Monday, Monday!

Monday, start of the working week. Staff meeting day!

Did you know that Monday, gets its name from the Moon, which in turn gets its name from Mani, the Germanic Moon god. Similarly, the Italian name (lunedi), the French name (lundi) and the Spanish name (lunes) come from the Latin name for the moon, Luna.

Monday's child is fair of face or so they say!

However, this Thursday's child is not happy about having to go out on a long journey to work when on this Monday morning it's still pitch black and blowing a hoolie out there! *wanders off to look for scarf and gloves for the day's expedition*

Unconscious mutterings #197

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

Nick :: steal, take
Focus :: concentrate
Police :: Down the Nick!
Miles :: And miles to go before I sleep
Earn :: wages
Twice :: two times
Razor :: blade
Personality :: transplant ... who am I talking about? I'll consider that one :o)
Dumped :: dropped
Reliable :: what my car needs to be!

Thirteen artists regularly on my playlist ... sitting here listening as I type!

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A 6 word novel what I wrote!

Tagged by rashbre, I have to write a novel in 6 words ... he's much better at it than me!!

The obvious one is of course ... School, a story of teenage angst ~

School ~ bell, writing, maths, waiting for bikesheds

and then there's always

New Shoes ~ yearning, stomach twisting lust in public!

Nanny Ogg's meme

Stolen from the Thegn himself, I don't know if Ogg is his Nanny or why this meme is her's.

1) Where did you take your default pic? Tossa de Mar
2) What exactly are you wearing right now? PJs (lilac), dressing gown (big, navy blue with a hood) and slippers (lilac) it's freezing!
3) What is your current problem? Work, management of adults is so much harder than working with children.

Chapter 1:
1) Middle names: Elizabeth
2) Current place: Home office aka spare bedroom.
3) Eye colour: Hazel / brown

Chapter 2:
1) Do you live with your parents? No, sometimes wish they did as they live in deepest, loveliest France!
2) Do you get along with your parent(s)? Yes, probably becasue I don't live with them all the time!
3) Are your parents married/separated/divorced? Married, since June 1962.
4) Do you have any siblings? Yes, a younger brother.

Chapter 3: Favourite ...
1) Ice Cream: Lemon sorbet
2) Season: Summer

Chapter 4: Do you ...
1) Write on your hand? Only when absolutely necessary!
2) Call people back? Usually
3) Believe in love? Yes
4) Sleep on a certain side of the bed? Yes, as you stand at the bottom of the bed and look up at it, I sleep on the right.
5) Have any bad habits? Too many to count. Don't we all?
6) Any mental health issues? Like I'd admit that on t'Internet to you lot!?!

Chapter 5: Have you ...
1) Broken a bone? Is a fractured ankle the same as a break?
2) Sprained stuff? Probably
3) Gotten stitches? Only after an operation, never after an accident.
4) Taken painkillers? See, 1/2/3 above.
5) Gone SCUBA diving or snorkelling: Yes, both.
6) Been stung by a bee? Wasp not a bee. Bitten by insects galore.
7) Thrown up at the dentist? NO, but I feel like it when I say the word dentist.
8) Sworn in front of your parents? Yes and at my father BB (before Broadway, when he was still drinking!)
9) Been sent to the head teacher's office? A time or two, both in primary and secondary school.
10) Been expelled? Nope, my mother would have killed me!

Chaper 6: Who/What/When was the last ...
1) Person you called? Mum
2) Person you hugged? Simon
3) Thing you ate? Stir-fried noodles with pork, peppers, pak choi, mushrooms and onions.
4) Thing you drank? Tea, I'm on 2nd mug.
5) Time you cried? Last night at the homeopath's ... she does have this affect on me!
6) Wished on a star? Probably, in the summer au laquet where the sky is clear that you see shooting stars and the whole of the Milky way each and every night.

Please feel free to steal away ... or I'll tag you if you really want? Is a tag really a teg if you ask for it? Actuallly aren't I due a revenge tag on the Ducky one?

Thanks!

So dinner last night was lovely!

We ate and talked and bitched and laughed and cried. It was relaxed picky bits of food, nothing special but the soup was delicious (see recipe below!) and the profiteroles, well, when is a profiterole ever bad? Right?

Simon hid in the living room all night long watching golf on the telly. Actually how is it that no matter the hour, day, month, year he can always find golf on the telly? Is that an answerable question?

But I digress, today and yesterday, I am and was truly grateful for my friends!

Jo's Tomato, Rice and Bacon soup

Not an exact science, this soup changes a little bit each time I make it. Depending on the saucepan size, the people who will eat it (if Ruth hadn't have been coming I'd have put a bit of chilli in) and the quality (sometimes they're helped by a pinch of sugar, or by roasting them first) or amount of tomatoes that are in the fridge on any give day!

1 pack cubed pancetta
1 tbsp olive oil
2 medium-ish onions, sliced
3 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped a bit
2 lbs tomatoes, halved
1 litre vegetable stock, I use Marigold Bouillon myself
2 squirts of sun dried tomato puree
2 handfuls of long grain rice, my hands are, well, shall we go so far as to say, they're not ladylike and dainty
S & P

1. Fry the pancetta in a non-stick pan until golden brown. Drain, leaving the fat in the pan and put to one side.
2. Add the olive oil, onions and garlic to the pan and cook until the onion are soft.
3. Add the chunks of tomato and the stock (the tomatoes should be covered in liquid). Cover, bring to the boil and then turn down and simmer gently for 10 minutes or so. Take the opportunity to enjoy a glass of fruity merlot whilst this is happening.
4. You now need to whiz this to a pulp. I use my trusty food processor ... but I can picture lots of little people doing this by foot, just like French peasants making wine in the Languedoc.
5. OK, now the fun. You need to sieve the seeds/skin etc out. I suggest you use the person you live with. Mine is 6' 2" and quite strong. He use a ladle in a sieve to great effect, squashing out every last drop of delicious soupiness! I took the opportunity to enjoy another glass of that fruity Merlot!
6. Finally, pour the soup back into your saucepan. Add the tomato puree, rice and pancetta, simmer for 20 minutes until the rice is cooked. Season with S & P to taste.
7. I served mine with olive croutons (made from Tesco's Finest olive bread) and some crème fraîche. I have been known to artfully tear some fresh basil in at the last possible moment.

More letters

I ~ A night in, tonight in fact but with friends. Ruth and Su are coming to dinner :o) It'll be a strange meal ... no blue/unpasturised cheese or booze (Su's expecting in February), no major amounts of chilli / garlic (Ruth is as fussy as all hell ... but I love her anyway!) I think I'm going to do potato wedges and chicken bits as a starter with BBQ sauce and some dips. And then big bowls of bacon and tomato pasta with mozerella and some sourdough bread to mop up the sauce. Can't wait for 7 o'clock!!

J ~ Running late for school again!! Just take 2 minutes to fill in a quick blog entry and here I am 20 minutes later and now I'll be chasing my arse all day. Tomorrow morning when my head says "just 5 minutes" the other voice in there will speak to it very sternly indeed!!!!!

K ~ Started major Christmas buying on the weekend ... well bought 3 gifts including a wonderful find for Kristina ... a story book all about her! Letterbox has all sorts of personalised gifts that they'll deliver direct to your door!

L ~ Is for luscious beef casserole last night for dinner; it's one of the few things I really like about the winter. Gorgeous wintery stews ... eaten whilst watching the fireworks of course :o) I've gone on a bit about food this morning ... sorry, must be hungry already!

M ~ So it's Monday again, the start of another week! Only 5 more weeks of school ... I know, I know another holiday :o) I'll leave it there before you all try to strangle me at once I think.

Unconscious mutterings #196

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

Theft :: Stolen
Storage :: Boxes
Pick :: "Got to pick a pocket or two"
Los Angeles :: LAX
The one :: Jet Li
Accent :: Mine is south Walian, from just west of Swansea.
Rivalry :: Malapropisms
Process :: Recipe
Streets :: Traffic
Museum :: Natural History Museum, London ~ my favourite!

Alphabetically speaking A to H (leaving the rest for tomorrow)

A ~ I've been awake a while ... a long while. Since about 1.40 in fact when Simon dived out of bed because my mobile phone was bleeping! Not a chance of me going back to sleep after that :o( I feel an afternoon nap coming on already!

B ~ Bonfire night ... love it, the smell of woodsmoke and burning tyres. Like our local yoofs need any encouragement!?!

C ~ Had an amazing takeaway last night, from a great curry place around the corner. Lemon rice and tarka dahl with yoghurt and saag aloo. Could have aided the insomnia last night actually :o)

D ~ Bought Dad's Christmas present ... of course I can't tell you what it is, he might be a reader. I have given it to Santa to pack and deliver.

E ~ Evil @ Evans ... I was shoe shopping the other night when I witnessed the most hateful act towards a child you could imagine. A family (young mother, grandmother, teenager, toddler and mum's friend) were shopping in Evans. Whilst everyone ran around trying clothes the wee tot ... she was probably 3, maybe 3 and 1/2 ... was running around kissing herself in the mirrors. Lovely! You know the kind of thing ~ look what I can see in that mirror! Isn't she gorgeous? Mwah! All this time Grandma was pursuing her.

Then suddenly when she came within arms length of Grandma, she (the wizened old hag!)grabbed the bundle of gorgeousness and pulled her back to her side .... by her hair!!! Needless to say she was non-English speaking because if she did she'd have had the edge of my tongue! But her English speaking mother got it anyway. She's bloody lucky I didn't call the police. Bluewater have their own Bobbies on patrol you know!

F ~ Booked our ferry to go to France for Christmas. Don't panic Lisa, I'm going to tell the Post Office to hold on to any deliveries if the stray bear hasn't arrived by then!

G ~ As of yesterday, I've got a gynecologist's appointment next month! Oh goody ... the fun just keeps on rolling in!!!!!!!

H ~ Home at last!! Just been to Tesco's ... nightmare! The day before Bonfire night in the sausage aisle is at least as bad as the turkey aisle on the day before the day before Christmas Eve!! But I just made it home before my parking spot was pinched by a football supporter on his way up the road to a home match at the Priestfield ~ so H is for Hurrah too!

*snore*

All I can say is thank goodness it's Friday! Hibernation sounds fab!!!!

Sssssssssh!

... can you hear that? Listen ... yep! That's the sound of Simon scraping the windscreen! First frost of the winter :o(

Thirteen Things I did during half term

1. Last week was half term in most parts of the UK. Another school holiday I hear you cry! Too blinking right I shout back. I had a lovely week and now have returned for a new term full of vim and vigour. So what did I do with my week off? Here goes ...
2. I went into school on Monday just so that I could have the place to myself! Did some preparation for the new term and the new children who start next week.
3. On Tuesday I had lunch with Kelly, before her and Leah disappeared off to Prague for the week.
4. Kelly dropped me off in school after lunch and I argued with technical support (I'm the IT coordinator) on the phone for an hour :o)
5. Deep cleaned the bathroom *note to self, don't leave it so long next time*
6. Went shopping for winter shoes. Couldn't find any. Argued with the shop manageress about leaving a trainee in the show department on her own to get swamped. Didn't find any shoes!
7. Had lunch with Ruth ~ laughed until we cried!
8. On Friday went to Brighton.
9. Stopped on the way to have morning coffee with MIL.
10. Packed ~ books, kitchen equipment and bedding.
11. Helped best friend to move house.
12. Ached after carrying all the boxes.
13. Finally à la Fizzy (ie a roll of bin bags and stay in here until your finished) tidied home office, causing Simon to have minor coronary due to shock!