What's going on?

Why isn't it Friday? It feels like Friday! How come I've still got pretty much the whole week to get through?

Arghhhhhhhhhh

I spent most of today having a meeting about ClubMark. This particular club has got a lot of work to do to meet the criteria, so it was quite a long meeting, but what took up most of the day was the requirement to go there by bus. The club is only on the other side of town, and the bus goes there every 10 minutes, but by the time I walk myself & LMB & LMD to the bus-stop, waqit 15 mins for a bus to turn up (yes I know I said it was every 10 mins - go figure!), then drive all around every little laqne & estate for 35 mins, then walk to the club with LMB & LMD, an good hour has passed.

If I'd driven myself there it would have taken 10 mins, well maybe a max of 15 allowing for red lights! And the justification for not giving me a car is......?

Oh that's right, they don't have any justification, they can act illegally (as well as stupidly) because it's their policy.

Anyway, me & the girls are off to London tonight to stay with my mother for a couple of days. I kind of agreed to take LMB, LMd and cousi G into central London to see Santa. Don't ask why or how - I have avoided going into central London at all for 10 years, and before that didn't do Xmas or summer times there!

Blogging may be sporadic as a) my mother only has dial up and b) she doesn't know about my blog (or about blogs in general) & I have no intention of her finding out! Normal service will resume on Friday.

Roll on Friday!

Name change

A few people have been getting confused with the names on my blog - specifically Mr A & Mstr A. So to solve the problem, I have arbitarily changed Aginoths name to Aggie. Mstr A will stay the same.

Tough if you read Aggie's blog too. I know he calls Mstr A "A jnr", but all the kids are junior Aginoths (or Aginothlings in the plural), so I'm keeping it gender specific.

The cast of characters on my sidebar will help you keep track if it's too confusing:-)

Devolving

Boo hoo. Due to changes in the way the TTLB ecosystem counts links, I have devolved from an Adorable Rodent down to a Slimy Mollusc overnight:-(

Quick, all you lurkers, give me a link so I can rise out of the murky depths of invertibrate life & at least grow some gills!

Why do I bother?

Sometimes I wonder!

I spent hours yesterday making a lovely Sunday Roast, then, as promised took the kids off to see our friends P&L who have five beautiful Siberian Huskies. Mstr A has been nagging to go see them for ages, and as we don't do the whole pet thing at all, I like to expose them kids to other peoples when possible, and you don't get much better exposure than 5 huskies!.

As we got in the car Mstr A complained he felt sick, but since it was only a 10minute drive I told him not to worry (he gets a bit car sick sometimes). we arrived without inceident, went in to th house, sat on the sofa at which point mstr A started vomiting! I caught it in his jumper & started to drag him outside again, but only made it to the front hallway before the whole lot came up. Tone & tons of it. Much more than he had eaten, I'm sure, splattered all over the floor, and the walls, and the doors.....

So I spent the first 15 minutes there, on my knees, clearing it up with a roll of kitchen towel. Don't you believe anyone who tells you it's ok when its your own kids bodily fluids - it's just as gag-making as anybody elses!

Then he spent the next half hour dancing around & being really abnoxious & hyper, until I suggested he sits and watches pokemon on the TV, when he promptly started watching and fighting with LMB, who tried to sit next to him.

Poor L is pregnant, expecting her first child in early Feb - I don't think my kids are a very good example for her!

For supper, we just gave them muffins & cheese, which they absolutely stuffed down & asked for more! It took approximately 20 seconds to prepare. So why do I bother spending time, effort & money on cooking nutricious meals each day?

And the winner is....

Wyndam.

Congratulations, it appears you were the 5000th visitor to my blog on 27 Novemebr 2005 at 12.52pm.

Your prize for this fantastic achievement is a special link, all to yourself!

Wyndam the Triffids Blog. Go see it. It's good:-)

Sunday Rest

Ahh, Sunday at last. I was was woken at 6am as usual by LMD wanting food & felt really rough, so bought her into bed with us & tried to go back to sleep while she fed. It nearly worked, but just as we were both dropping off, LMB appeard at the bedroom door.

"poo poo mummy". "change me"

I kicked Mr A and made him sort her out & tried to finish LMD feed & put her back to sleep. It was a bit of a struggle, but I finally managed to get her off and started to relax myself when Mr A returned. His sniffing & coughing kept me awake for another 10 mins before I decided to stop lying there feeling like crap and went off to have a very hot shower.

That made me feel much better, so as all was still quiet, I crawled back into bed & tried for a bit more sleep. 3 minutes late Mstr A was up. I sent him downstairs to play on th Nintendo, & he took LMB with him, so I did get a full half hours kip before LMB came up to tell me it was time to wake up.

Got up, changeed her again! Tidied the kitchen from Mr A's cooking last night, and made breakfast of local organic suasages, bacon & eggs.

Yummy, and a great cure for sniffles as the sausages were mostly pepper & ginger! I'm ready to face the day now. I'm oping to get some DIY done, wrap some of the Xmas pressies, fix Mstr A's puncture & start teaching him to ride his bike without stabilisers, go visit the huskies (and our friends who own them), and tidy up a bit.

but first I'm going to watch the news & cruise some blogs:-)

UPDATE @ 2pm: Done a bit of tidying & a minute bit of DIY, but I've also managed to cook a full Sunday Lunch of Roast Beef, Roast potatoes, Broccoli, Yorkshire Pudding, gravy & apple pie & ice-cream for dessert. Yummy yummy. I hardly ever do Sunday roasts, so it's even nicer when I manage it:-)

Who will be my 5000th visitor? We're nearly there already - it seems only a few weeks ago I was wondering who the 1000th would be!

Google Images Meme

This meme is going round. I was tagged by Dave, So here's mu attempt. The idea is to find and post the first Google images (all with copyrights!! all right! ) for the following :

1. The name of the town where you were born




This is obviously not a picture of the town, but it's certainly a lot prettier than roundabout central! Especially as I was born a good 50 miles away from where we were living at the time!

2. The name of the town where you live now



I like this picture. it shows pretty much the view from my college window, which is sooo much better than the view of my revolting concrete college!

3. Your name



This was difficult. The first picture was just my name in foriegn writing! But as my Birth Town picture is a person, I thought it fitting that my name should be a town.

4. Your grandmother’s name (just pick one)



A pretty picture of Hurricane Frances from Space.

5. Your favorite food



What can I say? don't you just want to stick your finger in & lick it? mmmmmmmm!

6. Your favorite drink



Water, straight from the tap. The best thirst quenching drink around & good for you too. Whereas they may be times when I fancy something else, I'm one of the few people who do drink two litres a day, every day.

7. Your favorite song

No, sorry, I can't do this one. I really don't have one. I was the only teenager ever to not own any records, and have bever got into it. I'm happy to listen to whatever everyone else likes most of the time. Of course, most music sounds pretty similar to me as I am totally tone deaf, so they are all equally forgetable!


8. Your favorite smell



The smell of rain in the air. It was the first thing I smelled after two years without the sense & it was absolutely beautiful.

I tag anyone who wants to do it. If you do this one, let me know in the comments & I'll link to it.

Other Image Meme's:
A bit of This A bit of That
Aginoth
Crazie Queens Palace
Ivoryfrog
Mar
Mommyguilt
Old Old Lady of the Hills
Wittering Heights

A bit of fun

Morning all. I had a terrible night with LMB & LMD & to top it off have aquired CQ's horrible cold!

So here's a bit of fun for today, courtesy of Q at Simply Put:

Go to the Internet Anagram Service/I, Rearrangement Servant and put in your name to see get all possible anagrams of it. Below are a selection of my persdonal favourites for Mrs Aginoth.

Shaming Rot (what I mostly write?)
Shag I Mr Not (You Betcha! No more kids for me)
Arming Shot
Grain Moths
Orgasm Hint (tee hee)
Ah Grim Snot (That pretty much sums up how I feel today)
Ha Grin Most
Thomas Ring (when I go trans gender, here's my name all sorted)
Moan Rights (I want them & I want bthem now!)
Matron Sigh

Go on, give it a go. It comes up with loads!

Another week over

Friday again at last. Sorry the posts have been a bit slow recently - between interviews, coughs, Civ4, college assignments & recovering from birthdays I've not had much time on the computer!

I've been off to college today. I hadn't done my assignment (again), but that's ok, nobody else had either, so we went over the topic again. this time it made much more sense, so I'm ready to tackle the next two assignments now. Although any spare time is currently used up playing Civ4. Ooops. Plus my lecturer is getting married tomorrow, so will be away next week, so I can't hand it in till the following week, so there is no point rushing:-)

I spent my half hour lunch break shouting at the bank. I opened an account in a major high street bank just about 18 years ago. I have kept the same account since then. as time went on, I also opened a saving account with the same bank. Then a business account. When we bought our first house, we changed my current account into a joint account. When we got married I went to see my bank manager because I wanted to change the name on the joint account, but keep my savings account in my miaden name as I still work under that. This was no problem he assured me, loads of customers do it. I showed him a copy of my marriage certificate (the original was lost within 24 hours - don't ask!) All sorted. No problem.

When we moved house four years ago, i transferred all my accounts to the local branch. They felt the need to change the name on my savings account so that it matched the joint account. I asked them to change it back. they refused, but said I could still pay in cheques in my maiden name whenever I wanted. For two years I tried to do this approximately every month. Each time it involved a long "discussion" with the cashoer, a trip to the managers office & a "special circumstnaces" form to be filled out. After two years they changed the computer system & the whole thing became impossible so I closed the account, opened a business account in another bank & used the free banking facility for two years. This time is now up, so I thought I'd re-open my savings account, in my maiden name. I took along payslips, birth certificate, photo ID, copy if marriage certificate. They still told me I couldn't open an account in my maiden name. i argued with the "new accounts" officer, the "personal banking" manager, the "lending & opening" head office before giving up in disgust. I pointed out that they had accepted my marriage certificate to change the name from maiden to married, so why not vice versa? They had my records going back 18 years & know perfectly well what my maiden name is. It's a very unusual name - I am definitely the only one in the UK, probably the world. I want a savings account, not a loan! All to no avail.

i think the secret is to NOT tell them I am the same person as the married me. so on Monday I am going to do that. Go there, with my ID & open a new account. They say they need a passport or driving licence, but I'm going to be a non-driver non-traveller & then see what happens!

Of course, it might help if my mother accepted I was married & didn't send my my birthday cheque in my maiden name, after 6 years of marriage!

My Utopian World part 1

Regular readers will know that every now & then I make a throw away comment about my fantasy Utopian world, where I am supreme lord and ruler, loved & trusted to legislate on all issues for everyone:-)

So I thought you might be interested in some of the laws that apply in MrsAginothLand, public consultation/comments are always welcome (although obviously not necessarily acted upon!)

Naturally, this land is not perfect, and bears a remarkable similarity to the real world, so the context of these laws is here, tomorrow.

If I were elected tomorrow, the first laws passed would be on home issues:

Frieght & Commercial Goods should not be transported by road if any other alternative is available. No frieght road journeys should be longer than 50 miles.
This one tackles congestion, environmental concerns and the "local produce" lobby. It is specifically based on UK geography, due to the comparitively small distances, dense population & variety of other transportation options available (rail, sea, canal, air etc)

All intoxicating substances may only be sold& imbibed in licensed premisis. No-one may leave the premisis until medically confirmed clear of all effects.
This one solves all the drug legalisation debates, offers a fair price to farmers, removes the worry of dealers cutting drugs with other chemicals, and removes all drink/drug related crime/violence etc.

next installment will deal with immigration & education!

Back to the grindstone

I didn't get the job:-( They didn't really come up with any reason other than we liked the other guy better, so there was not alot I could do!

So it's back to my crappy job properly now - I can't kid myself that if I ignore it, it will go away for any longer.

hopefully something else will come up soon, but I doubt I'll get anything before Xmas now

UPDATE: it's now 9.30pm and I've just finished working my way through all the emails on my work computer. And you know what makes it worse? Only two of them were actually doing somthing useful, all the rest were either stupid paperwork or "information" that I didn't need!.

It doesn't look good

I have been patiently sitting at home all day, waiting for the phone to ring.

So far, the only calls I have taken have been from people asking if I've had any phone calls.

NO I HAVEN'T

I'm guessing this is not a case of no news is good news. I think I'm going to have to get back into working properly tomorrow:-(

A civilised day

Another day nearly over, another day of virtually no work done!

Actually, it has been quite a constructive day. I sorted out loads of washing (i don't mind doing it as much as sorting, folding & putting it away), I bought LMB new boots (she only had new ones 8 weeks ago, but has been complaining that they hurt for the last few days), bought LMD some booties as she keps taking her socks off, then complaining that she's cold!, made the two really urgent work phone calls & arranged a couple of meetings, bought some beef & made a nice warming stew for supper, (I bought a couple of rabbits for tomorrow too), and, of course, completed my first Civilization 4 Game.

This game is ridiculously addictive. If you don't belive me, just look at what Mr A and SleepyPete have to say on the matter. I started a game last night, and just had to get back to it this afternoon. It's not as though I have anything else to do with my time:-)

PS. I won settler level easily in 1986

Back to work

I had to get back to work yesterday, after two weeks off. There was loads of stuff to catch up on, and answerphone full off urgent messages that couldn't even remember why I was calling them back & an email inbox full of spam or stupidity. Great!

I do actually have some major work to do & meetings to organise if I want to hit my targets by the end of the year, but I just can't work up the enthusiasm to get into it at the moment.

I'm just hanging on till Wednsday really. Hopefully I can hand in my notice then:-)

1/3 people "blame" woman for rape

A new poll by Amnesty International says that 1/3 of the UK population (England & Wales) think that women are partly to blame for being raped. Only 6% of reported rapes result in conviction, and there are probably over 50,000 rapes each year (approx. 12,000 reported)

The BBC are also leading with this story & quote that"the government must launch a new drive to counteract this sexist 'blame culture"

So why do people think this, and how do we counteract it?

Well, IMHO this is a reasonably new feeling, and has very little to do with the rise of sexual freedom, girl gangs, chavs or a drop in moral standards - all of which I expect to be blamed by the MSM & Politicians looking for a quick soundbite.

I believe it is more to do with the few high profile "date rape" cases that were splashed all over the media a few years ago. These made people think that rape was not the violent, repulsive and socially abhorrant act we had asociated with the word throughout the 20th century, and instead, is a mistake that anyone could make given the right circumstances.

I think this, because although I am a stalwart believer in a womans right to have total control over exactly the same things in their lives as men, and I consider violent rape to be among the worst possible crime to commit & probably the worst one to be a victim of, I am one of those who if polled would probably have said "well, there are times when the womans behaviour is responsible for the rape".

Before you all switch off in disgust, let me give you some examples from my own experience. I guess I have actually been raped twice. When I was fourteen I was taken to a "grown up party". I had some drinks. I had a lot to smoke. I chatted to a nice lad. In the early hours of the morning he asked if I wanted to go for a walk with him in the woods. I agreed. When secluded in the woods he started kissing me. I kissed back. It went further that I was expecting. I said no. He talked nicely to me, and tried again. after a short while I said no again. He tried once more, before nicely agreeing to stop, chatting to me till I felt ready to go home. I am absolutely positive that he felt he had acted the perfect gentleman. He did act exteremely well given the circumstances. It never occured to me that he had done anything wrong - other than believe I understood what "a walk in the woods" meant. But I lost my virginity that day, so some kind of penetration must have happened. I distictly said no.

Was that rape? yes. Was my behaviour partly to blame? Yes. Do I feel like a rape victim? No way. Did he do anything wrong? No (well apart from the fact that I was 14, but he never knew).

The second time was a few years later. It was a classic date-rape. After a party we started making out. I said no, he ignored me. Actually I said no a good few times, although I can't say I fought at all. Afterwards I went home & we studiously avoided ever speaking to each other again.

Was that rape? yes. Was my behaviour partly to blame? Yes - I was virtually naked in bed with him! Do I feel like a rape victim? Not at all. Did he do anything wrong? Yes, he behaved badly, but hardly in the same league as violent rape.

We need to differentiate between the various sexual offences. "date rape" is different from violent rape. under-age sex (counts as rape under UK law) is not the same as paediphillia. Until we use different terms, we will be fighting an impossible battle, because lots of people know of "rapes" like mine, but few have any first hand knowledge of the other type, so they rely on their own interpretation of the words.

PS, this is NOT supposed to be a sob story. these incidents are just part of my life. I did not find it difficult to write about them, or to remember them. Please do not leave consoling or supportive comments, I do not feel in need of either.

Top 10 Percent

Another milestone to celebrate. Today marks three months of blogging for me! Apparently only 10% of blogs re still active after 3 months, so I now count as a real blogger:-)

I have to say I'm mildly suprised - I didn't really expect to get into it the way I have, and certainly not to find enough to blog every day (sometimes more than once!), but what astonishes me is how many of you like to come & read me - although I'm sure vast numbers of my visitors are lost googlers!

Thank you to everyone who visits, and especially if you have ever left a comment as thats what makes this such a good experience. I have found a whole community in the blogosphere & you've stuck by me through the good times and the bad ones.

Thanks everyone

Happy Birthday to me

OK, just in case any of you hadn't noticed:

Happy Birthday to me
Happy Birthday to me
Happy Birthday Mrs Aginoth
Happy Birthday to me

33 years young today! I've had a lovely relaxing day, doing very little. LMB & Cousin G played happily together all day, LMD slept most of it, & mstr A spent his free time (ie all day) playimng computer games. Sis S didn't get up till gone midday, then was back in bed within 30 mins and re-appeared at 3.30pm, so I had a great excuse to go nowhere & do nothing:-)

Back to work & real life tomorrow:-( But the kids should all have an early night, giving me & Mr A a quiet night in watching DVD's.

The Morning After.....

OK, I am being nagged unmercifully, so here's my account of last night for your perusal.

You can see Mr A's version here, and CQ's sober one here. Or you can check out RCA's drunken ramblings on CQ's blog here, and mine & sister S's drunker musings below!

The night started well, as we managed to get all 4 children in their beds & asleep before Nanny A arrived to babysit (cousin G took a bit of settling & mstr A waited up to say hello to Nanny, but they were all quiet when we left), so I thought I could leave them without any worries.

There were 9 of us all together: Mr A & myself, CQ, RCA, Sleepypete, Sister S, Brother-in-law S (BiLS) & Fiance K, and friend X. The resturant was only booked for 8 (cos people kept dropping out), and were fully booked, so were a bit flustered when asked to squeeze an extra one in, but accomodated us happily. Unfortunately it meant poor CQ, being the last to arrive, got stuck with sitting between me & sis - a bad place to be!

Many years ago Sis S & I used to party every weekend, but it has been aong time since either of us have had much opportunity (I've mostly been pregnant/breast-feeding, she's mostly been pregnant/studying), so naturally we intended to make the most of the evening. The first thing we did was order the wine! A bottle each of red, white & rose to get us started.

by the time the starters arrived, we ordered another couple of bottles. Then I think possibly a few more when the starters were finished! Certainly we were already very drunk by then:-)

We are happy drunks, and physical ones. Sis tries to snog pretty much everyone, and delighted RCA, but not CQ with her attempts. She also insisted on giving me a wine blowback, which is not something I'd particulaly recommend:-) She is also a smoker, so after the starters she went outside for a ciggie, where she chatted to a lad called Kevin, who was with his mates on the next table. It was his mates 18th Birthday, so poor Kevin couldn't have been very old, but unfortunately for him, he was quite cute so Sis S spent much of the night scaring him by chatting him up.

The wine kept flowing, and we kept getting sillier. Poor X looked a bit embarrassed, being a) a very nice & well brought up type of person and b) Canadian and probably not used to drunk Londoner sisters misbehaving. I hope he forgives us! BiLS, who has Cystic Fibrosis had drunk much more than was good for him & passed out on the table & I was trying to convince Sis S that the feather boa's were for decoration only & that she should not take one and start dancing!

By the time the desserts arrived, we had finished our wine. Sis S saw an empty table next to us with half a glass of wine left on it & promptly purloined & drank it. Unfortunately 5 mins later the ocupants returned from their toilet break (all 4 of them at once, how weird is that?) & accused us of stealing their wine! The cheek of it! of course we acted all innocent:-) Bloody sis S - she could have ordered another bottle - we wouldn't have minded, but she reverted to being a teenager instead! oh well.

Anyway, that pretty much signalled the end of the meal. £300 and a large tip lighter, we headed home for more alcohol & birthday cake. Sadly LMD has been ill most of the evening - lucky Nanny A always seems to babysit when they are being difficult.

We drank a bit more & a few drunken blogs were written X dissapeared home very quickly (sorry X), but the rest of us chatted till late. We finally stumbled up to bed aout 1am.

LMD woke every half hour till 2.30am, when I gave up & bought her in to bed with me. Bieng paranoid about co-sleeping while drunk I barely dozed for the next two hours, when she vomited litres of stinky stuff all over me! Lovely.

A shower & quick sobering up later, I finally got to sleep about 5am. Mstr A woke us up at 6.30, but I sent Mr A off to sort him out, and managed another couple of hours kip, before getting yummy breakfast in bed:-)

No sign of Sis S yet!

guest {huh} blog

hello, this is mrs a's favirite {so just discovered} sis. am v drunk; normally have command of english language but for some reason {2 bottles of wine?} can't make computer work properly. been 4 meal to celebrate mrs a's birthday - made prat of self (sorry kevin) stole someone's wine, don't really knowhat i'm doin tryin to type when this drunk, but have sen lil sis thru worse times thanthis, and am still big sis (protect family at all costs). everyone's gone home now - feel this is my fault cos i was exceptionally embaressing, but don't get out often anymore & alcohol has knack of making me think i'm funnywhen really im just pain in the arse!
so,don't normallydo this blog thing but too p*ssed to know what i'm doing (stupid canadians - p*ssed means drunk not angry) and need to tell you all LIL SIS HAS TOLD LIES! ONLY I KNOWtruth about everything.
bruv in law says save ascrap so bye
sis s 9BIG SIS SEES ALL, KNOWS ALL!!!!!!

Birthday blog

Helo all. It's my birthday, and in proper tradition I have seen it in drunk. I will endevour to see it out drunk in 24 hurs.

We have been out for much good food & much more good wine. My sister has just written a whole guest blog, but she was soooo pissed,she lost it before posting! she made right fool of herself, but I may have done the same. Maybe I will post a real blog tomorrow, but she is making me giggle too much to do so right now.

CQ has posted something, that is probably untrue, even tho she is sober & we are all drunk!

Poor brother in law got very drunk & fell asleep on the table (ha ha), then threw up all over the pavement:-(

Sister S nicked a glass of wine off the next door table & got us all into trouble. But she told her boyfriend that she danced naked on the tables, so it could have been worse:-)

LMD was sick all night, so now I feel well guilty, but not guilty enough to sober up!

More tomorrow

Have a good night

No sense of shame (the story continues)

Ok, so this will be the final installment of the "how we met" story.

Where were we? Oh yes, I had just slipped out of Mr A's room in the early hours of the morning. So, I got home & prceeded to try & pretend I'd been in my own bed all night. This was slightly ruined at breaksfast time by M regaling all my flatmates with embellished stories of the evening before, then half way through the morning by Mr A turning up like little lost sheep to find me.

I was surprised to se him, to be honest. I mean, I assumed that if you get off with someone on thier birthday & they sneak off in the middle of the night, you would want to tell all your mates a load of lies & never see said person again! I explained to him tht I didn't want to get into anything, having just got over a serious relationship (well, serious for me) and enjoying single life. He said he was absolutely fine with that, then proceeded to put plenty of effort into behaving like we were already an item (nuff said).

Unfortunately, I had to go off to lectures pretty soon, so not alot happened. We tried again in the evening, but my flatmates were not particularly helpful, and kept popping in to my room for a variety of reasons & eventually he gave up & went home.

The followig day was saturday. I had invited friends & family down to party the night away, but in normal fashion they had all been unsure whether they could come or not, so i had no idea if anyone was actually going to turn up at all. As students don't get up till midday, it was early afternoon before Me & Mr A finally managed to get together. we were just getting to the really interesting bit when there was a knock on the door. I opened it to find my big brother looking very uncomfortable:-) I unceremoniously dumped him in the kitchen with a coffee & we finally got to cosummate our relationship.

Aftewards I chatted to my brother & soon sister S and a bunch of friends arrived too. They had just driven down from London, in the pouring rain, in a metro, driven by a 17 year old maniac. They weren't very impressed to find us cosily drinking coffee! Sister S, not being one to mince words, asked where the party was. I explained that there wasn't much of one, as we'd had one on my birthday & didn't know who was coming etc. I looked at her face. We went to the pub.

On the way to the pub I got a long tirade of how much everyone had put themselves out for me. After about 15 mins Mr A said something & she turned to him and said "and who the F*** are you anyway?". It was the fact that he seemed totally unphased by my family & even that fantastic greeting that made me think there might be some hope for him after all (my first words to him had been "what the F*** do you think you look like?).

The day ended happily, with much drinking in the pub, followed by drinking and smoking in my room. everyone calmed down & Mr A coped admirably with my motly assortment of friends. I accepted that we were having a fling (although I spent the next 3 years telling him I was leaving tomorow), and sister S decided he wasn't all that bad.

Not the most auspicious of starts to a relationship, but at least he knew what he was letting himself in for

OMG - How many years?!?

OK, so over on his blog, Mr A has been reminicing about how we met, how we got together & how we started our relationship 13 years ago!!!!! The how we met bit was fine, but I have some fairly majorly different memories of how we got together, so I following requests, i have decided to give you all my version of events.

Having had a nice discussion with the future Mr A during his date with my next door neighbour, M, (see his how we met post), I promptly forgot all about him:-) There were loads of people to meet in those first few weeks of uni, and the whole experience was very surreal & superficial. I mostly hated them all anyway, and felt that the only thing the nicer ones were good for was a free meal. However, i had my morals. I only ever took one free meal per person, so having used up my food ration, Mr a held no more interest to me!

A couple of weeks went past. I popped up to Perth (scotland) to see my Ex & finally got over him. My birthday came round. My flatmates hadn't yet realised how much we disliked each other, so threw a birthday party for me. I was out at the pub that evening anyway, so by the time I got home, i'd had a couple of drinks. The girls had laid on cake & wine. I think it was probably the first time I'd drunk wine. Spirits & beer aplenty, but wine was pretty much unknown in the East End in the 70's & 80's. I was still young enough that meal were fairly optional, so the cake was the only thing I'd eaten that day.

after the drinks, M said she'd organised to go watch Top Gun in Mr A's room, what with him being old & rich, and having a big room, and a TV & video! I'd said earlier that week that I'd never seen Top gun, & she couldn't believe how deprived I'd been, so had gone straight off to rectify it. Unfortunately, all the other girls decided it was getting late, & they couldn't go out in the dark (it was about midnight), so in the end only Me & M went over there.

Top gun is dull, boring, badly acted, badly written and a total waste of my meagre intellectual abilities. It took me about 10 mins of watching the film to work this out. It also took about 5mins of sitting down to realise I was way to drunk to hold my head up throughout the film. so i lay down on the bed (M had taken the only chair), using Mr A as a convenient pillow. he started stroking my hair. it was nice & relaxing, so i let him.

We drank another bottle of wine.

As te final few words of dialogue were being said in Top gun, M (who had seen it before) jumped up, said "I'm heading home now" & ran out the door. I was still trying to work out how to make my mouth open & tongue work to say the words "hang on, I'll come with you" when the door closed behind her. Too drunk to move, and not completely adverse to a quick fling (it was my birthday you know!), I decided to make the best of it & enjoyed myself. We didn't do that much - I lied, & he seemed happy enough to accept it, so we kept to the safe versions of fun.

At 4am I woke up, sober, thought "oops", grabbed my stuff & scarpered out of there as quietly as possible, thinking any normal bloke would chalk it up to experience, be thankful for a night with a drunken teenager, and spend the next three years avoiding me.

College Work!

College day again today. This week just flew by!

It was the first day I've really had to work at the subject, as we started a new topic, and it has all changed out of recognition since I last did law 15 years ago! I haven't really got my head round it yet, but still buggered off early cos I need to try & tidy the house up enough to look like it's not a biohazard, as my sister will be arriving tonight, and many friends tomorrow for my birthday bash.

It's a big house, and only really gets tidied for special occasions, so there's a lot of work involved. Ho Hum. Better than doing little bits every day. whats the point? it just gets messy again!

I'm supposed to be researching my next assignment on the computer, but I'm going to have a quick blog break then get back to tidying. Anway, I got a distinction for my last assignm,ent (only a merit for my first one tho), and habded another one in today, so hopefully I'll be ok.

Interviews again

Another day spent in Bath attending the second interview for the job I want. I've put a lot of thought into it & decided that if offered I will definitely take it. I think we'll work out almost the same financially, when I take off childcare & travel costs, but I really, really need to get back to real work. I need to go somewhere every day. I need to talk to other adults. I need to use my brain. I need to feel that I am doing something useful (I know parenting is useful, but I have to do that anyway). I need to get away from the kids occasionally. I need to know that there is more to my life than being a housewife. I need to get my career back, if not on track, at least somewhere near the railway. I need to know I am making a financial contribution to our lives. and that's just the bits I can articulate. I think all of those reasons outweigh the financial side of things.

Whereas I felt unable to go back to full time work after LMB was born & put myself through the emoptional turmoil I had with Mstr A, I now feel that 2 years is long enough for me. LMD is nearly 10 months - old enough to cope with being left with caring, professional people. I am sure they will make a better job of it than me in many ways, and I'll still be around for all the other bits.

So: The interview went well. It was a meet the team session, then another formal interview to pick up on specific issues. I was supposed to chat to the team for about 20 mins, and was still happily in discussion with them 40 mins after arriving. I'd worked with two of them before, and was able to give considered opinions on all the topics discussed, without too much spouting off of political bull:-) Then onto the formal interview. Again, i feel it went well. There was much nodding of heads as I replied to their questions on management style, priorities & opinions on opprtunities available. I had a chance to affirm my enthusiasm for the post & didn't do or say anything stupid. So now I just have to wait & see. There are four people left in the running, but one isn't going in till next Tues, so I should hear on Wednesday.

Bugger. I have to go back to work on Monday & I was really hoping to be able to hand in my notice!

Still, Mstr A did really well at school today. He got a headteachers award for good writing & was given the class (toy) cat to look after for the night again. No screaming occured at all today.

Also, my annoying, but favourite sister phoned yesterday night to say she COULD come to my birthday bash on Saturday (she phoned last week to cancel). This will be the first time in years that she has come here, which will be lovely (I hope the restuarant can fit us all in - now it's only a couple of days away, everyone has started saying yes!)

So we all agree...

We've just got back from Mstr A's parents evening. I haven't decided if I'm pleased or depressed by his progress.

I again reiterated that we are happy with his academic progress. I know his teacher gets frustrated because he won't complete any tests for her to mark him by, but she is aware that his literacy & numeracy skills are way above average. He has two hours one-one each week, so she can usually get some evidence then, which keeps her paperwork up to date. We do very little academic stuff at home, so as I said to her, he's obviously learning it at school, even if he's not showing it.

So we moved onto his social skills. I asked if there had been any improvement, and she basically said, no, he's still getting worse. That's despite all the extra effort we've been putting in at home, school & other activities. Unless someone is there constantly reminding him to do things, he just fidgets/stares into space/starts shouting or throwing things. Unfortunately, it is not possible for someone to be there constantly on top of him at school.

On the plus side, she'd taken my last discussion to heart and had bought some books about special needs & agreed that he was showing many of the signs of autism, so she is going to try to incorporate specialist activities into the class. The Educational Psychologist has been to see him, although no report has arrived yet. Teacher said that in her opinion nothing is likely to be sorted out till next school year (Sept), but I reckon we might be able to push things forward quicker than that.

So now we're kind of in limbo. We're all agreed he needs specialist help, but until he's diagnosed we can't get it, or even really work out what would be best for him, as there are so many varieties of autism and treatment/management techniques. We've been having a ot of tantrums at home recently too. It's hard to remain patient all the time, even though I know shouting at him just sets off a screaming fit. It seems that no matter how many times I say something (like don't push the baby over) it just doesn't sink in. Then every now & then he'll be a gorgeous 5 year old & I think maybe I just expect too much from him.

Not today though. I took him to school screaming, I picked him up screaming, He was screaming again when Mr A came home, and again by the time we left to go to the parents evening. We narrowly avoided more screaming when we left the school, and put up with shouting while sorting out supper. Another screaming fit before going to bed, finished the day off nicely.

Blog Awards

As you may know, I like to go nosing around the upper echelons of the ecosystem blogs every now & then, to impart my (mostly ignored) opinion to the Great & the Scary.

I'm amazed not only at how many of the top blogs are right wing americans, but that so many of the top UK blogs are basically pedelling the same stuff. Why, if you are based in the UK, would you want your blog to be wholly about US issues? Also, loads of them don't allow comments, which is just wierd in my world. Isn't that what a blog is about? Otherwise you are just writing an online magazine - without even a letters page!

Anyhoo, during my trawl earlier this week I found that Wizbang holds annual Weblog Awards (rather like blogging oscars), so I thought I should advertise them here & get some less scary blogs to put themselves forward:-)

I've submitted Mine and Aginoths for best New Blog, & Aginoths for best UK blog too. You can self-submit, so go on, give it a go. I'm not expecting to win (in fact I'd be pretty amazed to not come last), but hopefully a couple of people will come visiting & leave with some new ideas.

"MUM!"

Mum, Mum, Mum, Mum, Mum, Mum, Mum, Mum, Mum, Mum, Mum, Mum, Mum, Mum, Mum, Mum, Mum, Mum, Mum, Mum, Mum, Mum, Mum, Mum, Mum, Mum, Mum, Mum, Mum, Mum, Mum, Mum, Mum, Mum, Mum, Mum, Mum, Mum, Mum, Mum, Mum, Mum, Mum, Mum, Mum, Mum, Mum, Mum.........

Annoying, isn't it?

It's been driving me nuts all day. Thanks LMB!

Ha Ha

Apparently some Americans do have a sense of humour!

Capital Carnival!

Just got back from the Weston Carnival (see Aginoths post about the history & stuff). It went much better than expected.

Mstr A was very well behaved - stayed where he was supposed to (he got lost last year!), shared the sweets he aquired, threw money at the right time, and not at th wrong one, danced along to the music & generally had a good time.

LMB was absolutely enraptured when the floats started coming past & just stared openmouthed. She jiggled along to th muisic happily & energetically for nearly an hour, before passing out fast asleep on my lap. ahhhhh!

LMD was asleep before the carnival started, and slept through the first hour or so quite happily, despite the light & noise. then half way through she just woke up, sat up, sqeeled with excitement & stared at the lights going past for 20 mins. After that I swapped LMB into the pram, and LMD sat on my lap dancing to the timewarp (and others)!

At the end, all three kids came home, took off thousends of clothes & went off to bed with barely a murmer.

i'm not looking forward to getting them up for school in the morning though:-)

Mr A has posted his account & some pretty pictures, if you want to go see.

What a bunch of sickies!

Yep, that's right, we're a right bunch of malingerers in the Aginoth household today.

I've still got my lovely cough that meaqns I can't manage more than about 5 words before collapsing in asphyxiation. Still, saw the Dr again today & he signed meoff for another wek, which was nice. Mr A seems to have picked it up too, as he spent most of the nigh hacking his guts up, then came to bed at 4am & slept through all the usual morning noises, awaking at 9.15 - long after we'd all left for school. So he's taken the day off too.

Not really done alot. Washed the bedclothes (boring), bought another oil filled radiator for LMB's room (Mstr A already has one as there is no heating on the top floor, but LMB's room has been getting really cold at night too. Tried to make the girls nap as they were both up alot during the night, and they'll be up late tonight for the carnival, but failed miserably.

Hopefully I'll have something interesting to write about later:-)

An "epidemic of bullying"?

Professor Aynsley-Green, who is the children's commissioner for England, has claimed there is an epidemic of bullying in the UK.

Today, once again, the news is headlining a serious assault of a teenager at school

Childline has reported a 42% rise in calls about bullying to its counsellors

But sometimes I wonder - is this another of the scare stories, or is it a real problem?

I know that bullying is a real problem. I'm not denying that it exists, or the damage that it causes. But has it got worse?

I was bullied pretty much every day in primary school, and certainly through the earlier years of secondary school - leading to stays in hospital, surgery and permenant physical damage. I tried all the ways of stopping it that I had heard of: fighting back (I got hurt more & told off by teachers), meekly taking it (frequency increased), making friends with the head bully (she just got to hurt me "in fun"), getting a "gang" of my own (it turned into gang war-fare). To be honest, it only really stopped when I grew & learned how to outsmart the bullies - not an option available to everyone!

The media has been highlighting a number of bullying attacks with weapons, which I never had to face. So are we going the way of America, and soon to have multiple murders in schools? Or is it just that the media has started reporting on something that was mostly hidden before? Either way, is there any solution to the problem?

All schools have had anti-bullying policies for years now, so if it is still increasing (or even if it's just not decreasing) where are we going wrong?

DIY Don't

Well, another weekend gone, and despite numerous promises & even Mr A being "in the mood" to do some DIY, nothing has been done! He did go out & buy some more glue this morning (I'm sure we have tons of the stuff), but didn't manage to actually glue up any panals onto my bedroom walls:-(

Still, it was partly my fault, as I made him sort out the fire in our front room, as it's jolly chilly here now. We bought a big coal bunker last week, so filled it all up withcoal & wood today, cleaned the hearth, thought about sorting out a chimney sweep & lit the first fire of the year. mmmm, there's nothing quite like it. (we have central heating too - NEVER AGAIN will I live in an unheated house). Last year was very mild, so we didn't use it at all, so it was a first for both LMB & LMD.

LMB took it all in her stride, but LMD didn't like it when it crackled & sparked. Oh well, she'll get used to it. Mstr A thought it was great & helped lay it & clean it!

As a reward I took everyone out to Sunday Lunch at the local Beefeater. Yum, nice new menu, although a large number of teething troubles with it - which we commented on, naturally (we not ones to take it in silance). Got 75% off my absolutely gorgeous starter as two ingredients were completely missing, and a bit off the overall bill, so that was good:-) The kids all behaved really well for once & were rewarded with a dessert (LMD refused to give her spoon back!) and a play in the playground outside.

They still played together when we got home, with Mstr A & LMB rolling around on the floor tickling each other. It was a joy to watch, & I felt that finally I had a family, rather than just a buch of kids to look after.

I didn't get any tidying up done either - but called my boss to cancel our meeting tomorrow as I've still got this horrible cough (I reckon Simon sent it to me!), so I'm going to try to get another week off. Hopefully by the time I go back I'll be able to hand in my notice:-)

I did manage to book the tickets to see my sister in Belfast in February. She has a step-son a year older than Mstr A, so he's been nagging me to visit for ages. I'm really looking forward to it, as I don't see her much.

A bit of a nothing day really, but a useful one:-)

Want's & needs

I saw this on Rosevibes blog, and thought it sounds fun.

Go to google & type in "(your name) wants", and see what it comes up with.
Apparently I want:

• to do 27 things. 成為一個好人
• to get a double major in English and German
• to show the children that the challenges of physical disability can be overcome
• to shake hands
• to shorten my nails

Then you do the same thing, but type in "(your name) needs.
Apparently I need:

• as much speech therapy as possible.
• help with Can't Connect to my Hotmail,
• flu shots

As I have quite an unusual first name, I was surprised it came up with anything. But it was great fun following the links.

UPDATE: I did this on my real first name (no, I'm not going to tell you what it is). If you want to know what (mrs) Aginoth wants & needs, go see Aginoths attempt.

Shopping, Stress & supper

Another day Xmas shopping today - molstly because Mr A fancied a shopping trip into Bristol I think! A tad stressful getting all the kids ready & out this morning - Mstr A had a temper tantrum when told to stop playing computer games, LMB did her lie-down-&-go-limp protest when asked to get her coat on & LMD screamed her head off as soon as we put her in the car!

Then we drove down the A roads into Bristol, as the roadworks on the M5 are not worth the effort, and drove round the city centre for half an hou trying to find somewhere to park our monster truck as the outdoor car-park we had intended to use was a building site!

Once parked, LMB got to try out her new buggyboard, which wasn't a great sucess, but I'm sure she'll get used to it! Mstr A was seriously hyper & running around screaming like a maniac, & LMB soon copied him. The shops were pretty busy with Xmas shoppers, so we had some "looks" thrown our way. Thinking to calm them down with some food, we stopped into an Italian restuarant. Unfortunately LMB took this as a sign to start being two, and threw herself to the floor letting out loud high pitched screams. LMD is at the copying sounds stage, so she immediately followed suit. What fun! I wasn't embarrassed at all. Honestly.

We did manage to calm them down eventully, and they were better once fed, so we got a fair bit of xmas shopping done in the end. We then bribed them out of ELC with a trip to Nanny A's, and had a lovely afternoon relaxing at her house. She even cooked dinner for all of us. Thanks Nanny A:-)

Slightly less stressed, we bought all the little darlings home at bedtime, & sneaked them into their beds, so looking forward to a quiet evening on the computers:-)

My Birthday List

I found this on Mommyguilt's site, and thought what a clever idea

So, in no particular order, here's my list of 33 things I'd like for my 33rd birthday on the 20th (the great thing about this idea is every year you get to ask for more things):

1. A full nights sleep, with lie-in
2. A new roof
3. A new job
4. Or even better, enough money not to worry about working
5. A whole new wardrobe full of clothes
6. A thorough house clean
7. An expensive holiday
8. A TV in my bedroom
9. Less paperwork
10. Guaranteed Smoothskin for Mr A
11. For my mother to accept my family
12. And my sister to sort herself out
    
13. To be debt free
14. To finish the house/DIY jobs
15. A good professional portrait of my family
16. To clear out all the kids toys, without feeling guilty.
17. A deck in my garden
18. To catch up on my backlog of reading
19. To see the new Harry Potter Film, with friends, without kids
20. For my family to all be healthy & happy
21. To have a group of local friends again
22. To have a regular cleaner again
23. A new car (just a little one)
    
24. A motorbike to play on
    
25. Unlimited cash
26. Time alone with Mr A
27. LMB to be out of nappies
28. A professional make-over
29. An extension so we can use the bathroom in the winter
30. Lots of cholcolate, and chocolate products
    
31. Good company & conversation at my birthday meal
32. My pre-motherhood body back
33. Some confirmed bookings for my work next year.

As approved by Teh Blogfather

Looks Like A Job For Supermominator!

"Stressed? Me? Psshhhhhhh!"

My blog has been approved & reviewed bu Teh Blog Father. Go visit his site for full details.

Mr Forgetful

"I forgot" had become the most heard phrase in our house recentlu. talk about the attention span of a goldfish - I don't think mstr A could rival the attention span of an amoeba sometimes.

of course, he has perfect recall when it comes to, say, which attributes each of the 150 pokemon have in his Nintendo game. However, when it comes to doing something an adult has requested, it falls out of his memory within milliseconds, & when you ask why it's not done yet "oh, I forgot" is all you get back!

On Tuesday he sat at his desk at school for two hours not writing four sentances. I agreed with his teacher that he should be kept in during break time yesterday to finish it. Yesterday he spent another hour, plus break time writing three words, so I bought the work home & made him do it after school. The rule was that he could not do ANYTHING else until it was written, so no Nintendo, no TV, no toys, no reading, no talking. It still took him 2 hours to write the four sentances (badly), and that was with me reminding him every 5 mins or so. He would write one letter then drift off into his own dreams. Is this normal? I know the inside of his brain is probably a lot more interesting than writing, but it would only take him 5 mins if he just got on with it!

the same applies to everything at the moment. If I send him upstairs to get a shirt, he'll wander into the kitchen. If I ask him to tidy his toys he'll sit & stare gormlessly at the carpet for half an hour. whenever I ask him what he's doing I get "I don't know", and if I ask why he hasn't done as requested, it's "I forgot".

Grrrrrrrrrr

Harry Potter stuff

In honour of the new film, whch should be out for my birthday:




I'm
a Hufflepuff!

Hufflepuff - aren't they the stupid & slow bunch of honourable niceness? yuk!

Link pimp

Being a complete link whore (I blame Mr A), I have now added a "link to this post" facility. If you click it, you get the URL of the specific post, rather than just linking to the blog as a whole.

Sit down & shut your mouth

LMD has recently learned how to cruise around the furniture. she happily gets up and down with only one hand on something for a bit of balance. It means the other hand is free to pick up anything & everything on tables, chairs, desks, sideboards etc.

LMD has always loved putting things i her mouth. Everything. especially paper for some unknown reason. Now she has a tooth, it's amazing what she likes to chew on.

I am not the most houseproud person in the world. Given the choice, I would rather do anything other than clean.

This is a very bad combination of factors.

So far today she I have removed the following from her mouth:

1. A plastic bottle cap
2. A plastic lid from a smarties tube
3. A dirty tissue
4. A clean baby wipe
5. The envelope containing my post
6. My post
7. An old piece of toast she found on the floor
8. A stickle brick
9. The computer wires
10. nappies! (clean ones)
11. my keys
12. peanuts
13. the computer wires again (she likes those)
14. An empty kitchen roll tube

it's only 2 o'clock!

We've Cracked it!

I think we've finally got there. last night marked the first full week of LMB sleeping right through the night!

Yipee - now I only have to get up twice a night for LMD:-)

She goes to bed with little or no protest most nights now too.

And all it took was 26 months of effort:-)

Jobs Update

I've just been invited back for a second interview for the job in Bath. Yay!

There was only supposed to be one interview, but apparently we were all so brilliant they want 4 of us back on Thursday to meet the team, go through some extra stuff, etc.

Still don't know if I can afford to take it if they offer it to me, but I'm going to try and get it anyway.

ClubMark

I went to work today. Don't tell my employers, cos I'm off sick, but it was easier to do this meeting today (it's been booked for ages, & I'd never get another date set before Xmas), and tell them I'm doing it next week than to re-arrange it.

So, a quick jaunt down to Exeter to meet with one of the best & biggest clubs in the area to go through their ClubMark application file. Now ClubMark is a fantastic invention. I'm sure none of you have heard of it, which really pisses me off, because it's supposed to have enormous nationwide cover in the media, advertising & governmental backing, but that hasn't materialised yet - and it's in it's second year now!

Basically ClubMark is the kitemark for sports clubs, showing they are "safe, effective & child friendly" or in other words, run by qualified people, in accordance with governing body policies & good practise procedures & not designed to either totally rip you off, or to find young children for dubious reasons.

there is no legal obligation to have any training, police checks or knowledge to set up a sports club & invite young children to your facility to wear very little & get involved in various physical activities, so ClubMark is a fantastic invention. However, to receive it clubs obviously need to evidence their good practises. It is no longer acceptable to say "but everyone knows our policies" you now need to have them written, displayed & preferably signed by all participants.

this particular club has always been at the forefront at implementing new initiatives & policies & I can not fault their coaching, H&S, procedures, facilty or management. However, pieces of paper are not their strong point. I've spent all year discussing the criteria with the manager, and finally went down today to "sign off" the eveidence folder, only to discover that he hasn't actually written either of the two main documents required (a club development plan & job descriptions for all staff) he knows what they are going to say, but he's not actually written them yet.

Arghhhhhh! i can not sign him off without paper evidence! He really deserves the award, and I know he's doing it all, but I need the paperwork to prove it. ClubMark is one of my major target areas this year (I'm way behind on it), and this club getting it would really encourage others to follow suit. Because he's such a big, well run club, I can't even do it for him (I have been known to do stuff for smaller clubs - they don't have the time or experience to produce professional development plans!). So, a fairly wasted journey in many ways. Still he has PROMISED to get it written up by the end of the month, so here's hoping.

Scare tactics

I am becomming increasingly concerned by what I see on the news every day.

Terroroism, riots, Avian Flu, MRSA, extreme weather, dirty bombs....

However, none of these worry me, What does concern me is the trend to report scare stories constantly. It has been said for some time that Governments are now playing on our fears rather than appealing to our hopes to remain in power, but previously I thought I could trust the news to give me both sides of the stories, but this is no longer true. Now I have to go searching the net & doing my own research to get the other side of any story.

Here's a classic example: while we are regularly told of the rise of Muslim terrorism - both from abroad and within western societies, I have not seen the 150,000 strong march in Morrocco against Al Quaida mentioned anywhere on the tv/in newspapers.

One of the big attractions of living in the UK is our variety of news sources, and the unique position of the BBC. If this one-sided reporting keeps up I think we will need to seriously re-consider the use of the licence fee.

Shopping & screaming

Not much to blog about yet today. Mr A has gone off to some utterly boring meeting about blowing things up (you'd think it would be slightly interesting when they actually did the blowing up, but mostly they just talk about it), so I have the car today. I thought I should make use of it & after dumping Mstr A off at school, we all went shopping to the local supermarket.

My girls do not like supermarket shopping - although they are quite happy to drag me round town looking for toys etc, food just doesn't do it for them (mstr A quite enjoys it, but he never gets to come any more). therefore LMD started screaming pretty much as soon as we were through the doors. Boy can she scream. and does she get fed up? no. She can scream for hours quite happily, with every evidence of being in total & abject misery. Her face screws up, tears flow, she goes bright red, and her peircing screams sound like she is in agony. After a couple of aisles, and a number of attempts by little old ladies to calm her down, I gave in and picked her up.

Sudden, absolute silence decended immediately. so I put her back in the trolley.

scream, wail, abject misery.

We spent the whole trip alternating one aisle screaming, one aisle silence as I carried her & crashed the trolley into everyone else, one aisle screaming, one aisle quiet & crashing... I couldn't win either way with the other shoppers, who tutted if I crashed into them, and tutted if she cried.

Once we got to the checkout, it was a different story. I had to put LMD back in the trolley to unload it, so she screamed, but at this point LMB decided to join in too. Ooh, stereo screaming. yipee!

i don't think the checkout girl had ever been so helpful in packing my bags & getting rid of me as quickly as possible. Although come to think of it, I didn't get my spirt for schools vouchers, so I'm going to have to go back later & complain!

Anyway, we got home & I fed LMD to sleep, and gave LMB some magic painting to do (she loves anything arty), so now I'll put away all that food, and make nsome lunch.

Oh yes, one good thing. I went to the doctors first thing this morning & got signed off work for a week with a respiritory infection, so now I don't have to traipse half way accross the country on Wed & Thurs to a meeting that will only give me even more work to do anyway!

A century!

This is my 100th post! wow. When I first started I was sure it was going to be a passing fancy. All my previous attempts at keeping any kind of journal (even in very interesting times of my life) have never managed more than one or two entries. So thank you to all of you people, as it is the comments & feedback I recieve that make this so much more interesting than a paper diary. Keep them coming:-)

In honour of my century, and in view of my coming birthday, I was thinking about how the world has changed during my lifetime. When I was a child, i was sure my mother was so old that she could remember dinosaurs (no, really. Children have a strange perception of time!), but, when chatting to Mstr A today I realised how many things he will take for granted that I never had:

I remember when......

• There were no mobile phones, faxes, email or SMS. In fact, only a select few had a phone at all
• There were no CD's, Car stereo's, IPods, 'Ghetto Blasters', or Midi sets.
• Not only were there no DVD's, Sky + or internet downloads, there were no Video's either.
• There were only three TV channels. AND they only ran about 6 hours a day.
• You had to scrape the ice off the inside of the car windscreen as well as the outside.
• In the summer, everyone had 2nd degree burns from the vinyl car seats.
• All dinners were cooked from raw ingrediants, and eaten off plates.
• The milkman delivered to every house in the country before 7am
• The post was the most reliable way of sending information, and was delivered twice a day.
• "seasonal vegetables" changed, depending on the season
• There were no lap-tops, palm-tops, or even home computers
• Libraries were open all day, every day, in every community
• Having a car was a luxury. The two car family was unheard off
• It was considered right and normal to put 8 children into a family hatchback

I can think off loads more, but these are the ones that seem to really surprise the young. Sometimes I feel ancient just by talking to them, but I'll be 33 in a few weeks! Think what will have happened when I discuss this with my grandchildren!

What do you think have been the biggest changes/innovations in your lifetime?

Answers for all

UPDATE: Apperently this post doesn't work in IE. Please use Mozilla for best results, or put up with weird HTML all over the place. Sorry!

Right, as promised, here are the answers to the questions asked a couple of posts ago. Although I feel quite unloved – Mr A got 36 (yes thrity-six) people asking him questions, and only 7 of you were interested enough in me to botherL.

Si said...

1. Why do you want a chainsaw? I rather like demolishing things, particularly gardens, and when we are re-enacting, we need loads of firewood cut up. I think a chain-saw would be very useful & great fun. Mr A thinks I am not safe with power-tools due to my total clumsiness & general lack of co-ordination. The chain-saw thing has been a long standing joke with us.

2. 2. Why the current color scheme for this blog? When I was setting it up I went through all the templates and decided this was the easiest to read/mist pleasing on the eye. I don’t have the IT skills or patience to make my own up, don’t like the dark backgrounds, and have spent too much time teaching about visual impairment to use green/blue colours.

Aginoth said...

1. When are we going to do the Christmas Shopping? In a panic in mid-December as usual.

2. Do you fancy a dirty weekend away with your husband? ;o) No – how about a clean weekend?J

craziequeen said...

Can I borrow your chainsaw? Yes, as soon as I persuade Mr A to let me have one

Do you need me to babysit while you have a dirty weekend away with your husband? No, we’ve already booked Nanny A ThanksJ

Jon, Intergalactic Gladiator said...

1. What is your favorite television program? Right now I think I’d have to say Lost.

2. If you were an Intergalactic Gladiator, what would your prefered weapon be? I’ve always fancied the quaterstaff, but I’d probably be better at knife fighting.

Dave said...

1), What was your most embarassing moment? Ooh, a tough one, as I repress all my embarrassing memories! I guess it would probably be something to do with my deplorable lack of co-ordination ie: last year when at a re-enactment fair I spent 10 minutes lecturing Mstr A about how he must not touch anything on the stall selling replica Roman glassware, then promptly turned around and knocked a dozen pieces off, smashing the (very expensive) centrepiece of the display!
2), What's your favourite ever motorbike (that you've ridden, but not necessarily owned)? I think I’ll always have a soft spot for the Kawazaki ZX10 Ninja, as it was the first “big” bike I rode & the first time I ever went ton-up.

mommyguilt said...

1. What's your best Aspie parenting tip? Be firm. Repeat yourself often. Don’t be afraid to ask for help.
2. When on earth do you have time to work and go to school? That’s what juggling is all about. Each day, something doen’t get done. I just juggle around what it is, so enough things do get doneJ. Housework doesn’t feature very high on my list of priorities!

Christmas shopping - kind of

What fun, Christmas shopping on a Saturday with three kids & a double buggy. I wouldn't recommend it.

Mr A took Mstr A off to the local Cricket Club last night to watch a big fireworks display. He's got loads of pictures (which I expect he'll post on his blog sometime soon), and Mstr A was photographed by the local paper too, as he was having so much fun. I think it was good bonding time for the two of them, as they don't get much father/son time alone.

However, it meant he didn't go to bed till 9pm (his usual bedtime is by 7), so he was tired and irritable this morning. Add in LMB being two (tantrums, stubborness, etc) & LMD being clingy, and it wasn't the most sucessful trip into town! Still we had a good look around, came up with some pressie ideas (we'll actually buy them later), and made it home all together & in one piece, so it could have been worse!

I've still got this horrible cough/cold, so I pretty much slept through the afternoon. Mr A sorted out lunch, then forced LMB to nap, & I fed LMD off to sleep with me. By the time we all woke up, it was a quick bite to eat (Mr A cooked again), then off to Cyberkittens for his firework party/Craziequeens birthday party.

Unfortunately, although Mstr A liked the commercial fireworks display, he was a bit less sure of them in such close proximity & watched from inside. LMB disliked the loud noises & immediately jumped into my lap & refused to move & LMD screamed everytime one was let off unless she was snuggled right into me & had her ears covered! So I spent the fireworks part of the evening indoors & missed all the ooohs and ahhhhs:-(

Still, the kids all fell aslepp in Cyberkittens bed by 8.30 (I hope it was cleanish!), so we had the rest of the eveing to chat & drink & have grown up fun. It was quite sad how many times blogging was mentioned really. You'd think there was nothing else in our lives!

We've just got home & transferred all the children into their own beds with barely a murmer, so now it's time to catch up with my blog friends.

Ask me a question

Here's a clever way of getting lots of comments & writing a quick post before doing the college assignment that really, really needs doing.

Taken from Aginoths blog, who stole it from Yaeli!

Ask me two questions about me. anything you like & I'll answer them in my next post(s). Try not to ask the same as everyone else, but otherwise no holds barred!

have fun

UPDATE: Finished my assignment! Woo Hoo. Unfortunately she gave us another one today:-( But I sneaked off early as the afternoon was just "research" on the crappy college computers, so now I've got an hour of child-free time to myself!! Maybe I should actually get on with the next assignment tho:-(

Moving on

It's been a day of moving forwards with things.

Mstr A was offically referred to the Educational Psychologist today, having followed his Individual Education Plan (agreed between me & the school) for the minimum required time of 1/2 a term. I was told we should be looking at a few weeks till his assessment, so that's really good news, as I know some places have to wait MUCH longer. ALthough he has been loads better all this week, so maybe I acted hastily - but I think I'd prefer to get a proper assessment done anyway.

LMD got her first tooth. At last. She more than 9 months old! Of course now I remember how sharp babies teeth are I'm not sure I really want her to have one:-)

She also did the whole day at nursery without screaming (except when I was leaving, obviously). Apparently she played happily, and joined in with the other babies, ate her dinner and slept at the right time. Horaay.

I've not heard anything from the job's yet, so it's not looking too hopeful. Oh well, I'll keep looking. Something will turn up.

Two down...

Oh well, that's it now. It's just a matter of waiting for the phonecalls!

Today's didn't go as well, i don't think. Nothing in particular, I just didn't feel as comfortable, but we'll just have to wait and see - The presentation went ok & stuck to time, I answered all the questions, and dug up a couple of my own, but I just didn't get any chemistry!

Now if I could only get my college assignment ready to be handed in tomorrow, I'd be right on top of things (except I haven't started it, and there's this little thing called work that's been kind of taking a back seat recently!).

Next job is to make some Guy Fawkes Hats for the "Bonfire Bake" at the school tomorrow. Little shortbread biscuits, with a marshmallow on top, covered in melted chocolate. Yum Yum

One down...

One interview over & done with. I think it went quite well. The presentation was spot on (I am good at them), and pitched at just the right level. When I first saw the topic I didn't understand why they wanted my to discuss such broad policies in just 10 minutes, but I think it probably gave them a good overview of my range of knowledge. There were no questions I couldn't answer, and only a couple I stumbled over. I name dropped a few important people, & one of the members of staff there recognised me from a previous role. The interview was supposed to last for 45 mins, and I was in there for an hour, which often bodes well, but then they were already running 30 mins late, so obviously I'm not the only one who over-ran!

It is office based, so if they offer it to me, it should be worth taking, but tomorrows job would be better, as it would save me a couple of thousend pounds on commuting! They won't be contacting me till (hopefully) Friday, so I should get answers from both at about the same time! Of course, tomorrows presentation isn't quite finished yet - but it will be. I'll find an hour tomorrow morning, I'm sure.

Mstr A had a great day at school today. He was given the pet (stuffed) cat to bring home & look after, which is a special reward for the good childrfen. He was also asked to be a King in the Xmas play, which is fantastic - I spent my childhood as a sheep, or occasionally a bush! However, he immediately said no. He's not good with the whole concept of pretend/fancy dress, but I think I've explained it to him OK now, so he's going to say yes tomorrow.

It's a really busy time at school at the moment, with photo's, fete's, bonfire night, new playground opening etc, so I' also have to get on with some baking. It never stops does it?

*New Post*

I have taken off the *New Post* feature from my links, cos IT LIES!

Nearly done!

well it's now 10.20am, and I've finally early finished my presentations!

Todays is all done & dusted, saved onto disc & memory stick. I'll rehearse timeings on the train though as I can't be bothered now. Tomorrows is nearly complete, just two more slides to go - but all the others are finished - pictures, animation, notes & everything. I'm having a break now to go shower & change and see if I can find some slap for my face - I think the last time I wore make-up was for the interview for this job!

It wasn't a very good night last night. I was a bit stressed, which always makes it hard to get to sleep, then LMD woke up three times for food! Mstr A wet his bed for the first time in ages & as I was too lazy to actually get up & change it all then, I allowed him to come into our bed, where he proceeded to kick, poke, cuddle & chat at me! I dreamed I started a new blog too, which is very worrying! I can't remember what the blog was about, but I'm sure I shouldn't be dreaming these things.

i've still got my cold. Typical! It's worse than the obligatory zits you always get for interviews, birthdays and first dates.

Oh well, my train leaves at 1.30, and I've still got to shower, change, make-up, make lunch for me & LMD, Make supper for everyone, tidy a bit before Nanny A gets here to babysit, finish tomorrows presentation, write notes on todays presentation, go shopping for some food for the rest of week, feed LMD enough milk to last her the rest of the day, and generally sort myself out.

best get started then. I'll update when I get home.

Blog Mad

Following CQ's example, Ive gone



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Bleugh

Gah, i feel yukky today. It's just a cold, but my head hurts, my throat's sore, my nose is blocked &I'm exhausted before the day has even started! It's not a good week to feel like this with two interviews looming. I didn't get any presentations even started yesterday - I just curled up & went to sleep as soon as the kids were in bed, so I'm going to have to do them both today.

Oh well, there's nothing like pressure to focus the mind. Of course there's no substitute for research, preparation & practise, but I don't do any of that in my real life anyway, so at least they'll get the "real" me at interview!

I managed to get Mstr A off to school ok this morning, with everything - books, PE kit, dinner money, homework, so hopefully I'll find the time to get one presentation finished and one at least started. Although to be honest, Mstr A is an angel when totally left to his own devices, it's only when I need him to do something specific he can be difficult. yesterday he played beautifully on his Nintendo, with LMB & LMD (at different times), got himself dressed on time, ate his dinner when told to, etc etc.

Here's hoping (but not expecting) many more days just like that.

Right, off to work now. I'll check back in aat break time:-)

UPDATE: half way there now. I've finished one - I even found some quotes to go in it, so it looks researched:-) No pictures yet though. I might fiddle with it later, but it's not really that kind of presentation. Just starting the second one now. This is much more work, and does really need pictures & diagrams and such like. Oh well, it's the job I'd really like, so I'd best crack on. I've got an hour till school pick up time.....

UPDATE 2: Collected Mstr A from school now, and haven't really got much further. Three slides written, but not really done! Oh well, I'm going to take a break now & go check out everyones blogs.. I'll do some more inbetween kids bedtime & Stargate (yeah right). And I've always got tomorrow morning. There's nothing like leaving things till the VERY last minute.