A bit of this, a bit of that...

I had a lie-in this morning as well as managing to do some housework and baking! (Not at the same time, sadly that's a talent I don't posses.)

Tonight it’s out with the boys and then tomorrow, I’m doing a roast and a job application. Hopefully I won’t get confused between the two...

We also need to go through some legal gubbins from the solicitor. Apparently you really do have to itemise and agree on EVERY fixture and fitting.

I started the Christmas cards last night, but abandoned them after we decided to watch a film in bed instead – St Trinian’s with Rupert Everett. It was gloriously silly and what with that, and the fish and chips we had, it was the perfect way to end what was, for my partner especially, a long and difficult week.

There’s also rugby and a nice long walk with the dogs to look forward to!

Corners

We turned a corner this morning! Actually we turned several…

As I've mentioned before, Bess is happy going to the park for a walk but the problems start when she gets there, basically she freezes. So this morning we set off in high spirits and I had everything crossed that she would get at least a bit of a walk, but I wasn’t expecting much. At first she was reluctant to move again so I thought we would have to stand there and watch Mr P enjoy his morning constitutional but slowly, very slowly we started walking and before we knew it we were going round the entire park! In fact, it got to the point where she actually greeted two other dogs and tried to chase Pluto (we still have her on the lead as loud noises and sudden movement startles her and she makes a run for it). I was so proud! We all got home exhausted but very pleased with each other. It doesn’t sound much but when you think how frightened she was, it’s a pretty big thing.

I’m exhausted. I did lots of tidying and cleaning yesterday evening and then had a late night. Consequently the desire to crawl under my desk for a nap is very strong… perhaps I can say I’m going for a meeting and then no one will be surprised that I’m not at my desk for an hour? Except that I snore. That could be embarrassing...

Going into the egg business...

Well it’s a bit soggy this morning but that’s why umbrellas and hats were invented…

I got home last night determined to do all the washing up, eat a healthy meal and walk the dog. All of which I achieved. Normally when the healthy partner is away, the less healthy partner takes the opportunity to eat pizza and drink beer but I thought I’d buck the trend and have a salad and a diet coke. What’s more, I’ve brought the rest of the salad in for lunch today. Get me.

Didn’t sleep that well, dropped off ok but then woke up at 4am and had trouble getting back to sleep.

Two people want to buy our eggs! We were a bit thrown because we’d not really thought about selling them (3 chooks does not an egg industry make). But of course, we’re delighted that people think they’re that tasty so we’ll come to some arrangement I’m sure.

Tonight, I seriously need to sort out laundry and clothes in general as well as tidy up the bedroom. I’m also making dinner for my partner who is back this evening. The dog will be pleased. He’s been a bit grumpy and I think he holds me responsible for her not being in bed this morning…

And you are...?

I tried telling Martha off when she was picking on Tabitha but she just looked at me like I was a bit of an idiot. And to be fair, she's probably right. No eggs tonight. They're already in bed and just occasionally you can hear a contented cluck and a ruffle of feathers. Bless their chickeny socks.

I've done lots of housework this evening and have rewarded myself with a huge glass of wine and a spot of mindless telly. All is well at 88...

Achtung!

Well, news hot off the press… our finance director is German! Imagine. Apparently according to my ever-eating colleague he doesn’t look German. I asked what Germans look like (useful if we’re ever at war with them again in case they try and sneak up on us). She didn’t actually know what Germans looked like per se, but did say that she been out with Germans (all of them?). Furthermore, she went on to add that there are some nice Germans out there. Which put my mind at ease – nice people don’t tend to start wars…

I do question how interesting people’s lives are if information that a work colleague is of foreign extraction seems to make them somehow more interesting and exotic. We live in London; there are lots of people from lots of places…

I was possessed by Kim and Aggie last night because I went home and did lots of housework, finally collapsing on the sofa to enjoy a light supper and a spot of Murder, She Wrote. And although I was pooped afterwards, I slept really well (probably because I wasn’t slumped in front of the TV all evening) so I might try and do some gardening tonight.

We have a new cleaner starting on Friday. She seems lovely and has already confessed to liking things in a straight line. I didn’t so much interview her as she gave me a potted, but still very detailed, biography of her life. I think she’s going to work out just fine…

Right a strong cup of coffee and then it’s back to the grind – not long before I can head home and plant some bulbs!

Magical mystery dog walk

There’s a word that can describe the autumn/winter seasons: cosy. You don’t get cosy in summer, it would, I imagine, lead to excessive sweating and nobody wants that. I was walking the dog this morning and because it’s so much darker when we worker ants get up in the mornings now, lamps and lights are being switched on to ensure damage limitation on things like stubbed toes, bashed elbows, underwear being put on inside out etc. As we walked past our neighbours, I thought how cosy the lights looked in the windows, warm and golden. I sometimes construct stories about people and houses as I walk by. There’s nothing in particular that leads me to make up a little story about one house and not the other… but I am intensely curious about people’s home lives. I wonder for example, whether they are happy? Whether they like rugby? Whether one person likes vegetables and the other one doesn’t? Whether they look ordinary enough but are actually other-world folk… when they close the front door and step down into the basement, where does it lead? To fairy passages, small underground towns, meeting places for magic folk… do they make witches potions and herbal concoctions…? Or do they just enjoy a glass of wine and a bit of telly?

The dog, it has to be said, is far less whimsical. He concentrates on left over bits of chicken, dog wee (his own and others), friends he spots on the way, cats and getting to the park in a timely manner.

He enjoyed his walk this morning, terrorising the squirrel population and playing with two Westies. I enjoyed the fresh air and that lovely – but all too brief – moment of the day, usually when walking the hound, when you pretend you have nothing to do and all day to do it.

Yesterday I got so much done it was like I was supercharged! Lot’s of housework and sorting, as well as proper ‘we pay you to do this’ work. And, AND, I cooked a delish meal for my partner who didn’t get back till 9pm. I do enjoy being a housewife!

Tonight, rugby and a birthday party – dilemma! Tomorrow a game of rounders for a another friend’s birthday party and then drinks at the pub. Sadly I shall have to be a watcher not a partaker in the rounders. My running days are well and truly behind me, although I can still wallop a ball a fair old way…

By the way, we posted out the wedding invites yesterday, hurrah!

Shopping on the clock

I’ve just been shopping in work time. Which is nice. As the editor of a magazine, I sometimes have to buy competition prizes. Today it was a digital camera and a dance CD. (I went to HMV again, dealt with someone who was at least 33 – good age that – and he too was very charming). I also managed to ‘accidentally’ pick up two cut-price DVDs and some croissants*.

Last night I went home full of vim and vigour and although I was grumpy and tired by the time I actually got there because traffic was so bad again, I decided to seize the day – well actually, I seized a small hammer and some laundry, and I spent the first two hours being very useful. I put up a picture, did the washing up, did some aforementioned laundry, filed some papers, made some bread and had a general tidy up. After that I really was tired. But we had a nice meal and watched the new series of Doc Martin – one of my favourite programmes.

Today is the first of Pluto’s extra walks. I’m sure he’ll be very pleased when J turns up and he realises that he’s going for a long romp with about five other dogs of various sizes and levels of excitability.

I have lots of writing to do today for the magazine, which being a writer, I understandably enjoy. Except I have a lot to do in a short space of time. So on that note…

*They don't sell croissants in HMV. If they did, I'd never leave the place.

Diaries of a house wife

I’m feeling better. Isn’t it remarkable how quickly the old fashioned things work: rest, plenty of juice and water, Murder, She Wrote… OK so there’s less medical evidence for the last one but I swear by it…

Today I’m going to try and do some housework. I made a start on being a good housewife yesterday by making apple muffins for my beloved’s breakfast this morning and then puff pastries with squash, organic bacon, sage, salt and pepper with rice and vegetables. Very delicious and I was immensely pleased with myself. But today there’s tidying and laundry to do and despite having a large kitchen the washing up is threatening to spill out into the hall...

Tomorrow it’s off to Cornwall. There’s been severe weather warnings issued across the country, which is a little worrying. Hopefully it misses us but better pack the wet weather gear!

Housework and mobile phones

The missus is doing a course in Hammersmith today so we drove in together which was nice. Couldn’t do it every day though, it was quite a strain getting ready to leave at exactly the same time. I didn’t even manage breakfast and coffee! I treated myself to a supercharged Latte when I got to work which has helped ease me into my day…

My partner has decided to only watch a very limited amount of telly during the week – maybe once a week – because she was getting into the habit of slumping in front of the TV with me and neither of us were getting anything done. Now I like TV a lot more and so will continue to watch it when something I like comes on; but I also avoided switching it on almost straight after I walked the dog last night and we achieved so much! A nice dinner, a bit of gardening, hoovering, dusting, washing the bathroom floor, walking the dog and laundry! And I even got to watch NCIS (in my opinion the television equivalent of Green & Black’s butterscotch milk chocolate). And I slept really well last night…

Using my new phone today and honestly, it’s like a foreign country. I was due for an upgrade so I chose the Samsung u600 which is apparently the business – a really fantastic top of the range phone. The only problem is I couldn’t work the bloody thing out so for the first two weeks of ownership I used my old phone! I’m no dunce, but it does seem hideously difficult. Samsung advised that I download the manual for the 900 model (because they haven’t written an in-depth manual for the u600 yet… why?) and so I feel more confident giving it a bash but texting is taking an age and there are all sorts of buttons that I haven’t even dared press yet… I’m sure (I hope!) it will all be second nature before long…

Here’s a question before I sign off, are creative people a bit of a nightmare with instructions? Sometimes I get told something and seconds later I can’t remember what it is. Yesterday my boss told me several times to be at one town hall, and this morning, I turned up at the other… it’s not the first time either. It can be an instruction on how to use the DVD or how to get somewhere (although I do have a superb sense of direction) and it’s like my brain decides independently to chuck out the information. I am, instead, a compendium for useless, abstract data. Is it because I am creative; dyslexic; not bothered; not listening…? Answers on an instruction manual.