Today is the day that no teddy bears are having a picnic - as it is too fucking grey outside* - but the day I am having my electrics done.
I have made a list to discuss with my wonderful Aussie electricans. Look away now if this is boring to you:
- Fit New consumer unit and certificate
- Check supply to kitchen and upgrade if necessary to cope with new appliances
- Fit new LED low energy downlighters in the hall and bathroom (x 12)
- Change out ancient dimmers for new (x 2)
- Replace bathroom fan to new ICON humidity activated fan and change fan isolator position
- Change position of bathroom light control to outside the room
- Hang three antique chandeliers
- New socket for dishwasher.
That'll do to be getting on with.
Tomorrow the sash man arrives.
* Walking past a pub in Kemp Town yesterday their blackboard said "It's still Summer! (But only in our hearts)"
As I got home from the cinema last night (Mamma Mia was a lot of fun, but I thought that the girls were brilliant, but the men more awkward. I thought Amanda Seyfried has an amazing voice and Julie Walters is looking good for her age), a few things were slightly off.
Agnes doesn't seem to be eating - she's a bit on the porky side anyway, but she's been off her food. She seems fine otherwise, being affectionate etc as normal, just doesn't seem to be eating. Mind you, neither of them ate their wet food last night, and I suspect they just don't like those pouches very much. Maud had poo on her tail which was delightful. She eventually washed it off after I'd tried wiping it. Nick noticed when he got home that she's lost her collar too.... so I'm not sure what's going on there, but we'll have to get her a new one. Luckily the cat flap is programmed to their microchips, not a tag on their collar (one of the main reasons we bought it!). They also seemed to be scratching a bit, so we dosed them up with Frontline.
I was tossing and turning for about an hour as I have Nick's parents, sister and her 2 kids coming for the weekend, and I don't feel prepared. One of the recipes I wanted to cook is, we think, in our itinerary, which we think Nick left behind at his parents! I went through recipes this morning, and have decided on menus. I'm going shopping tonight on the way back from my great-aunt's funeral, where I and my sister are representing my mum, who is on holiday. And I forgot the shopping bags, which means I'll need to try and find some boxes in the store.
My car is filthy and I wanted to get it valeted before the in-laws arrive, and I've only got enough fuel to get me to the funeral, possibly not back again.
I'm not happy with my outfit today - polo necks do not suit me, so I'm going to have to try and leave here a little bit earlier to go to H&M and get a top that I saw yesterday.
So, menus for the weekend:
Friday Supper: Tagliatelle with Lemon Pork Ragu, Salad, Chocolate and Beetroot loaf with ice-cream (just hoping the kids will eat it).
Saturday breakfast: Croissants, cereal, toast etc. Will have to leave Nick in charge while I head to the gym.
Saturday lunch - they're all going off to Legoland, so they can eat what they want there!
Saturday Supper: Corn Casserole, Squash rolls, green beans with griddled cherry tomatoes, and some sort of chicken dish, but I'm not sure what yet.
Sunday breakfast: Pancakes, bacon, maple syrup
Sunday lunch: no idea yet, and no idea what I'm going to do with them all during the day while Nick is out rehearsing!
Sunday Supper: no idea yet.
I'm thinking this was a bad idea.
Tonight I have beds to make, food to prepare, tidying to do... and that's all after I've gotten back from doing the shopping and have cooked us something for dinner.
What with the amount of work I have to do today and tomorrow, I'm starting to panic a little.
...but hopefully it's the last day tomorrow. I got time off for good behaviour over the weekend and was then back on site first thing Monday morning, continuing the take down of the 'V' festival. There's an awful lot of work so a few hundred thousand people can have four days of fun.
I hope they appreciated it.
What's the best pick up line you've ever heard?
I believe it was 'you can stay a bit longer if you like'. This was after all of our mutual friends had retired to bed...
So nearly there... Costs have been totalled, submitted and approved. (Continued profitability has been applauded.) Final extents have been submitted and production are happy. Just waiting on one last change from the typesetters to insert filler ads into the blanks, and then it can all go to the printers.
I wonder whether I can get away with buggering off early.
What's your definition of home?
Submitted by NayNay72
Home is anywhere where the hedges are a bit scruffy, where the pavements and things are aged rather than new, and where I can smell a bit of cow poo in the air. Home is the smell and look of proper countryside. Kent as opposed to (manufactured) Surrey. or Wenvoe (near Cardiff, where it's easy to say I'm from) in Wales. Home calms me down. It makes me relax. It's not the excitement of London (which I love and live in, but which isn't mine) but is about quiet country lanes, cattle, birds, dogs, cars, mud, and it is old and worn. But home is not where I go to when I visit my family. That's home plus something else - annoyance, tension, frustration. I'm waiting for the day when I can call London home. I've been waiting throughout my twenties and it doesn't seem to have come. But in a way I already can, because home is where my friends are, my life is, those darn cats are, and where I can buy a pint of milk at midnight without having to think about where I'll get it from. My current partial home is very urban, very immediate, very quick and easy, very ready for anything. I wonder if I could ever leave it behind - if the countryside could ever be big enough for me and my future life. It wasn't big enough in my past. I was desperate to leave my home with my parents at eighteen and I never looked back. For years I ran from it, emotionally distanced myself from them, went back as rarely as possible, both loved and hated going back. These days I love to be an aunt to my nieces, a sister to those two, a grandchild, but less a child. Home is no longer Wales because my parents drive me up the wall to think about, and I get frustrated and upset about so much that involves them - and I could never be so close, could never leave my turf for theirs again - but one day - if I can re-learn to be polite and walk slowly enough and limit my midnight milk requirements - maybe it will be somewhere in the countryside of England. And then I can look at the stars through the new telescope that I'll have and continue to be a melodramatic bugger into my thirties and more.
I've been asked to make a friend's wedding cup cakes. I've tried and tested the actual recipe, so I'm happy with that.
However, I'm stumped on how to make or source the flowers that she wants on top of each cake. (Also, I'm assuming that I can buy white butter to make sure that the frosting on top is white, not cream as you get with normal butter....)
I've emailed a few Cake decorating websites, and they've kind of described how I would make them, and so has my brother, but I'm a complete novice, and I'd much rather buy them if I can... I need about 70 in total.
This is what the end product will hopefully look like!
Any help would be appreciated! Ideally I'd like to find someone who could make them for me and ship them to me from the UK, but failing that, clear step by step instructions and a list of tools and materials would be welcomed!
Thanks!
Show us your favorite place to relax.
Rome in general, but especially by the Trevi Fountain at night time. I just love it there, despite the hordes of tourists.
I don't know whether it's because I messed up two of my pills last week, or more likely because my fellowship is starting next week and the stress is seeping into my dreams, or maybe because I'm broody, but I've dreamed about having a baby twice recently. The first time, the little newborn tyke spoke to me, I breast-fed it for a while, the milk squirted everywhere, and my sister took over as I was unable to cope. The next time was last night and I was trying to fit in with the other mothers in mother-and-baby social circles and failing miserably.
I can't even bring myself to open my book to this week's To Do List yet. I know I've got a stack of stuff to do this week, and most of it is boring and dull.
Tonight I'm going to see Mama Mia though.
Today I experimented with a 40g portion of porridge. And I have fruit for my lunch and snacks, because I seem to be putting on weight steadily at a rate of 0.5lb a day. This is because I've come off counting points, and I haven't been to the gym, and I've been over-eating.
Last night I had some gorgeous tiger bread, low fat butter and marmite. It was delicious, but I didn't really need it, I wasn't hungry, just peckish.
I have the in-laws over for the weekend, and have a few recipes I want to try out. So I shall start my PMK in earnest on Monday morning, with the journal and everything.
I also have an exercise session with PTD on Saturday, so that should get me in the right frame of mind. I've hardly been to the gym in the past couple of weeks. Life has just got in the way.
I am also going to try and paint our porch this weekend, while Nick takes the in-laws and the niece and nephew to Legoland.
