Just Jo!

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Teaspoon that is.
In Olivia’s room.
With a tin mug.
She’s still camping mad and it’s as close as she can get right now.
I’m saying nothing.

Seeing as Olivia’s managed to drag herself away from the ‘puter for five seconds it gives me a chance to catch up.
She’s blogging mad (that just sounds so awfully rude!) and Flickring mad (and that sounds worsererer). Emails whizzing through the air or wherever it is they go once send has been sended. I’m just making up my own vocabulary at the moment. You may possibly have noticed.

So Saturday. Birthday party. Not Olivia’s, a friend of hers with a paddling pool and, joy of joys, a water slide too! Glee city central!
Here’s pics….

I’ve had the dubious honour of blocking my first Flickr person. Some entity favouriting people in blindfolds. My daughter included (5 photos of her in all). Oh I think not matey!! So he’s been stomped on quite resoundly. And I’m keeping a close eye on the mud bath pic, which seems to have had more than it’s fair share of ‘views’. Maybe just changing the title will be sufficient. We’ll see.

Anyways, the party was great. Lots of fun and general waterplay. We made some choccy cupcakes to take with us. We always seem to dip out on cakes at parties, so I thought we’ll not be caught out. But even more vegan cakes had been made! And a vegan pizza! And homemade houmous! In fact the majority of the food was actually vegan! They’d even got soya milk in for cups of tea. Even though I drink it black! Jellies were vegan too! And they still felt bad that they hadn’t got any Swedish Glace for us! Oh our cups did runneth over! Metaphorically. Got home at 10 o’clock and went straight to bed.

I have no idea what we did on Sunday. Yes, I know it was only yesterday.
Olivia uploaded photos and Flickred with some new friends. And….um….I read….she wrote a book review for Swallows and Amazons….um….er….and kept a close eye on her growing pet, her prize for doing spiffingly well at Bang The Drum.

Adam came home this morning, showing us lots of pics of the christening on his phone. Bless.
We left him checking emails and toddled off to town. Olivia opened her first grown up bank account. Now that she’s reached the grand old age of 11, she gets a cash card too! How excited is she??
She also took lots of photos around town. Which meant that she then spent hours uploading them to Flickr, tagging them and everything, then to her blog. And back to Flickr again to comment on her comments received.
She’d got an optics science thingy in town and First News, so she’s been reading and building a periscope. Oh, and she did some algebra and some similes in the morning too. So home-ed wise she’s covered english, maths, science, ICT, history (A bit! Look at her photos on Flickr), PSHE (opening her own account must surely qualify)….um….geography and PE (we walked around town a lot for the photo session)….yes, a quite well-rounded educational day methinks.

I’ve made another trifle with some left over chocolate sponge. So I’ll be eating the biggest half again.

And some more bits seen on Shirl’s….

You Were a Fox

A good observer, you often watch others while remaining unseen. Cunning and courageous, you also have a gentle side.

Ooh, just call me Foxy from now on!

You Are a Soy Latte

Yeah, you’ve got a bit of that healthy hippie thing going on But you’re more Kate Hudson urban bohemian than Phish groupie You’re worldly and well traveled.. and you know where to get the best coffee in town. All your experience makes you a compassionate person - and a caring girlfriend.

Ooh….spooky….!

And three dessert forks?
And one dinner fork?
Teaspoons I can understand, sort of, they’re little….actually, no I can’t. You wash ‘em up, you put ‘em in the drawer….What? There’s some kind of black hole in the four foot space between sink and drawer that sucks in stray cutlery??
But forks???? Wha….????
Yes, I’m ever so slightly perplexed. Ever so slightly. The cutlery drawer had broken it’s back (No idea how, so don’t even ask!), the cupboard it’s in has a false back. Again, don’t ask. Oh, go on then, it’ll give me another reason to moan about the council. It’s their fault entirely. Why, oh why, would any sane person put a false back in an already very shallow cupboard? Why?? And let’s ignore the fact that the kitchen was so obviously designed by a man in the first place. And a council man at that. Not that I’m grumbling. Much.

(Deep breath….calm down….)

Anyway, this morning I decided to do something about the drawer, instead of instructing various children to gently close the drawer, not slam it shut as hard as possible (which probably explains the broken back now I come to think of it) and then screaming at them like a banshee when they completely ignore me (no change there then).
I emptied the cupboard completely, with Olivia’s help, supposedly, but she took over an hour to change from pyjamas to jeans and a T-shirt. Not that I’m grumbling. Much.
I took out the shelf, took out the false back and anticipated locating all the lost and abandoned cutlery that had fallen down behind the false back. Because the false back doesn’t go all the way to the top.
And what did I find?
One soup spoon (Which I didn’t realise I’d lost so it made me go “Ooh!”).
A mezzaluna (Which prompted the dismantling exercise in the first place because I can’t live without my mezzaluna. Well, I can, but life’s less interesting without it).
And spiders.
Teaspoons? Nope!
Dessert forks? Nope!
Dinner fork? Nope!

So where do they go??? I really wanna know!!!

The cupboard has been cleaned out, the spiders ‘encouraged’ (ahem) to relocate, the false back propped up against the back door, and ooh, who’d have thought? The cupboard can now house lots more than before!
The drawer has a new back, a bodged (and that spelling doesn’t look right for some reason) up one made with cardboard and parcel tape. Yes, I know I could have cut the ex-false back to size and nailed it on, but I was seriously lacking motivation by that point. Shoot me.

Soooo…. the rest of this week?

Monday. Monday? Um….er….must have done a bit of shopping. And the stand out moment was undoubtedly getting accosted by a member of staff (waving a photo of me taken by a security camera) in the corner shop. I thought I was going to be accused of shoplifting and I was getting all set to be righteously indignant, but it turned out that another member of staff had forgotten to charge me for credit on my mobile. Would I kindly pay it? Please? Or the staff member in question would have to pay it herself. I was very, very, very tempted to say “Well if she’s daft enough not to have noticed it, let her pay then!” Which means I’m daft as well because I didn’t notice it either. We’d been in town, the schools had broken up so it was extra busy (’Nuff said!), and I was paying gas and electric and buying more stuff in the shop, so I was frazzled. What’s her excuse? Eh?

Tuesday. Tuesday? Um….er….we didn’t go to Di’s. I was wafting around the house and suddenly it was half past two. Wha? So that made it a bit late to be going over there. So we didn’t. We stayed home, cut back the russian vine, because it keeps ‘russian’ to block the alley. Boom boom!! Sorry.
We both got a sudden urge for some Ancient Greek studies, so we hunted down all things Greek, looked at them, Olivia decided what she wanted to make and then…. um….we sort of got distracted. By what exactly I have no recollection.
So now we have a Greek corner in the sitting room that keeps winking at us pathetically.

Wednesday. Now Wednesday’s memories aren’t nearly so vague.
We did go to Di’s. We met at her allotment via a trip to Poundland and Poundstretcher, because Olivia has managed to lose her gardening gloves. Poundland didn’t have any (but they did have some arty bits and pieces that Olivia fell in love with), so we got a double dose of cheap tat when we ventured into Poundstretcher too (who did have gloves).
Olivia spent ages picking and eating blackberries….found some raspberries…. “NO!!” we both yelled at her, “they’re on someone else’s allotment!!”

Handed over a card for Di’s son’s birthday….

And made the weekly trip to the library.
Once home, we hit the ‘puter. Not literally. I’m quite fond of my ‘puter and I’d never abuse it in such a manner.
Olivia wants to have a Victorian high tea at some point and invite some friends over. What’s that got to do with the ‘puter? We were looking at suitably Victorian cake stands on Ebay and Amazon. See? Educational! Ish. And I set herself up with a Flickr thingy. So she’ll be all set to go when she’s saved enough for her digital camera.

So that brings us up to yesterday. Which was damp in the extreme.
Such fun. ‘Specially as it was another one of the group activity thingys, wall climbing in the rain. But first we had to walk there (still haven’t sorted out my flat tyre). In the rain along the river. Olivia took a pic of crazy kayakers going over the weir.
Some pics from the wall….

And my personal favourite from the day….

Such an attractive look….seem to remember her saying something about not really wanting her photo taken…. “Shut up and smile!”
Olivia updated her blog (Go have a look!) once we got home, with a ‘few’ of my photos and the only two she’s uploaded to her Flickr. There’s four really, but I uploaded the other two to show her how to do it.
You can imagine how long it took her to put all those photos on….
But she’s very pleased with herself and keeps wanting to read it. And she’s got herself a new email account, so she sent out a few emails to friends (Lisa! Check the girls’!) and family. So I didn’t really get much of a chance to do my thing on the ‘puter at all yesterday.
And she’s nagging me to get off it now, because she wants to upload her photo prompt pics. She’s taking over those particular duties, which leaves me free to do all sorts of wondrous things like….um….er….wash my hair….read….nag Olivia for my turn on the ‘puter….

Oh, and Adam’s gone up to London for the weekend….his nephew’s christening….ahhh….

Better late than never….

1. WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE? Nope
2. WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU CRIED? Friday night, but that was only because I was laughing so much.
3. DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING? Yep
4. WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE LUNCH MEAT? Meat?? Noooo….um, so instead it would have to be a garlic and herb pate with plenty of salad leaves.
5. DO YOU HAVE KIDS? Yep, one of each kind.
6. IF YOU WERE ANOTHER PERSON WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU? Yes, although I’d probably spend ages sussing myself out.
7.DO YOU USE SARCASM A LOT? Ask the kids. Although Olivia has to explain it to Adam.
8. DO YOU STILL HAVE YOUR TONSILS? Yep.
9. WOULD YOU BUNGEE JUMP? Well that’s a big fat no. Not that I’m scared of heights you understand, I just don’t see the point.
10. WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE CEREAL? Does porridge count?
11. DO YOU UNTIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF? Only when Olivia’s around. Got to set a good example and all that.
12. DO YOU THINK YOU ARE STRONG? As in muscles? Or determination and independence? Probably more of the latter.
13. WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE ICE CREAM? Swedish Glace chocolate
14. WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE? I’d like to say their eyes….windows to the soul etc….but that would mean I’d have to get close enough to actually see them (I’m blind as a bat), which would make us both pretty uncomfortable, so I’d have to say….um….are we talking male or female?? If it’s a male, then it’s fair to say I’m checking out their bums.
15. RED OR PINK? Red.
16. WHAT IS THE LEAST FAVOURITE THING ABOUT YOURSELF? My hair’s not as thick as it used to be.
17. WHO DO YOU MISS THE MOST? My friend, Debbie. And my nan.
18. DO YOU WANT EVERYONE TO SEND THIS BACK TO YOU? Everyone?? If they feel the need.
19. WHAT COLOUR PANTS/TROUSERS AND SHOES ARE YOU WEARING? Beige and bare feet.
20. WHAT WAS THE LAST THING YOU ATE? A warm ciabatta (It was reduced in Sainsbury’s) filled with gouda style Sheese, mixed herb salad and tomato, lime and chilli chutney. I had the bigger half. Olivia had the rest, but she had a banana too.
21. WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW? Duke Special “Last Night I Nearly Died”. It’s on Launchcast.
22. IF YOU WHERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOUR WOULD YOU BE? Turquoise.
23. FAVOURITE SMELLS? Lush, hot bread, jasmine, geraniums, an old box of Olivia’s baby clothes that still smelled like ‘baby’ about five years after it had been put up in the attic.
24. WHO WAS THE LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE? Olivia. She phoned me on the internal line ‘cos I was upstairs looking for something and she wanted something downstairs. Can’t remember what it was, but I said no.
25. DO YOU LIKE THE PERSON WHO SENT THIS TO YOU? We’ve never met, but I can’t imagine why I wouldn’t like her.
26. FAVOURITE SPORTS TO WATCH? Tennis, Adam’s football matches (even though I was banned years ago for being too embarrassing), late night poker (Because one day I will learn how to play it properly without snorts of derision from Adam. Does it count as a sport though?)
27. HAIR COLOUR? Brown, except for the bits that aren’t brown anymore. I blame it on the kids.
28. EYE COLOUR? Sort of greeny grey.
29. DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS? No.
30. FAVOURITE FOOD? Most things, not of the dead animal variety though. We’ve been having a lot of Mexican lately, enchiladas last night. Oh, and very dark, bitter chocolate would have to be included.
31. SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDINGS? Depends how cynical I’m feeling, can’t be doing with corny happy endings.
32. LAST MOVIE YOU WATCHED? Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. Very funny and dark, made me laugh out loud quite a lot. Still trying to persuade Adam to watch it, but he doesn’t like Robert Downey Jr. (Must be the drugs)
33. WHAT COLOUR SHIRT ARE YOU WEARING? Green jumper. That really must go in the wash tonight. It has tomato, lime and chilli chutney dribbled down the front.
34. SUMMER OR WINTER? There’s a difference?? I prefer autumn anyway.
35. HUGS OR KISSES? This would depend entirely on the donor.
37. MOST LIKELY TO RESPOND? Do I have to tag someone then?
38. LEAST LIKELY TO RESPOND? Um….
39. WHAT BOOK ARE YOU READING NOW? In The Company Of The Courtesan. Renaissance Italy, and a tad saucy in places.
40. WHAT IS ON YOUR MOUSE PAD? Um….hang on….oh….something about Mesh computers. As soon as I find a frog one it will be replaced.
41. WHAT DID YOU WATCH ON T.V. LAST NIGHT? Didn’t watch TV last night.
42. FAVOURITE SOUND? Laughter. I like laughing.
43. ROLLING STONES OR BEATLES? Rolling Stones now. When I was young and innocent it was The Beatles though.
44. WHAT IS THE FARTHEST YOU HAVE BEEN FROM HOME? Cyprus. But I lived there so I don’t suppose that counts. So it would have to be Capri. But only for the day.
45. DO YOU HAVE A SPECIAL TALENT? I can touch my nose with my tongue.
46. WHERE WERE YOU BORN? Oxford
47. WHAT SUPERPOWER WOULD YOU LIKE? To stop time, but only for purely selfish reasons, not to save the world or anything. But as soon as the house is tidy, all the washing and ironing is done and I’ve had a good sleep, I’ll give it a bash.

Can’t remember if I’m supposed to tag anyone else, but seeing as it’s about a month old, everyone’s probably already done it. So just do it if you want to….and let me know. I’m curious.

And another thing I saw on Shirl’s….

And it’s rained today, so we’ve just done a bit of shopping in town, then I discovered I haven’t got enough money for camping in August. So we’re not going now. Olivia has this bizarre need for food, so it’s all her fault. I kept saying, “Look, we’ve got water (I bought a funky new water filter), you don’t actually need food. It’ll only be for a week or two.”
But she insisted, so we bought food instead of a holiday. B****y kids.

Home-ed today has been the forgotten stash of Horrible History activity books she found in a drawer. And the Roman Mysteries web site thingy when I get in the bath in a minute. It was either that or fractions and algebra. Some might see it as Olivia getting the better deal, but…. look, see, it’s a win-win situation, she gets out of maths, I get a bath.
And I still haven’t got a photo of her den. Because it’s wet out there and the grass is long. And I want to get in the bath.

Yay!!
I got my phone back last week and my broadband back yesterday!!!
I would have blogged yesterday, but I had 505 emails to trawl through, some grotty e-mails to send off to BT and a hundred and thirty something photos to upload to Flickr. Which was more important, because if I’m honest, I’ve missed being able to Flickr seductively a whole lot more than waffling on me blog….
I also caught up with reading blogs, but only skimming over them, and then it got to gone one in the morning, and I thought I probably wouldn’t be able to comment sensibly by that point, so I didn’t, will try to today….maybe….
So…..what have we been up to???? A whole 20 days to catch up with!
I’ve got to think back to the beginning of the month….

I rebooked windsurfing, which meant we had a walk along the river and said “Wow!” a lot as we marvelled at the river rushing along….

Fell in love with a tree (although Olivia wasn’t equally as smitten….)

Olivia had a Guides trip to Bicton where they did canoeing, den building and other stuff. Lisa’s girls came back here after, so I put on a few DVDs (Monster House and Over The Hedge) and made a big bowl of popcorn. Think the microwave did most of the work though.

Went to Totnes for an Historical Visit, which included a visit to the castle (duh!) and a Treasure Trail around the town….

A very lovely day out with friends. About halfway round the trail, there was only the two of us and Hannah’s family left, which meant we got time for a proper good chat and half a shandy down on the Plains. More photos here.

Spent another Saturday afternoon with friends, but the weather was oh so much better, so we went to the park and watched the kids bashing each other with tennis rackets….

Adam helped a friend celebrate his 18th birthday in Exmouth and spent quite some time in the bathroom when he got home. Almost gave me heart failure when I came down for a wee in the early hours to find him sitting on the edge of the bath.
He felt somewhat sorry for himself the next day, as he went to the shop, he said “If I’m not back in ten minutes, call an ambulance….” Hee hee. I can laugh because it’s by far from a regular occurrence. Once every three or four months? If that. Which I think for an 18 year old isn’t bad at all.

We had a group trip to The Rock Centre, a climbing/abseiling/caving/camping wonderland. The kids only did the first two though, with a bit of zip wire and Tyrolean thrown in for good measure.

So much fun! We’re definitely going back, Olivia wants to go camping there too. I’d be up for that, ’specially as it’s so cheap. Oodles more pics here.

We didn’t go to pottery because I had a flat tyre. Which I didn’t realise ’til about 15 minutes into the ride. So we had to come back, and find out we didn’t have a pump at all (well, only a football one), by which time it wouldn’t have been worth going over there. so we didn’t.

We did, however, go to Exeter’s Green fair in the Bishop’s Palace garden….

We saw lots of friends there and joined the Devon Wildlife Trust. We had a long chat with the woman on the DWT stand, who was very impressed with Olivia’s knowledge of natural history (I was too, she sounded quite intelligent on more than one occasion!). The woman was so impressed she was going to ask which school Olivia went to that she knew so much, found out she’s home-educated and said “Ahh! That explains it then!” One up for home-ed methinks.
Oh yeah…. pics here.

We both cooed a lot at the sky that evening and kept snatching the camera off each other….

Hard to believe they were all taken over twenty minutes or so. We’ll conveniently forget the fact that all the wonderful colours and effects are due (more than likely) to pollution.

I had a horribly bad stomachache for a few days which meant I had to lie down and cuddle my froggy hot water bottle loads. Adam took Olivia to play tennis while I was being wimpy. He said she did OK for her first proper tennis. And Adam knows about these sporty type things, him being a fully qualified fitness instructor person.

Olivia had a birthday. Just the one. She’s 11 now. Last Wednesday (the 18th). We met her Nan in town, had lunch in La Tasca and did plenty of girly shopping for lots of clothes and shoes. Met Adam in town, who gave Olivia her birthday pressie, a very pink MP3 player. Managed to persuade her that Build A Bear is a complete rip off, and if she was just going to buy a bear would she really want to pay that much? “Um….no.”
And have you really got room for anymore cuddlies? “Um….no.”
And wouldn’t Ted get a teensy tiny bit upset and jealous if you ‘adopted’ (Adopted?! For crying out loud people! Get a life!!! Don’t even get me started on Cabbage Patch Dolls!)another teddy? “Um….yes.”
And isn’t there plenty more stuff you’d much rather have instead? “Um….yes.”

The three of us went bowling in the evening. And the two of them played lots of arcade games.

Home for trifle and National Treasure on DVD.

A very yummy trifle indeed! All vegan too. It even passed the Adam-who-won’t-eat-vegan-food-if-his-life-depended-on-it test. “‘Salright….” he mumbled.
The next day, we had the rest for breakfast, like you do. Lisa’s girls came over in the afternoon. They made cards for Brown Owl who was leaving. Two of them did. Olivia made one for herself which she is also going to post to herself. Just to see how long it takes.
They watched the rest of Over The Hedge, with the required amount of popcorn dutifully supplied. They all disappeared off for a barbecue, with the veggie and vegan having to take their own pre-cooked (by yours truly) burgers. Lisa brought them all back again for chocolate cake and “Happy Birthday to you”.

She’ll be having a proper party when the weather is slightly more predictable (just in time for her fiftieth then), because she wants to invite everyone. And my house is too small so they’d all have to be banished outside. With any luck she’ll forget she wants a party at all. Hopefully. Fingers crossed.

Almost caught up now….yay!

Friday we went on a Natural History trip to Staverton to do a bit of pond and stream dipping. Ooh looky….photos….who’da thunk??

And ooh looky again….more here.

Whizzed back to Totnes to catch the train home, only to find out it had been delayed due to ‘adverse weather conditions in other parts of the country’. Then finding out on the train just how adverse the weather had truly been. Not nice.
That evening was spent at a cocktail party. Ahem. Which gave rise to a classic quote, “I love watching Supernatural when I’m drunk, ‘cos there’s three Jensen Ackles.” I won’t say who said it, just that it wasn’t me. And there’s no photographic evidence because I purposefully left my camera at home.

So….in between all that lot, Olivia has been doing tons of workbooks, finishing her last maths one the day before her birthday. Which meant we just had to buy another one on her birthday. Because I’m evil like that. And yes, I made her carry it home too!!
We’ve got through about half the library. Olivia finally discovering the joys of Swallows and Amazons.
Olivia finished her unicorn picture at Di’s.
We’ve both had haircuts, Olivia’s built a den out in the back garden (that’ll be Swallows and Amazons then), of which I have yet to take a photo. Bad mummy moment. Oh well.
We’ve been enjoying some of Olivia’s produce from the garden, sharing carrots with Lisa and the girls, a few broadbeans, onions and peas today. I’ve got a funny feeling we won’t actually be getting an entire meal all in one go, because Olivia is eating things as soon as they’re ready straight off the plant. Hmmm…..

Yesterday was obviously spent in gleeful enjoyment of broadband (and completely ignoring anything Harry related, sorry, the more the fuss and hype about something, the more I dig my heels in and resist, I’m perverse like that) and now I have to go. Olivia is desperate for Adam to show her how to put/download/upload (whatever!) music onto her MP3 player. It’s pink don’t you know.

….has been dominated by my ear….you’ll see.

We got to group at a reasonable hour on Wednesday, me with olive oil dripping out of my ear.
Olivia had taken her kite, but didn’t fly it at all….and then asked me to carry it for the rest of the day…. “Um….don’t think so luvvie!”
The rest of Wednesday went the way of most Wednesdays, with an additional trip to the library as well.
My ear protesting most of the time.

Thursday, we stayed in ( this is where it starts to get a bit foggy). Olivia did lots of workbook stuff with minimum complaint. I’d reported the problem with the phone to BT online and got a letter from them. Not so much a letter as a final bill.
Noooooo!!!! I don’t want to leave, I want the phone sorted!!! So I sent a complaint to them online. B****y BT!!!
Lisa picked Olivia up to take her to Guides. And brought her home again. And we both went straight to bed. Me and Olivia. Not me and Lisa.
That was the night I got a half hour of sleep. Because of my ear. Which was starting to really hurt. Which wasn’t good. Especially as I was going to be taking Lisa’s girls with us on a Natural History trip to Dawlish Warren. I phoned Lisa and said I didn’t think I’d survive the train trip with four girls, so we wouldn’t be going after all.
As they were all looking forward to it, I said they could come over in the afternoon anyway, which was the original, original plan (long story), because Lisa had things to do.
We played Cluedo, in which I made the wrong accusation because I crossed off revolver instead of lead pipe.
The youngest ended up winning. Then she and Olivia had a game of Yes/No at the top of the stairs, one of the others Hama-ed and the other one drew me a picture of a happy frog because I was ill.
Lisa picked them all up and Olivia stayed the night. That night, my earache got so bad that I actually resorted to painkillers.
But at least I got three hours of sleep.
Picked Olivia up in the morning to deposit her at the Arts Centre for her art club. Spent the two hours of art club nursing a cup of tea and a glass of water, feeling very clammy, very earachey and very sick because of the pain. So when Olivia emerged, I decided that it was really time to get medical opinion and we toddled off to the NHS walk-in centre. A lovely man looked in my ear and went “Ooh! Not nice”, and gave me eardrops, told me to keep on taking the painkillers and see my doctor on Monday if it wasn’t better.
Got home, discovered I only had two Ibuprofen left, cried, and made Adam feel suitably guilty that he went off to buy me some more. By the time he got back, I was in bed where I stayed for the rest of the day, evening and night. Olivia very nobly got on with some more workbook stuff. And read. And drew Beano cartoons. And played with Polly Pocket.
Oh yeah, and we watched Dr Who, because they’re doing something Dr Who related at art club next week. Which seems highly odd to me, in the gumpf about art club it said the kids would be doing artwork inspired by exhibitions at the arts centre. Now….I might be wrong….but to the best of my knowledge, they’ve never had a Dr Who art exhibition there. May have to question that choice, unfair really as Olivia hasn’t watched any of this series, or the last one. Think she might have watched an odd episode or two in Adam’s room though. I may be in the minority here, in fact, I know I am, but don’t think I’ve missed much judging by last night’s episode (actually, I read me book most of the time). I don’t think Olivia was all that impressed either because she hasn’t mentioned it since. And if she likes something, she does tend to go on about it. A lot.
(I’ve just asked her, she sort of shrugged, “Weelll….it was all riiiight….”, yeah, like I thought, not impressed.)

(I got about four hours sleep last night, as soon as the painkillers wear off, I wake up.)
I opened yesterday’s post, another letter from BT (the Debt Recovery Unit no less), demanding ‘immediate’ payment for the final bill. The bill that I recieved two days before. The bill that wasn’t actually necessary, because I’m not actually ending my contract with them. A contract that I am now considering ending. So I’ve sent another email complaint (because I can’t phone the helpline number they so thoughtfully provide),….watch this space….
And at the risk of repeating myself….b****y BT.
But I read something about Mercury Retrograde this morning….ahh….that explains it all then!

Olivia has spent the morning finishing off the red in her friend’s Hama design, and building a Lego Labyrinth, which meant she’s had to get out some of the Ancient Greece resources and have a read through of them (think she might have been just looking at the pictures though!)
Right, the painkillers are starting to wear off and I need to go lie down with the eardrops.
Before I go, I saw this over on Shirl’s….

Your Brain’s Pattern

You’re a simple thinker, and this is actually a very good thing. You don’t complicate matters when you don’t have to. You look for the simplest explanation or solution, and you go with that. As a result, your mind is uncluttered and free of stress.

Ummm….s’pose so….I do so like a simple, stress free life….

Oh, and our next camping trip is all sorted…. South Wales at the beginning of August. Yay!!

Ummm…..trying to think what we’ve been up to…..apart from not doing the photo prompts….
Saturday morning was art club for Olivia. She’d missed the first one because we were acquiring the subtle odour of basic camping the weekend before. Did I say how much fun we had? Must have….
Anderson had told me about a Refugee Week coffee morning, so I popped in there while Olivia was being arty. A bit of shopping, then collected Olivia to go to the Respect Playday in the park. We went last year and had a lot of fun, spent ages there and didn’t really want to leave. This year was wet. Very wet. And very muddy….

So I totally wimped out and begged to go home. On the bus. There was a lot of wet falling from the sky. Bumped into a friend who was going to meet another friend, so we tagged along too.
Spent a lovely afternoon chatting in a local pub, they had a family room so it was quite civilised. Olivia incredibly chuffed because she beat a 16 year old and an 18 year old at pool, and found another fiver in the garden.

The weather was somewhat brighter when we left to go home, amazing how a few hours in a pub can improve the weather so much!
Sunday was just general schooly type, workbooky type stuff of an English, maths and science nature. Checking on the garden in the rain, we’d rescued some poppies from the community garden (they were ambushing onions and had to be moved), so we had to see how they were settling in. Lots of reading (both of us), and writing book reviews (just Olivia).

Yesterday morning was supposed to be windsurfing. Notice I said “supposed to be”. One of the dad’s had phoned the centre to see if it was still going ahead.
“No,” they said. The river was too swollen and fast and dangerous. Apparently there was lots of frantic calling trying to get hold of me to let me know, I eventually got the call while we were dripping at the bus stop and all ready to go. I personally thought that as they were going to get wet anyway, a bit of rain wouldn’t hurt.
So….slight change of plan yesterday morning….
As we were all set for the rain, and Olivia didn’t fancy a morning of being stuck indoors with the jolly old workbooks for company, we headed down to the river anyway….

In the rain. Lots of it. And, ooh…. wasn’t the river high. And muddy. And actually quite scarily fast….
Hmmm….perhaps the professionals at the activity centre know what they’re talking about after all!
So we chatted with some swans and their fluffly wuffly babies (Sorry, I appear to have been possessed by some pink glittery girly type person for a second….). Then ran away quick when they hissed at a dog that they thought got too close.

I thought we just weren’t quite wet enough, so we walked up to the Cathedral and had a wander round in a bit more of the wet stuff. Taking photos of the trees that aren’t there anymore….

And a couple more pics as well….

We still weren’t quite wet enough, so we joined a 90 minute Redcoat tour of Medieval Exeter. Like you do. Whereupon, we did get wet enough, thank you very much.
Which obviously meant that afterwards we needed a big cup of hot chocolate (with lots of frothy soya milk!) at Caffe Nero’s. ‘Cos you do, don’t you?

And laughed at the pigeons all lined up neatly on a church roof…. until one went and flew off to spoil the line-up….

Finally got home well and truly drenched, Olivia jumped straight in the bath for an hour and a half, I messed about on Flickr for the duration. Suppose I could have used that time more profitably by catching up with the photo prompts…. but I didn’t. Shoot me.
We then spent what was left of the day cuddled up in bed watching ‘Ice Age 2′ and ‘Me, You and Dupree’.

I woke up late this morning. Because Adam very kindly phoned at two in the morning to ask me to make sure the chain wasn’t on the door. So he wouldn’t wake me when he came home. At half past two.

Another pleasant afternoon at Di’s making collage pictures of horses and unicorns out of grasses, flowers, leaves, crepe paper and nail varnish. We liberated the pretend chicken from Di’s fridge. (Yay! We can have lunch tomorrow!!) And got home about an hour ago. So now it’s dinner and a bath. Night night.

Too tired yesterday to post. This getting up early business is no good for me at all! I got to group, and realised I’d forgotten my diary, not usually essential, but it is on Wednesdays so I don’t forget anything. Especially as yesterday was also the AGM. And I’d forgotten my luvverly posters reminding everyone about the outdoor activities, and to put my rings on, and food to share at the party in the afternoon, and the birthday card and pressie for the child in question.
Anyways, the AGM went the way of most AGMs, kids playing outside and occasionally running screaming through the middle of the meeting. Olivia got her photo prompt while we were there.

Hand
The end of an arm. Show us a hand in your space today.
She borrowed a friend’s hands holding a borrowed umbrella in the rain. Mine was taken after we’d left the park and were walking along the High Street in the rain.

Today’s prompt….
Boat
A small vessel propelled by water. Find one in your space today.
We’ve both cheated and used old photos, Olivia’s is one she took at Dartmouth last week, mine is one I took at Teignmouth last month. Mine doesn’t have much chance of being propelled by water though….

Back to yesterday, after the wondrous AGM, it was party time! One of the boys had reached the grand old age of 10, so it was balloons, pass the parcel, food, (I had remembered marmite sandwiches for our two selves!) and Elfic the Jester. Yay! We like Elfic. We get to see him at least twice each year.

We’ve not seen him in an indoor setting before, the rain got rid of all notions of outdoor shenanigans. He coped admirably well though.
After group, it was still raining, so I did my usual humiliating Olivia by walking barefoot into town. Flipflops are dangerous!
Wander round shops before drama, then home.
Adam was on the ‘puter finishing his last assignments for college. His very last assignments. So he has absolutely no more work to do now. He’s a happy boy. Except last night he wasn’t. His girlfriend wanted to go out for a run. So he did. Must be love.

Now for the rest of today….
We could do lots of housework…. Olivia could finish off some more workbooks, she got through quite a few pages on Tuesday (we didn’t go to Di’s, Tavis was very ill in bed)….. We could finish cutting the teeny tiny last bit of hedge…. Or we could make some choc chip muffins and stuff our faces all afternoon…. Hmmm…. decisions, decisions….

Sort of lost the alliteration at the end there….

The last of this lot of Saturday morning art club for Olivia. She very proudly showed me her papier mache masterpiece….

There’s a new four week block starting in June. So as soon as we left the art studio we went downstairs to book her in for the next lot. Except she’s going to miss the first week because we’ll be in a tent.
We walked through the Guildhall shopping centre to get to the medieval refectory that was having an open day. We got accosted by a bunch of Morrismen. Or is it Morris Dancers in this age of political correctness? Well, there were women too.

We’ve been to the refectory (part of St Nicholas Priory, more info about the priory here, it’s closed at the moment) before, but have never seen as much as we did today.

Very interesting, lots of history, Medieval, Tudor, Georgian, Victorian. Think that’s all.
Home for Olivia to to a few workbooks, English, maths and science. She wanted to do some guitar practice, but couldn’t find her book.
I caught up with some of the Her Space:My Space photo prompts. I will post them all tomorrow. I’m behind by about 44. 45 today. So it’ll be 46 tomorrow.
Bit rushed today, because we’re camping out in the garden tonight. Whoopee-doo….

Saw this on Prydwen this morning…..

Your Five Factor Personality Profile

Extroversion: You have low extroversion. You are quiet and reserved in most social situations. A low key, laid back lifestyle is important to you. You tend to bond slowly, over time, with one or two people. Conscientiousness: You have high conscientiousness. Intelligent and reliable, you tend to succeed in life. Most things in your life are organized and planned well. But you borderline on being a total perfectionist. Agreeableness: You have medium agreeableness. You’re generally a friendly and trusting person. But you also have a healthy dose of cynicism. You get along well with others, as long as they play fair. Neuroticism: You have low neuroticism. You are very emotionally stable and mentally together. Only the greatest setbacks upset you, and you bounce back quickly. Overall, you are typically calm and relaxed - making others feel secure. Openness to experience: Your openness to new experiences is high. In life, you tend to be an early adopter of all new things and ideas. You’ll try almost anything interesting, and you’re constantly pushing your own limits. A great connoisseir of art and beauty, you can find the positive side of almost anything.

No great surprises there then….

And just seen this on Shirl’s and Michelle’s….

You Are From Uranus

You shine with brilliant creativity, and you’re more than a little eccentric. You love everything unusual and shocking. You’re one far-out chick or dude. Anything unconventional excites you - and you have genius potential. Just don’t let your rebel side get the best of you, or else you’ll alienate everyone. Your original thinking and funky attitude is all you need to be you.

….and neglecting my blog.

Wednesday was group day, so all fairly normal there. Apart from the rippling muscles on display, but I digress….
I handed over the cheque for the outdoor activities and had apologies from the absentees on Monday. One of the teenagers asked me to do a henna pattern on her, which I very skillfully managed to delegate to others to take care of.
Well, it was getting late and we had things to do. Like Olivia’s community garden bed. And a bit of shopping, flipflops for me, almond oil for Olivia. Got the oil (will explain later), but no flipflops.
Photos of Olivia’s bed, as in community garden bed, not her actual bed. That would be too awful to contemplate….

Seems a bit overgrown, but she wanted to keep lots of the wild flowers growing there.
Drama as usual, then home to bed.

Yesterday was lazing around the garden. I did, Olivia had work to do, of the educational workbook variety. But at least she got to do it all out in the fresh air. Wearing her new swimsuit. Like you do.

I did do some washing and a bit of tidying up, I also managed to cram some reading into my hectic schedule. Then we took a gentle stroll along the river to meet up with some of Olivia’s guide pack for a swimming session.
Look what we saw….
A river. Fancy that. All wet it was….

We saw a heron too….

Ooh!! Looky!! Sweeeeeeet!!!

So sweet and cute, they nearly made us late for meeting everyone. All three of them, plus two guiders. Lisa and I ran away quickly, dragging R with us round T.K.Maxx. I bought six side plates, a huge great serving plate and a muffin tin.
We had to pick the girls up again at half six….
So all six of us descended on Subway for nourishment. Then wended our weary way home.
Adam came home later, I gleefully showed him my new plates.
“They’re ugly!”
“They’re not!”
“They’re probably the ugliest plates I have ever seen in my life!”
“They’re not”
“They look all old and Victorian. Ugly”
“Bohemian.”
“Ugly!”
“Bohemian!”
“Ugly!”
“Bohemian!”
Methinks he wasn’t too keen on them.
He then proceeded to show me some defensive moves he’s learnt in his new kickboxing thingy on a Wednesday night. He asked me to try strangling him…. so, so tempting!
He then even invited me along.
“You should come. It’s mental. It’s ‘bring a buddy week’ soon. You should come.”
“I’m your buddy am I?!”
“No! But you should come anyway.”

We have spent the whole day today with Di. She was showing Olivia how to make an elderflower face and body cream. It usually takes a few days to make, but Di showed Olivia a cold compress way that is much quicker. We met at the community centre to pinch pick some elderflowers.

After picking enough flowers, we went to Di’s house. Olivia giddy with excitement because she found a fiver on the pavement. Di introduced us to the blackbird chicks nesting in the back garden.

We had lunch, which may possibly have involved tasting some home-made elderflower wine. Di thought it tasted a bit like sake, and as she happened to have a bottle, we did a comparison tasting. Relax, it was only a sip. Enough to say, “Nope, completely different.” Then we had to taste some home-made blackberry and apple wine. Just to compare.
It was all very low alcohol, and very, very nice.
So on with the actual task of making elderflower cream (which is why Olivia needed the almond oil)….
A lesson in photos….
(It contains a tiny amount of beeswax, so not strictly vegan.)

After it had been poured into jars, we had to wait for it to set. Olivia kept herself busy with flower arranging.

We said our goodbyes, Olivia acquiring an old scooter that Tavis had picked up from somewhere else. We walked into town (I walked, she scootered), I got my flipflops…. two pairs!! Olivia was desperate to spend her fiver, so Hawkins Bazaar it was. She got herself a mini bedlam cube. Very, very frustrated with it already.
“Can I take it back and get my money back?”
“No.”
“Why not???”
“Because it’s not back in the box!”
“But they can do that in the shop!”
“No!”
Not a happy bunny.

And before I forget, I saw this on Prydwen yesterday……
Very creepy!

David Blaine - this is great*

This is creepy!

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*Think of a letter between A and W. (now scroll down the page)*

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*Repeat it out loud as you scroll down.

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*Keep going ………………………. .*

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*Don’t stop . . .*

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*Think of an animal that begins with that letter.*

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*Repeat it out loud as you scroll down.*

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*Think of either a man’s/woman’s name that begins with the last
letter in the animals name.*

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*Almost there……..*

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*Now count out the letters in that name on the fingers of the
hand you are not using to scroll down.*
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*Take the hand you counted with and hold it out in front of you at
face level*
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*Look at your palm very closely and notice the lines in your hand*

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*Do the lines take the form of the first letter in the persons name?

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*Of course they b****y dont…….*

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*Now use your outstretched hand to smack yourself on the head, get a
life, and quit playing stupid e-mail games!