1st April 2007
It's been a hideous weekend and I shall be glad to get back to accounting tomorrow. Had visitors and Hanna put a sandwich in the DVD and ruined it. She is only 3 so I was not mad with her but with her useless Mother who just sits there like a lump of clay and lets Hanna run wild.
Dan got a job renovating a house in someplace called Den-Ham. He leaves every morning at 6am and I don't see him again until 8pm and then he's exhausted. Great. Had a phone call from his Mother in New York and she was off again on her usual rant. Spending a week with her was like visiting hell. She has got a new hairstyle which makes her look weird.
My sister is off to Majorca again. We are going home in August. It seems like centuries since I've seen everyone but it's only three months. Must get the Web Cam working again. It's never worked since the crash and it took ages to sort that out. Dan's new PC is great, though we haven't gotten the web cam working on that either. The instructions are all in English and the translation is not correct. It's rubbish, in fact.
We are being buried with junk mail. The mailman delivers some everyday along with demands for money. Last week we had six bags of just junk. Soon we will just disappear slowly underneath all the trash, never to be seen again.
Gisela came around and brought a heap of old photos. Some of them are really funny. There is one of me wearing nothing but a sunhat and lots of us by the sea. We look terrible and our hair is one mass of fuzzy curls sticking out in all directions. At least mine was short. Gisela had to deal with long hair, poor thing. I always got burnt because of being so fair. So in some photos I am naked, wearing a sunhat and lots of cream. I can never find old photos because Dan and I are both very disorganized at home.
I can never find what I want to wear in the morning and Friday I spent ages searching for a white shirt which I found this morning at last. It was under one of the cats. Realized this afternoon that I spent the whole morning with my zip undone. Luckily I was wearing a jacket so it probably didn't show. I met the local MP once and he sat down and his zip was undone. He is not the sort of man that you want to see even partly unclothed.
Watched a recording of the Joseph search program. Very angry with the woman called Zoe. She actually told JB to shut up! He didn't even reply. He was polite and she was just a pig. Some of the applicants looked very strange. Dan enjoyed it so much he fell asleep half way through so we didn't watch the end. Will watch it later. We both snore. Once we shared a room with two friends. It was somewhere in New England. Evidently we kept them awake.
Everyone we know thinks we're tidy because we put things away. What they don't realize is we put things anywhere so we can never find anything again without a search, and the kids are untidy too. We often spend happy hours together searching for something or other. Some things just never reappear. I lost the data cable of my IPod last week. I've had to buy a new one. Dan has lost his Bart Simpson underpants. I'm glad as I hated them. I think the cleaner stole them or maybe the washer ate them. I know it eats socks. You put ten in and only nine come out and they don't match.
The door fell off the Garden shed so Dan had to move everything into the garage. Now you can't get in the garage. Dan says he'll mend the door when he has time. Hmm. Haven't had sex for over two weeks. Last time I suggested it Dan had a headache! It's very lucky humans have hands. He's out mowing the lawns at the moment as our Gardener has the flue, or so his wife says. I can't do it because of my eyes. That's my excuse anyhow.
Going to get a meal now as I can see out of the window that the lawns are almost done. No sex again tonight I think!!
3rd April 2007
Dan actually got excited in bed last night. Woo-hoo as the Sims say! Horrible day with rain and I got soaked twice!! I was just leaving home this morning when who should call in but Henry. The one person you never want to see before midnight. He had more tales of his nite time exploits, most of which are unbelievable. He knows Dan and I are both big fans of JB so he had more stories about JB's so called promiscuity. I had to make him leave in the end because I had an appointment. He only started all this rubbish when he heard Dan had met JB. He used to have a photo to prove this but it was lost. Dan and I are great at loosing things. The family that looses things together stays together or some such other rot.
Got the new account and the mess it is in has to be seen to be believed. This is a guy who can't tell the difference between credits and debits. It will take a lot of work to sort it out. He is paying real well though and he needs to too.
Great excitement!! I found Dan's Bart Simpson underpants. They were in a closet in the entry being used as a cleaning cloth.
I have started to type out the Family tree. It is a mess. I did it ages ago and then added more people and never seemed to get it in order. I remember talking to an old relative about the Family some years ago. She's dead now. She told me how we got the Russian carpets which are now, I'm afraid, rolled up in the attic.
Saw Anna in town and she looked awful. She was with Will and he looked great but then, he always has. Anna has done something weird to her hair. I just have mine cut and sometimes they try to thin it out. It is so curly there is nothing much anyone can do with it. Everyone in my Family has a lot of hair.
Going to make coffee now, since Dan has finished his Dinner and has fallen asleep.
7th April 2007
Gisela has gone on her Easter Vacation. We are staying at home. Dan is actually at home as he has finished the latest job. Next week he starts something else. We sat and watched ADWD because it's great watching loads of males for a change. There are hardly any women in this thing. Denise is nice but I hate that Zoe. Last week she told JB to shut up. She should be grateful to be near him.
Dan had ideas of grandeur when he was young and thought he might get into the business because of his Mother being in it. She never amounted to much and Dan can't sing and has two left feet. I sing in an amateur way. I have trouble in choirs though because I keep finding things funny. Sometimes I'm laughing so much I can't sing! During one rehearsal last year for a concert I held up the entire choir by laughing uncontrollably. You'd think people would be pleased I'm cheerful. My habit of removing my shoes also seems to bother them although they have admitted my feet don't smell. I have never had sweating feet.
Must close now as going to early communion tomorrow. Can't decide what to wear but I have found a cream shirt. Perhaps I should just wear that and nothing else! I already don't wear underwear.
13th April 2007
I have lost my Tripod. I have no idea where it is. My Mother is visiting and she can't understand how someone could loose something as big as a tripod. She went to the hairdressers today and had a hair cut. I'm not saying any more about that!
I have a commission to take some photos and I have no tripod. I can't take a decent portrait without it so I am trying to borrow one. Have been making Torchwood Wallpapers. I like making them but I am reluctant to have anyone but Jack and Ianto in them. A friend of mine has a gay son. His parents don't know. I knew he was gay the moment I met him. He practically has it tattooed on his forehead it's so obvious. He is cute too.
It was B's birthday so we went over. Lots of drink and tons of chocolate, for some reason. Naturally I couldn't eat most of the food available. Dan made up for this though.
Our eldest has suddenly gone mad over girls. Not one girl. Anything female. He is 12 and he is growing his hair. We don't mind as long as it's clean. There is no problem there though as he spends increasing amounts of time in the bathroom. I can guess what he's doing in there! He probably thinks we are celibate. I remember being disgusted about the idea of my parents actually having sex. The fact that there were four of us kids suggested that they'd done it four times at least but the idea of them doing it regularly horrified me.
Rhys is crawling. He is very fast too and he grabs everything. He likes my Mother's glasses and he also likes earings. Dan wears one earing. He's had one ear pierced for years. His Mother objected so he went out and had it done right away. "People will think you're one of them" she evidently said to him. Hmm.
My Mother knows more proverbs and sayings than anyone else in the entire Universe. What's more she knows German and Scottish ones, as she is half Scots. I remember my Grandfather as he used to sing to us. I couldn't understand what he was singing about but I liked it anyhow. He taught me to sing "My bonnie lies over the ocean" and "By yon bonnie banks". I had no idea for years really what I was singing about. He was lovely and it still gives me tingles up my spine when I hear either of those songs. My Grandmother had only one tooth of her own and refused to have it out. She was weird.
16th April 2007
The kids went back to school today. Harry was so eager to go he was up early! I was never like that at his age!! Anna-Louise was not quite so enthusiastic but went anyhow with a resigned expression. When I picked her up later, however, she was beaming and happy and so I ended up providing dinner to FIVE more kids!!
The house looks as if a herd of wild beasts has rampaged through it and Dan can't find his favorite blue striped shirt. If he finds it in the muddle we're in it will be a miracle.
People never cease to amaze me. We all watched ADWD last Saturday together. Even my Mother, although she was due to leave the next day at 5am. Then I read afterward that some females think that Johndeep is gorgeous. I think he is very plain to look at and has some sort of very noticeable blemish on his upper lip. I think he sings in a very boring way most of the time without any expression. He looks at times as if he has indigestion. The other favorite is that big head Lee. UGH! He sang Mack the Knife. Mama was horrified, but it was so messed up it was nearly over before I even recognized it. I couldn't understand a word he said either, but I often don't understand what people sing on TV. I always understand John.
Because JB didn't care for Johndeep a whole mess of folk commented. The general impression being that JB doesn't know as much about a business he's been a leading man in for 18 years as they do. It's like - I like Gwen so she must be great- I like Johndeep so if anyone says he's not fantastic they must be wrong. I mean, maybe Gwen is fantastic and Johndeep great. I never said they weren't. I just said I thought they weren't and people I know agree. I was under the impression that this doesn't mean I think I know everybody. But some folk seem to think it does mean that.
I'm actually sick of being moaned at because I said no-one I know likes Gwen. Well they don't! So far I've been accused of saying I know everyone who watches Torchwood twice, when I've never said it even once. Some of the English I find, don't understand their own language. I wish I'd never studied English at all. I should have learned it from some of the idiots around me who can't string a coherent sentence together in their own language.
Rhys stood up today. On his own. Then he fell down and screamed loudly. Harry picked him up and he stopped right away. Oh well.
18th April 2007
I wish someone would tell me how to keep a house in order. My accounts are a wonder and beautifully done, even if I do say so, but everything else is----chaos. Dan still can't find his missing shirt and I still can't find my Tripod. I had to borrow one.
Anna-Louise has been invited to yet another party. This one is an Archery Party. When I was a kid we had party parties. We ate, played games, and when we were older we had a disco. It's not as if this was a century ago. I wasn't even born until the late 60's and Dan is younger than I am.
When I took the washing out of the dryer I found I had 35 socks and only 14 pairs. The others were all odd. I looked at what Harry had on his feet when he came home and found he was wearing odd socks. He didn't seem to be bothered and told me cheerfully that his socks are all odd. When Dan came home I discovered he was also wearing odd socks. I looked at Rhys and saw to my dismay his socks were odd too. They were almost the same but not quite. I am hopeless. I need to go to household management classes. Despite this though we were all very happy during dinner and had a good laugh at some stories Dan told us.
Harry and Anna-Louise have made a movie. We had to sit and watch it. Luckily it wasn't very long. Anna-Louise plays her violin in it help and the cats are shown running away in terror with their ears flat. At one point Rhys is in it-- eating the cats food. He likes cat food. Dan says it's because it's on the floor, where he is. Which is logical but alarming. I had a sudden vision of myself on a TV chat show saying "yes, I do feed my baby cat food. He likes Whiskus organic best."
I found my German- English dictionary has some pages missing. They were there yesterday. I supposed they'd gone wherever my Tripod went and then after the kids had gone to bed I found them. They were in the garden. With Bobby and Jimmy. There were still a few recognizable bits left. I had no idea rabbits liked paper. I found my missing IPod data cable anyhow. It was in with the vegetables. For some weird reason when I was hunting for it I never once thought to look there!
Harry has a new girl friend. I can't keep track of them. He wont even be 13 until June. What will it be like when he's older? Dan had a talk with him. I didn't listen but it must have gone well because I could hear them laughing more than once. Dan told me once his older brother gave him a condom when he was 12 and he carried it about with him everywhere for ages. Then when he wanted to finally use it it had perished. I didn't know condoms perished.
I must have been very lucky. The first time I did it I wasn't much older than Harry and we didn't use anything. We did it in a wood and I had dry leaves stuck on me when I got up. We were still lying there afterward when a whole troupe of girl scouts came by. As they went past us I cried out loudly some rubbish about bird watching. Of course kids always bird watch half naked. No-one said anything to us however.
I could tell the kids some tales. When I was young I went all over Europe staying in youth hostels. I met some very nice people and some weirdos too. I remember In Zürich I met two boys and later I lost my favorite jacket somewhere. At one point I didn't phone home for a while and found the Police were looking for me. Later I went to the US and met Dan. I sat on his knee by mistake in a bus. I was very small and skinny then and he seemed to like me being there so I didn't get up. At least not for a while!!
20th April 2007
Thought I would just post that Rhys took a step today. Great excitement all round. You'd think we'd won the lottery or something. Dan actually had a camera in his hand at the time so it is immortalized for all time!
Harry came home from school with his jacket torn. I don't know how it happened and when I asked him he said he didn't know, which I don't believe for a moment. However, when I was a kid I got up to all sorts of things so I just took it next door to Molly. She's going to mend it. She does invisible mending!
I once threw a brick through one of our front windows and another time I broke a glass cabinet full of dishes. I was an awful child, although I didn't realize it at the time. My favorite game was hanging upside down in a tree by one leg. I was much more lively than Erik and Gisela. My poor parents. What a shock I must have been to them after two angels. I thought my older brother and sister were boring and I was happy when Georg came along. He was even wilder than I was. I remember one memorable time when we decided to be Gypsies. We were discovered by Mama sitting on the sidewalk outside the house begging and dressed in the remains of some curtains we had found in the attic. We had covered ourselves in mud too. Our allowance was stopped for a month and we didn't get to go anywhere for ages. We also had to endure one of our Father's talks. After one of them you usually wished you were dead. I remember wishing he would hit me. Then it would have been all over with in a moment.
The result of all this is that I'm not very strict. My feeling being that hardly anyone could possibly be as bad as I was! I used to say whatever came into my head to anyone. I didn't realize for ages how rude that often was. Erik is still a bit serious and boring. He's a Priest! Gisela improved a lot though.
Off now to supervise Anna-Louise in the bath. If I don't keep an eye on her she'll just mess around and not wash so I put my head around the door now and again and offer words of encouragement, like "don't forget your ears". Harry never stops washing and he has recently taken to worrying about his breath. He cups his hand around his mouth and sniffs into it! Hmm.
22nd April 2007
We sat and watched ADWD yesterday. Anna-Louise loves it and sings along with the songs luckily she sings in key. I was busy some of the time with Rhys so I missed bits of it. I saw enough to notice that Johndeep was terrible however. I read this am some excuses for him, saying it was the wrong song. I can't help feeling that wouldn't be a very good reason to mess up a West End performance. "Sorry I'm lousy folks but this is the wrong song for my voice so please forgive me for being off key etc." I don't like Lee either. He sings in tune and looks alright but I just don't like him. I think he's---oh hell--what is the word in English---egozentrisch---self-centred. As for Seamus-well-I love me-I'm great--.
Had an exciting time after lunch when one of the cats brought in a mouse. He dropped it at Dan's feet, but before Dan could save it the cat grabbed it again and ran off with it in his mouth. We all chased the cat, Anna-Louise crying all the time because she was afraid the mouse would be dead, and worse still, there would be BLOOD. The cat dropped the mouse in the Utility room and it ran behind the Dryer. Dan moved the Dryer but the mouse had moved and Harry said he'd seen it run behind the Refrigerator. Dan couldn't move the refrigerator, which is very large, so we had to abandon the mouse hunt. Then just a few moments before I started to type this Harry came into the Lounge carrying the mouse. Dan looked it over and it is almost unharmed, just terrified. I can now hear Anna-Louise trying to persuade Daddy to let her keep it as a pet. I feel this is heading for failure. We have enough wild life already.
We had a frog in here one day and I didn't realize frogs could jump up curtains. I knew that cats could however and having two large cats running up your curtains is not exactly my idea of fun. One day we had visitors and were all on our best behavior. The kids were eating nicely and not using their fingers, Dan wasn't belching and I was trying not to laugh at everything, even things that are not supposed to be funny. Then Herman yes, we do have a cat called Herman and spelled like that too came in with something in his mouth. He went straight to one of our visitors and dropped the something in her lap. It was a black bird. It was also not dead. The pandemonium that ensued was amazing. The visitor screamed and dropped coffee and cake all over herself and onto the floor. The kids, Dan and one of the visitors tried to catch the black bird, which flew all over the room going crazy. I tried to restrain Herman who wanted to join in the fun and was very cross that I wouldn't let him. Eventually Dan opened a window really wide and the bird flew out. We all looked at each other and both us and the room looked as if we had been in a hurricane. Naturally I started to laugh and for once everyone else laughed too. Rhys was just sitting up then and when I looked at him, sitting on the floor on his mat, he looked really surprised. I could tell he was thinking "my whole family are mad". Luckily the bird didn't go near him.
Dan is starting a new job tomorrow and I am taking Rhys to what is called "an activity nursery." Perhaps they'll teach him to tidy up joke] we need someone tidy in our family. The latest thing to go missing is one of Harry's football boots and I've never yet found my Tripod! That's it for now as we're all going out.
27th April 2007
Very busy at the moment. Dan has a new job building an extension. Harry is rehearsing for his drama groups latest production. Anna-Louise is actually taking a violin exam and is practising madly for it. The house is full of the sound of Greensleeves and Rhys screaming. I think he's going to be musical. I only hope he doesn't have perfect pitch because it makes life quite painful at times. I'm sure I am the only person I know who has it and as a result I noticed exactly how many of the guys in ADWD were off key and by how much in each case.
What with all this, the house and accounts, I am so busy I can't watch TV anyhow. I am writing this while Rhys has a nap. Luckily I have never needed much sleep and do most of my work at around 2am when everyone else is fast asleep. I must have been hyperactive because I don't think I sat still until I was about 10 years old. I managed to learn the piano, the flute and singing while constantly wriggling and jumping about. My teachers were always threatening to do something dire to me if I didn't sit still. Then they found out that I could sit comparatively still if they gave me math to do. Hmm. I didn't like reading and I can remember counting how many words there were on ten consecutive pages of text and then working out the mean number of words on each page! I was about 11 then. In church, which we went to regularly, I used to add up the hymn numbers and then square them. In my head. During the service!
Have to leave now and fetch Anna-Louise. I'm going to be late again but their not allowed out unless a previously ordained person comes for them. I think that means what I think it does but I haven't time to check.
29th April 2007
Why is everything in the English language so difficult? I have a friend who went to live in Slough, for example, and you have to pronounce it to sound like cow, only starting with sl. What's the u in it for? Why isn't it spelled Slow? Because that's pronounced like blow. But if you change the bl to p it ought to be plough but it isn't. Then there's all those words that sound the same but are spelled differently. I can never remember which is witch and sometimes my spellchecker doesn't know what I mean either.
Watched ADWD, or at least most of it. Harry was only watching to see if he could see up Denise's skirt, I'm sure. Anna-Louise insisted on singing along with everything and Rhys---well- babies can make an awful stink sometimes. Dan actually sang a bit too, and he can't sing at all. Harry jumped on him and they wrestled, while I was sorting out Rhys, so I missed Lee. I don't like Lee. I admit, I have this thing. If everyone keeps raving about someone I gradually dislike them more and more. JB is the only person I've ever continued to like and admire along with other people. This doesn't happen with people I actually know, only with people like singers, actors etc.
Posted to Barrowman on line because I couldn't see why Eve Myles got an award plus DT, and JB didn't. Rewarded by various people telling me how great Eve is and how great DT is. I am definitely in a minority where DT is concerned. Thanks to the kids I have seen him in Dr Who and I don't think much of him as an actor. I've never seen him in anything else though. In the bits I've seen he seems to shout a lot and pull odd faces. But I think he's very odd looking anyhow. I can't separate his plain looks from his acting. To me he's very unattractive and this plus all that running around and odd faces---well.
I don't know if Dr Who was around when I was a kid at home but I hardly ever watched TV anyhow. I preferred climbing trees and playing football. I was constantly muddy and scraped. I was surprized that Seamus got knocked out of ADWD even though I don't like him. I thought it ought to have been Chris or the builder, who is, in my opinion, totally unsuitable for Joseph. He's talented but he isn't Joseph. Dan said if he went to see Joseph and Rob came on he'd wait for him to bring on the bricks and mortar! Anna-Louise likes Keith but she LOVES JB because she likes his stripes. Dan also likes stripes, checks and hideous color combinations. It must be a family thing.
When my Mother was over here she liked Lee too, and she couldn't understand most of the program. I like people but I have to know them. I like almost everyone I know but I don't feel I can say I like many people on TV. Luckily I don't watch it much. Someone posted Loose women so I watched it. JB looked cute and the cake looked wonderful. I never eat cake as I'm a vegan. Vegan cake is weird. Harry, Dan and the baby are not vegan or even vegetarian. Anna-Louise will eat dairy but no fish or meat. It's fun cooking for us. I find cooking meat and fish very stressful. It's not too bad once it's cooked but RAW----Yuck!
School again tomorrow and I have my singing in the evening and Anna-Louise has a violin lesson and Harry has his Karate. How some people can say they're bored is a mystery to me!!
10th May 2007.
Anna-Louise passed her violin exam. We were all very excited and so we promptly went out to celebrate. We went to a local place that accepts kids and Rhys was very good and sat in his high chair looking cute and intelligent. Everyone admired him and he sat there like a little King, smiling sweetly at everybody. We were all on our best behavior and ate neatly and said things like -please pass me the salt and pardon me. It was weird. I have not lost anything for a week which is also strange.
Harry is still rehearsing with his drama group. His voice is now lower than Dan's, except every now and then it goes altogether and then returns all squeaky before it sinks downwards again. It makes conversation with him an interesting experience. Rhys is walking more now although he looks like a penguin. He keeps sitting down and then getting up again. He is very determined. I hope this doesn't mean he's going to be terribly stubborn. His eyes are still blue. For a while we thought they might turn green like Dan's but they're still blue at the moment. They still might turn though.
I had a letter from Erik. Erik thinks the year is 1950. I love him because he's my big brother but he really is out of touch with modern life. I remember when we were all kids thinking he was the most boring big brother in the entire world. He was always hovering about and spoiling my fun by telling me and Georg to come down off a tree or a wall or something. Then he would tell our parents. Then we'd be punished. I went through a period when I actually hated him. I only got to care for him when we were all grown up. We had a long talk one day and he said he was always terribly worried that Georg and I would get hurt because we were so daring. He thought that if we were told off we would be more careful. It was ages before he realized it didn't work.
Harry confessed to Dan that he had four girlfriends and he was fed up with them all. Evidently they are expensive! Anna-Louise said she's never having a boyfriend because boys are stupid. Harry objected to this generalization. Anna-Louise insisted however. They started to argue and push each other which is not good because Harry is much bigger than Anna-Louise and has been told never to fight with her, even if she is irritating. I intervened and in the end I managed to get Anna-Louise to say that not all boys are stupid, just the one's in her class at school. This didn't seem to bother Harry, luckily.
Personally I always thought boys were exciting and they could pee standing up without wetting their feet, at least once they were past early childhood anyhow. I thought this was great and so useful too. Georg and I used to bath together until Mama left us for a moment and when she came back she found me holding a certain part of Georg's anatomy! She was very cross and it didn't help when Georg explained that it was because I didn't have my own that he was letting me hold his for a bit. Georg and I were very close as kids and we're still great friends. He has the same hair as I have and as kids we looked alike too.
On May day we went to some friends for the day. They have four kids aged from one to eleven years of age so we had a very noisy and boisterous time. At some time during the afternoon an idiot, who shall for ever remain nameless, suggested doing some craft activities. This involved glue of course and a lot of cutting of paper. I am no good at anything like that and anyhow they didn't have any left handed scissors, so I just watched. These friends have a dog. It is a huge St Bernard called Boris. Anyway, Boris ran off with a tube of UHU which Harry and John, the eleven year old, were using. Boris bit through the tube and when the boys tried to get the glue back he ran off with it. It is amazing how much glue there is in one tube of UHU and how much mess it can make. Boris thoroughly enjoyed being chased. Having a St Bernard running amok in your house carrying a tube of UHU is quite frightening. The chaos was spectacular. I wish someone had filmed it.
When we got home later, after helping clean up the UHU and general mess, Anna-Louise told me she'd had a lovely time. When I asked her what part of the day she'd enjoyed most she said "Chasing Boris. I loved chasing Boris and can't he run fast?" I agreed with her there. For a big dog Boris can run really fast. Especially when he's carrying glue.
24th May 2007.
I have been so busy lately I don't know if I'm going or coming. Harry's group put on their drama, and we all went to see it {except Rhys who stayed at home with the babysitter}. Harry was really really good. He was the best of the group and that's not just me being prejudiced, because I overheard several people afterward saying how good he was.
A boat called the Cutty Sark in Greenwich was burnt. I had never heard of it until it was burnt, I have to admit. Harry informed me quite seriously that it was A Tea Clipper. I had to admit to Dan later that I didn't know what that was. Oh, dear! For some reason none of my visiting friends and relations from various places in Europe have ever wanted to go to Greenwich. They always want to go shopping and then look at Buckingham Palace. I am not interested in boats at all, I'm afraid. Harry told me it was the fastest of its kind when it was made. Great. Evidently this was in 1869!!! Some people are very upset by it being destroyed evidently. I feel slightly guilty that I don't care a bit about it. Harry went to see it on a school outing and is quite upset which strikes me as being a bit strange. However, he is a Londoner through and through having been brought up here, unlike his parents.
ADWD is down to the last five and Daniel got removed last week. This seems to have caused a bit of an upset, but I found Daniel a bore. Of course, Lewis should go next as he is totally unsuitable for the part except in appearance, which will not be any use at all when he's on stage in the role. Lee seems to be favorite to win but I don't like him at all. I don't really know why but I can't stand the sight of him. Two weeks ago he sang flat and this didn't help me to appreciate him any more. Also sites which should be all about JB are now being infiltrated by Lee fans, which is infuriating! The fact that he was still an understudy at an age when JB had already done two or three leading roles doesn't help either. Also I can't stand his permed hair. I think it must be permed because one week they showed him as a kid and it was nearly straight then. I have struggled all my life with this mass of curls and here is some lucky person with straight hair curling it!! Of course this is just me. We are cursed with our hair in my family. Georg, my younger brother, used to shave his completely off at one time and now he has it very very short indeed.
Herman and Ringo, our cats, had to have their annual check up at the veterinary place. This costs a small fortune. For a start, they had to be caught and put in their cat carriers. Harry caught Ringo and he went in with no bother. Then we turned our united attention onto Herman. Herman was nowhere to be found. This was Saturday morning. We all hunted for Herman. The kids were in the back yard yelling--HERMAN, HERMAN--over and over again. The neighbors must love us. Finally I spotted him. He was at the top of a very large Pear tree. We all stood at the bottom and called. He didn't move so Dan brought out his food and waved it about under the tree. He didn't move. Dan climbed up the tree. Herman watched him from above. Dan got near and nearer. Herman was almost within reach. Then Dan made a grab for him and he came down the tree rapidly and ran into the house. We all rushed in after him and cornered him behind the TV. There is not much space there and Herman is a very big cat. We got him out though, eventually. Dan and Harry got scratched in the process and Anna-Louise cried because she doesn't like the sight of blood. We finally got the cats to their appointment and Herman scratched the vet too. He kept saying it didn't matter, it was alright and he'd had worse. {The vet that is not Herman- he just yelled and spat}.
According to Dan, Rhys has started to talk. He isn't a year old yet and I think Dan is being very optimistic here. Rhys just mutters something that sounds like HMMM every now and again. It actually sounds just like Dan's HMMM. When I want Dan to do something and he's doing something else really important, like reading the morning paper, he will go HMMM and then not move. Now Rhys is doing it. He looks more like Dan every day too. Well that is O.K. with me anyhow because Dan is seriously gorgeous. HE HAS STRAIGHT HAIR TOO! I LOVE STRAIGHT HAIR!
I have decided to go on a diet. This will not be too hard because all my friend are already on one. I have hips. I never had hips when I was young. I had hardly any shape at all for ages. Now I can balance Rhys on my hip! This is not good news. However, the real deciding factor was Anna-Louise. The other day I overheard her and her best friend Carly deep in conversation about their respective Mothers. I heard Anna-Louise saying-my Mummy is fatter than your Mummy and she's older too, she's 39. Carly seemed somewhat irritated by this and promptly claimed that her Mummy was the fattest and the oldest as she is 41! Since her Mother is 37 this is somewhat worrying. However, according to Harry, they both think 12 is ancient anyhow.
I looked up Cutty in my German- English dictionary. It wasn't in there. I looked in Britannica and found out it is a Scottish/North English word that means a tobacco pipe with a short stem! Sark is a Island. One of the Channel Islands evidently. This did not tell me why it is the name of a boat! I did find out what a Clipper is however!
26th May 2007
Horrible hideous week. It started real well when I had a phone call from Anna-Louise's school saying she had had a fall. I grabbed Rhys and rushed over, luckily it is not far away, and arrived at the same time as the Ambulance. Anyhow, Anna-Louise has a green-stick {I think that's right} fracture in her left arm and is now quite happily getting everyone to sign her plaster, which is a bright pink. I had some trouble in the Hospital explaining why my daughter and I have different surnames. I did not change mine to Dan's, that's all. You don't have to change your name, and I didn't. People are apt to think we aren't married because of that and also because I have a habit of calling Dan my partner. We had a lot of bother from our parents and all because he is Jewish and I am Catholic.
Then my PC suddenly developed a fault and ate a pile of E mails. One minute they were there and when I looked again they'd all been deleted without me doing anything. Then I had some trouble with IE7 so now I am using Mozilla. Then my sound card developed a fault and then I had to upgrade my Firm ware. I have fixed everything now but it was a trial.
The next thing that happened was Dan came home early from work saying he felt ill. He has nothing worse than a bad cold and you'd think he was dying. Of course Rhys has it now. There is probably something in the world worse than a baby with a bad cold but I can't think of anything right now, unless it's a baby with the flu. He sneezes and his nose runs and he grizzles. That is the baby, not Dan---hmm- I don't know though!
Harry came home with a black eye and a bloody nose. He said his opponent looked worse than he did, which was not much of a comfort. It was a while before he would say what the fight was about. I finally found out that this other boy had said something rude about Harry's Mother, ie me. I have not yet found out what it was. Dan was mad with Harry because he despises fighting. I was torn between the two of them because I don't think problems should be sorted out by hitting people but since Harry was defending my name I found it hard to be too angry. Anyhow Harry has been docked two weeks pocket money.
Then yesterday the TV actually blew up. Dan and I were watching, or rather I was watching and Dan was blowing his nose and coughing and collecting hundreds of tissues, when the TV coughed and smoke came out of the back and then flames. No-one with kids and pets should be without a fire extinguisher and a fire blanket so I put it out quickly. The kids were all in bed luckily and we have other TV's but this was our main TV, the big one. We are reduced to watching a smaller TV at the moment and I am so glad I had my eyes fixed because before I could hardly see the big one without strong glasses on.
Finally we watched ADWD. I admit I was not in a very good mood and when Lee was chosen to sing with that guy Grogen I suddenly thought -it's a fix- that's why ALW keeps saving Lewis so that Lee will win. I can't stand anything that seems like cheating so I went and made coffee and didn't watch any more. Rhys and Anna-Louise were in bed by the results show anyhow. We always record it and let Anna-Louise watch later. Harry is sworn to not reveal who was knocked out. Anna-Louise doesn't really care who wins since her favorite person on the show is, for some reason, JB. She likes to sing all the songs too, even when she doesn't know them! Watching her dancing around tonite with her plaster on made me cry. I had to go into the kitchen so she didn't notice. I suddenly thought what would have happened if she'd hit her head or something. She might have died in the school without me being there and she's only 8 years old. Of course you have to trust that the school is looking after your kids, what else can you do? However, a school friend of mine had a brother killed on a school trip, so things can happen. I went upstairs before I wrote this and looked in on Rhys. He was lying on his back in his crib fast asleep. He was snuffling a bit but he was O.K. Unfortunately he is now getting more hair, and it's curly. It's just like mine was at his age. I've seen Gisela's photos.
Hope next week will be a better week than this has been. Anyhow, we're all still here and all more or less in one piece, and Harry's black eye is now a gorgeous purple. I, of course had two black eyes once as a kid, and I also bashed a boy's head on a brick wall once too, so I can't be too mad with Harry, can I?