on the ning nang nong. (by Spike Milligan)

on the ning nang nong wher the cows go Bong and the monkeas all go boo.
thers a nong nang ning
wher the tree's go ping and the teapot's go jibbir jabber joo.

What Mae likes and what Mae doesn't like

I like:
Apples, escargot, tomato soup, chocolate covered crickets.
I love, I just love:
Meatballs, lemons, kiwi, limes.
I do not like:
Marshmallows, squid, octopus, donuts.
I really do not like guacamole.
And the hairs on my chinny chin chin.

Procrastination Station

I have a week off this week and need to crack on with the guest room. Ugh. There is only so much wallpaper scraping I can do. So I am sitting here with a coffee and will tell you an uplifting tale...

Sharon came all the way from Aberdeen on Friday night, staying for one night only and heading out on Saturday at 6pm. We decided to take Mae and her friend Lizzie to dance class then hit the charity shops for bargains, and we would follow with lunch.

We went to Lizzie's and had to wait while her mum tidied her hair up. It was nice that Lisa and Sharon got to meet as the Rowe's are such a nice family and Sharon is of course, my BFF.

Anyway, on the way out Lizzie's dad David came home with two take out Mark's and Spencer's coffees and some millionaire's shortbread. For the Candians that's shortbread with caramel and chocolate on top. Ugh, me no likey.

So we go to dance, drop the girls off, hit the charity shops. Sharon buys loads. Have a chitchat, catch up.

Then we go pick up Mae and head over to Barbours to meet Geoff for lunch.

Mae says, hey there's some money. She has found two ten pound notes! One had a receipt in, and I think to Mae's dismay, me and Sharon discuss how to get it back to it's owner.
I say no to bringing it to the police, no one will ever claim it.
Sharon thought that we should take it to Mark's and Spencer's as someone had used their card. So we head that way and I think how the hell are they going to get the person's name? They withdrew the 20£ at the shop....?

Then we look at what they bought. Two coffees to go and some millionaire's shortbread!!!
It was Davids!!
What a crazy lucky find! Mae got two bags of sweets and a lovely thank you card. Crazy huh?

Then we put up our new fence yesterday and Mae surprised us with some scrambled eggs and strawberries for a snack. Her specialty.


And here's some cute pictures of Rumpole who I am now sure is a vampire and immortal. You need to invite him into the house when he is outside, even when he is meowing his head off. I am sure I saw that on Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Gurn, gurn, gurn

Unsurprisingly, Mae has turned into a fool. I think this is normal in kids her age, and I think it was always there. But we are having a laugh at the moment. But isn't it crazy that when she crosses her eyes one goes in more than the other- nuts and a bit freaky, but she has only just learned how to do this so I can't complain. And she still can't really roll her eyes at us, but flings her whole head in a circle, which remains endearing, not annoying (yet).

And she is still very unself concious, although a boy at school made fun of her 'goofy' teeth the other week which upset her. He is lucky I don't know who he is or it would be a knuckle sandwich for him, the little turd. But I showed her an article about models so desperate for a gap that they now wedge something between their front teeth to get one!! Insane, huh? But she is a bit happier, thank god.

Although the night I found her in my bed with MY nightclothes and jumper on, with a Cat-in-the-Hat-with-a-wedgie costume and her OWN satin pyjamas under it, I thought it was taking it a bit far. You could have friend an egg on her belly it was so hot.

How to get a cat to love you.

Step one:

Share your chicken and bacon tortellini.

Jiun May Lin

PDA alert

Happy Valentine's Day, husband!

For a good time, call....

Oh. My. God. Mae had three phone calls from boys this week. Two from Finlay and one from Thomas. Depending on the day of the week, her boyfriend(s).

THEN, I find in her lunch money wallet for school, a lovely, sticker-y note from her friend Ellie, as well as our phone number, written on about 30 pieces of paper. Let the games begin.

Ahhh, just in time for spring

The windows are in and the screens are sorted! The initially were put over the entire window, which made it impossible to clean the tops, which don't open- but they are now fixed! Yay!

Fresh air and no flies....ah, Scotland.

A month!

I haven't blogged in a while, not because the month has flown by- it's been slow as molasses. And it's not because life has been so busy and frenetic, no more than usual, it just doesn't seem much has happened yet this year.

Mae has been given sweets by her sweetheart. His name is Marek, and his dad is a cardiologist and his mother is a brain surgeon- good catch, Mae!!



Here are a few photos of our new family member, Bruce Lee. He has been in hiding this week, but he will love to come out and see Joan when she visits. If he poos on your hand it's good luck!!

And Rumpole is hanging in there, I now think he is immortal. So we are all just hanging in there, waiting for spring and mom's visit. But first we have a 7th birthday, loads to do in the house and garden and Geoff cracking on with his masters!! Happy New Year!

Falalalalalalalala

God that went fast! Christmas came and went in a mad rush to open every single present in under 20 minutes, along with a good meal and the usual three desserts, kids actually getting along and lots and lots of dancing, thanks to Xbox 360.

It was a great day- can't believe though, how much preparation is needed. But we had loads of help especially from a fab sister in law and now we can just sit back and relax for more than another whole week away from work!!

Mae loved it all. She and her cousins got along great guns and even though little Andrew almost ended up superglued to the kitchen table (bad auntie Jen), it all went off without a hitch.

Here's her new elephant, Mom, which was a hit. ALMOST as good as a real live hamster! She was actually speechless, and has said ever since that she can't believe she got a real live pet for Christmas. And when we showed her Bruce, the new Chinese Dwarf Hamster, he was gamely hanging from the roof, which was a feat we hadn't seen him accomplish up to that point. Go Bruce!

Christmas pj's, also courtesy of mom. But loads of other cool gifts, and a big thank you from all of us.

One of three desserts at the end of a very long day in the kitchen. But I might do it again in a few years. Next year, Colonel Sanders will be cooking!!

The requisite Christmas photo. Andrew was quickly losing it, but this was good. Then I told them to make funny faces.

I think only Mae heard me!

Christmas

Is in my pantry. Notice:


Nanaimo bars ready to be drizzled with chocolate.
Margharita mix and tequila ready to be drunk. Really ready, although the Highland Park is waiting it's turn as well.
Christmas cake and christmas pud waiting for pomp and dessert circumstancing.
Holiday cereal ready to be fought over. There are three cocopops there, thank god!
Gingerbread and a load of Chezch goodies (thanks to a friendly mum) in tins and disappearing fast.
Brussel sprouts on stalks wanting to hook up with the chestnuts!
Crackers for pulling and LOADS more.
Hopefully we are ready for the onslaught of in-laws!!

(Mustn't forget the turkey tomorrow, mustn't forget the turkey.....)

And windows dressed and ready as well. It's so nice to have a sill to put things on and they open nice and wide. And I can reach the openings, which is a bonus for windows in Britain, which are generally made only for very tall people. so Yay!

Today

Trees snipped down! The poor willow looks like it's been scalped, but I am sure the neighbours at the back appreciate a little more light.

Tomorrow, new windows!!

Okay Okay

No bacon fudge. I thought it would meet rapturous applause myself. I guess I will stick to plain old chocolate.

Have been busy decorating the house and am lamenting my lack of a mantle shelf over the woodstove, but saw a nifty idea on the net, so stole and adapted it! Lovely, huh! Better than bacon fudge.....?

Gifts for Teachers

I am not really a fan of some people at the local school. Especially in weather like this, barely an inch of snow and the kids can't play outside. My blood boils, in fact, at the ineptitude, at time, of the management of the school.

Anyway, enough of the negativity. I do like Mae's teacher alright. And there are some very nice staff there and of course I would like to do something. Something nice, but something a bit crazy as well.

And then I stumbled upon the best thing ever.

Does this look Yummy?

Getting Ready

Santa and Christmas (By Mae Cranmer)

Santa felt sick. He coont dliver the presens.
Christmas was kansld.
Unles he cood do sum werck.

Then He had an idea. He sed to his self. He went on his slege.
Go roodof he yelld.

He arivd in teh UK. He saw a snoe man.
He sed to his self I know I will yoos that snoeman for christmas he sed.

He trnd his hand and the snoe man came to life.

The end.

Over for another year....

It comes and goes do fast! Now I have two almost-going-off pumpikins in the front porch, but we only carved them Saturday!!! We had a great time on the night, Mae and her friend Rory went to about a dozen houses before ending up at a friends for a party. But you have to do jokes here at a lot of houses before you get your treats, which is different but quite a scottish thing to do. Well, you don't get ainything for nuhhin', now do ye?

Mae's joke was:

Why did the toilet roll down the hill?

Because it wanted to get to the bottom.

She said this in such a deadpan voice I thought she might be doing it in character! Until we got to the first house that gave them candy without them having to tell a joke, and they were SOOOO happy!!! Rory even carried around his joke book he was so nervous! Priceless....

Cruisin'

Mae finally got her big chance, and had her first ride in Ross' fabulous sports car. Ross' first instinct would be to take her out to the coast and get the wind in her hair. But Mae wanted to go through the town, adn I even called the Rowe's, who are a family of 6 and whose 4 kids are all great. They live around the corner and all came out to see the car. Her own little parade! Plus she did get to get out into the countryside.

Co-ordination Station

It's not been the case very often in my life that anything around me has coordinated. But I saw this fabric in Nova Scotia this summer and bought a little bit for pillows, as the living room, as stated previously, needs a little pizzazz. So I made this valanc-y thing and it looks quite nice! Better than in the photo, anyway. I've also got these long dangly pinkish-red Christmas ornaments to hang there and they may be a year long item. Why not, give the neighbourinos something to discuss!

And the colour does look better on the couch than the pale blue, so I am happy with these as well! Speaking of neighbours, another one asked me to a Body Shop party in a couple of weeks, which, although I hit the Body Shop only during sales, I am happy to go to as it's nice being social and I am always game for a little gossip. And I may be having a Pampered Chef party in 2011, so I told her she could come to that. It's weird, this party malarky, though. Like Georgian England, visiting salons, with crappy entertainment and the added bonus of spending too much money. The ones I really hate are Partylight, the candle parties. What the hell? I am not going to spend a tenner on a tealight. Insane. But back to the sofa. Looks better in real life.

Here's some fog over the hills that I can see through the gap in front. The door is open to let a bit of light into the hall. Looking out through the inside glass door. Sometimes there are cats sitting in here in the sun. I love my house!

And Mae actually got a picture of the cat. Still alive. Waiting for food by the fridge. He's been particularly pissed since we have been more vegetarian. I am killing him slowly with butter and cream. He doesn't seem to mind.

Finally

Gawd! I feel like I haven't had any time at all to blog, but I think the fact of the matter is that we have now moved the computer into the 'playroom' or 'rec room' that I can't be bothered. Although we are all happy to have so much more space, it either feels a bit lonely or Mae tells us to get out when she is playing, and I am not going to argue with a bit of play independence!!

So here it is, in all it's fruit salad glory!! The acid yellow wall was meant to be a bit more chartreuse, and we only bought the apple green couch after painting it. It was the only sofa bed that would fit in the room! So it's quite colourful but what the hell.

And here is the lonely corner where the computer used to be. It needs a load of something, but I haven't found it yet. We'll take our time considering the austerity cuts are coming soon and we both may be out of jobs!!

Also, besides concerns about the future of the economy, we still have to visit friends!! So last weekend we braced ourselves for the cold chill of eastern Scotland and headed to Aberdeen! This isn't Sharon's new house, just Dunottar Castle, for all you Mel Gibson fans. We met the female of the Reid species on the way here for a brisk 2 minute walk (again, cold chill) and a lovely picnic.

Lots of chillin', walkin', playin' to be had. I also got to read some old letters I wrote to Sharon about 20 years ago. Why didn't someone have me psychoanalysed at the time? Thank god I have become so much more balanced. It's very strange to look back at yourself when you are younger, but I certainly had a way with words....most of them to do with bodily functions.

And, as with all of her older sisters, it is taking Laura some time to warm up to me. But I have Claire on my side and that is a pretty good feeling!!