Sundae - don't smother that tiny, weeny spark, because you are the person that is supporting him, and very few people could actually do that job.
Be proud. You deserve to be.

Today, Mars acknowledged that I had been off school.
He was trying to negotiate an extra session of Friendship Club - the structured social activity we have every Wednesday afternoon (with three other children).

Which really pleased me - first he did notice my absence.
Second he actually enjoys Friendship Club - bearing in mind it replaced a session of play this is such a positive step.

I had to admit I wasn't sure if we could fit it in, but I said I would try.
It's hard to find a room on a Friday, and it eats into PE time, which means the children have one eye on the clock. But I will try.

Tiger's animal collage today.

And the school is running a Reading Bug theme, so all the full time staff and teachers have been photographed holding up a favourite book from childhood. The Reception teachers have chosen books like The Tiger Who Came To Tea or We're Going on a Bear Hunt but those of us who work with more than one class have more leeway.

The children's books most precious to me I read at 10-11, so they're nearly out of the range of the school. But I managed to settle on Which Witch by Eva Ibbotsen. I read it at 9 which is still a compromise, but it is in the school library.

I have yet to find my picture and speech bubble - I am assured it is up!
I want to take Tiger to see it. He'll get a kick out of that. Also Rabbit, who needs a lot of reading encouragement, and is not always aware of his environment. I know he will be amazed when he realises there are photos of the staff on the walls. Bless him, he'll probably stop and talk to them. But if I can get across the idea they are talking about books he should enjoy the concept.

Tiger will be more interested. He'll probably just be intrigued by simply finding them at first, but I'm sure he'll relate to the fact that faces he knows are holding up books. And that he will recognise some of them. Not Which Witch though...

I remember Which Witch!!!

Urgh - found the photo of me with the book. It's in the library, well off the main drag.
I'd be tempted to move it into a corridor if it was reasonable, but I look like a boiled testicle. In a wig.

Tiger's collage animals from yesterday.
I helped with the croc's spine - we had no fabric scissors and he was really struggling with the felt. Everything else from concept to drawing, choosing materials and glueing (and obviously spelling) were all independent.

those are cute!

I'm glad he understands that crocodiles have cloos and not tees on their fet!

I love the way he's spelled "iys" - absolutely perfect!

"Srptff" is hidden by the green paper.
Sharp teeth of course.
Logical, phonetic spelling.

Today I am happy as the 'rents are away for 5 nights.
Huzzah!
The house is filled with the smell of garlic and onion as I marinate chicken for my guest this evening, Mrs G. Coming round to watch DVDs with me. Will be all teen angst horror stylee, but I can deal with that.

I was attempting Peri-Peri, but as I simply memorised the ingredients from a bottle of sauce in a shop, I have a feeling I may not have achieved a completely traditional outcome. Never mind. Garlic chicken salad with a chilli bite will still be yummy. And after all, a marinade does not equal the final flavour, being just an infustion.

Note to self. Recipe next time for goodness sake.

Sounds like fun chika!

Nowt wrong with teeny angst horror if you approach it with a forgiving eye and an appreciation for cheddar :p

Turns out it would have been a bad idea for me to come down to yours right now after all. Carrot is poorly. Would have hated him to be poorly with me not here!

School May Fayre yesterday.
Forgot my camera (idiot!) which is a real shame as we had a cloudless blue sky and the photos would have looked amazing colour-wise.

It went well though.
My bro turned up, which was a lovely surprise.
Mum came too - which again was nice as she said she would and then attempted to back out at the last minute. Pleased she changed her mind, and I'm sure she saw the genuine pleasure on my face when I saw her.

£3,400 profit. Cool potatoes.

I ran the Refreshments Stall (aka cakes, tea & coffee, ice lollies) from set-up until 12.30, sometimes alone. I was lucky in that the hot weather meant a shorter queue for hot drinks, but it was full-on. I'm proud of myself. I only intended to volunteer, as in help, but next year I won't stress about putting myself forward to manage as I was perfectly capable.

Mrs G bought my coffee & walnut cake sight-unseen (I kept all my cakes in the fridge).
Ste bought my carrot cake - bless him, he could have one for free any weekend.
And Rabbit's Mum bought my chocolate cake. It was effectively the chocolate layer of my very special Chocolate Caramel cake x 2. So less icing, no caramel filling and only 3 eggs. A discount version if you like, but still a fantastically rich cake.

All three purchases made me happy for slightly different reasons.
And the fact I made £15 for the school was a boost too.

I made choc-coffee fairy cakes later that afternoon for Mum.
I had some coffee icing leftover in the fridge; in the end I simply could not pile any more onto the cake! It stretched quite well. Mum's been scoffing them and Maureen took some home too.

I did think about sending some to Limes & Dani, but buttercream icing simply would not travel in this heat. We're keeping them in the fridge as it is.

I could've told you'd manage perfectly well! Step up for it next year, and sneak it into your CV. x


Sent by thought transference

Keryx got home last Thursday and the computer took a shit that morning. I just got it back. The fan connection got loose. It only cost me $131.00 to get that fixed, it is probably something that was not rite from the factory.

Keryx had a good trip and a nice visit with her extended family. And I am glad to have her home. Pic's to follow.

Got my new bike all outfitted, ready to go to Mid-Ohio race track next weekend

Very cool!

My brother will be there.

Even coolerer.

Tiger's croc and mouse are making me happy today. :)

Took second place in the silhouette match today!

What is a silhouette match? Or should i already know?

I went for a 45 minute walk. Wish I could have gone for longer.

Great Rugby Match in the Bahamas. Only came out with a few cleat marks, a black eye, and a dislocated finger. Great fun. Can't wait til next year.

Sounds about right, probably nothing illegal in all that. I hope you put that finger back in on the field of play! ;)

(For non-Rugby peeps, at the professional level, that is often done, either by a medic or the player themself. :shock: )

Mav had a dislocated finger once from playing footy in the yard with Aden. It was at Dad's place, so a little drive to the hospital, and we considered putting it back in ourselves, but decided to go the safe route just in case there was any kind of fracture. They offered to give him an injection for the pain when they put it in, but he decided to go without. In the end I think he made the right choice. Those needles hurt like holy hell if you ask me. lol

Oh, and the thing that's making me happy today, which was why I came to this thread in the first place, is the wonderful friends I have in my life these days. I have always been lucky to have a couple of really good friends, and never really thought I'd collect more along the way, but there are a couple of really lovely ladies whom I've developed really special friendships with since we moved down here 4 years ago.

I feel truly blessed by them today. They are the ones keeping me going through what is turning out to be a really trying time.

I guess in some ways that old saying about when a door closes, someone (or god) opens a window somewhere. That's how I feel about these friends. They always seem to know when I need them and they bring a bit of light in when things seem really dark. :)

Good for you Ali. That made me smile. Happy for ya.

I saw a film where the protaganoist (a writer) decided to really go for something, reject social norms and follow his dreams, though his dreams happened to be cliched and silly.
But the point is, I want to do the same thing. I feel inspired.
Every time I feel happy or inspired about anything I feel a sense of terror that someone will take it away from me, like the bottom could fall out of my world at any second, being comprised as it is of possibilities, and not realities. But the truth is that there is very little about reality that makes me happy anymore. Maybe it's only by following my dreams that I can improve my reality.
I dunno, I'm pretty ill today, I feel drunk but not in a good way, I may just have had the greatest epiphany of all time or these may just be the quixotic ramblings of a disfunctional loser who will never achieve anything.

Late yesterday a FB friend of mine from England posted that her friend had lost a little dog in a huge field in Blackpool. She posted mainly for others in that part of the world to be on the lookout for this Chihuahua. Anyway I suggested that they place an article of worn clothing by the owner out near where the dog disappeared. This morning I woke up to a post that they put a jumper in a box and the little dog found its way there.

A story told in my husband's family at holiday gatherings about their Mom losing her little dog in a farm field during planting. They told her to leave her coat and come back after awhile. She did and the little dog was sitting right on the coat.. I never forgot that story and I was happy to make use of it for someone else even if they were all the way across the world :).

That's a cool trick! Well done.

Very cool - never heard that one before.

What's the worst thing that could happen if you did follow your dream?

what a great story and a great trick! I'm making a note.

ftr, I'm not a fan of tiny dogs, like chihuahui. But I can see how their very low perspective could make a field of grass seem like an impenetrable forest. poor little guy. Nice work Nirvana!

GOOD NEWS!!! I found my Corona bypass pruner. You may call off the dogs.

And I found the scrip order. Now where is the George Washington book?

Valley Forge? Across the Potomac? On the back of a dollar?

Dunno but it's going to cost us $6 I saw the damn thing sitting in Thor's cubby and i was sure it went back....ah well could be worse. I'll find the bugger as soon as the check clears....... when we lost some godawful library book, we found it as soon as the period within which they woudl refund the cost expired. i think library books must be related to household appliances.

I did a presentation on Tuesday morning at the humanities research institution, at Leeds uni. It went really well. Was too spaced out yesterday on antihistamines, antibiotics and antiinflammatories and any other antis you fancy adding to the list, to come posting about it.

Anyways, having arsed around for weeks making very little actual progress on the thing, I finally ended up pulling it out the bag in the final couple of days, and finished the powerpoint presentation to go with it at about 2am Tuesday morning :p

This time I got the PP right! There were no mysteriously missing or moved slides and it gelled pretty well with what I was saying.

20 minute talk and 10 minutes Q&A and only one question that properly floored me lol. But, given the empirical approach, it wasn't such a big deal that i didn't instantly recall the explanation for an unusual figure in an area I wasn't particularly focusing on for the talk. The answer did come to me, but I had a moment of real pause.

You know that feeling, when something you've been slightly dreading and which has basically dominated your thoughts either as something you're working on, or as something you really should be working on suddenly isn't anything you have to think about?

Ahhhhhhh.

$6? Lucky. SonofV's lost his history book--$76. He was forbidden from purchasing his yearbook because of this outstanding debt. Happily, I've just found the book. Too late for the yearbook though.

I know. It was a kiddie book, we got lucky, although if it had been bigger, it might have been harder to lose. I'm just annoyed because I'm sure it was returned, I don't think we're at fault on this one...

More happy news. When I returned the history book to the library *and got my receipt* his record was cleared and now he has a yearbook. Woot!

hurrah -is this his graduating year?

Nope. Finishing 11th now, Senior next year. Then college.

yearbooks are ridiculous $$. TF high school girl decided not to bother until snr year. And she made the right choice IMO. She made Varsity for Swim/Dive and Polo this year, but said the pages for those teams don't even mention her and the pictures are way out of date. And the descriptions are written by the glee club. She didn't actually say that last bit, but I think it's an accurate interpretation.

I'm getting excited for my vaca in july.

Makes me happy to think about it.


Also-life in general is good. Very content. Sometimes even very happy. The best is yet to come babeh.

What's making me happy today?

I've been told I'm getting laid tomorrow.

:cheerldr:

My rain charm worked!

Thanks!

I got asked for my address.
Obviously for my birthday.
Am really warm inside now.

It wasn't a kissy-kissy type ask, but it was from someone I really admire.

I've been gradually working on my Marlin 60, converting a sow's ear of a rifle (relatively speaking) into a silk purse. First, I did a trigger job to it, reducing the weight from ~8 pounds (not kidding, you could pick the gun up by the trigger) to a more reasonable 3 ½ pounds. Next, I lengthened the stock to increase the pull to about 14" and gave it a nice curved butt. (heh heh heh, I said butt)

Today, I glass-bedded the barrel and receiver, I'll know in a few hours if I fucked it all up. When the glass bedding job is done, then I'll add a cheek piece, sand, and refinish the stock. I may also re-paint the top of the receiver, it is a little chipped.

Pics later.

This is the style of rifle butt I put on my Marlin. NOT MY photo or rifle-- just for illustration

I don't know anything about gun specs but that is one beautiful stock! The metalwork is gorgeous too ...

sorry, not what enthusiasts would focus on, but I do like the aesthetics. :)

Oh cool foot. My dad has had, for as long as I can remember, a rifle hanging in their room. It was made by another fine woodworker, an old family friend who is a cousin also to my dad. Really neat man.

Sadly he passed this last week.

Illtry to get a pic sometime. (If I ever send your rocks.) :)

Missed a great, albeit obvious, "get your rocks off" pun...

She offered her honor,
he honored her offer,
and all night long
it was offer and honor

This past week has been fucking shitty as all hell...but Michelle made a ham and egg casserole tonight...and all is right with the world. :)

You want her to get your rocks off.

We know.

Tapatalk is making me very happy in this new Smartphone world I'm living in. Now I can browse the cellar while I'm sitting around waiting for all our various extracurriculars to end! (I did try putting this in a more relevant thread, but since dozens of Jim's posts have the word "tapatalk" in the automatic signature, it was too much work to find the right one.) Unfortunately, it also means I can just pick up my phone from the nightstand and browse a few more threads instead of sleeping, which is a dangerous thing indeed.

I just had a facial. My skin looks and feels great. Lucky me.

So, now that you speak your meassages instead of typing, is what you are saying any different from what you would type?

I've resisted the tapatalk invitation so far. But I will say typing on this phone is difficult. Partly because of my inexperience with this keyboard interface (software), partly because the hardware interface is cumbersome for my fat fingers. Actually, I just have normal hands, large hands. The space on the screen for each "character" is quite tiny and I am kind of surprised the phone gets it right as often as it does. But "typing" on this thing... there's a certain amount of suffering involved.

I expect my dictated posts would be different from my typed posts. But who knows what unexpected trouble I'd find with the tapatalk interface.