosen one of all the silly romantic comedies she insists on watching, but something we could watch and enjoy, all of us.  I chose “the Rise of the Guardians”, because I knew how picky she is and she had asked me for days in an accusing manner, that it better not be the latest Lego film. This was a film I knew some in the family had wanted to watch and it really was a good film. For those over ten years of age. Unfortunately, “Boo” thought the film was too scary so he just went to sleep. And little “Gubby” did not really understand what it was all about. Jack Frost is not someone who Swedish children are familiar with, nor the Sandman. Which of course complicates things when one is watching a film about all those things that American children believe in.

The film is really about Jack Frost and him coming to terms with what his true calling is. His talent. He doesn’t know who he really is and why. He remembers nothing from before he woke up and was able to make everything freeze. He is a rascally boy who likes to play with the children, even though they can not see him. A person who detest not being seen and not being someone who children “believe” in, is Pitch. Don’t know why he is called that in English, because when you watch the film in Swedish, he is basically Mr. Nightmare. He feels that his powers diminish when children hope, believe and are happy. And children believe in Sandy, who makes them go to sleep every night, in the Easter Bunny, Santa and the Tooth Fairy and her little helpers.

Nightmare wants to take over the world and for there to be nothing nice for the children. Then they will believe in him. The first thing which happens is that the legends feel that he has become a threat and they need help, help from Jack Frost. But he doesn’t want to help or become a legend. Things of course happens, which forces him to grow up and help. Nightmare kills Sandy, as the first thing he does. He imprisons the little tooth fairy helpers, which means that children do not find coins under their pillows but the teeth are still there in the morning. Santa has a globe in his home which shows how many children believe and when lights are going out all over, he and the remaining legends and Jack Frost, have to try to stop the effect Nightmare has on the world. They help the Tooth Fairy go all over to fetch teeth and leave coins, making it in to a competition. Then the Easter Bunny needs help because all his eggs are getting messed up by Nightmare.

It ends up, that they have to show themselves to a group of children, so they will believe and help them get rid of Nightmare. And the reluctant Jack Frost, gets to see that he had a life before, with a family and that he saved his sister from drowning with the stick he now uses to freeze things with. He died, to save her life and he finally accepts who he is and becomes a legend like the others. And of course, Mr. Sandman or Sandy, does come alive again as Nightmare’s power disappears. The film has it’s funny moments and of course a message like all films for children have nowadays. We all have to accept what life hands to us and make the best of it. We must develop our talents and be grateful for them. We all have something to contribute with. Also, that it is very sad when children stop believing because they really loose their innocence then and we all feel much better when we remain children at heart. To believe in something makes life and the world a much better place.