The Wiccan Rede

An it harm none, do as you will.

Not a bad rule to live by, I try but don't always succeed.

The other Wiccan tenet is the law of threefold return, we believe that every ill a person does returns to them threefold.

I don't believe I am just randomly unkind or spiteful, I try to help people if help is needed.

Unfortunately if someone seriously pisses me off I find it really difficult not to retaliate.

I do find it difficult to understand some people who are unkind, often people who have had a difficult childhood find it hard to be a good parent. Some abusers have been abused and find it hard to break the cycle.

But it's the smaller, petty spite and nastiness that I find really difficult to understand.

My ex MIL loved to cause problems and not just with me, I was NOT the sort of person she wanted her son to marry so she endlessly tried to cause trouble. I could understand her reason for this, but she also tries to cause problems in her siblings marriages and this I can't understand as she loves her brothers and sister.

I am really struggling at the moment with my feelings about a friend of a friend, she is in her 30's has cancer, it is terminal and she will leave 3 little girls orphans when she dies.

What I'm struggling with is her behaviour, before she was diagnosed she was an out and out bitch and did some truly terrible things and caused some very serious problems for people. Including causing one person to lose their job by making false accusations.

I feel I should have sympathy for her suffering, but I'm finding it terribly hard, especially when I'm asked to help with something she needs.

Overboard

Have you seen the film Overboard, Goldie Hawn & Kurt Russell?
At one point in the film, after struggling to look after 3 rambunctious boys, she left looking dazed going 'Bu  bu bu bu'.
I know exactly how she felt!
I have received the first order I placed so that's all been sorted out and delivered.
I've managed to get 2 loads of washing dry on the line.
Collected conkers.
Visited DS's to feed & fuss his cats.
I have processed a bag containing about 20lbs of apples and pears for the freezer.
I needed to defrost the freezer to make room for all the fruit.
My L&M is feeling slightly less dizzy but is still extremely grumpy as he can't drink with the medication he is on. It's GP weekend and that usually means a beer and a burger during the race.
I've done all this and more, all the time whilst having conversations along the lines of.
'It was Suzy's birthday yesterday, not this yesterday, the one last week'.
And, 'I want to grow some of those blue things that you can eat the bottom of'
And the conversation about my long dead mother and her Marry Me ring.

DGD is so funny

Today was shaping up to be the day from hell.

I made cakes last night for the Macmillan sale so I was late to bed and tired this morning.

Mr Grumpy is feeling slightly better, but is grumpy because he's not well enough to go to work.

He is worried as one of his colleagues has given in his notice so that just leaves 2 people to do the work of 3.

I was given a large amount of work to do and asked to bill it against a different department to the one that should pay.

I don't have the authority to swap budgets, neither does the person who made the request. 

I queried the swap with the budget holder and my line manager.

At that point everything went to hell in a handbasket and I became Public Enemy No. 1. I was glad to get away!

I collected DGD from school, took her to dance class, brought her home, we made chocolate muffins & crispy cakes.

We also had a really funny conversation:-

DGD 'Nana, you know you old mummy'

Me 'Yes, I remember my mummy'

DGD 'She's dead'

Me 'Yes, she's been dead a long time' (20 years)

DGD 'She gave my mummy a Marry Me ring'

Translation, my mum left her jewellery to me and asked that some be passed on to my DD's, one of the items I gave to DD was her engagement ring. Hence 'Marry Me' ring. I just love the random assortment of items that come up for discussion with children.

There is nothing like a quiet night in!

And tonight has been nothing like quiet.
First my grandson arrived unexpectedly, he was supposed to be doing something after school that was cancelled, he knew there would be no-one at his house so he had the sense to walk to my house.
I cooked HM fish & chips for tea, I helped hubby downstairs to eat it and then helped him back to bed.
I took DGS to meet his mum at the barbers at 5.
I went shopping to buy some butter so I could make cakes for the Macmillan cake sale tomorrow.
I took hubby a cuppa upstairs and then a coke.
I then went to DS's house to feed his cats, for the first time, both cats came down for a cuddle, it's the first time I've seen the ginger tom, he is usually too nervous.
I came home and made hubby another cuppa, then I made 2 dozen choc chip cookies and 2 dozen cherry muffins, they are cooking as I type.
It's gone 9 o'clock, I still need to do my online banking and make another extra mortgage payment.

A Good Wife

My beloved is unwell, it is labyrinthitis, unfortunately he couldn't stop throwing up long enough to get to the Dr's until today.
We got as far as the front door to work on Tuesday when he started to be sick. I unlocked the main building, but then had to bring him home.
He is a hideous patient, needy and bad tempered, constantly wanting help, a drink, entertaining etc, but everything I do and say is wrong. I'm wearing a path in the carpet up and down stairs every time he calls, hey ho, hopefully he'll feel better soon. He has seasickness pills to take & has to return to the Dr's next week.

50 Shades of Stupid

It's been 'one of those days'.
Hubby's phone started ringing at 7 this morning. He wasn't meant to get to work until 1:30.
Two people phoned him to ask him to get to work immediately, there was water pouring through the ceiling.
He called downstairs 'Don't go without me, I need to get to work'.
'There is water pouring through the ceiling of the maths department, they think it's rain water' he laughed.
I turned to him, 'You are joking' I said, 'It's not raining and anyway there is another floor of class rooms above maths'.
He shrugged and we set off for work. Once there he quickly found the problem, a pipe with a hole in it and called the plumber out.

At lunchtime a colleague was asking me about my son's job as a firefighter. I explained that when DS is on call, he has to be able to get to work in 5 minutes.
'But if he's eating, it must take him 15 minutes to finish and get to work' she said.
I repeated that DS has to get to work in 5 minutes.
'But it must take him longer than that if he's asleep, and even if it takes him 10 minutes and there are 4 firefighters arriving then that would be 40 minutes before the fire engine could set off' she added 'Every second counts in a fire, 40 minutes is just not good enough'.
There are only so many times I can say 'DS has to get to work in 5 minutes when he is on call' before I'm suffering from the urge to scream, also all the firefighters get to work at the same time, not one after the other, so where she got the 40 minutes from, I still wondering.

Pics of twins and pet update

I'm sure Grandpa won't mind if I help him dig.

I think I best tidy up before Nana see's the mess we've made

This is what DS's cat looks like, this picture was borrowed from the Korat Cat website.

I sent DS & hid GF the following message on FB after I'd fed the cats, just to put their minds at rest.

Dear Mummy & Daddy thank you for sending the nice lady round to feed us, JC wouldn't come downstairs, but I did & got lots of cuddles. Next time you go away can you choose someone a bit more intelligent to take care of us, although she noticed I was beautiful & told me so, she didn't understand that I wanted to go in the garden no matter how many times I told her!, love KC

 

Twins & pets

Today we looked after the twins, they are great fun, both walking, she more steadily than he. She eats her food, he prefers to swim in his. They both love watching the fish, opening & shutting their mouths in time with the fish. They both make lots of animal noises when looking at their animal picture book. Neither of them made a fuss when Mum & Dad left, mind you, the toy box may have helped there.

After the twins left, I made hubby a fully loaded burger in a bun, we watched the Singapore GP Qually and then I went to DS's house to feed the cats.

One of them was peeping round the top of the stairs when I arrived, she came downstairs almost immediately. I sat on the sofa and she climbed on my knee & had lots of strokes and cuddle.
She is a Thai Blue Point, very beautiful and very affectionate.

Poverty is relative

One of hubby's colleague brings a packed lunch to work every day and every day his wife puts a cadbury's flake in his lunch box and every day he throws it in the bin, complaining that he doesn't like flakes.
I wonder how much it works out to over a year.

Feeling proud

DS came over this evening, he left his key with me so I can feed his GF's cats whilst they are on holiday.

DS is a firefighter, he has just applied to become a co-responder and will go on the course when he returns from his holiday.

The aim of a co-responder team is to preserve life

until the arrival of either a Rapid Response Vehicle

(RRV) or an ambulance. Co-responder vehicles are 

equipped with oxygen and automatic 

external defibrillation (AED) equipment.

Doing what we can

DGS is settling well at secondary school, I'm lending a hand where I can.

He wants to do a couple of after school activities, mainly rugby.

Unfortunately training finishes at 4:30, at 4:30 his mum & dad are mid car/kids swap 3 miles from home.

Dad works 7:30 until 4, mum works 5 until 10. Mum drives to dad's place of work at 4, dad takes the kids an walks them home, mum drives on to work.

This will continue until they can afford another car, I can't help as I can't get all of them in my car. 

So I help by doing the after school runs.

Bastard disease

I heard today that my great niece's leukemia has returned, she has only had a few months remission. 
She is little more than a baby, it's a bastard disease.

Difficult? Yes. Impossible? No!

I get fed up with reading  and being told that it is impossible for young people to get on the housing ladder these days and that they are still living with parents  when they are in their 30's.

What a lot of these young people mean is that they cannot have their existing social life, a nice flat with a magazine style interior, filled with all the latest gadgets, in a nice area, so they stay home.

Well all 4 of my kids bought their first property when they were in their 20's.

The properties were small, needed lots of work and were maybe not in the best part of town, but they were a start.

And yes, hubby (who is their stepdad) and I helped.
He helped by offering expert advice and occasionally wielding a paintbrush. 

I helped by offering the use of our bathroom when they had no hot water and a hot meal when they had no cooking facilities.

They had no financial help from us, we can't afford it and none from my ex, who is too tight.

I realise that if you live in an area of low employment then it will be harder. 

Here in the Thames Valley there are plenty of jobs, this also means house prices are high.

Also, when my kids bought their first property they didn't have particularly well paid jobs, between them they worked as a mechanic, nanny, in a call center, in catering, on a service desk etc.

I had an animated discussion with a colleague who's son, GF and toddler are in a small one bed rented property. 

The property is becoming too small as the child grows, they cannot find anyone who will rent them a larger property in a 'nice' area as they are DSS tenants.

She was bewailing how hard life was as they have no prospect of ever buying the sort of 3/4 bed property they really should be entitled too.

Her son works part time his GF not at all, the GF finds it tiring with the baby for a whole day on her own, hence part time for the son. 

They have a huge flat screen TV, all the latest gadgets and run a large and expensive car.

When my colleague said they didn't know where to turn to improve their lot, I made a few suggestions.

Such as, her son could get a full time job, the GF could get a job and apply for free child care, or they could do the same as my DD and her husband, work at different times and share the child care, or the GF could get a Saturday job.

Or they could do what hubby and I did when we first got together, take on any extra work/overtime/temp job available.

Of course none of my suggestions were considered viable as anything they do will affect their benefit claims.

I'm afraid I was quite brutal and told her that they would never be able to own the house of their dreams unless they got off their lazy arses and worked for it!

Neighbourhood Watch

Business must be brisk, the local dealer has upgraded from a flashy Mercedes to an even flashier Bentley!

Although I don't enjoy the colder weather, it does have some benefits. Our local jogger will stop jogging, I don't usually have a problem with joggers, apart from this one. He is somewhere between 65 and 75 and wears white lycra cycling shorts! As they are very tight they leave little to the imagination and he will stand on the corner of the road thrusting his groin towards any female passers by.

TFI Friday

Things are calming down at work, the first 2 weeks are always hell on wheels. There are always a few things not done correctly that have a massive knock on effect of everyone's working day.

I got up just after 5 this morning as it was forecast to be dry and sunny today, I set a load of washing going and hung it on the line before I left for work. When I got home the washing was dry, it is now folded and put away. The weather is meant to be wet and cold tomorrow.

I took DGD Eileen to her dance class this afternoon, took her home at 5 o'clock & collected DGD Norah, she came home with me, had dinner and now she's fast asleep in bed.

Tomorrow I will take my L&M to work, pick DD up from her house, drop her at work, then DGD & I will do some baking & sewing before taking her home in time for lunch.

I held my launch party earlier this week, I took orders of around £300 so I'm very pleased with that.

I have some more parties booked and a couple of events, I'm not looking to make a fortune but every little helps.

Oh my poor back

I'm not sure what I've done but I was walking along a corridor today when I was suddenly struck with a severe pain in my back. I managed to get to my office & take a couple of painkillers, after a while they took the edge off the pain, but I couldn't bend or twist for some time. It still hurts if I take a deep breath but most other movement is manageable now. I'm going to have an early night and hope it's better in the morning. 
Fortunately I had an easy meal planned for tonight.
I cooked some pasta, added some sliced green beans towards the end of the cooking time. Once it was cooked I added some cooked flaked salmon and stirred in a big dollop of quark. I made enough for lunch tomorrow as well.

Out of the mouths of babes

We took Eileen to her dance class yesterday.

This is what she said in the car.

'My best friend is called Gracie'

'Gracie & I are fart sisters, we both fart when we eat

apple peel'

'Everything in Nana's house makes her fart,

she farts all the time!'


I hadn't, honestly, but unfortunately the DGC all find

my tummy problems hysterically funny

One of my L&M's birthday presents.

A finger puppet made by one of the DGD's complete with home made wrapping paper.

TFI Friday

What  week:-

New staff, the usual mix of the weird and the wonderful.

New machines, these are really struggling and I've been advised to only do small runs as the machines can't cope.

New students, also a mix of the weird and the wonderful.

New timetables, total chaos.

New boss.

New caterers, the food is really good.

Everything is in turmoil, apart from the new boss who is doing a great job, thankfully!

On the home front, the booze is coming along nicely.

Vodka on the left, gin on the right.

My L&M is 60 tomorrow, I've only bought him a pair of slippers as his trip to Silverstone to watch the GP was his big present.

We did go to the carvery for a meal tonight, we got there in time for the early bird offer so it was only £15 for 2 courses & drinks for the 2 of us.

We took DGD to her dance class, but we don't have any DGC staying over night as we are visiting MIL tomorrow.

Also we are knackered as my L&M has done mixed shifts this week which meant him working until 9:45 one evening & then being back at work by 6 in the morning. I did manage to get a load of washing done before we went out this evening and it's now hanging on the line.

My Neal's Yard venture is going well, I have 3 parties booked and orders are trickling in via the website and catalogues.