I was thinking of those caught up in the storms in the USA. It is a terrible time. But I was shaken very suddenly from the sombre thoughts by an advert on Classic FM, on in the background.
I know that Christmas is getting earlier every year. I know that no sooner are the Christmas decorations down than the Easter Bunnies are out - but really. Today, October 31st, Halloween, Classic FM ran an advert for a special occasion concert - on Valentine's Day. I shall be watching out for news of summer sales next!
(and still thinking of all those on the Eastern Seaboard)
Wednesday, 31 October 2012
I need a new strategy
I can tell that little bear is coming down with something gruesome. He will be green nosed and suffering probably just in time to get back to school. One of the key clues is when he starts acting up outside the house. He doesn't need an excuse with his nearest and dearest but (though I say so myself) his company manners are pretty good.
So we had battled through Asda at half term, and M&S at half term, and we were waiting for a bus and little bear was white faced, dark eyed and bouncing up and down yelling, 'Billy Bonkers! Billy Bonkers!' while I tried to hide behind a carrier bag.
Fortunately little bear was impeccable on the bus as the man sitting in front of me announced loudly how much he hated kids shouting and messing around and he blamed the parents. However he got off the bus before us, nearly incandescent that he had not been able to complain about anything. I was so relieved.
So I know little bear will come down with something soon, like a completely disgusting cold or cough, as is the nature of 5 year olds in October. It is like taxes - there is no escape! But I will be on pins, watching for it, only relaxing when it finally appears. But nothing is likely to happen as a result of all that fretting. I need to learn to chill until the green nose actually appears.
I was doing the same with evil cat. She is seriously scabby around the back of her neck. And I know that that could mean problems grooming - and that is not good for cats. On the other hand, I have been fretting about evil cat's health for years and she is doing very well, thank you. I think I will just 'enjoy' her and wait and see what happens. She doesn't seem too bothered, so I shall take a cue from her.
I cannot think of anything remotely useful about borrowing trouble. So I will practice just dealing with what I have in front of me.
So we had battled through Asda at half term, and M&S at half term, and we were waiting for a bus and little bear was white faced, dark eyed and bouncing up and down yelling, 'Billy Bonkers! Billy Bonkers!' while I tried to hide behind a carrier bag.
Fortunately little bear was impeccable on the bus as the man sitting in front of me announced loudly how much he hated kids shouting and messing around and he blamed the parents. However he got off the bus before us, nearly incandescent that he had not been able to complain about anything. I was so relieved.
So I know little bear will come down with something soon, like a completely disgusting cold or cough, as is the nature of 5 year olds in October. It is like taxes - there is no escape! But I will be on pins, watching for it, only relaxing when it finally appears. But nothing is likely to happen as a result of all that fretting. I need to learn to chill until the green nose actually appears.
I was doing the same with evil cat. She is seriously scabby around the back of her neck. And I know that that could mean problems grooming - and that is not good for cats. On the other hand, I have been fretting about evil cat's health for years and she is doing very well, thank you. I think I will just 'enjoy' her and wait and see what happens. She doesn't seem too bothered, so I shall take a cue from her.
I cannot think of anything remotely useful about borrowing trouble. So I will practice just dealing with what I have in front of me.
Tuesday, 30 October 2012
The only one in the house
I feel so special, because in this household I am the only person ever to be able to put a loo roll on the holder. Not only that, I am even more special because I am the only person who can open the curtains. We aren't overlooked but it is nice to close the curtains at night. However I am the only person in the household who can open the downstairs curtains, and while darling father does open his curtains, all bets are off for any other window above the ground floor.
I am also the only person in existence who can turn little bear's night light off, though plenty can turn it on, and if OH covers the night shift and I don't have a chance to check, it can stay lit until lunch time. Next to the closed curtains that apparently only I can open.
Some things only I can close as well. To my frustration, we do not have double glazing in the two small windows in the porch so the draught from there can be cruelly cold. Of course if you shut the door between the porch and the living room then it is a great deal warmer - but apparently only special people can manage that. Or in this case, me.
And as we have our meals in the living room which is a flight of stairs away from the kitchen, OH helps bring the food up, but taking it down, well, that is left to the same person who does all the special jobs, and that of course includes washing up - although OH is enjoying the dishwasher. Do not get me started about ironing. And don't even talk about pairing up socks.
On the other hand, I do get huge quantities of cuddles, and on the whole, I think I am the lucky one, I certainly wouldn't change it for the world, not if it meant losing the cuddles!
I am also the only person in existence who can turn little bear's night light off, though plenty can turn it on, and if OH covers the night shift and I don't have a chance to check, it can stay lit until lunch time. Next to the closed curtains that apparently only I can open.
Some things only I can close as well. To my frustration, we do not have double glazing in the two small windows in the porch so the draught from there can be cruelly cold. Of course if you shut the door between the porch and the living room then it is a great deal warmer - but apparently only special people can manage that. Or in this case, me.
And as we have our meals in the living room which is a flight of stairs away from the kitchen, OH helps bring the food up, but taking it down, well, that is left to the same person who does all the special jobs, and that of course includes washing up - although OH is enjoying the dishwasher. Do not get me started about ironing. And don't even talk about pairing up socks.
On the other hand, I do get huge quantities of cuddles, and on the whole, I think I am the lucky one, I certainly wouldn't change it for the world, not if it meant losing the cuddles!
Sunday, 28 October 2012
Little bear is a townie bear
Little bear was very cross yesterday. We took him to Temple Newsam to see the farm. Little bear was not impressed. First of all it was very cold, and he could be playing minecraft in a nice, warm study. Then it was extremely smelly (really, really smelly) and he could be playing minecraft in a nice warm, non-smelly study. He didn't want to look at the piglets, he didn't think the sheep looked cute, he didn't care about the hens or the cows with the curly coats and to be honest the whole thing was a trial for him. The only time he cheered up was on the adventure playground where, as usual, he terrified me by trying to climb things that he was really not big enough.
Evil cat has been considering sending a friendly tail wave of respect to the cat at Temple Newsam. It was a huge all-black tom, that scrounged shameless cuddles from OH and then got straight under the feet of a busy farm worker who was getting ready for a Halloween display later and yowled in outrage (probably due to lack of cuddles). Not only that, but it was obviously not focusing on the actual job of a farm cat as I noticed a mouse or young rat disappearing around one corner. Still, it is a huge cat that has to cope with free ranging geese, which is probably a bit of a challenge.
Little bear then proceeded to utterly lose the computer mouse while he was using the computer. It took nearly an hour to find it - he had knocked it into a drawer which he had then shut while looking for it before he called anyone else in.
I am a bit worried about how much time little bear is spending on minecraft. Normally the first thing he says to me in the morning is not, 'Good Morning' but, 'Can I watch minecraft videos?' The school half term is looming up ahead of me so I will be searching for all sorts of other things just to keep him off there. I am not sure it is helpful. On the other hand he is still looking a bit washed out and his throat has some seriously red patches that could turn to tonsillitis. He definitely is in need of some quiet time.
Like any mum, I will try and find some sort of balance. I'll try and involve plenty of cuddles.
Evil cat has been considering sending a friendly tail wave of respect to the cat at Temple Newsam. It was a huge all-black tom, that scrounged shameless cuddles from OH and then got straight under the feet of a busy farm worker who was getting ready for a Halloween display later and yowled in outrage (probably due to lack of cuddles). Not only that, but it was obviously not focusing on the actual job of a farm cat as I noticed a mouse or young rat disappearing around one corner. Still, it is a huge cat that has to cope with free ranging geese, which is probably a bit of a challenge.
Little bear then proceeded to utterly lose the computer mouse while he was using the computer. It took nearly an hour to find it - he had knocked it into a drawer which he had then shut while looking for it before he called anyone else in.
I am a bit worried about how much time little bear is spending on minecraft. Normally the first thing he says to me in the morning is not, 'Good Morning' but, 'Can I watch minecraft videos?' The school half term is looming up ahead of me so I will be searching for all sorts of other things just to keep him off there. I am not sure it is helpful. On the other hand he is still looking a bit washed out and his throat has some seriously red patches that could turn to tonsillitis. He definitely is in need of some quiet time.
Like any mum, I will try and find some sort of balance. I'll try and involve plenty of cuddles.
Saturday, 27 October 2012
Being brave
I have been trying to work on the sequel to Forgotten Village. Yesterday I fought it to a near standstill, I am at 20,000 words. However, knowing that the story was fighting back, I sat back and thought about the actual structure of what I had written.
So I am going to junk the 20,000 words and start again. It is really, really hard, but I would rather I wrote something good than something scratched together. And there is a silver lining. When I start again I can at least start with the formatting that Smashwords like which will save me a great deal of pain. It's not much of a silver lining, but it is all I have at the moment, so I will take it.
So I am going to junk the 20,000 words and start again. It is really, really hard, but I would rather I wrote something good than something scratched together. And there is a silver lining. When I start again I can at least start with the formatting that Smashwords like which will save me a great deal of pain. It's not much of a silver lining, but it is all I have at the moment, so I will take it.
Friday, 26 October 2012
Taking my medicine
The doctor doesn't think I have angina, but I have some angina tablets anyway. Just in case. While 'we' rule things out. The doctor is actually lovely, though, and she is a bit baffled as to why things aren't working. The wonderful thing is, there is a symptom. Something is wrong. All I need to do now is find out why.
I picked up the tablets yesterday, and I very foolishly read the insert. All health professionals will tell you to read the insert, just in case. I always try to avoid them, because the list of warnings terrifies me! I am sitting here in a state of advanced anxiety waiting for something to happen. Of course it won't, the chances of anything bad happening are actually really small. The chances of me getting into a right state over imagined symptoms are a lot higher. One possible symptom is that I will get numb hands and feet. Well I can't feel my feet properly at the best of times so at least that is one symptom I won't notice! As long as I can keep typing.
I read the insert because I wanted to see what it said about alcohol. I am not actually that fussed about having a drink, I have gone years between one alcoholic drink and another, so not having a drink is unimportant. Darling father, however, is pressing me hard about have a drink and keeps buying me tipple. As I need to lose weight urgently, I could do without the calories. This also applies to the sweets he keeps buying me and getting upset that I don't eat - between telling me how much I need to lose weight.
Fortunately I am let of the next round of drinks as I am currently on antibiotics for an infected cyst (it's all glamour with me), so at least I can stay sober for the next week. I just need to think of strategies afterwards...
I picked up the tablets yesterday, and I very foolishly read the insert. All health professionals will tell you to read the insert, just in case. I always try to avoid them, because the list of warnings terrifies me! I am sitting here in a state of advanced anxiety waiting for something to happen. Of course it won't, the chances of anything bad happening are actually really small. The chances of me getting into a right state over imagined symptoms are a lot higher. One possible symptom is that I will get numb hands and feet. Well I can't feel my feet properly at the best of times so at least that is one symptom I won't notice! As long as I can keep typing.
I read the insert because I wanted to see what it said about alcohol. I am not actually that fussed about having a drink, I have gone years between one alcoholic drink and another, so not having a drink is unimportant. Darling father, however, is pressing me hard about have a drink and keeps buying me tipple. As I need to lose weight urgently, I could do without the calories. This also applies to the sweets he keeps buying me and getting upset that I don't eat - between telling me how much I need to lose weight.
Fortunately I am let of the next round of drinks as I am currently on antibiotics for an infected cyst (it's all glamour with me), so at least I can stay sober for the next week. I just need to think of strategies afterwards...
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