Crazie party

this evening all the crazies will get together for the annual Xmas bash. We're hosting it this year, so don't even have to worry about the kids:)

We're a strange bunch really, but a good one, and we shall all celebrate the winter holidays with more presents, more food! a little bit of alcohol, and a DVD marathon:)

I got...

New docs:

A pretty top (a bit like this):

A chocolate Orange (it's NOT Terry's, it's MINE):

And some money:

And I've still got the Crazie party in a few days :)

How about you?

Christmas is here

The real meaning of Christmas - according to my kids anyway.

Aggie just said the stupidest thing ......

"just because they are there does not mean you need to eat them all"

Uh huh.

Happy Chanuka

It's all celebrations at the mo innit?

I forgot Chunnuka TBH - will have to buy doughnuts tomorrow now...... But I always loved playing with dreidels when I was a kid - I wonder if I can find any to stick in the kids stockings:) Or would that be wrong do you think?

Happy Solstice

It all gets better from now on:)

Done

Mstr A's new room is done (well, just the wardrobe to move now) and he is delighted with it:)

The Christmas tree is up & decorated, and the kids are finally satisfied!

The presents are all brought, and nearly all wrapped, and it wasn't too difficult or too expensive this year.

The car has made it through it's MOT for another year - with new batteries & brakes, - all on the credit card, but not as expensive as i thought it sounded.

I have finished my training for the CAB, with just the real, on the job stuff to do now, starting after Xmas.

But despite all that, I feel kind of unfulfilled at the moment......

Ho hum

spam, spam, spam, spam, beans, spam, and spam - hold the beans

I've been keeping a real good check on my spam folder - I'm petrified I might miss the real "you're a winner" email again, and they won't bother to phone me this time:)

Can anyone tell me, why I might possibly want to buy so many watches? replica or otherwise - what is it about watches that makes them such a good spamming mail?

Obviously, there are plenty for drugs I don't want too, but I guess I kind of expect those..... but why, and, lets be honest, how, is anyone going to make my penis bigger/longer/harder? Haven't these people heard of targeted marketing? My email address is my name. My name is definitely female - in any language it can be said in as far as I am aware.

Also what is the point of spamming a co.uk address with languages written in different alphabets? I mean, I don't get french or spanish spam, so why so much russian and korean(?). Even if it was fantastic, I wouldn't know!

Finally, while I'm ranting, what's with all this "nasty" headed spams - ie: you look stupid [name] in this video, or "NEWS: [celebrity of your choice] murdered by 6 year old maniac" there is no way I'm going to open anything like that! why would I want to see me looking stupid? Or check out unsolicited news stories on email (even if I were interested)? Surely the idea of spam is to get you to open the email & at least have a look at the virus/con/illegal site. This stuff is all going to be deleted by everyone isn't it? I'm sure I'm not that unusual!

OK, rant over. For now......





BTW does anyone know why it's called spam?

Still doing it myself

Now that LMB's room is all finished (well, just the desk to cut to size and fit), and her stuff is pretty much all up there in lovely little storage boxes we bought for her (humph - that room cost us a fortune in the end!), we've started turning her old room into Mstr A's new one.

Actually, he was in that room before - just a few years ago, we moved him out when LMD was born, and so it had originally been decorated for him, in a tasteful blue & silver, with stick big borders to keep it aghe appropriate, we thought we'd never have to do it again. But then when the ceiling leaked last year, we4 got the insurance company to splash for all new docorations, and made it VERY pink for LMB, who was in there then. Mstr A's favourite colour is pink, so I was having a hard time explaining to him why I wanted to paint over it all:) But someone at school must have said something, cos he suddenly decided pink was a girls colour and everyone would laugh if he kept it. I was hoping to paint over the wall paper that was already there, but when we took the fairy border off too much ripped, so £100 spent at B&Q yesterday for new paper.

Between them, Aggie & Mstr A chose a lovely light blue, fairly plain paper. I spent yesterday stripping (oooer) which hurt my rib no end - grrrrr! And today, Aggie put it all up - between watching the first series of Gavin & Stacy:) Now the room looks fab - I always knew it ought to be blue:)

Mstr A will be in there before Xmas. Yay!

A little bit of politics

well, it has been a while....

Barack Obama's meeting with Tory leader David Cameron in London earlier this year left the Democratic nominee "distinctly unimpressed", it has been claimed.

According to diplomatic sources Mr Obama, now the president-elect of the United States, emerged from the meeting in July with the words: "What a lightweight."

Mr Obama met Mr Cameron following brief talks with Tony Blair and Gordon Brown in Westminster two days after addressing 200,000 people in Berlin.

According to the Conservatives the "really positive" meeting had seen the two men discuss the "long-term underlying problems" in Iran, Afghanistan, Iraq and the Middle East.

But, according to the New Statesman, it was the conversation that followed in Mr Cameron's Commons office that caused Mr Obama to make the "lightweight remark".

A source told the magazine that Mr Cameron's "anti-European diatribe" had not impressed Mr Obama.

Two days earlier the Democrat had championed internationalism in his Berlin address.
"Partnership and co-operation among nations is not a choice; it is the one way, the only way, to protect our common security and advance our... humanity," he said.

Another reason to like Obama......

The beginning of the end

The year is rapidly running towards its close - and I can't believe how fast its gone past - or how much has happened in 2008! This time last year we had only just had confirmation that Aggie would be leaving work, and had no idea what the future held. Mstr A still hadn't been officially diagnosed and was struggling with life in the juniors, and I had just been told that my firm was closing down & I would be out of work soon.

Since then, we have sorted out our financial situation and know where we are each month, Mstr A has been diagnised and we have attended the Early Bird course, given us a much better understanding of what Aspergers is, I've got a new job, started at the CAB and completed the fostering course! Oh yes, and passed my exams, re-qualified as a tutor and bought a motorbike:)

It's been a busy year all in all! This week I have been attending the final course for the CAB training. I've got two more days next week, then a final day at the local bureaux, then in the new year I will start working with "real" clients. First under supervision, but quickly (probably just one day!) on my own. Gulp. It's been a long process, and I'm looking forward to getting into it properly now - terrified, but looking forward to it! The fostering course is also completed - I'm still waiting for a reply to my compliant to the council regarding their decision to pay less than minimum wage to our babysitter, and their "official" suggestion that we should lie to the inland revenue to cover it up for them! - but other than that, we are in the next stage now, which involves home visits, assessments etc, which will take place next year too. No wonder there is a shortage of foster carers - I reckon it will be two full years from when we first applied to when we actually become foster-carers - assuming we make it through the rest of the hoops OK!

But it looks like 2009 will generally be a more settled year than 2008 (I hope) We've pretty much completed the Xmas shopping, party season is just around the corner - and I'll get to wear my pretty new dress that Aggie bought for my birthday. I'm fairly certain my job is safe for as long as I want it to be. So tbh, I'm rather looking forward to this year ending now, and starting anew.