E for exciting

I have exciting news!
Well . . . it's not 'news' at all really . . . but it IS exciting!
Frankie and Alex moved into their house last Friday
They are expecting their first baby (Pip) in March
They are getting married Christmas 2007
All this is 'old' news for family and friends - I just haven't written about it here yet - mainly because it was hard to set it down coherently!! and even now I don't really know where to start . . . so . . . instead here is:

OneWordMemeNoExceptionsandNoCheating
1. Yourself: Cross
2. Your boyfriend/girlfriend (spouse): Unique
3. Your hair: Short
4. Your mother: Demanding
5. Your Father: Patient
6. Your Favourite Item: Car
7. Your dream last night: Forgotten
8. Your Favourite drink: Coffee
9. Your Dream Car: Morgan
10. The room you are in: Library
11. Your Ex: Forgettable
12. Your fear: Rats
13. What you want to be in 10 years? Wiser
14. Who you hung out with last night? Self
15. What You're Not: Humble
16. Muffins: Blueberry
17. One of Your Wish List Items: Books
18. Time: Tide
19. The Last Thing You Did: Read
20. What You Are Wearing: Brown
21. Your Favourite Weather: Frosty
22. Your Favourite Book: Novel
23. The Last Thing You Ate: Sandwich
24. Your Life: OK
25. Your Mood: Anxious
26. Your best friend: Omnipresent
27. What are you thinking about right now? Studying
28. Your car: Blue
29. What are you doing at the moment? Thinking
30. Your summer: Stressful
31. Your relationship status: Solitary
32. What is on your TV? Nothing
33. What is the weather like? Rainy
34. When is the last time you laughed? Today
35. Who do you tag? Tag?

Back another time with updates!

silence reigned . . .

. . . and we all got wet

it has been a fairly quiet few days . . .

friday: fran and alex moved into their house

saturday: stella, rich and the pies were in watford so i went to see them at jackie's where they were staying.

kezia could hardly wait for me to get through the door before taking me off to see the wonderful shirt-folder she had made - she made it out of an old cardboard box and it will fold all shirts and t-shirts to EXACTLY the same size - brilliant!!! stella had cut her (kezia's) hair so it is just above shoulder length - looks very cute!!

jago is still intent on raising a laugh at every opportunity - if silence falls he just makes funny frog noises to make us chuckle

clara was having a quiet day

today:

morning: zipped to shopping centre as soon as open to get belt for the dyson - was only there about 20 mins and the place was heaving by the time i came out - but i had finished and could go home - phew!!

afternoon: stella phoned to say they were all home safely in sheffield - and again in the evening when we chatted for ages - for far longer than i actually saw her while they were down - she made me laugh so much my sides ache!!

brain in over-drive!!

it has been a challenging few days in the brain department!!

friday: admissions policy meeting in the evening - tortuous!!

saturday: my friend berny is going to peru for 3 months in the new year to teach special needs children. in order to raise money for the charity with which she is going she held a quiz night. I had organised a team (Team Freddie) - and it comprised:

Janey and Dave

Judy and John

Cat, David and Freddie (although Freddie was asleep all evening under the table!!)

Trisha

Moi

We had an entertaining and very funny evening

. . . and . . .

HOORAH!!

we won!!!

sunday - remembrance sunday: janey, eric and i visited with o and g and took them to mass -and then drove to nether heyford for sunday lunch at the old sun. we arrived at the village green just before the wreath laying so we heard the binyon poem and also the buglers playing the last post - which made g very happy - for the last 2 years i have marched in the procession with him but he is getting a little too frail for that now - so he was glad not to miss out altogether!

monday:

work: dire straits in the cash office due to staff absence so i was drafted in to help - some quick-thinking required!! very busy!!

evening: meeting at liz and david's where we looked at the second reading from sunday mass (which had been read at o and g's church in POLISH!!! - i haven't a clue why!! - maybe Daventry has a large Polish community now??). It was jolly hard going and my little grey cells were working over-time!! very pleasant group of people though and nice informal chat afterwards

today: philip called just as i arrived home so had a cup of tea with him and then frankie and i took some stuff to the house (i think she is actually moving in there tomorrow - yay!! - calm returns to the wassell house!!)

philosophy: and as if my brain hasn't been working hard enough . . . i have been wrestling with a philosphy essay to boot!!

pies and cakes

yesterday was the best day i have had in yonks:

collected stella and the pies and had quick coffee at jackie's

back here around 11 and made my christmas caakes - with stella's kezia's and jago's help (clara 'helped' by crawling around the kitchen floor investigating tully's dinner and pulling bottles out of the winerack!!). since kezia has a nut allergy i made the mixture without almonds, then piled it into 2 tins - one a little smaller than my usual one and the other a tiny loaf tin which is especially for k and j. i shall marzipan and ice the bigger one but only ice the little one. kezia was terribly excited to see her own special cake when it was baked. they both had a stir and made a wish

after lunch, k and j had a little nap while s and i had coffee and washed up and clara dozed a bit

we had a little time to play when the pies woke up and before i took them all over to cat and david's

had a coffee there and measured clara and freddie together - believe it or not they are EXACTLY the same length!! - clara is 8 months old today and freddie will be 4 months the week after next!

book group in the evening at jan's - 'lighthousekeeping' by jeanette winterson - excellent book which i can thoroughly recommend

quicksticks!!!

. . . because i really pushed for time tonight!!

. . . but soo much has been happening!!

thursday: frankie sent me text to say its ofsted for them on wednesday - just one day but enough to start a major panic by the sounds of it!!

friday: stella rich and the pies arrived in the evening - nipped round briefly - they are all well

saturday: frankie and alex got keys for their house so fran and i went round for start of cleaning process - stella and c visited - left around 3.30 for home as i had stuff to do here - fran went into school then - still hadn't come home by time i left for fireworks in the park. i always find the fireworks stressful - every year another reason!! - this year was no exception!! nice to see everyone though - and had nice chat in kitchen on our return which helped!! fran and alex home when i returned - tired!!

today: have been working almost all day on my music essay (sigh!!) - fran and alex went to the house and then on to school - it's just gone 8.00 now and they are only just leaving!! stella phoned not long ago re tomorrow (which i haven't written about so far but will update soon i hope)

barnaby bear (if you know what i mean)

the past few days have been busy . . .

monday ( flood in the office):

back to work after my hols. not an awful lot of work had been done while i was away due to the fact that the offices had been closed most of the week due to a mammoth flood which had occurred the week-end prior to my trip to cornwall. so it was all fairly hectic. much of the town hall decoration has been ruined, ceilings have come down, computer systems had been disabled - heaps of disruption in fact. it is all well under control now but there is still a lot of catching up to be done. VERY busy!!!

met pauline in the evening at the essex which was nice

tuesday (hallowe'en!!):

it's a sad fact but most people in england are very disapproving of trick-or-treating - and yes i know it is an idea imported by the colonials (lots of people say 'oh well it's an american thing' in a very dismisive way) and of course most of us still haven't forgiven them for the boston tea party (lol!!) but i think it is fun to dress up and call on the neighbours - when the girls were small we always made orange squash, mixed it with food colouring and served it to our visitors and called it stupid names like 'bat's blood' or 'spider juice' - it was just a bit of harmless fun. nowadays there seems to be far too much tsk-tsking going on!! kill joys!!!

wednesday (mass and grass):

all saints mass at school in morning - which was lovely although i found it more than a little emotional!! - cut the grass in the afternoon - i hope it will be the last time this year but as it is still quite mild and wet i suspect it will need at least one more - alex came home while i was mowing and not only finished it off but mended my lawn-mower as well - hoorah!!