the Whole Wide World

First  I've got to mention Oakley or Little O as his parents thought of him.  I mentioned last post that he had gone missing, very unfortunately Little O had wandered into something he couldn't get out of and has passed on to cat heaven leaving a very heartbroken family behind him.  This is a photo that I picked up on Facebook.  How stunning a pusscat was he!! I can see why they are so upset.

Yes, it is 4:14 am and yes I should be asleep but am not. This is down to the fact that my body clock is all over the place, it all started on Tuesday morning when I woke up feeling rather queasy. So queasy that the things had to fend for themselves food and lunchboxwise while I posed ill-like on sofa. That was the beginning of my food poisoning. Been in bed only venturing out occasionally ever since. Have eaten about 4 bits of toast, 3 satsuma oranges, a fish finger sandwich (big mistake) and had a craving for Mcdonalds yesterday (another big mistake). Consumed almost entire bottle of Lucozade today and think thats why I am awake. Love Lucozade though. Do not love fact that entire week has been written off. So hope I feel better in the morning. Now onwards to "stuff occuring". You don't need to leave the house and do stuff to have an entire headful of stuff ot say.  We have election fever going on here and everythings a bit political...no escape from it.  I've even downloaded both main party's manifesto's.  Now I've got a bit of a socialist streak running through me - always have had but am struggling as all party's seem similiar and to be fair - I'm not doing too badly these days....in fact I'm doing rather well.  What I'd really like is this and I'm not sure how anyone can deliver it.  I'd like our country to be one where you can feed the ducks without being fined £80 for littering, where grandmothers don't get electronically tagged and their sons end up doing community service for selling goldfishes to under 18's sent by spies to catch you out.  Where if you strike a deal with a colleague to help each other out with childcare you don't run the risk of being reported to Ofsted and ending up in court for illegal childminding.  These are all things that have happened here.  There are probably hundreds of other equally incredulous stories out there where these types of things occur daily.  We're all so angry, who can quell this anger and where did it come from?  Someone deliver a wee bit of harmony- please.  Suspect I am asking the impossible.
Talking of anger - I am pretty cross with Thing Two's Teacher.  On Friday all the kids in the class (girls mainly I believe) put their names in a hat to do Cheerleading.  The teacher couldn't take all of them so this was how it was deemed to be fair.  Ok so far.  Thing two's name didn't come out of the hat - still ok.  Then the only boy chosen announced he didn't want to go so the teacher gave his place to another little boy who put his hand up.  Not ok - what happened to the hat system? So off they all trot to do their cheerleading and thing two goes outside for lunchbreak and spends 20 minutes wandering round field trying to find a friend to play with and the next 20 minutes desolate as the realisation sets in that although there were 2 other names left in the hat both of them are off sick.  So actually the teacher has chosen everyone in entire class except her.  Not happy - am going to write complaint.  My other gripe (and yes I'm afraid entire post today is either sad or gripey) is that Thing one has bad attitude to race, and apparently yesterday her father had a big row with mop head (don't get me wrong - she's only called mop head because of her hair - I actually have total respect for his partner) due to his polital discourse toward race.  I can only assume he's going to vote BNP. Do not think that this row was one to have infront of impressionable 13 year old.  That would be the 13 year old who knows nother of our Empire, our colonisation of countless countries, nothing of the Commonwealth, nothing of the Vietnamese boat people, the Ugandan crisis, of the European Union, of countless other historical factors that explain how people have migrated in and out of the UK.  Yes she knows nothing of any of this and I've no faith in her school teaching her any of it either. I am going to ponder on this.  How to ensure my children don't become bigots and how to ensure they become compassionate and knowledgeable caring individuals. I wonder if she'd respond to 10 minute history shots on the way to school disguised as lessons for thing two?  That might work. It'll have to be good though to combat what he's telling her. It was this that was keeping me awake at 4am and hence post in middle of the night. Now that I'd got it off my chest I might be able to go back to sleep.
Oh the woes of parenthood.  Good night. And Whitney and Wayne - I am deeply sorry for your loss.
xxxx

the month the weather got better!! Hallelujah!!

Ah, the sun is shining and I'm still not up.  Am going to do my ironing in the garden today.  Before I have to drive all way to Lakeside, very big bone of contention.  Thing Two has been invited to a party and its a Build a Bear Party, there are about 7 guests and the party girl's mother is taking the bulk of them in her car - but not Thing Two!! Really hacked off, how did she decide which guests to take.  Then there is the car of Maddie, now bear in mind that I've had Maddie to tea and taken her to Brownies numerous time and have taken her to the circus and on day trip to London, but there's no room in that car either and even if there was I suspect Thing Two would not be welcome as something fishy going on and Maddies mother has decided that Maddie not allowed to play with thing two and I dont know why.  Then there is the car of Ryan, who I also took free of charge to circus, fed him and delivered him back to his doorstep, no room there either. Am trying to look on bright side and have come up with the following positives.
1 - I get to sit in party with mum who didn't take my child
2 - I get to spend money on petrol
3 - I get to spend at least an hour and a half in car whilst its sunny outside
4 - I get to go to Lakeside which I hate with a vengeance - Yay I can't wait.
But enough of my moaning....here's some hots.
Hot - Book fair, went with 2 work colleagues, didn't spot any celebs this year but bagged some lovely freebies including a tea towel.  Most amusing observation at book fair was seeing two grown men in suits sat discussing in earnest the rights (I'll assume) of a book they were both studying intensely.  Boot was entitled "Tilly and her ponies".  Don't know why I found it so funny, guess it just tickled me.
Hot was trip to Brighton with coach load of women. Wont call them ladies as once they all on coach all decorum vanished.  It was a lovely day but when we got there I was busting to get on beach but couldn't as friends wanted to a) go to pub and b) go shopping.  HAve to confess to getting really fed up and when the right moment came along I vanished and went to beach on own and sent them all texts saying "gone to gaze at sea".  Eventually they came and found me....so I happy with that.  Beach packed and very sunny so we went and sat in bar in the shade....aaaaagh.
Not hot - missed Happening at Hound by Fistfunk productions - gutted. Would have like to have had the day in Brighton and the night back in my hometown.
Very hot - I wallpapered and painted my bathroom. Wallpaper is gorgeous and I can't stop looking at it. See picture of duckegg blue paper with birds.
Also wallpapered my bedroom (once I get going there is no stopping me) bought simply sumptuous fabric from Laura Ashley and made panelled and fully lined curtains.  They really nice and match my wallpaper.  I am feeling very creative at the moment.
Not hot
Oakley has gone missing.  Oakley belongs to my friends Wayne and Whitney who live in Tennesse and Oakley is super lovely cat.  Am heartbroken for them.  Really hope he comes home very soon.
Not hot
My own cat, Lily is acting oddly, think she may have depression. She not speaking to me and when I pick her up she bats me one and escapes.  Have realised why she not as agile as other cats and why her coordination is so bad...basically she goes to jump up on things and usually misses and is constantly falling off things.  It's because she's only got half a tail...someone told me that the tail is what gives them balance. All makes sense now.  Anyway, cat misery guts, cat being bullied outside whenever it goes through cat flap.  All local cats are hench. Lily small and timid. Poor Lily.
xx

What's Hot and What's Not for the Entire Month of March

Oh Dear, once again I'm an entire month behind on my blog.  Been very busy.  Best way to record it I think is to Hot and Cold it.  So, here we go.

Hot

My Birthday weekend spent with the Prawn in very nice Hotel just outside Oxford.   I drove and we had a hysterical time, I've got a trip planned for the summer to Denmark and we had copious fun and laughter pretending to be Scandinavian.  Conversation went something like this

Me "Hurdy Gurdy"
Her" Hagen Daz"

Me "Hurgle Burgle"

Her "Ya"

Me "Vorsprung Derk Tecknik"  This conversation seemed to be on a loop - you'd be amazed how much mileage we got out of it.  I am hoping to meet a Dane wearing an arran jumper, called Morten and he will be tall, blonde and tanned and ready to move me to his own private island at the drop of a hat.  

We also had fun and games in the restuarant at our hotel. I didn't seem to quite hit it off with our chief waiter.  Wont go into too much detail but to say he was Welsh, one morning I asked him if he could organise some teas and coffees to our table and he said "versittem?" I had to get him to repeat it to me 4 times before I cottoned onto the fact he wsas saying "Where are you sitting?".  Then there was the liqueur coffee which I asked for, our Japanese waiter claimed there was no such thing till I pointed it out on the menu, he came back 10 minutes later with a cup of ordinary coffee with a ton of Baileys in it.  Absolutely horrid.  Told Welsh waiter I not pay for something that revolting.  He took it off bill with a smirk (yes I'd had a few too many at that point) The Prawn decided it would be fun to steal a menu and stuffed it down her top, whilst I nicked a whole load of teeny weeny pots of hunny.  We are SOOOO Bad!
Also Hot
thing Two's trip to the Natural History Museum to sleep with the Dinosaurs.  Awesome.  Wish I was a Brownie!
Hot
Trip to Greenwich for the Observatory, cool markets, Chinese New Year Celebrations and Royal Maritime Museum.
Hot
My endeavours into the world of ECo.
In one month I have got a grant for solar panels to go on back of my house, bought a stapleless stapler for work, bought and installed an eco-button for my laptop along with energy saving contraption which sits on the hob of my cooker meaning that I use less gas.  But best of all is my ditching of toxic washing powder in favour of eco-balls.  They are fab.  I also bought a special milk jug and am purching my milk in floppy plastic bags and no longer fill up my recycling bin with huge 4 pint plastic  bottles. I'm also growing my own herbs and luffa  - hoping to sell the luffas when they grow.
Hot
Social life has taken on a life of its own.  I've got party invitations coming out of my ears.  Have been to so many things and met so many people  Why couldn't this have happened when I was younger eh?
Hot

New Book, finished it this afternoon. Didn't want it to end.  Could identity with it wholeheartedly.  Have discovered she  (the author) has a blog.  How fantastic, so I can see what happened next.

Very Hot

My Race Night raised over £600 for the school.

Not Hot.

Boiler started dripping and as a consequence I spent Good Friday with my plumber, plumber is cool, she's called Lucy, boiler now fixed but I got a terrible headache. Took paracetamol, but am going to ditch paracetamol for tiger balm. Plumber only charged me £15 for 2 hours of her time, she also fixed my laptop and is buying my car from me.  So this should go in Hot area as well.

Not Hot

Secret Lover made an appearance but I no longer interested. Whoop get me. It's so over.

Not Hot

Accidently bought Marc Jacobs Daisy body butter instead of the perfume, and Debenhams refuse to exchange, so went to Boots to buy the real thing, slagged Debenhams off, they also slagged Debenhams off, gave me a free bag and stacks of points.  Going to sell bag and body butter on e-bay.

Not Hot
Had Not Hot

The mess in my house is relentless, its making me stressed, neurotic and bad tempered. I dont know anyone else who can pull washing from their washing machine and discover an entire squirrel skeleton in there.  Thing Two had put squirrel bones found on rich friends farm in her cardigan pocket and I had washed them.  At least they are clean.  She has them displayed in her make shift museum under her cabin bed.

Not Hot

Still no man !! Did meet someone last night but he living with woman who hates him, he declare he love me after only one hour.  I am thinking he wants to jump ship....no way.  What about all my tax credits.  Tax credits - freedom. Not giving them up for just anyone.  Well not unless they happen to be Richard Gere.  Nothing like setting my sights high is there! Seriously, he doesn't have to be Richard Gere.  Normal would do. Incidently as a birthday treat to myself I hired the DVD of American gigolo and watched it alone whilst eating chocolate.  Heaven
Positively Cold
Took thing two to smallest Shameless's 3rd birthday party. Mrs shameless explained that party running late.  All party guests, 10 x 3 year olds sitting on stairs and running riot with frontroom door shut because the football still on and Mr Shameless not let party start till it finish!!!! What a twat!   I later heard from thing two that Mr Shameless did lots of very loud swearing at the TV.

Bye for now xxx

What's Hot and What's Not Wednesday

Having a lukewarm week, well I think I am, I'll have to see how many hots and how many colds I end up with.
What's Not Hot
Thing two went to a party yesterday afternoon and I arrived to collect just as one of the small guests cut the top of her finger off.  Luckily, the party girls mother is a nurse and did wonders, and the injured guest underwent surgery today to reattach the squashed digit.  The only good thing about this horrid accident was that it gave rise to a very animated conversation amongst about 7 mums crammed into a small kitchen about other people/children that we all knew had lost fingers, bits of fingers or even whole body parts, think we all took pleasure in adding out own little bits to this discussion. What a gory lot we are!

Not hot was the relentless tantrum that thing two had on sunday after she came home from her first ever seep over in which she didn't go to sleep till 3am!  The creature that ran round my front room on sunday was far removed from the one I'd had the day before.  She not going to any more for a long time, clearly cant cope with it.  Not hot was the tantrum that thing one had on friday night!  You'd think I had a couple of toddlers not a 13 and 8 year old.  Tantrum was eventually sorted and she was shipped off to her Dad's whence she had been refusing to go and I went out....think its wrong that I should have to exercise every inch of willpower and have to fight just to get a few hour to myself.   Told he she could go and live with him.

Not hot is that evening out with work colleagues was cancelled, doh!! We were city bound as well.. Will have to wait for another time to bag myelf a wealthy stockbroker so that I can uproot to Chigwell, hire an au pair, ironing person, cleaner and send my things off to private school and spend my days in my heated pool or draped over chaise longue drinking champagne whilst entertaining special guests.  Damn.

Not hot - ebay have introduced a max fee on postage for clothes - very annoying - I usually sell bundles of 20 items or more...wonder how thats going work?

What's Hot
My dress is coming along nicely, wednesday's are the day of my dressmaking lesson, today I did gathering and interfacings.  My mother is a bit of an expert in these matters, in fact, and I reminisce a bit here, when I was a child all my clothes were home made with knickers to match, I was a walking piece of  ditsy fabric embellished with lashings of rick rack, I had rick rack on every cuff, pocket top and hem, no bit of me that wasn't covered in rick rack. I was the rick rack child.  We never get much done in my lessons as it clashes with Doctors and she insists on watching it first. Dress will probably be finised in 2012.  Told MIL that I not buying anymore new items but only making things/e-bay etc so she pointed me firmly in direction of Primark.  No thanks.  Am currently seeking pillarbox red cardigan with buttons - keep being outbidded.   grrrr

We've had lots of heated debates on the location of one of the holidays I've got planned for the summer.  Can't really call this Not Hot, hell...arguing over holidays has to be HOT...

My mother took me to Cambridge for lunch, a wander round the Fitzwilliam Museum to check out the impressionists, bit of culture never hurt anybody , in fact it was even mentioned in the Beauty tips that are embedded in my blog edge last week. Not that I can tell my Cezanne's from my Van Gogh's or my Rembrant's from my Monet's. 

Hot - new book, am only on page 8, its by Updike and I'm praying its better than the last thing of his that I read "couples" which was so tedious that I never completed it. 

Have found the new Yann Martel book but it not published yet.  Found it in the Bookseller.

Can't wait to get a copy. Am happy with quantities of hots and not hots tis about right.  xx

Ps just rememberd another not hot.  Have broken brace by biting into cold and chunky bar of chocolate. Don't think this is what dentist had in mind.  Will have to lie through my teeth.  ha ha ha.

Brownies, cats and dinasaurs

The past week has seen me skipping down a new side street, not a full blown different avenue, but down a fairly safe passage slightly off from my usual one wearing my new red shoes of course, if one wants to do some serious path changing one needs to have the correct footwear.  On Saturday I went out and met up with a new group of girls and had a very nice evening, chomping on noodles (which unbeknown to me were still all over my face the entire time I was out!) we then went for a drink, all 10 of us, and it was there that I discovered that some people buy entire cocktail pitchers filled to brimming with shots and syruppy sours and other stuff, and they drink an entire pitcher themselves!!! Ok now thats a new route I'm not going down, I stick with my vodka and diet thanks very much.  Anyway, they seemed to like me and one of them has invited me to join her in annual Race for Life event which takes place in our home town.  (Sponsored event for Cancer).  Just one other occurance of interest would be that of the cat.  Took cat to vets to be neutered and left cat there only to receive a call from veterinary nurse to say that cat have no uterus, cat already done.  Think cat should have mentioned this before!!  Vets tried to get me to buy special food, litter stuff as cat not to leave house for 10 days and buster collar for cat.  I refused all of it and left cat to its own devices, eating what it always eats, full access to the garden and full access to it's very nasty wound which it can lick it it wants.  I am not cats keeper!  For goodness sake.
Finished Life of Pi, is marvellous, didn't want it to end and am now ploughing my way through the Brownie Badge Book.  Thing two has done her writers badge, hostess badge, crime prevention badge and is with much encourage ment from me doing her Star gazer badge, which will involve trip to Greenwich Observatory, her art badge - have got her started on that and we will also be doing book badge and gardners badge.  You have no idea how much I want to be a Brownie, I was one when I was young but gained no badges and stopped going because I always had to walk home on my own and one night as we were leaving the Brown Owl said "We've been told by the Police that you should all be very very careful and not walk home on your own and to go with an adult".  Great, this left me in very difficult position as I knew perfectly well that no one was coming for me...so I ran like wind and never went back.  Anyhow, last week when I collected thing two we were given a sheet about the Great Dina Snore, which involves Brownie sleeping in the great dinasaur hall at Natural History Museum but only 10 places to go round 30 brownies, so I have jumped queue and tracked Tawney owl down at her workplace with the money to secure Thing two's place - I am that determined that she should not miss out...in truth it is I who wants to go and lay on floor for giant exciting sleepover.
Have also joined book group.   But have not been to meeting yet.
xx

I'm walking down another street

I have to confess to having had a rather nasty dose of the January blues, which may account for the humour deficit in the last few posts. I'd rather have a full on cold to be honest.  Being in the grasp of an unknown greyness is pretty grim.  BUT it has lead me to take a look at my life, I was trying to work out what was wrong...you'd think if you felt crap you'd know why wouldn't you, but its not been that obvious to me.  I have had to dig very deep to crack this and very high to find a solution. 
I've been flying round my front room to music, I've been to the gym, I've been on my wii,  I've bought clothes, (check out my new shoes!!! Ar thy not soooo sooooo cute), bathed in baths with bubbles up to my neck, I've wached my favorite dvd's, had my hair done, eaten my favourite foods, had quality tme with the things, cleaned up, all the usual things that one does to give oneself a lift.  To no avail. (except the shoes, they have made me happy) So, I'm looking at my relationships, not just secret lover  (who is a turd) but all of them, and I'm thinking to myself, I was let down on New Years Eve, I was an option.  Worth remembering that the the last time someone went out to party with no care for me they were served divorce papers.  Of course this is different..there were other reasons for the divorce and I'm not married to the person who let me down,  but I feel devalued.  Time to evaluate things.  My mother gave me this.

1) I walk down the street
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk
I fall in.
I am lost...I am hopeless
It isn't my fault
It talkes forever to fnd a way out.

2) I walk down the same street
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk
I pretend I dont see it
I fall in again
I can't believe I'm in the same place
But it isn't my fault
It still takes a long time to get out

3) I walk down the same street
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk
I see it is there
I still fall in...it's a habit
My eyes are open
I know where I am
It is MY fault
I get out immediately

4) I walk down the same street
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk
I walk around it

5) I walk down another street  
by Portia Nelson

I've been trying to find the author to ask permission to share this with you but so far I haven't gotten that permission...will keep trying, in my search I'm finding some inspiring stuff.

I have not spoken of this to any of the people concerned...not a good idea at the moment - or probably ever,  facetious comments may roll from my mouth like a fast ball in a bowling alley or a cuckoo springing from its clock. Actions speak louder than words.
xxx
ps today I had more dentistry at great expense, whilst there I was laying back relaxing when the dentist said to me, can I have my thumb back and could you try not to bite... I'd sunk my teeth into him without even realising....perhaps there is hope for me as a vampire yet. 

What's Hot and What's Not

What's Hot on Wednesday 13th January
Certainly not the weather!
In true Let's be Adored spirit (actually I was bored stupid and had nothing better to do but it does say in the How to be Adored book that being charitable is cool - think Angelina Jolie) I have organised a race night for Thing Two's school - gonna raise some cash for not sure what but it'll be good anyway. 
Hot is that I made a start on my new dress with the help of my mother, who supervised. I did take a photo of it but for some weird and wonderful reason all that's on my camera card are photo's of thing one in various poses.  Odd that.
I purchased the book on the left when I bought my sewing machine in the summer and can't stop looking at it...it's fabulous for beginners and goes into sew (he he) much detail.

I have also had some dentisty, which will ultimately give me a better smile, but mouth feels like I got spikes digging into lower lip..which is exactly what I've got...spikes.  So that's a double edged sword as well...isn't it all?

Hot is that Thing one and thing two both have lovely new haircuts.  Took them both to what I describe as boutique salons..where all the stylists are 22 and have purple hair in same haircut...where everything is shiny and smells like a cross between a mango and a banana with some jasmine chucked in for good measure and the mirrors actually make you look good as opposed to those in Next and New Look which make me look so bad I want to run screaming into the street shrieking there's an alien in my changing room!!

Hot is that someone knocked on my door in the middle of the night (I know this sounds positively cold - but it might have been HIM) I didn't answer it but heard a car drive away a few minutes later.

Hot is my latest read Life of Pi, only on page 50 but am hooked already.

Not Hot

Is the earthquake in Haiti - so utterly dreadful, any little gripes I have pale into insignificance compared to how those poor people have been dealt such a cruel blow to their already difficult lives.

I am missing HIM like you wouldn't believe...the night that the knock came I cried myself to sleep...pathetic to be pining for that fascist but he's in my heart and I just can't help it.
That's it...the weather seems to have ground us all to a halt and there's nothing much going on but IT. Am staying indoors doing stuff I wouldn't normally do - such as downloading music and embedding ipods into my blog..not something I'd have time for ordinarily.  And a good playlist it is I thinks though one song woulda done the job - you'd have to hang around on MintDelight for a long long time to hear whole lot.
I so hope to write something more exiting next time...
xxx