Fab, Feisty and Sixty (ish)

which is my way of saying, the day is mine, all mine! Following on from my quiet start Sunday, yesterday must have been Manic Monday. After the kids went off to school, no mean feat I'm sure you know. I may not have to wash and dress them anymore, but finding change for school lunch and it hardly warrants the title, is an arduous task in itself, I admit to looking in Larry's suit pockets and in between cushions and the crease of the washing machine seal! I then purposefully, but probably furtively, went to the hardware store to replenish some articles in the 'old' kitchen and returned to the scene of the crime - for that was how it felt yesterday pre -inventory check. After disposing of the tumble dryer at  the tip, sweeping up the previous nights windfall and reassuring myself in vain that the house looked at it was when we moved in 18 months ago, the agent drove up early. One and a half hours later the deed was done, to everyones satisfaction - least of all Larry wit...

I'm sitting in the ktichen,  on the table newspapers surround me like train sleepers, buffering and comforting me against another long day of cleaning and rearranging in the old homestead.  But for now, I'm wallowing in the moment that is the tick of the new kitchen clock and the whine of the still busy washing machine, working more relentlessly than I at this time. Larry has gone a Sunday visiting his Mum; our son is sleeping over again,  at his mate's home, (does every teenager think the grass is greener), Pippa is sleeping soundlessy upon my right foot; darling daughter is sleeping, probably shoring up energy for some petulant sneering when I attempt to waken her in an hour or so. I'll leave it to the last moment, no masochist I! It is 9 am, no I must correct this, it is 10am british summer-  guffaw- time! I have eaten two pieces of toast, butter and raspberry jam with a cup of tea, I am contemplating having the same again, but my good side is arguing with my bad sid...

will be resumed shortly Between trying to achieve some semblance of order in the new home; getting the old house clean and presentable; whilst working nine days straight Ater today I am off for four days and so hope I may be able to magic up a post of some description rather than this waffle! (am a tad worried about the amount of posts I've missed!)

There has been much expounding of the virtues of spring  on the human psyche  (you see I have been lurking a little). I have been mulling over spring for three weeks now  and I have been too encumbered  by the domestic travails of moving house and home,  as you know - you would have had to be  living in outer Mongolia to miss this titbit. However all I want to say on Spring is encompassed in these few words ... Hope springs eternal in the human breast; Man never Is, but always To be blest: The soul, uneasy and confin'd from home, Rests and expatiates in a life to come. -Alexander Pope, An Essay on Man, Epistle I , 1733

Happy Mothers Day Mum and me (and for those of you who haven't twigged) Moannie & FFF

or in the words of Moannie - exoisted! oh do go see! We are kinda sorted. Just the old house to clean the new to live in and make our own. The sun is shining all bodes well. Give me a duvet week and l'll be in fine fettle!

I haven't stopped today! I started the day talking things through with the estate agent regarding collection of keys on Saturday morning. Then I went and bought three beds, a king size, a double and a single, all half price in the sale, £1000 all but £1 and 1penny! I cannot wait to get into that bed it was sublime lying on it at 10.30am in all my layers, no player me. Then I passed one of my bargain haunts, missed a waxed pine dining kit by a milli second, but scooped up 2 x 3 seater cottage sofa in a deep wine colour, enough wear in them for a few months until we decide on a new pairing. At another favourite haunt I scooped a pine circular table and four chairs and a brand spanking looking side board thingy from ikea with seven drawers (I have its matching shelving unit) which will look good somewhere! (This is a pic of new house- not good angle) I visited the new house twice, where the decorator was going great guns, I found it so satisfying standing watching, much longer tha...

We've had the green light! So we pick up the keys to the new house on Saturday. That gives me tomorrow, as l'm working Wednesday through Friday to get organised. Which list to write first! I shan't sleep tonight, so l may make some headway over night. So what to do first? Buy some beds,  a washing machine and some chairs, tables and a sofa from a clearance place or two! Then we have four days over the weekend to get the most of our things over to our new abode a mile away. Larry and I will have a van for Monday and move the larger pieces. We won't have beds until Wednesday at the earliest, so we may sleep on the floor at the new place or in beds at the current place, which we will have for another month yet. But once the bulk of our own belongings are moved, l'll be loathe to leave the house unattended. My stomach has been crunching all week and we only viewed this house exactly two weeks ago, I can't imagine how l would be if we had to wait the usual 3-4 months...

Kindness is the golden chain by which society is bound together. GOETHE I've just used up two brand new ink cartridges. They only printed 43 pages of blog in black and 14 in colour and they are both now empty. I am not impressed. £18. It's worth it, but not good value, I will look into sourcing cheaper cartridges from somew here. As I've mentioned before I print out each post I make and keep them in a file, a keepsake, a 21st century journal of my adventures in blogland. It represents my personal journey, one of self discovery and understanding. I've heard it called virtual therapy. I get that. Stimulated by the lives and thought provoking prose and images of other bloggers. These others are the strangers we meet online, who become friends, confidants, supporters and teachers. Unlike keeping a diary or journal in the traditional way, a weblog - blog can become a fiercely defended and protected responsibility. These mentors which are the sisters and brothers of whom I ...

Remember,  Ginger Rogers did everything Fred Astaire did,  but she did it backwards and in high heels. Faith Whittlesey

I'm not sure if it's my state of mind or the generosity of strangers or if it is just the potency of the power in the words that has so often left me in a state of awe. Sometimes I hesitate in writing my comments on posts because of the writing and the prose and the deep inner thoughts shared are often so overwhelming and poignant . Leaving me agog at the standard of writing and at the generosity of people sharing their lives, their innermost thoughts and experiences. Their mellifluous words wrap around me like a silk cloth. They make me THINK and I often leave their blogs so much calmer. I believe this is because they speak words which seem to be wrapped into my skin and they resonate within me. There are such talented writers who write such beautiful prose. I feel the sheer authentic strength of their photographic images that I left am in wonder. This is a place where the seduction of great writers - both in words and pictures helps to encourage and inspire me. It's a...

I have hesitated posting about our impending house move -yes again! Because I didn't want to jinx it. I mentioned this possibility in my Words post a few days ago and we are still on tenterhooks waiting for confirmation on the deal we agreed, so we can sign on the dotted. I find the anticipation in this instance frazzle inducing frustratingly unnerving. I daren't start boxing anything until we hear for sure. Larry and I have been saying how cramped this house is for us, especially as our son has grown 6 inches this year and his box bedroom is too small, we feel bad for him. Not one of us has a place we can call our own. My greenhouse den didn't work out for me in the end, I damaged several of my water colour paintings with the dripping condensation. The house is just too small for four, nearly all adults in size if not in attitude. Larry comes home on weekends and he cannot spread out, cannot make his kit s, he cannot play the hi-fi, we are encroaching in on one another. N...

 Fhina gets some very random and interesting memes, here are two ... My band name is   Foissy-sur-Vanne  which I think is fabulous.    My first album is called -  It's your count that votes  which is  a bit boring but democratic! it comes  from the quote,   In democracy it's your vote that counts; In feudalism it's your count that votes.    Mogens Jallberg and the result  is pretty evocative l thought! To have a go yourself follow these  instructions.   1 - BAND NAME: Go to "wikipedia." Hit “random article” l:Random. The first random wiki article you get is the name of your band. 2 - ALBUM TITLE: Go to http://www.quotationspage.com/random.php3   The last four or five words of the very last quote of the page is the title of your first album. 3 - COVER ART: go to third image on this link http://www.flickr.com/explore/interesting/7days.  4 - Use Photoshop or similar to put it all together. 5 - P ost it to  FB  with this text in the "caption" and TAG the fri...

I've had a web cam for about a year and I have tried it out and spoken to my kids through the video thingy - er in their rooms 5 yards away! I also managed to chat with my Mum for a few days after I installed one for her and we enjoyed conversing this way for a few days before her computer Paco went on strike and the software  got deleted.  So along with other gumphf in the home, this web cam has sat in the drawer with other defunct mobile phone chargers, spent batteries and an assortment of small pieces of junk, unused. A drawer that may interest some of my man friend bloggers are you heraing this BS5? Yesterday that all changed when I was chatting on the phone to my friend Debs who lives in my home town in Kent. She was telling me how she regularly chats to her brother in Australia  for free on skype.  I rummaged in my man drawer,   found  and   installed the web cam, downloaded and set up Skype, sent a text to Debs.  Et voila! we could see our ugly mugs, compare the large sizes...

I have had a couple of manic weeks, in both my head and the  real? world! I have started a couple of posts but they didn't come together and gel into anything except manic meandering and dismal drivel. I popped by Sass's blog, One lustful mum , er no that isnt right , Sass is of course One strangely lush mother, sorry Sass, it just drips of my tongue, I have no filter today!  I've  caught up with her last few posts and borrowed and tweaked her  most recent because it enable s me to sum up the past couple of weeks a little more cohesively. I hope you agree, well you would if I let you see my saved drafts. I must delete them! So to sum up for you. I feel... Frazzled - waiting to know if our house move is going through. Yes again! We are cramped and encroaching into each others personal space in this house. Though lovely, it is small for us 4 big people. This garden has more room and if it were warmer l'd be out there, but it isn't and so I'm not! Moved ...as po...