Argh...Grasshopper

There are many things in this world that are just plain delicious. According to Chickie, Mummy’s homemade flapjacks aren’t one of them as, for the first time in his life, he actually spat something high in saturated fats out of his mouth. Trying to chisel the quick bonding oat flakes off of the floorboards was not easy. Granted, I may have slightly overdone them but they definitely have potential.

Anyway, back to deliciousness. Here’s something that really is. My sister’s 40th birthday. Sadly for my sister, she is the first-born. The worst part for her lies in the fact that the fabulous second-born (me) arrived a whole decade later and, naturally, being a sweet girl, takes each of her birthdays as an opportunity to gloat at her advancing years.

The celebratory dinner was at Glam-Nan’s who, dismissing Sister’s idea of a take-away as just plain lazy, took it upon herself to go the extra mile for her daughter by preparing a banquet for thirty people. As there were only eight of us (inclusive of 3 children although I should mention one of them was Gloops) and Glam-Nan was fading fast under the stress and strain of cooking for three days, it was up to the men folk to eat as many of the chicken legs, corn on the cob, spare ribs, fajitas, bread rolls, pizza, salad, lasagne, potato wedges, cheese straws, dip, chocolate mints, maltesers and a home made and shop bought birthday cake. Even Gloops, whose greediness is generally assured, was struggling by Fajita No. 4.

Yes, Glam-Nan may have bitten off more than she or we could chew and, yes, she may now understand the beauty of the take-away, but in terms of effort and calories, Sister can be in no doubt that her mummy loves her special ‘wecial 40 year old baby.

Chickie thoroughly enjoyed his buffet and the excellent entertainment provided by his two older cousins who he holds in the highest regard. When they threw their food, so did Chickie. When they kicked each other round the head, Chickie watched on in admiration. When they popped the balloons, Chickie squealed with delight. Yes, the Chickie sponge was soaking up everything his two cousins could teach him about becoming the ultimate pain in the arse. Proving that irrespective of their age, boys remain a pain, Brother-in-Law got the biggest telling off of the evening for encouraging Chickie to throw maltesers at Snowy.