She's got me all worked out already

September 27, 2006

Isabel: (pointing to bag of what looks like sweets on the table) What's that?
Me: Oh, er... nothing.
Isabel: Is it for me?
Me: Er... it might be...
Isabel: When you say 'it might be', it always means it is.

Puppy news

September 25, 2006

Yesterday we went to the Estrela Club annual dog show. It was in Reading - six hours driving there and back. We were looking forward to seeing our (potential) breeders and finding out when our puppies would be born.

Unfortunately, one of the breeders wasn't even there and the other has decided not to breed until later this year/early next. We spoke to the Puppy Coordinator and there haven't been any litters born in this country since June. There are no current pregnancies either.

It takes 17 weeks from the start of pregnancy to taking your puppy home. So basically, we aren't going to be getting a puppy for AT LEAST 4 months, possibly a lot longer. To be honest, it makes more sense to wait until the summer holidays (when we've got to have six weeks off anyway, it's easier to housetrain and hopefully we'll have moved to a bigger house) so it'll probably be next June/July. I'm so disappointed, but with rare breeds you just have to be patient. We saw a 12 week old fawn bitch puppy yesterday (the sister of the puppies we met before) and I could have taken her home in a heartbeat.

It was still worth going though, as we got to meet a breeder whom we hadn't spoken to before, saw A LOT of fabulous dogs and Isabel got plenty of hands-on time with the Estrelas. She is much more confident now, even helping out by holding the lead of one of the calmer males while his owner was showing.

I WANT OUR PUPPY NOW!! DAMMIT!!!

When spam gets personal

September 21, 2006

Recently I've lost quite a lot of weight. I've only got a few pounds more to lose before I'll be done and I've already got to the point where I'm comfortable with the way I look.

However, nobody has told the spam generators.

I've recently had to change email addresses because the old entomology-mansions one was getting literally hundreds of spam messages every week. A lot of them are for porn and Nigerians, as you'd expect, but a good percentage are weight-related. For example, here are some titles of messages I've received in the last few days:

Obesity is dangerous, stop it
Achieve picture perfect weight and enjoy life
A simple and safe way to weigh less
Say goodbye to extra pounds
Be leaner and slimmer by next week
Become fit and happy again

This really pisses me off! Now, I know there is not a lot of point getting in a rage with spam generators... it's rather like shouting at the cashpoint, or kicking your car. But I can't help but take it personally. It's bad for my self-confidence even reading the titles. At first I want to shout, "Fuck off and leave me alone!" and then a small voice in the back of my head says, "Are you sure you don't want picture perfect weight?!"

So. I'm not using that email account anymore. I'll keep checking it for a few more weeks and then I'm deleting it. I have got enough things to worry about without being insulted by my computer!

Mispronounciations

September 20, 2006

When Isabel was learning to talk she often used to mispronounce words. As she's got older, it happens less and less, but lately she's said a few things that have really made me laugh.

The classic one is spiashios instead of pistachios from last Christmas. She's learned it now, but I have video evidence!

Recent ones include:

Necessities: (singing, in the back of the car) "The simple bare ne-sesames of life".

Rugby: (watching the tv in the changing room at the gym) "They are playing rugberry, Mummy".

Assembly: "We had our first dissembly at school today".

Freedom

September 16, 2006

Mattgreen has taken Izzy to Grandad's house (100 miles away) and left me ALL ALONE for 24 hours today. I can't even remember the last time this happened.

So far today I have been to the gym, wandered round the farmer's market, had Pot Noodle for lunch (unheard of for me) and played on the internet. Later I listened to music loudly while rearranging my baking cupboard (OK, OK, I admit I might have a touch of OCD considering how much I enjoyed this). Then I curled up on the sofa to watch House, followed by eating dinner (Nigella's Recipe For The One You Love from Feast) in bed reading a book I've been meaning to read for ages. Later I'm having a long Lush bath with face mask and scrub I bought earlier, putting my PJ's on and settling down with wine and olives and chocolates and watching Thelma and Louise.

Then tomorrow I am having the MOTHER of all lie-ins.

Best day ever? It bloody feels like it.

Beep beep beep

September 15, 2006

GRRRRRR!!!

I've been on the phone all morning trying to get tickets for The Killers at Wolverhampton Civic Hall.

They went on sale at 9am this morning. I've been trying since 8.57am but all I got was the engaged tone. Must've tried 200 times...

They sold out in 30 minutes.

I blame bloody annoying people with 40 computers set up on automatic redial who are only going to put the tickets on Ebay.

Last day, first day

September 06, 2006

Tomorrow is Isabel's last day at nursery. On Monday she starts school.

I'm not your average soppy mother and I expected to be totally nonplussed about the situation. To my surprise, I am much more cut up about it than I was expecting.

Don't worry, I'm not about to burst into floods of tears at the school gates or anything. But it is a huge change. It will throw all our routines into disarray. Isabel will have to start all over again with a new teacher and new classmates. She might find it mentally exhausting. I'm worried she's going to miss the nursery staff and her friends there. What if the other children at school are nasty to her? My mother says, ominously, that she will change when she goes to school. I'll be making all her packed lunches and all her dinners, rather than just some of them. My working hours are changing too, which will have a huge impact on our everyday routine. I haven't given much thought to what we're going to do after school every day, and I daren't even contemplate how we are going to juggle our holidays to fit in with hers. We have 50 days between us, if we don't have a single day off together, and she has over 60 days off a year.

Mattgreen says that I fear change. I'm not sure if it's that, or if I'm sad that my baby is growing up, or if its something else entirely, but everything feels a bit scary and uncomfortable at the moment. As usual, I'm also outrageously busy, which really isn't helping.

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