Categories: uncategorized
Date: 01 January 1970 00:59:59
Hey, is it Summer already? What a glorious day. A day for running over the downs, a day for sitting on the beach, a day for splashing through the waves, a day for cleaning your lounge and sticking your head in a washing machine. Hmmm.... something not quite right there.
Today I got my one lie-in of the holidays. It was nine o'clock before I fed the ravenous hordes. Actually I was up earlier than that as I wanted to talk to someone on MSN, but the boys didn't know that. And it was lovely to lounge around feeling decadent for an hour or so before work on the spring cleaning began in earnest. And I must admit that the housework has been interspersed with bits of less serious pootling and procrastination.
Worst part of the day was yet another row with my dad when he said some extremely hurtful things. I talked to my friend about it later and she said that her mother had gone the same way, and a psychiatrist friend had said that the "nice" parts of the brain was one of the first to go with Alzheimer's, which is why many older people seem crotchety. I think that's what's hitting Dad. The hard part is dealing with it on my own - losing him as someone who would put his arms round me and soothe the hurts away, and facing the fact that this is now going to happen more and more and I am going to have to handle it on my own. But prayers from one friend, a virtual hug from another, and a long chat on the phone with yet another helped immensely...at least until next time.
Best part of the day was watching the Smudgelets "helping" in the garden. Dad had shown them how to dead-head the daffodils and had told them to throw the dead flowers on the compost. They weren't too sure what the compost was, so they contented themselves with just throwing them. My garden is now the scene of the great daffodil massacre, with severed bodies left right and centre, some hanging from the branches of the tree, one in the bird bath, several in the hedge, and at least half a dozen over the fence in next door's pristine garden!!
I had another go at mending my washing machine by distance learning today. It was quite an exercise in descriptive language trying to tell someone by phone what the innards of the machine looked like so that they could tell me precisely which screw to undo. We searched in vain - it didn't even help when I accidentally dropped the phone into the machine... he still couldn't see what we were looking for! I ended up having to admit defeat and call an engineer. It's whirring away merrily now.
Mind you, I had a bit of an unpleasant experience when I moved a plastic bag which had fallen behind the machine. However long had that potato been there? Bleugh! bleugh! bleugh!!!!!!!!
I told Tiddles and Smudgelet today of the conversation I had had with Rowen in Australia. Did you know that over there the Easter Bunny has a helper? They meet up on the beach and divide the work between them. This helper is an adorable endangered Australian mammel called the bibly! The boys were fascinated by this. Tiddles looked at me with all the wonder a ten-year-old could muster and said "Wow, that means there really is an Easter Bunny. All this time I thought it was you, but the Easter Bunny really is real. Oh how lovely"
I am feeling very pleased with myself, actually, as I have finally cleaned under the table. Spent most of the afternoon under there. These things have to be done, you know.
And talking of things which have to be done, I have to be fed. I need food NOW... if not an hour ago. I'm off to the kitchen in search of goodies.