Just Jo!

November 29, 2007

Protected: Well, that’s just typical!

Filed under: Adam, Olivia, Food, Arguments, Blondiness, Arts and Crafts, Just for fun - Jo @ 10:05 pm

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November 28, 2007

Well, it made me laugh!

Filed under: Just for fun - Jo @ 10:02 pm

Just because I love this joke….

A frog goes into a bank and approaches the teller. He can see from her nameplate that her name is Patricia Whack.

“Miss Whack, I’d like to get a £30,000 loan to take a holiday.”

Patty looks at the frog in disbelief and asks his name. The frog says his name is Kermit Jagger, his dad is Mick Jagger, and that it’s okay, he knows the bank manager.

Patty explains that he will need to secure the loan with some collateral.

The frog says, “Sure. I have this,” and produces a tiny porcelain elephant, about an inch tall, bright pink and perfectly formed.

Very confused, Patty explains that she’ll have to consult with the bank manager and disappears into a back office.

She finds the manager and says, “There’s a frog called Kermit Jagger out there who claims to know you and wants to borrow £30,000, and he wants to use this as collateral.”

She holds up the tiny pink elephant. “I mean, what in the world is this?”

….

The bank manager looks back at her and says…

Wait for it…

“It’s a knickknack, Patty Whack. Give the frog a loan. His old man’s a Rolling Stone.”

(You’re singing it, aren’t you? Yeah, I know you are……..)

OK, so I’ll keep sharing the jokes!! :roll:

Protected: Well, well, well….

Filed under: Home Ed, Adam, Olivia, Family, Food, Arts and Crafts, Friends, Just for fun, Group - Jo @ 6:20 pm

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August 5, 2007

Well, despite saying that we’re just too darn busy….

….we haven’t been. Not since I said it anyway. So although I have plenty of time to blog, I haven’t actually got much to blog about. :roll:

We should have got to South Wales yesterday for our next camping adventure. But we didn’t. We’re still in Exeter. Not that I’m bitter or anything. But if Olivia thinks she’s getting any crisps this week….
Fortunately, Exeter has an abundance of free activities this summer. That are free. FREE!! Me likey. A lot! So many freebies in fact, that I doubt very much the necessity of us stepping outside the confines of Exeter’s city boundaries. Wahay!!

Anyways, back to our “not being very busy” weekend….
I’ve been reading a lot, but just lately, every book I’ve read that is set in America has mentioned “Naugahyde”. I had a feeling that it was that plasticky type chair cover, but I wasn’t completely sure. Being of an inquisitive nature, the next time I came across the term, I immediately headed to Google to help me out. And I was right! What I had no idea of though, was the history behind all the little Naugas, who so selflessly donate their hydes in the name of doctor’s waiting rooms. :wink:
Kind of reminded me of the adorably cute Haggii, to be found in the wilds of Scotland….

Yes, as you can see, when given the opportunity, I spend my precious few allotted seconds on the ‘puter looking up totally mind blowing information, which is, of course, entirely for the benefit of humankind….

So….apart from reading, we’ve also done a bit of eating….

Frying potatoes and red onionsYum!Tucking inDinner

LunchThey're big rolls!Licking out the saucepan after boiling the blackberries for sun jam"Damn fine cherry pie!" (But made with blackberries instead!)

The alfalfa in our Sunday lunch rolls was very nice, although I had to buy a new bioSnacky for the pleasure. The jar for the old one disappeared. The lid is still lurking in the kitchen though. But how can the jar have vanished so completely? Mind boggles. Unless of course it went on a little sojourn with the cutlery. Or one of the kids have broken it and have yet to ‘fess up. Olivia is useless at lying though, not even if her life depended on it. She does try though, bless her little cotton socks, but you might as well just stamp her sweaty brow “GUILTY!” I shall interrogate Adam when he returns from work. Not that he’ll have any idea what a bioSnacky jar is though. :roll:
And Adam loved the (vegan!) blackberry pie so much he licked the plate clean. Literally. He really did lick his plate. But ran away when he saw me reach for the camera to document his table manners….

Which reminds me, we went blackberry picking again….

Blackberry picking....again!The short way round this timeThe scraggiest bush...."Come on!"

….on our own this time. And I got caught short. Less said about that the better. A lot of nettles about.
“What did you use for loo paper mum?”
“I didn’t.”
“Ewwww!!!!”
“Shut up!”

And did all manner of things with them and the elderberries….

Crushing blackberries to make fruit leatherBlackberries and elderberriesMaking sun jamBlackberry stash

Olivia met Elvis!

Elvis!!

Well….not technically the real Elvis….

Olivia’s been all of a stone age quiver (Me too! Wha…? It’s fun!)….
A stone age scene is being made, but it’s a work in progress and I’m banned from taking photos. At the moment. Give me time.
She’s currently reading Secret Water, more Swallows and Amazons adventures. She’s fortunately got over the sniggering every time Titty makes an appearance. :grin:
She’s also been blogging and Flickring like mad, completely overjoyed with all the comments she’s been receiving….
“How many have you got mum?”
“Shut up!”
(I’m really going off the entire concept of children…)

And, oh my gosh, we even thought about watching some TV! :shock:
But there was nowt on….

And I’ve had even less time on the ‘puter because Olivia has discovered the joys of Yahoo groups. The EO children’s one to be precise. :roll:

And another doodah from Shirl….


What Your Favorite Color Green Says About You:


Balanced — Relaxed — Flexible
Compassionate — Philosophical — Humble
Loyal — Inventive — Unique
What Does Your Favorite Color Say About You?

I looked humble up in my Concise Oxford….I am sooo not humble…. :roll:

Bizarre question from Adam today, “When you’re, like, grey all over, d’you want me to put you in a home?”

Bizarre comment from Olivia today, after I noticed she hadn’t washed up the mixing bowl properly, “Well it’s not my fault if you get pastry all up the sides!”

See you next Sunday!

Edited to add (because I was gob-smacked!)

Are all my efforts at home educating my daughter completely in vain??
Yes, we have the return of …. Dah Dah Dah!! …. “Stupid Question Of The Day”

“Mum, what’s the opposite of long?”

I hang my head in shame. Have I taught her nothing?? Three years (and more!) and she not know???!!!

July 23, 2007

The tag thing from Shirl

Filed under: Home Ed, Olivia, Just for fun - Jo @ 6:57 pm

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. :wink:
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….

Testriffic.com

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. :roll:

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. :grin:
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.

July 1, 2007

Most of this week….

….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!” :roll:
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. :shock:
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. :shock:
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. :roll:
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. :grin:
Lisa picked them all up and Olivia stayed the night. That night, my earache got so bad that I actually resorted to painkillers. :shock:
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.) :roll:

(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. :twisted:
But I read something about Mercury Retrograde this morning….ahh….that explains it all then! :roll:

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.
What Pattern Is Your Brain?

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!! :lol:

June 3, 2007

A Fruity Little Spanish….

Filed under: Adam, Olivia, Trips, Just for fun, Photo prompts - Jo @ 7:01 pm

Fruit
A sweet product from a tree or plant to eat. Show us fruit in your space.
A strange lack of fruit in our house today. Definitely in need of a mega shop tomorrow. Whoopee doo…. Regular readers will be aware of how much I dislike shopping. Detest might be more appropriate actually…. :roll:

Her Space
Olivia grabbed the strawberry ‘flavour’ washing up liquid. Not that she makes a habit of drinking it ….

Her Fruit

My Space
I made do with an abandoned half eaten apple in the alley beside our house. The fact that someone on this GCE eats (however half-heartedly) fresh fruit is encouraging however….

My Fruit

I have been indulging my healthy obssession with Flickr by uploading most of the photos from our jaunt to Spain last year. :grin:

So here’s a few of them…..

Trying to warm up again on my mum's front porchDancing at the partyAdam has bad knees....Sunset from the roof of my mum's house

Looking out over OrihuelaCyclistsJoining in with the bandDigging up Guardamar

The main square in Los MontesinosAnother sunset from the roof of my mum's houseThe harbour and hills of CartagenaOlivia in Murcia

The rest of them are in a set over here.

I shall now jump on the bandwagon, and ask any lurkers to de-lurk….. ‘cos I’m starting to get curious…. :grin:

May 27, 2007

Mega Photo Prompt Catch-up

Filed under: Just for fun, Photo prompts - Jo @ 2:17 pm

Well, at least we know the tent doesn’t leak…. :roll:
We cooked outside on our little camping stove, we are extremely good at sausages and baked beans on it now. Our torches work magnificently as well. Which was jolly good, ‘cos it meant we could read. And play about with the torch….

ReadingBeing silly with the torch

We stayed in the tent for breakfast. It was chucking it down outside, so I sent Olivia out to make me a cuppa back indoors. :grin:
Then we came in about 10ish to finish off the photo prompts. So here they are, mostly new, but a few old ones hijacked because I was starting to get bored….

Spiky

Spiky

Daisy

Daisy

Corner

Corner

Stripy

Stripy

Pencil

Pencil....

Bug

Bug

Glasses

Glasses

Fence

Spider nest

Clean

Clean

Date

Date

Paint

Paint

Texture

My rusty chains

Egg

Happy Easter!!

Silver

Silver

I saw this in close-up. So now Olivia is tidying the rest of the room, so we won’t notice the cobwebs….
It’s funny really, when I put it up, my mum said, “Ooh, that’ll be a dust trap!” Pah! What does she know??
Garland

Garland

Sign

Rates on Merchandise

Busy

Look at all the people!

Cook

Adding five chopped tomatoes, garlic, 3 tbsp red wine vinegar and 1 tbsp sugar

Tin

Tin

Purse

Purse

Camera

Camera

Scissors

Scissors

Adhesive

Adhesive

Juice

Juice

Spiral

I like the lamps along the seafront

Photo

Photo

Butterfly

Mardi Gras Mask

Tree

Tree

Nik-nak

Nik Nak

Triangle

Triangle

Sky

And looking up at the sky

Snack

Snack

Chocolate

Yummy!

Tassel

Tassel

Shoe

Shoe

Strap

Strap

Ribbon

Ribbon

Beads

Beads

Cards

Cards

Cookie

Cookie

Path

Path

Polish

Polish

Toe

Toe

Which belongs to him….

The toes belong to him!

Spoon

Spoon

This is the second “Reflection”…. actually it’s our third, the first two got done on our Photo Prompt bike ride….
Reflection

A bridge....what else can I say?

All done now! :grin:
There’s more info about the photos on Flickr. I couldn’t be bothered to type it all out twice, and I’m having more fun over there at the moment.
But perhaps I’ll not leave it ’til there’s 45 to catch up with next time. I shall set myself a target of doing them as soon as they’re posted for a week. Or not. Maybe not. Probably not. Don’t hold your breath or anything….
Off to go Flickr-ing again….

May 26, 2007

Mache, Morrismen, Medieval and iMages

Filed under: Home Ed, Olivia, Arts and Crafts, Just for fun - Jo @ 7:35 pm

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….

Olivia's papier mache model

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. :grin:
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.

Morris dancers in the Guildhall shopping centreGirlie morris dancers

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.

Arch braced timber roofMore of the timber roofA window in the refectory

Old stoveArchway in the kitchenThe gardenSt Nicholas Priory

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. :roll:
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. :roll:
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.

The Five Factor Personality Test

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.
What Planet Are You From?

May 25, 2007

Too busy Flickr-ing….

….and neglecting my blog. :roll:

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. :grin:
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. :roll:
Photos of Olivia’s bed, as in community garden bed, not her actual bed. That would be too awful to contemplate….

Weeding the peasWeeding the runner beansNasturtiums, lettuce and radishes

Californian poppiesMy potato plantsReally in need of a watering!

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.

Fractions in the gardenI was busy looking at flowers/weeds in the grassAnd looking up at the sky

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….

River ExeA swan nesting

We saw a heron too….

On the weir

Ooh!! Looky!! Sweeeeeeet!!!

Swan and six cygnets

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…. :roll:
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. :roll:
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! :lol:
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.

Making a daisy chainPicking the 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.

Blackbird nest

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. :grin:
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.)

Olivia started to make the cold compress.MashingStill mashing

Ready to be sievedSqueezing the mash through the muslinGrating beeswaxPouring into jars

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

Flower arrangingThe finished display

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. :roll:

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!

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