Thirteen Things that need to be removed from my kitchen counter today!

1. Simon's wallet ... why can't men have handbags? That way he wouldn't come in from work and just dump his shit there! Men in France carry handbags without having their masculinity slammed.
2. Simon's keys ... ditto the wallet!
3. Simon's mobile phone ... ditto the wallet. Are we seeing a pattern here?
4. 3 tea-towels. We have hooks! And why are there 3 tea-towels on the go when we have a dishwasher? Is tea-towel the same word the world over?
5. Cooking oil
6. Soy sauce
7. Suzi Wan dipping sauce for nem ~ has to bought in bulk in France!
8. Chopping board ... pure laziness on my part, as it can't go in the dishwasher and is to big just to be put in the sink.
9. Receipt from Staples
10. This month's Golf World magazine
11. My bank statement
12. Holiday brochure
13. Birthday card for nephew #4

A little bit of this and that.

I hate insurance companies ~ So yesterday I went into school and had the phone call I've been dreading. About 5 weeks ago my camera was stolen from school ... you might have noticed no new photos around, of mine any rate!

We'd been taking photos in the nursery (as evidence for the foundation stage profile) and my lovely new TA had snapped some kiddies outside doing something or other. She came back in and put the camera back in the box of tricks where it had been.

Unbeknownst to her, the family sitting in our hall ... we'd invited the mum in to spend the morning to help her little one get used to being in the nursery* ... were the local equivalent of the Krays. And older brother, who'd accompanied Mum and littlie wasn't actually in school
because he was on long term school exclusion for violence and disruption! Needless to say the camera disappeared never to be seen again!

I put signs up in the window asking if anyone had taken the camera home by accident, please to return it ... and the headteacher rang the school's insurance company. Yesterday the phone-call came back from the insurance company!! Because it wasn't a break-in, because we'd invited the thieves into school ... they were willing to pay out the grand sum of nada, rien, nichts, τίποτα, niente, nothing, nowt! So last night I had to admit the theft to Simon ... boy am I popular right now! Stoney silent treatment was invented for this man!

* On his first morning, he hit the other nursery teacher across the face with a toy car whilst screaming "f*$% off, you f*£%ing c*&t " at her. As I'm sure you can imagine, his nursery place has been withdrawn!

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Wipers ~ Who'd have thought that my car was so clever? On the way home from work yesterday, when I was at a standstill in traffic, the wipers slowed to save power. Which is fab! But I actually wanted to be able to see the lights change ahead.

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Moving ~ Must remember the boxes! Must remember the boxes! Kev moves this weekend, hurrah! But why is he moving out of a ground floor flat into a second floor flat? STAIRS AGAIN!!

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Rain ~ If anyone tells me there's a drought in the UK at anytime over the next year I shall so call them a liar to their face. It hasn't stopped raining here since yesterday lunchtime! It is currently hammering on the window and the radio station has just announced local flooding. I take it they've cancelled the hosepipe / car washing ban then?

Unconscious mutterings #194

I say ... and you think ... ?

Stuff :: everywhere
Block :: JT Blocks ... only a little addiction!
Ingredient :: cook
Flagrant :: disregard for personal property
Dandruff :: Head & Shoulders
Betty :: Boop
Tide :: high tide
Judges :: currently scandalous in the UK, the judges and their lover the cleaner!
Take it easy :: I'd like to stand on that corner but I want it to be the best looking cowboy you ever saw driving past. Well actually, I'd like him to stop :o)

"Well, I’m a standing on a corner
In Winslow, Arizona
And such a fine sight to see
It’s a girl, my lord, in a flatbed Ford
Slowin’ down to take a look at me!"

Chef :: Gordon Ramsay

Ah Saturday!

It's Saturday, no school today so what you gonna do?

Unfortunately as it has been a very busy week, the list is almost endless ....

Washing, drying and perhaps some ironing.
Yesterday morning I had a minor accident with rice I was dyeing for school, so I need to get the Hoover out! I have already brushed it up, but the odd grain is still lurking!
School record keeping.
School ID badges to re-create :o)
Shopping ... Simon's currying tonight!
Clean the bathroom.
Re-treat my hair after last weeks little visitors ... as a belt & braces, just in case exercise!
Order this CD because there's been a song playing in my head driving me slowly mad all week long!
Come up with 3 more questions for next week's Q.o.T.D. ~ I panic if I haven't got 3 ready! I've posted this morning, so please feel free to pop on over and answer :o)

So ... best get busy!

If you're not wearing Tena Lady turn away from the computer now!

I have just been sent an email by my favourite lady sleuth. Just like any other self-respecting celebrity couple, to celebrate their wedding, Peter Andre and Jordan recorded a wedding song, choosing a Whole New World as their personal ditty. If you haven't heard their efforts (before they were cleaned up by computer) and you want a really good laugh, turn up the volume on your speakers and click on the above link! Please let it be noted that I did warn you :o)

p.s. The wedding photo might actually give you a clue to the quality of the singing!!!!

Thursday Thirteen!

I was so excited this week when I found Mr Powell et al, all living together in Llantwit Major that I posted a snippet of the 1841 census, showing my g-g-g grandfather and at the bottom of the family aged only 6 months *collective aww* my g-g grandmother Ciscel.

Cheryl was heard to comment "Five kids?!"

That's nothing Cheryl for this weeks Thursday Thirteen, I present my gran Gwyneth and her 12 siblings!

Ciscel, a girl, born 1880
Mary, born 1882
Catherine (Kitty), born 1884
George, born 1886
Margaret (Maggie), born 1889
Sarah, born 1891
Ivor, born 1895
William H, born 1895
Ewart, born 1896
Devro, a boy, born 1898
Mathew (Bow), born 1900
David (Dai), born 1902
Gwyneth, born 1904

Can you imagine the washing? Can you imagine the cooking? Can you imagine the last one in the bath water on a Sunday night?

Somewhere in the past I remember the Thegn of Sussex commenting that his wife had Gibbon in her family tree, in South Wales somewhere! Beware Cheryl ... this lot's mum was a Gibbon!

Wordless this Wednesday .... I've been noisy too long!

The official Wordless Wednesday site is here.

A very exciting moment thanks to the 1841 census

See that John Powell there? The 35 year old shoemaker! I've just found him. He's my great great great grandfather, born in 1806. He stayed in the same house until 1861 (lovely chap!) And I bet he made fab shoes! I'd have worn them :o)

A fizzing meme

So, in the absence of anything of interest to write about Fizzy made up a meme. And then a crazie royal nominated me for the job ... how lucky am I? I will get revenge! Watch your backs* ladies :o)

1 piece of information about me that you really should never know.
Umm ... I don't know how much I want to embarrass myself as I know my mother and SIL read this. I think nothing of going commando ... how's that?

2 colours that I would never ever ever wear.
Grey or gray (depending on which side of the Atlantic you live!) and puce.

3 things that I love to eat.
As usual I say the words "only 3 things?" How about 3 beginning with a and then 3 with b? Avocado, asparagus and anchovies. Bulgar wheat, brownies and blueberries. I'll stop now!

4 things that I would never ever serve to a guest at my dinner table.
Tripe, lychees, marzipan and kumquats. Neither together or apart.

5 things that I keep forgeting to buy from the supermarket.
Pledge soapy wash for wood (living room floor), bouquet garni (though I prefer Julian's), a dishwasher cleaner, bin bags for the pedal bin in the bathroom and new toothbrushes (though things are not desperate yet).

6 things about Autumn that I love.
Cold crisp mornings, driving home in the late evening misty sunshine, the smell of woodsmoke (more in France than here), puddles + wellies, shiny berries on trees and then of course there's the leaves!

7 things that I value about my family.
My husband's love and his long arms to get to the top corners of the kitchen cupboards, my father's sense of humour, my mother's support, my brother's protection (he doesn't say it often so I know that when he does he really means it!), my nephews' kisses and my nana's memories.

8 things that I like to watch on the TV.
Oh ... I like Spooks, Afterlife, Grey's Anatomy, the X factor, ANTM, House, a Question of Sport and the Antiques Roadshow.

9 things I loved about school.
Learning, friends, French, Mr Hughes and geography, swimming, holidays, handstands on the school field when I was 10 and playtime. Playtime being on my list is probably why I am a teacher ~ because kids should love being inside the school too!

10 of the little things that I love about life.
Travelling, music, dinner with friends, laughter, new shoes, blowing kisses, Friday takeaways, walks on the beach, sitting on the verandah at Laquet absorbing the view and teaching.

I have to say nice one Fizz-a-wallah ... not too taxing at all!

* I know this gives you a crick in the neck but so be it!

How do you know he loves you?

When you arrive on the doorstep and he opens the door and he says "hi, how was your day?" And you respond ...

Me ~ Do you remember how much you love me?

Simon ~ *long drawn out* Yes! *scared look on his face* Why? What have you done?

Me ~ I have headlice and we need to go upstairs to the bathroom and treat our hair with the lotion!

Simon ~ Me as well?

Me ~ Yes!

Simon ~ Ah, the joys of living with a nursery teacher!

We're now sitting here waiting for the lotion to cook ... it takes 2 hours and then we get to wash it off!?! Now I need to go and ring my mother-in-law* who I saw on Saturday and warn her :o) Aren't you glad you're not me!

* Balls! Just realised I better include sis-in-law and brother-in-law too!! And Kev ... boy I'll be popular!

Weekend

Yesterday was a truly delightful day, I walked on the beach in Seaford and had a fantastic meal (rice with chicken and a spicy soup followed by Layali Libnan ~ Lebanese Nights) cooked by Ahmed's mum. Just so nice to spend time with people you love :o) There appear to have been tonnes and tonnes of stones dumped on the beach, ready to be washed away in the storms to come this winter. In more exciting news, Kev is moving to Seaford the weekend at the end of half term ... and as usual, he does lead that kind of existence*, I will be going down to help him move, again! I'm certainly looking forward to spending more time on that beach.

Ahmed and his mum are on their way up north now, to see his sisters and nephews ... I, on the other hand, am looking forward to leftovers from last night's dinner today!!

* Only kidding, actually ~ he's going to kill me for that one!

Unconscious mutterings #193

I say ... and you think ... ?

Weeks :: 1 until a holiday ~ hurrah!
Cough :: "Cough it up love" ... said by my ex-deputy head whenever I stuttered slightly! NO pressure there then, I'm already stuttering and now you want me to hurry!!
Jail :: Jailhouse Rock
Produced :: music producer
? :: What? When? Why? Where? Who?
Stapler :: Staple gun
Next :: Next Directory
Perky :: Along with his mate Pinky
Oxygen :: necessary
Musical :: Seven Brides for Seven Brothers ... I want to go and see it!!