Mud & Mischief

When you find silly internet quizzes far more interesting than you really should… or is it just the time of night?

You are the High Priestess card. The High Priestess
performs the rites of initiation into the new
world that was announced by the Magician. She
holds the key to understanding this world. Her
knowledge is intuitive. When the High Priestess
guides you, you will come to a deep
understanding of your inner self. The High
Priestess seeks knowledge without fear of
exposure or ridicule. The protective quality of
night and the reflective light of the moon are
hers. Her gaze looks inward and the knowledge
she holds is mysterious. Image from: Willow
Arlenea.
http://www.lightworks.com/gallery/Willow.html

Which Tarot Card Are You?
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5 Personal Goals for this Year.
- Shift the extra weight I’ve been carrying round since having Piglet
- Have some child-free, me-time each week
- Do something intellectual to resurrect my atrophying brain; be it an OU course, or joining Merry on her reading challenge
- Drink more water and less tea
- Spend less time browsing aimlessly and more time doing constructive ’stuff’

5 Work Goals for this Year. (work has many definitions…)
- Be as self-sufficient with vegetables as possible; this includes making full use of my garden and two allotments and not letting any of it lie fallow
- Beat my house into some semblance of order, banish the clutter and make friends with my vacuum cleaner again
- Re-jig our whole diet/eating pattern and go back to planning menus for the week
- Get the house finances sorted, jiggle a few balances around and forecast the day we’ll be debt-free (ha!)
- Think up a business to start and actually use my webspace for something

5 Home Ed Goals for this Year.
- Get Myf fully up to speed with KS1 maths
- Do something arty/crafty every day, as I”m terrible for making excuses when it comes to glitter/glue etc
- Make the most of Tea’s curiosity and do more ‘formal’ work (which she asks me for constantly!)
- Complete the Little House series, the Narnia series and start on the mammoth pile of Enid Blyton
- Find the one subject that fires Myf’s imagination to the exclusion of all else, and run with it

I think I’ll be on a quest to ‘find me’ as well, Merry. I know I’m in here somewhere…

As things have been a bit quiet lately (!), I’ve got to discussing Nano with a few people, and the idea of having a Blogring novel writing month surfaced.

Starting 1st Jan, we’re going to aim for 1000 words a day (Nano called for 1600+) and see who comes up with what. Anybody want to join in? We’ll call it Blonowrimo…

Both figuratively and literally speaking.

The post Christmas lull is upon us, and everything seems to be just ticking over, waiting until the brouhaha of New Year’s Eve. Kids aren’t doing anything particularly educational, except overdosing on Dora and Bob and various other animated folks. I did make them watch some of the UK History channel today, where Alan Titchmarsh was doing his thing looking at strata and soil and dinosaurs, as well as coal mines and something else in a later episode. Kids seemed to be completely ignoring it too, until Myf suddenly piped up “oh, we saw strata layers like that in Cornwall, didn’t we Daddy?” and went back to playing her game. Summer 2004, that was.

Apart from that, it’s been nice and quiet. Putting a few more cabinets together, the last of the handles are on the base units, my cooker is level and clean (!). Waiting for friend to assist in putting up of wall cabinets tomorrow, and another friend to come lay tiles on Thursday. Friends arriving for New Year get-together on Sat, with their 4 daughters (aged 13, 11, 9 and 6) so that’ll keep my three occupied then. They’re regulars on the Discovery club scene, and form part of the pack of 9 little girls that roam at will around the various shows we do. Promises to be a good night, although there’s the very real danger that we’ll run out of beer… she being Irish and he having learned to keep up. Am looking forward to a couple of nights of adult conversation and laughing so much that my sides hurt - A has a very dry sense of humour and is a childminder too - the stories she tells…

We all did quite well for presents this year too - not sure where I’m going to stash it all, but the girls got a variety of clothes, books, games, dolls etc. I got a lovely little digital camera, which I’ve been after for a while as the big Fuji thing we’ve got just doesn’t lend itself to being toted around to various HE meets. I also got two huge hardback books, The Oxford Thesaurus of English and The Oxford English Dictionary. They’re huge and I’m such a sad muppet that I’ve been sitting here flicking through the Thesaurus in absolute delight at all the wonderful words in there. In the middle of the 1060 pages, there are hundred of words lists, ie, under Minerals, you’ve got actinolite, agate, alabaster, albite, allanite, andalusite, andradite, anhydrite, anorthite, antigorite, apatite, aphphylitre, aragonite…. I could go on but then you’d all give up and click next on the blogring banner. I love words. I covet the really good ones. Obelisk was always a favourite. And incorrigable is another that you just have to say several times to really get the full effect.

Where was I? Oh, yes, presents. James’ mum went overboard on us all this year, and spoilt the girls and us something rotten. I’m not complaining mind - we got a new Philips stereo to go in the kitchen, and family membership to the National Trust, which I’m so pleased with! That’s in addition to lots of clothes and books for the girls, and two huge ceramic mixing bowls, a hand pampering set and a silver necklace for me. James got underwear, shirts, trousers, chocolate oranges, some wine… can’t remember what else he opened as the small ones were climbing all over me demanding various suger laden treats. All in all, we did very, very well. And we haven’t even had the pressies from my side of the family - my mom isn’t coming up until 6th Jan. know what she’s got me, but I’ll keep it a surprise lol

The day bears down upon us. ‘Tis tomorrow. In case you hadn’t noticed.

Went and did a bit of shopping this morning - was pleasantly quiet up until about 10, then beat a hasty retreat before the tranquility of the day was spoiled by the 85% of men who leave shopping until the last minute. Came home, opened a new, empty cupboard and piled bags in. Shut door. Admired capacity of new cupboards. Considered not putting shelves in, ever.

Builder was here for a brief while, cleared up a few things from the drive, then vanished promising 9mm spanner and pipe cutters. That was before 12 and it’s now half 3.

Need to dig out the vacuum and clear the floor in here, so we have a clear, semi-dust free place to pile presents. Hmm, maybe should go wrap said presents. Later, methinks. With wine. And nibbles.

Did I say the diet started next week? Maybe the week after. Shall go think on Merry’s “Resolutions x5″. At least the business ones should be easy - ‘think of one to start’.

Have noticed a distinct lack of anything remotely educational in this blog lately. So thought I’d try and rectify that, and list all the neat stuff Myf has been learning in the last couple of weeks.

A few new words added to the vocabulary.

Counting how many times in one day that Mom says ‘bloody’ about something.

Calculating the spread value of a box of lego 45cm long by 28cm wide and filled approximately 8cm deep, give answer to the nearest single decimal place, allowing for extra coverage under the rug as well as on top of it. If it doesn’t reach the skirting boards, factor in the addition of a box of cuisinaire rods, the Barbie accessories and the tub of pattern blocks.

Count how many times Mom says “bloody” when she sees the results of the experiment and calculate the percentage increase caused by said experiment over a standard day’s worth of “bloody”s.

Read the directions on how to assemble a 600mm wide kitchen unit. Collect (when Mom isn’t looking) all tools listed in the instructions and put them in a nice neat pile on Mom’s computer chair.

Start a bar chart for the “bloody”s when she can’t find her drill bits and screwdriver.

See if Piglet’s scream really is enough shatter glass by removing, at every available opportunity, which ever toy she is quietly playing with.

Test Mom’s patience to the limit by adopting a ‘Kevin and Perry’ style teenage attitude and do things whenever she is so buried under kitchen stuff that she can’t extricate herself in time to stop the bloodshed.

Ok - that backfired. Am now more pissed off than I was at the start of this. And the best bit? My builder just went to get his hair cut. He is so dead when he returns…

(edited to remove password - have cheered up now so thought I’d share)

In the saga. *sigh*

They ripped the side gate out today - put down some damp proof course and had a wagon load of premix arrive so they could lay the concrete floor down the side all in one strip.

Except some dipshit of a builder only ordered 2 cubic metres of the stuff, instead of the required 3.5. Result?

Oh look, we’ve just run out of concrete. With a third of the alley way to go. AND as they’ve torn down the gate, my back garden is no longer secure for small people and dogs. So they’ve jammed three pallets into the gap and wedged them into place. Nice, festive, attractive feature there…

Not often you see me around at 6.30am. However, as we’re (supposedly) getting a truck full of concrete today at 10.30,I thought I’d get up a little earlier than normal and start clearing a space or two.

Have shifted half of the remaining flat pack cabinets in out of the garage and into the kitchen - seeing as how I won’t be able to one there’s 6″ of concrete between me and my garage/outhouse. *sigh*

So I’m also doing laundry like crazy, put the last load onto tumble last night at 12.45, and swapped it all over at 6.25… I must be insane.

However, at least we won’t have an exposed gas pipe for people to trip over - it’s the yellow one that runs right in front of the back door, which is the one we always use. Safe, eh?

Oh, and I have no idea what’s in the blue barrels, as the builder dumped them there - possibly a petrol mix for the various stilsaw/tamper type things he’s been using. And yes, he’s the one who left those open bags of plastering compound out too. And it rained last night.

I think the wagon driver should have left the skip and taken the house - would have been tidier…

I have some kitchen in place. A counter top, a working sink, my cooker works even if it is filthy with brick dust and is decidedly not level. My poor hands are shredded but I’ve quite pleased with myself for fitting units and doors and drawers.

Monday 19th (apologies - picture is a little on the large side)

Tuesday 20th

And today - with a three-parts-finished unit almost ready to slot in next to the cooker

And finally, I got my tree up. Is lovely. I guess Soltice is a reasonable time to bring the evergreen into the house.

And my favourite ornament - I have lots of different gold stars on my tree, but this is so lovely and sparkly, I could get all girly about it.