Today I give thanks to the God of minor things. For nearly 7 years I have been paying nursery fees. At first just one huge pile of cash for Jack. After 3 years that changed to two huge piles of cash and indeed the vast majority of my salary. Two years ago Jack went to school and I was back down to just the one huge pile. I had wonderous thoughts of what I would be able to do with the one nursery fee. Alas that joy didn't seem to materialise and it just seemed to disappear. How I had I coped without it? I now realise that whatever I earn I will spend it. If I earnt less I would spend that amount (and a little more), if I earnt more I would spend that amount (and a little more).

TODAY the last direct debit to the nursery goes out!!  I will have two children at school in August. Once again I find myself thinking about the mounds of extra cash I will have to spend every month.

Well you can but dream.

That said there are things that are just so much more important than money and today my thoughts are with others.

Monday, Monday...

Summer is here, work is not the place to be.

I'm thinking about being somewhere else.

Summer means sunbathing on the trampoline. Must remember to have clothes handy when neighbors come into the garden (soz Norrie, however I do feel the beached whale comment was a little harsh).

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Also feeling old today. Just noticed the lines. Guess they had to arrive one day. Well at least I had to notice them one day as I'm sure they just didn't arrive overnight. Grrrr...thinking too much. I can't be that bothered or I wouldn't post 'the lines' on here for all to see. May be that is my way of dealing with the age thing..confront it full on.

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Most days I find myself actively avoiding thinking.

Batman must have pressed a button today.

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On another note, how do you deal with swearing in kids? I picked Jack up from after school club to hear that he had been told off for saying the 'F' word. I didn't know he knew it although he has been reading Green Day lyrics very closely and he is nearly 7 so I'm not surprised. I didn't make a big deal about it as I think it would be hypocritical . Yes he won't have heard swearing in the house but I have been known so...I just said that it wasn't very nice.

Exposure, swearing ...what is next?

I can not type 'the' without typing 'teh'.

I can not type 'Brian' without typing 'Brain'

It drives me nust.

ha, ha, ha   and  ha, ha..nah

Today...I need chocolate.

Or a hug.

Can you buy chocolate hugs? I know they make chocolate frogs.

Not quite the same though.

Addendum: Rode the chocolate urge out, realise that there are a lot of other things I want. Chocolate is way down the list.

Fuck it.

Write entry.

Save as draft.

Gone...grrrr.

Can I be arsed to write it again?

No.

In the grand scheme of things does it matter?

No.

 

Title was 'Scooby-doo killed by lawnmower'

I talked about how I went INSIDE Concorde, my walk on the beach, injuries to limbs and extremities...blah, blah, blah.

Oh and of course Scooby Doo's attempt to kill the lawn mower which resulted in his own demise.

 

But...fuck it MSN, I'm not going to re-type shite like that!

 

I'm going to bed instead.

'even a kitten one for all you pussy lovers'

A comment I made about MSN new backgrounds. Big mistake. How many hits looking for 'pussy sites' followed by a flick through the photo albums?! Well they will be sadly disappointed...

I can only begin to imagine what Aimskys stats look like!!

BTW...I just love this blog. Andre's lovelife makes special reading...Definitely NOT a mistake to visit.

Although I have just visited Andre and disaster has happened..he has been dumped by coffee shop girl..just after getting into her pants as well......

I've just looked at my stats...and I realise that I may as well be on a different planet. Everyone (including all the UK bloggers!) seems to blog at a different time to me. So when I'm tucked up in bed....everyone is at the computer...and vice versa. Oh well...

And on the subject on different planets, Eddi asked me which planet she lived on. Inevitably, I replied that 'I wasn't sure, but definately not Earth'. She then started to talk about one of the boys at her nursery and said that ' Adam doesn't live on Earth..he lives on Mars'. So early in Life to learn that lesson!

I know it. I have a character flaw.

I will post blogs without spell checking! Why...I know not why? It's not that I don't spell check..I do, eventually..but not when I post.

This to me, is a character trait that I seem unable to change.

So..apologies to anyone who reads my blog within an hour of posting. I am lazy, not illiterate....honest!!

OK..half-hearted attempt to leave Spaces. Can't leave without telling how Mother gets on with her man in Dublin now can I?

Apparently the works of Egon Schiele, displayed in art galleries around the World are 'not in compliance with our (MSN) Code of Conduct standards'. Therefore the collection I posted has been removed in order that my site will not be shut down.

Well, tried to bring a bit of culture to Spaces..I'll stick to stupid quizzes in the future.

Also I had 'You have to be kidding' as a title...and it appears that the word 'kidding' is also prohibited. I'm having a bad day.

I used to read quite a lot and then I discovered blogging. In the last four months I really haven't read much more than the Sunday newspaper. Thats not to say I'm not learning stuff through blogging..but maybe I should try and open a book occasionally.

Actually that reminds me of a quote I used in my PhD thesis.

'From the moment I picked up your book until I laid it down, I was convulsed with laughter. Some day I intend reading it.'

Groucho Marx

PS.

In case anyone is interested 'My budgie was ill and I was rushing it to the vet' was an attempt to get out of a speeding fine, not by myself I hasten to add....

Others were:

• An ice-scraper fell out of a compartment in the door and jammed under the pedal.

• I picked up a hitchhiker who commented that they liked my car so I let 'this person' drive the vehicle. I don't have their name or address.

• As I entered onto the motorway, my car was dragged along in the slip-stream of a truck. My brakes aren't very good, so I had to keep pace with it.

All worth a try, I suppose...

In the words of Gloria 'I will survive'.

Went to visit the local Doctor today. Can't say I'm ever too confident when I visit him. I took one of my children with a mass of red pimples all over his body.

'He's got spots, what do you think he has?' THAT WAS THE DOCTOR TALKING NOT ME!

I also know that he told a friend who had just had a miscarriage 'not to worry, my mother had a miscarriage and then I was born, so it will be alright in the end!'

So back to my consultation. I have a very, very inflammed throat (YES, I KNOW THAT) so I had a swab taken. Now I don't want antibiotics handed out willy nilly but the results of the swab will be ready in about a week!! NO fecking bugs are going to survive that long in my body, antibiotics or no antibiotics..so I guess I'll just ride this one out.

On a positive note, I haven't taken as many drugs as yesterday ..yet.

Today so far (18 hours) I have had:

10 soluble asprin (max dose 13 in 24 hours)

2 paracetamol (max dose 8 in 24 hours)

3 ibuprofen (max dose 6 in 24 hours)

7 strepsils (max dose 12 in 24 hours)

5 Beechams max strength lozenges (max dose 8 in 24 hours)

3/4 tub of vanilla ice-cream (max dose 18 pints)

1 glass red wine (max dose infinite)

I bowl porridge with yogurt (max dose 1 bowl in 24 hours)

....and I am still being a whingebag

Are these recommendations, merely guidelines and more importantly are they cumulative? Obviously I don't particularly want liver failure so I will go easy on the paracetamol but otherwise shall I just dose up to, and beyond, the max and crash out to wake up feeling fine in the morning?

I've had 2 days off work in about 12 years...day 3 looks like its on its way.

If I ever get sick it is at the weekend or during holidays. I woke up yesterday with a really sore throat, I could hardly swallow. I thought a couple of gin and tonics in the pub would anesthetize the pain.. but woke up with my throat feeling even worse this morning and strangely with the addition of a headache. I should have kept my mouth shut in previous posts because it really does feel like I have an enormous marble stuck in my throat and I feel that I am being punished for slagging our glorious royal family *cough*.

So I am cancelling the weekend. I intend waking up on Monday morning feeling rearing to go.

SUNDAY: Still feeling crap, either I have a large tennis ball in my throat or it is lined with sand paper. Didn't sleep at all and all I can eat is ice-cream.

However it is a beautiful Spring day so I'll stop whingeing.

Well, bollx to posting pictures..something far more wonderful has occurred. Last night I was enjoying a quite night at the pc...fingers typing with one hand, glass of red wine in the other. The bottle, and my wine store, empty I eventually went up the stairs to bed.

I returned from work today and as if by magic, a box containing 12 bottles of wine was waiting behind the garden wall.

Perfect.

Various quotes taken from an article in the Scotsman yesterday entitled 'We were here first, kids' (Kate Foster). The article reports on a new breed of 'child experts' that have begun a backlash against the child-centred culture of today.

"Sadly the use of child-sized muzzles has never caught on, though I can’t see why not."

I was 25 yesterday, I am 29 today. I wonder how long it will be until I return to reality.

When changing your age on your profile becomes interesting, you do have to start asking yourself questions.

Seem to be spending so much time visiting blogs and leaving comments that actually posting anything here seems to have taken a back seat.

I don't think that is a bad thing as there is so much stuff to read out there that is far more interesting, exciting and well written than chez moi. I don't mind that either 'cause I'm a scientist and not expected to be a literary genius. I know I'm good at what I do so thats fine.

Learning and respecting. Surely thats what this is all about.

I don't think I'm missing the point. Shame that others are.

Postscript: Actually I think I AM missing the point with regard to what I actually want to say but I have to go and read bedtime stories so I'll be back. Back again: What I wanted to say was that there must be many reasons why people blog. I started a blog to exorcise a lot that was going on in my life at the time. As I am quite a private person, most of it is/was written in a subtle way but it is/was important to me and those that care. I also used it to just record stuff I might be thinking about. As JP said I don't really care if it is read or not, but it is nice that fellow bloggers pop in regularly to say hello. THAT is something totally unexpected that I have got out of this experience. So no, it's not just about learning and respecting. They are just two factors. I guess the fact the JNuts has felt the need to turn off his comments has pissed me off. That someone feels that they have to do that in response to others actions is definitely NOT what is all about.

As we all leave the offices (or not), another Friday here.. another week over, maybe we should reconsider our careers.

An article in the Scotsman yesterday indicated that only 2% of Architects and Social Workers were happy in their jobs. Of my scientific colleagues, a mere 15% appear to be satisfied with their lot. Those reported as happiest in their work were hairdressers and plumbers although even in these groups it was only 40%. So basically the majority of individuals are unhappy in their work.

Maybe the answer is to go and work on a pig farm. This film is superb! (well I think so)

Have a good weekend