But weirdly I was the one who seemed to end up with all the presents.
Ma was getting her hair did first thing this morning, so I had a good chunk of the morning to myself before she got here. I started off with tidying the apartment and once I'd had a shower and got dressed I got inspired to write Ma's card but I couldn't wrap her presents because the box I bought yesterday turned out to be too small for everything.
So I headed off to do the shopping thing, with a brief detour to fill the car with petrol and wash the windows (also to fill the windscreen wiper tank with water since it was all out).
Shopping by myself always takes less time than shopping with Ma... which is understandable, I know exactly what I want and I'm only stopping where I need to stop, but it still surprises me how quickly I can make it around the supermarket by myself.
Once I was finished I took a quick detour into Target, only to find that they were having a 20% off sale on menswear, so I succumbed and bought the bear onesie... the size I thought was too small is actually the same size as the one I already have, plus it's very stretchy fabric, so I'm guessing it's going to be fine.
Weirdly, even though I'd bought petrol with my EFTPOS card... and I bought the groceries with the same card... but when I went to buy the onesie it came up with a "bad card read" error... and now matter what I tried I got the same error. I've never had that issue before... Ma has had similar problems with her cards on occasion but they're often fixed by something as simple as rubbing the card on your sleeve. That did not help me in the slightest.
I found a gift bag in one of the cheap shops that matched the box I'd already bought... it was a little hugemongous, but everything ended up fitting inside.
When I got home, attempting to carry everything up the stairs in one trip was something of a chore, but I managed it... that is one of the downsides of living on the third floor... you'll do just about anything to avoid making more trips up and down the stairs than is absolutely necessary.
As soon as I walked in I set about wrapping Ma's presents... I finally gave in this week and bought the Willow Tree Heart of Gold figure... other than that it was the double Mary Poppins experience with Saving Mr Banks and The Real Mary Poppins documentary plus some Fry and Laurie goodness with Jeeves and Wooster.
The card seemed like the perfect thing as soon as I saw it, especially given the fact she's been my own personal superhero for the last several months.
I also grabbed her a couple of Balfours custard tarts, since they're her favourite.
By the time Ma arrived I'd managed to unpack all the groceries and put everything away.
After she'd unwrapped her presents we dithered about a bit before deciding to head down to Marion (which was pretty much Ma's idea, although we did float the idea last weekend but ran out of time).
We did the usual circuit of Marion... but I ended up buying a bunch more things than I normally would have done. It started at T2 (which is now one of those dangerous places I just shouldn't go into)... I picked up some more Fruitalicious as well as a box of Chai to try. And we ran into J's mum coming out of the store as we were going in. Turns out J is back in London... and spent some time back in Adelaide before he went... so that seems to be the footnote for that particular story, which is always interesting.
I was also poking around a bit looking for a new winter jacket, but there literally isn't anything that's not completely casual/a hoodie in my size which is somewhat annoying. Even things that, according to the label, should be my size, because I own jackets in that size that fit me, somehow aren't my size.
Frustrating.
Ma was also half looking for clothes, but for the most part didn't find anything that worked for her.
We also called into the Build A Bear shop to see if they had any Toothlesses (Toothlessi?)... but they were all sold out, which doesn't really surprise me. It does very much come in the "kind of want to definitely don't need" category, but I did leave my details with the store in case they get more stock in. I'm not sure if I'll actually get one, but at least I have the option.
Like last week, just about every shop we went into we looked to see what they had in the way of Sodastream machines and everywhere had the same two models, neither of which are the one I was interested in.
That is, until we got to Kmart. For some reason they didn't have anything EXCEPT the model that I like... I would almost have said that they'd done an exclusive deal with the Sodastream people, since nothing else makes much sense. But I got it, and it's all red and pretty and shiny... plus it came with a sample pack of various flavourings to try at no extra cost, which is always a bonus.
I also grabbed one of the Kmart brand toasted sandwich machines... how much I'll use it is debatable, as is how long it'll actually last, but I paid $7.50 for it (hence the querying of it's lifespan) and I've had lunches that cost more. So even if it's a flash in the pan I'll get my money's worth out of it.
I did have the same problem trying to pay with my EFTPOS card in Kmart, so I'll definitely have to go into the bank next week and get a replacement card.
We were pretty much done with shopping at that stage, so we headed back in the general direction of home.
When we got to Greenhill Road, Ma didn't say anything but just took a detour to the right... and I just said to her "Haighs?", to which we replied "Well, it is my birthday"... so there's really no arguing with that.
They actually had a really good range of seconds chocolate this time... sometimes it's only one of two types, this time there was a lot of good stuff.
Once we got back here I put the Sodastream together and made my first bottle of fizzy water... and unsurprisingly, it was water with bubbles. The machine will probably see more action in summer, but it will be nice to be able to make my own beverages.
We dithered around a bit after that... watched a little bit of North by Northwest until it was time to head out for dinner.
Due to a lack of other idea we ended up going down the The Curious Squire on O'Connell Street. I've been wanting to go for ages, and it's somewhere we haven't been before, so it seemed like a plan.
And it was a decent plan for the most part. The decor is funky, the staff seem friendly... the menu does feel a tiny bit limited though, I mean they have sides out the proverbial, but there feels like a lot of repetition throughout the rest of the menu. And if you're not in the mood for pulled pork that slightly limits your choices a little.
I ended up ordering the burger... I know, I know, every time I've done that previously I've ended up commenting in the blog post that people need to remind me not to do that next time. And this was almost kind of like that... but it was perhaps a better, or at least more interesting burger than I've had in a while.
I couldn't help thinking that it needed one, possibly two less ingredients... but when the list of ingredients includes a beef patty, bacon, egg, lettuce, coleslaw, tomato, onion, cheese, squire sauce, pickle, mustard and ketchup then I think you could possible trim it a little. Not that I could tell you what needed to go... possibly the pickle, and whatever the sauce was that just dripped out the whole time I was eating (possibly the squire sauce).
I will also say that although putting your fries and onion rings into cute little wire baskets as though they've just come out of the oil is adorably sweet, it does mean that they don't keep any head and get cold in about five minutes flat. Also, $9 for approximately seven onion rings is a little pricey even at half the price.
Ma very much enjoyed her pulled pork and apple salad though, even though it was fucking enormous and she didn't end up eating all of the lettuce. That was kind of the weird thing actually... some things, like the onion rings, seemed to be undersized serves, but others, like the salad and also the drinks were fucking enormous.
From there we headed down to the Festival Theatre for some Cabaret Festival goodness.
And I won't go into a full on rant about the idiocy of shutting down a major arterial road into the city just because some people are going to be exiting a football game. Except to say it's fucking ridiculous.
I will, however, lament the fact that the nice men with the Spanish hot chocolate and the churros don't have a place in the "Winter Garden" food court this year, which made me very sad.
But more on our Cabaret show later... probably tomorrow...
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