Just Jo!

Last night must have been the quickest Lush bath ever….the hot water ran out.
But I didn’t realise until the bath was nearly half full. Not being a wasteful person, especially when it comes to Lush, sod the water shortage in the summer, I still got in. It felt quite warmish to the touch, but actually sitting in it was an entirely different matter….

Fortunately, I don’t have blokey bits, but I did feel a certain empathy….soon got over that though!
We are also up to the Victorians (much to someone’s joy) in Our Island Story. The film last night was Paint Your Wagon, obviously ticked the wrong box on LoveFilm. Still, it meant I got to sing “I was born unner a wandrin’ star” in the most annoying way possible….

Chinese New Year!
Yes! We did things!
We made a lantern from what may be one of our mostest favouritest books ever….

But it’s not quite finished yet….patience is a virtue, except we have none and couldn’t wait for the glue to dry so we ended up taping it together.
Olivia did another scrapbook page (had a go at teabag folding too)….

And did a Chinese inventions wordsearch, coloured in some chinese patterns to be laminated into bookmarks (how many bookmarks does one household need??), and we both made some scrolls in a Chinese style.

Lunch was beans on toast. I hear a resounding “So?!?” I mention it because it was not your average beans on toast. A tin of Sainsbury’s mixed bean salad drained, a tablespoon (or just over) of vegan mayonnaise stirred in, then all piled up on top of warmed garlic and herb naan bread. Easy! Bloomin’ lovely it was. There would have been a photo, but it was gone too darn quick….maybe next time….

Sunday being our newly designated paper model making day, we also made a pig, far too easy though, and a couple of origami pigs, but then I got bored looking for paper pig things….

All accompanied by our wondrous Chinese CD….eleventh time round and I’m ready to frisbee it down the road to meet a hideous death under any passing lorry….
“Can we play it again mum?”

What else?
Maisy chucked her guts up, or as Olivia so delicately put it, “Ooh my! Maisy’s regurgitated herself!”
But she cleaned it all up….I’m not very good with bodily functions of that nature….and Olivia wants to look after animals when she’s older anyway, so it’s all good practice.

Olivia’s having her Lush moment now, I’m blogging, Adam’s in bed after a hard day at work on the checkouts….Our Island Story *will* be finished tonight, then I think we’re watching Il Postino.
Thankfully, Chinese New Year goes on for a while, so we have plenty of time to finish everything. I just need to find somewhere to put it all….I’ll go and ask Adam when he’s moving out….

I read some more of Our Island Story last night. OK, I’d forgotten about it, but had a sudden panic attack that it’s probably overdue now, despite having renewed it as much as is humanly possible!
Olivia asked if there was anything about Victorian’s in it. I had a quick look, “Yes, at the very end.”
“Whew! That’s alright then. You can’t have history without Victorian’s!”
Think you can though….just a little bit anyway….you know, the little bit of a few thousand years, give or take….
There were a few speeches I had to read, one by Queen Anne and I did a very near perfect queenie voice. Olivia giggled into my pillow. The second was actually a Scottish poem, about the end of the Jacobites. I demonstrated a very near perfect Scottish accent. Again, Olivia giggled helplessly into my pillow.
“What?!”
“Grandad..(giggle)..can..(giggle)..do..(giggle)..so..(giggle)..much..(giggle)..betterthanyou!!”
“Well, duh! (Yes, I can be a teenager when I want!) He’s Scottish!”

We were going into town yesterday, but the weather persuaded me otherwise. Olivia got a bit more ‘educated’, despite her overly dramatic protestations, “But I reallyreallyreally hate using a dictionary!”
I think my ever so slightly raised eyebrow was sufficient to silence her….
We were going to head into town again today, but hey! ‘puter’s fixed! And I wanted to play facilitate my daughter’s education. Tomorrow is the start of Chinese New Year, so I had to find stuff. I know we have done it in depth over the last few years, but I didn’t have a ‘puter then. I have the power to go waaay over the top now!!

Yep, it’s the year of the pig….
I will now try to be a little sensible (see how long it lasts!) and provide a link to lots of info about Chinese new year and another one, even how to learn Chinese. Think I can live without the pig-flavoured stamps though!

BREEDING PIGS
A city boy decided to quit the rat race and bought himself a farm, which included a few sows. He wanted to breed the sows, but had no idea how to go about it. His neighbour volunteered his boars for the job, and told the city boy to bring them over in the pickup the next day.

In the afternoon when he went to pick them up, the city boy asked how he would be able to tell if the sows were impregnated. He was told to look and see where they were early in the morning. If they were up on the hill, they were pregnant; if they were in the sty, it hadn’t worked.

The next morning, he leapt from the bed and looked up the hill, but alas the pigs were down in the mud. Grumbling, he loaded them back into the pickup and headed for the neighbours. The following three mornings were just the same; he would leap from the bed, look up the hill, find the pigs down in the mud and have to return them to the neighbours to let the boars have another shot at them.

On the fifth morning, he looked up the hill, and there were no pigs. He looked down in the sty; still no pigs. He called to his wife, “Where the hell are the pigs today?”

Amid hysterical laughter, she managed to choke out, “They’re down in the truck, and the big one is honking the horn!” (from Miss C)

But what have we actually been doing today??
Olivia resurrected a fire-cracker decoration from last year’s festivities….

Spent hours designing and building a Lego house, furniture and shop….

She also blogged and added some photos, including her Valentine scrapbook page.
I found and uploaded some photos from last year’s celebration….

The rest are over on Flickr, including a few from Spain last year. I may well put some more on, but there are literally hundred’s to trawl through, so don’t hold your breath….
Found the answer to the triangle problem over on Eleanor’s blog.
The washing machine had obviously been feeling neglected, since the ‘puter has had so much attention over the last few days, so that decided to play up today.
It’s not draining properly, clothes dripping all over the place, such fun….
Thank goodness it’s a Lush night tonight. If they ever go out of business…..no, no, no!!! Doesn’t bear thinking about!
Right….dinner, Our Island Story, film and Lush….

Just before I go….

We didn’t go up to watch Jools in the end. We stayed downstairs and did some more on the prayer rug, tried drawing some fancy stars, but much preferred eating houmous and pitta bread. She also started on her scarf, she’s halfway there already. Really thick wool and really big needles….very satisfying!
We went up in time to watch True Lies. Some of Olivia’s priceless comments (believe me there were plenty, I just can’t remember them all!):
“I am never flying an aircraft, I’d crash it in 5 minutes!” Think we’ll all sleep better, safe in that knowledge!;
“I like it when people burn!”
“What?!”
“When they go all wiggly” (miming a kind of belly dance/limbo type move, should have had a camcorder handy!);
“She’s really good with a gun!”
” She dropped it!”
“Yeah, but she still killed a lot of baddies.”;
She is a really squeamish peaceloving child (honest!), but…. “Whoo, yeah, smack her!”;
Stopping for the chimes: “We’ll come back to True Lies next year”
“WHAT??!!??!!”
“Livvie. Please. Think.”
“What does he mean, next year?!”
“What’s tonight?”
“Yeah, but that’s ages away!”
“Think about it!”
“I can’t wait that long!!”
I just looked at her, then at the clock.
“Ohhhh!!! *Next* year! I get it. It’s a joke!”
Think maybe half a glass ( it was the smallest I could find!) of bubbly may be a little too much for her!
And the sparklers didn’t work, no firemen in my bedroom last night. Note to self….must try harder!
And out of all my family, the only one who called me was the weird cousin. I did say he had a heart of gold. Maybe we’re kindred spirits! He does have all the family tree stuff that an elder family member (now deceased) had researched and has said he’ll give to me! Proper ‘tree’ stuff and all linen backed on a roll in a tube. Apparently that’s a good thing, I wouldn’t know. But it’ll be very interesting, the tree goes way back, so I can feel some kind of HUGE project coming up!
She finally got to bed about 2.30am. And only ‘cos I made her!
“But I thought we were staying up to do party poppers over Adam!”
“He said he won’t be home ’til about 6.”
“Oh, so I can go to sleep for a bit?”
“Yes.”
“Like a quick nap?”
“Yes! That would be a good thing.”
Adam actually got home about an hour later, but I’d put the chain on, so he had to call me. Which meant I could then get Olivia up, she was fast asleep but wide awake in an instant at the prospect of party-poppering Adam!
Adam, funnily enough, wasn’t best pleased at being popped!! He was desperate for a wee and had been kept on the doorstep while I was rousing Olivia and getting poppers out of the bag!
We all woke late this morning. Who’d have thunk?!
I started cooking breakfast about 1.30. As Adam was still in the house, I invited him to join us in a cooked breakfast.
“Is there fried eggs?”
We have been vegan for nearly 3 years now. He knows this. It is not a huge great surprise.
I was feeling quite magnanimous though, “If you want to go round the shop and buy them youself and cook them yourself…..” Well, my magnanimity only goes so far….
“No, it’s alright. Don’t think I’ll bother.”
Breakfast was almost done, I thought I’d try again, “Are you sure you don’t want any?”
“What are you having?”
“Sausages, bacon,mushrooms, tomatoes, baked beans, potato farls.”
“Is it real bacon and sausages?”
“Um….ooh….take a wild guess!”
“Huh….alright then, I suppose so.”
He came down stairs to Olivia popping madly at him, which didn’t go down too well it must be said!
“Muuummm!!!! Tell her!! I’ve got a hangover….it’s bang out of order!!!”
“Um (again!)….hangover? Oh dear, what a pity, not my problem, so I don’t care!”
“But hangovers get worse as you get older!”
“What?!?”
“I read it somewhere, it’s true!”
This is a boy who only reads textbooks if they’re absolutely vital to his coursework. And then only ever the relevant page or paragraph.
We sat down for breakfast.
“Stop flicking your hair at my dinner!”
“I’m not!”
“You are. Stop jumping up and down!”
“I’m not!”
“You are! Mum, tell her!”
“I’m not jumping up and down!”
“You are!! Mum, she flicked her hair on purpose then!”
“I didn’t!”
“You did!”
“I didn’t!”……ad infinitum….
“So, Adam, when are you moving out?”
“When I’m 27!”
Bugger, bugger, bugger!!!!! My sanity really cannot wait that long!
Oh and Olivia finished her scarf and almost finished the hat (I haven’t got a big enough needle to sew it up, it’s seriously thick wool!). She’s really pleased with herself because she managed to decrease, cast off and had a go at casting on too. The prayer rug got finished, I ended up having to do most of the detail in pencil, which she then went over in pen, and some more play with the Geomags.
“I love this. I want some more!”
“Buy it with your own money then!”
“I will!”
We had a phonecall from my mum and John. And I found out they have a real prayer rug. They used to have foreign students when they were still here, and one of the Muslim students left it behind for them.
“Um, d’you use it a lot?”
They don’t as it happens, so mum is going to send it over for Olivia.
Now I’ve got to go and watch Wind In The Willows,
“It’s already started!!”
“Nearly finished!”
“You’re missing it!!”
“Hang on!!”

My mobile is dead! It needs charging. I have lost my charger. And in the excitement of my new ‘puter, I neglected certain things like….ooh…the telephone bill(!), so I can only receive calls on the landline at the moment. It’s New Year’s Eve. Oh whoop-di-doo!!!
In the next day or so, I will get a guilt-trip call from my mum, “So you’re not talking to me then?”
Others will just think I am a totally miserable and ignorant cow! Oh well, that’s life!
And our cupboards really are bare now, popping to the local shops for bread will no longer suffice, so joy of joys(!!), we got to go into town! Hoo-bleedin’-ray!!
We had to stop off at my friend’s to give back a few DVDs. She’d asked for some educational websites that we use, her son’s got SATs coming up, so we were going to give her those as well. Easy enough I thought, she livesthisclose to the town centre. She wasn’t in, but we were prepared for such an eventuality….everything was already in an envelope to pop through the letterbox. Again, easy enough I thought, except she has no letterbox!!
So we trudged up to the high street, stopping off at the Works, ‘just to have a look’.
We came out with girly Geomags, a kids knit-your-own hat and scarf kit, a dragon pencil (for her), a frog pencil (for me!), an ocarina and a thumb piano. We were slightly more self-controlled in Smiths, just a Klutz Bead Rings book, so any girly birthday presents are also now taken care of!
Then it was Holland and Barrett’s and Sainsbury’s to get what we actually went into town for. Supplies aplenty for a huge fry-up tomorrow breakfast and some snacky things tonight, I’m not going to attempt cooking when I fully intend to see how much alcohol I can safely consume!
We bumped into Jackie in Sainsbury’s, hurrah! So we chatted (yes, we were those annoying people, “Why have they *got* to talk in the middle of the aisle?!”), handed over DVDs, and arranged to go and see them on Tuesday. Olivia desperately wanted to go back to their’s right then. But I desperately wanted to track down some tomato juice for my Bloody Mary tomorrow morning. It’s another of my ‘Things’, birthday and Christmas mornings = Buck’s Fizz, New Year morning = Bloody Mary’s.
We headed home so Olivia could make her Islamic prayer mat. She’s designed it, and painted the background in watercolours, when it’s dry, she’ll use pens to add all the fine detail. Looking good so far though.
Then she got out her new Geomag. I have resisted getting any until now because she has so much K’nex and Lego, handed down from Adam and greatly added to, that I resented buying any more construction like stuff. But, hey ho, it’s her Christmas money, and she’s wanted some for ages because a lot of her friends already have it.
Blonde Alert!
Getting it out of the box, she was muttering to herself, “Cor, the trouble with this Geomag is it all sticks to itself.”
Oh where’s the wine????
Adam is heading off down to Exmouth with some of his friends for the night. They’re getting dressed up as gangsters….again! They all did for his 18th down in Newquay. I’m beginning to think that he likes getting dressed up almost as much as Olivia! (Although I haven’t had to make any costumes for almost a year now.)
We’ll be heading up to my bed later to watch a few films and Jools’ Hootenanny with some bubbly for the chimes. I might even let her have some of her indoor sparklers up there too. Well, it’ll be one way to fill my bedroom with a bunch of firemen for the night!!!
And I had a Lush bath last night. I love Lush. I love Lush so much in fact, that I really do not mind all the detritus that is so often left behind after such a bath. Last night it was a Chelsea Garden bath ballistic.
‘Rose, jasmine and lavender, plus masses of flower petals turn your bath into a herbaceous border. Drop into a warm bath for fizz and floral fragrance.’
Hmmm…..’masses of flower petals’? I think my ballistic must have got the entire batch’s allowance of petals. Let’s just say that 24 hours later, I am still picking petals out of my….. no, I think I’ll leave it there and let you all ponder!!!!
Night night!
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!
And as my stepdad always says “The party doesn’t even start ’til midnight!” (He’s Scottish!)