Sounds like a very nice B-Day SG, and the pics are lovely. What's a ploughman? Do you have a menu link for the place had dinner?

Ploughmans is what was originally deemed to be a ploughman's lunch. In other words the man that followed the horses on the farm. Traditionally it is cheese, bread and pickles, although this varies greatly. Check the smallprint when you order one (or better yet have me as a natve guide).

It's on the Wetherspoon's menu, but FTR - extra mature cheddar, Melton Mowbray pork pie, pickle and a side salad garnish, with a malted grain baguette.
And here is ASK - higher prices if you compare. They are great value in London, but London prices extend to Berkhamsted, hence no starter or dessert at our table.

Thanks Juni! :)

Actually, I meant Newport OH...a little tiny piece of land with two bars, on route 66 in The Great White North. Have you heard of the country concert? It's around those parts.

However, I've been to Newport Aquarium and it is fantabulous!

The 'rents are home today.
Drive me crackers as they do (sometimes, only sometimes) I did miss them.
I tried to live pretty much by their rules, but still felt a special effort was necessary today in terms of cleaning. Okay, Mum's rules - Dad's just involved the garden and as it's been raining since Sunday it's pretty much taken care of itself.

Anyway, got Mum some flowers to welcome her back. Very simple because she'll be annoyed if I spend too much money. Got them to open nicely though.

Am providing a pick n choose meal on a sort-of tapas basis, because they don't know exactly what time they'll be back. All the food can be eaten over the next few days anyway, so if they've eaten a late lunch, or snacked (I know my parents) it won't go to waste.

ETA - the platter list
Orkney crab pate
Tiger prawns
North Atlantic prawns
Chilli & coriander king prawns
Honey Roast Scottish salmon flakes
Peppered mackerel
Lemon mayonnaise dip

Pic 1 - the flowers.
Pic 2 - the M&S fish platter which forms the backbone (!) of dinner. I'll report in more detail when I find an appropriate food thread.

How sweet of you! Very nice, Sundae! The flowers are really gorgeous. :flower:

Only about half an hour to go until...

12:34:56 7/8/'9

Unless you are in a country that puts the day before the month. Then you'd be a month early. :D

First thing Mum said - literally the first thing, "Did you water the baskets out front? They're looking really parched."

Luckily it improved from there on in.
Although the lavender simmering granules I bought her (she loves the smell of lavender) were overpowering apparently, and she made retching noises to get across how she felt.

She loved the food and drink at least.
And had no other complaints, so I guess the interior was up to muster - or at least close enough that it wasn't worth making a deal out of.

I got a kiss for the flowers though. Reckon I gauged those just right :)

Beautiful flowers, and that fish platter has my mouth watering. :) Must go find food!

Mia (parents' cat) is behaving more normally now they're back. Normal for her anyway. And even though they disappeared off at 08.30 this morning.

Well, she seems happier, and that's a relief. Diz is my darling, but he is a jealous cat, and can be a bully.

And I had a great counselling session today!
And pottery this afternoon.
Feel really positive.

Excuse the sly digs at Mum in #4328.
I should swallow them for 24 hours and see if they still bother me. 9/10 they won't, so I shouldn't mention them. I am glad they're back. In fact we talked and laughed and enjoyed tea so much I completely forgot to take pics of the full spread. Which is a good thing, really.

Living vicariously through other people's happy posts here - lovely to see them all, especially a splatter of them from SG!

My billy goat has a pet (or symbiant?) turkey.

Get out the video camera.

Yea, Awesome news. What did you get?

We bought a bunch of chickens at the feed store a couple weeks back, but one was funny lookin'. He appears to be a broad breasted white, yummy. I've been considering a small flock of traditional birds so we'll see how this guy fares in the goat yard as turkeys are apparently not supposed to run with chickens due to disease issues. Video when I get a chance.

Sundae sent the kids a big box of assorted biscuits, they were waiting at our door when I brought them home from their grandparents yesterday. They spent a long time checking out each variety and reminiscing about the ones Ducks sent from AUS at xmas.
Also (best part), the packing material was all take-out menus!

Thanks SG - you made our day. :D

You're welcome - it was lovely to come here and find out it had arrived. I hadn't expected delivery until at least next week.

We saw a good sized black bear mtn biking today. He was pretty stealthy but too big to sneak by unobserved.

:eek: What kind of bike was he riding??

20" it was funnier than hell. smartass

the cookies>

hey SG. That was a lovely thing to do.

Now how much did it cost? What % of your income was that? Biscuits and shipping? No shit chica, I know this is the happy happy thread but WTF are you playing at? As a family with a decent income, we wouldn't spend that much on fancy biccies in a year. That on top of the M&S fishy dinner and roses for your parents (which would also be outside of our budget)..... get a grip! (Sorry Jim and jinx, I know I'm peeing on your pressie parade) but SG, I've kept it shut for some time now and i can't any more. You spend outside of our budget and I'm pretty damn sure that even though we have 3 kids, we have more expendable income than you do.

i know you're depressed and I know that buying pressies for people makes you happier, but i also know that being broke and financially dependant on your parents also makes you depressed.

I also know you have the strength to do something if you really set your mind and heart to it. I know that becase of your incredible weight loss. Now you need to apply the same determination to your finances and then you'll be home and free.

Would it help to envision every pound spent in money as a pound gained in weight?

I know I'm coming across as a complete bitch and wet blanket here, but please believe me, its a tough love post. if I didn't like you so much, I'd say nothing.

You know monster, for a moment I thought the same thing as you, but then I remembered people saying the same thing to me when as a single parent and full time student working only part time, I prepared nice food which most people would consider to have been outside my budget.

Honestly, and with all respect and understanding of your point of view, I think that it's really up to Cherry to decide what she considers worthwhile and affordable. If she scrimps on herself for a week in order to afford a few luxuries for people she considers friends or loved ones and it brings her some satisfaction in whatever way, then that's what she should do. Really, she is a grown up and is as you say, capable of many things many people couldn't achieve for a number of reasons.

I don't want to be an arse, but I think that the last thing Cherry probably needs is criticism. Gifting, from what I can tell, is what brings her joy. Don't make her feel bad about that mate.

LJ has laid them out in a stunning array of colour and excitement.
But if you look, you will see three packets of supermarket biscuits, and two branded. I honestly can't believe that supermarket branded goods are out of your price range.

The rest of the picture is the free take-away menus I used to package them.

I am not living beyond my means.
I don't smoke, I no longer drink. I don't drive a car. All of those would be within the realms of "acceptable" expenditure. I was offered - very kindly - money from people in the Cellar - which i turned down. And yes I am currently paying off all the debts I accrued in Leicester.

There is no reason for anything I spend to be questioned, unless everyone is questioned on every single dollar they spend too.
I don't really have the energy to say any more than that right now, but I would like this to stop please.

I'm sorry, you're right, I just worry about you so much. Please accept my apology for interfering. I think I'll take a break from the cellar for a while.

You just expressed your opinion. I see no reason for you to break up with us.

We love you monnie!

edit: I understand that mon's post didn't sit well with you, SG. But I also think she was just expressing the way she feels about such things. My bff (;) ) is very frugal. There have been times when she has expressed to me "now why on earth would you do THAT?" I shrug. I don't know. I'm not you? She doesn't mean anything to offend me: we just think very differently on such matters. In the Cellar, we can hear (read) such things and get 100 differing opinions, but we should know that we can take each with a grain of salt, and know that without being in our particular situation they can't possibly see that we are making decisions with thought and deliberation.

I'm not one to talk, you all know certain things that set me off, but I wanted to point out that I think you and monster are very different in these matters, and she does care about you.

I'll shut up now...

I just passed my knowledge test for my drivers license. I now have my "L". Once I have that for a year I can get my "N", then a year after that, be a legal driver with no restrictions. Finally.... my hubby will stop bugging me about it. ( I didn't really want my driver's license, but he wants me to have my independence and be able to take the car without him sometimes.

Good work Jaydaan! :)

I'm happy today because the kids have gone back to school after a 2 week break. I love having them here with me, but it really is nice to have my peace and quiet back. :)

I know this doesn't mean anything to any of you, but: I've been thinking about stretching my lobes from 8 to 6 gauge, which is usually a pretty hard jump. This morning my 6 gauge plugs slid right in with no prep! Sweet!

your FRONTAL lobes?

no, her REAR lobes.

I can live in my own house now. I've been having to housesit for my boss and commute to take care of my family (dogs). Feels good to be home at night. It's uncomfortable for me to leave my modest lifestyle and step into the realm of the super rich. Sometimes I'm actually PROUD to be middle class. Working there is fine. But when the work day ends, I wanna go home.

laf


that took me a minute to get. well....like 35 seconds.

I was in the mall, and picked up a jacket on clearance.
Clairborne, originally $275, clearance $30.
Now, I thought I read it wrong.
But no.
And to find it in my size, pretty damn sweet.

Good for you Capn. And I agree - middle calss suits mewell. (Less pretense.)

And I get it Cloud - I know piercing is your passion, so I guess congrats would be in order?

The whisky is starting to work, at last.

Good night.

What's making me happy today is my scale. It seems I've finally convinced my baby fat to take a hike!

I got back test results from a procedure I had last week - NORMAL! After 5 years of abnormal. Thinking it will stick when I go back in 3-4 months.

Have a new nephew! SO cute and excited. Can't wait to see him even though it will be some time cause they are in TX and I am in NC.

Good day today

Congratulations, bbro!

If a bbro leaves NC, walking at a speed of 3mph, for 8 hrs/day, how long before the new nephew graduates from high school will she arrive? :haha:

How long will it take if he is on a treadmill?

with casters?

Thanks Clod!

Yea, I don't think I am going to be walking on foot or a treadmill. Even with casters :)

Just take the plane and leave the treadmill. And bring a sha... I mean a dolphin.

Friends make me happy today.

My bestfriend (J) is graduating today *smiles* I am so proud of him. He's graduating with a First Class Honours degree in Design for Computer Games. And next week he starts his new job at the university as a junior assistant lecturer. They've pulled out all the stops to keep him at the university for his PhD, up to and including shimmying their departmental budget about to get him a maintenance grant and 8 hours a week teaching. He musthave impressed the hell out of them:) Doesn't surprise me. He's brilliant.

I got my diploma certificate and ID card for my TIPS certification today. Now I am licensed to get people high on alcohol.

just make sure you use the right color TIPS report cover sheets

I'm putting that post in my incident log.

*aside*
They didn't include how not to get drunk while serving in the course.

Pwnage of the KKK by... clowns.
 

Via.

I got a new whipper snipper today. It's a Stihl FS45C Line Trimmer. It's so awesome, and now my lawns will look much better. :)

Pie, that is bloody awesome! CLOWN POWER!!! :notworthy

Dancing Queen
 

i listen to the song Dancing Queen again in accident, it's very beautiful!

Mr. Clod fixed the air conditioner! And, now that we know what's wrong with it (hard water buildup in the drain pipe, as opposed to some other type of clog) I have an action plan to pour CLR down all drains daily for a month or so, to make sure the same thing doesn't happen on one of the larger internal house pipes. I'll never know for sure, but I have a suspicion discovering this small problem has prevented us from a much larger and more expensive one down the line.

Is it some sort of evaporating AC unit? Like a swamp cooler?

If not, I don't understand how hard water could do anything to an AC unit. The water comes from the condensation from the air and should have no minerals in it. Regular AC units aren't even hooked up to the plumbing. Our AC unit gets slime growing in the drain pipe because it's constantly dripping the wet condensate, but it dries out and the slime dies during the winter months, so it has never been a problem.

I only mention this because it's probably totally unrelated to your house drains, and flushing chemicals down your drains will just cost money and may do nothing.

I don't know what kind of unit it is... We pour bleach in the little drain pipe every six months, but it still got clogged (which we discovered when the drain pan overran and water started dripping from the light fixture in the ceiling.) When Mr. Clod got the air compressor up there, plugged the appropriate holes, and blew it out, huge chunks of calcified crap came out of the end of the pipe outside the house, and now it flows freely again. The stuff was beige and shaped like the inside of the pipe, so I'm certain it was mineral buildup. Maybe our condensate is just really minerally out here? Or maybe it drains some sort of other water source as well? I don't know.

glatt is worried you might be flushing money down the drain. :::silent chuckle:::

*shrugs shoulders* beats me.

Two days and counting! Two more days and one night of being a mere graduand. God I am so excited.

Only fly in my ointment is I don't get to wear a mortar board! Apparently we don't do that in our school (not sure if other schools within the uni do. probably not). When i went to J's graduation on Friday he was wearing a mortar board. And he had black robes. In fact he looked like he was just missing the dark wood panelled halls of a British public school full of boisterous upperclass boys. Mr Chips. I want to wear a mortar board!

But yeah....that's a fairly minor quibble :P

I may be a little giddy for the next couple of days.



[eta] oh yeah! and my dissertation's been put on the school's showcase site (History First) as a downloadable pdf :) I was so shit scared reading the dissertations on there in the run up to writing my own. Now mine will be one of the ones scaring the shit out of next year's undergrads :P I may already have mentioned that. It's tickled me quite a lot, that thought :P


[aeta] Oh and another thing! Went to J's grad on Friday. This was very lovely and I felt quite moved. Best of all: he chose his uni in part because it was one of the very few atthe time offering a degree in his subject (Design for Computer Games) and because Peter Molyneux is connected to the uni in some way and sponsors a prize for creative innovation. J was pretty buzzed up on that and set it as a personal goal to aim for. He only bloody well went and did it! Won the award. Well-deserved too imo. He designed and (mostly)built a genuinely original and interesting game. It's a prototype so not everything is fully functional, but enough to get the general flavour of the game. He worked so hard on it. Is still working on it. I'm so thrilled for him.

flushing money down the drain --get it?