Sunday 23 September 2012

Held to ransom

Now don't go thinking this is some surreal story about highwaymen or Robin Hood but it is a story about being held to ransom, by a spider of epic proportions....

Imagine the scene, the household are all tucked up in their beds (except Doodles but more of that in a minute..) even the dogs are soundly asleep and the place is quiet with a capital Q.

I'm awoken by the sound of mumbled shouting, yes I'm aware that doesn't make sense but hear me out!

Apparently Doodles has had a late night on the computer in the ever so wonderful world of warcraft, after finishing on the laptop he ambles off to the bathroom to brush le teeth. Merriment ensues.

Whilst the toothbrush is in his mouth he spots a spider on the wall, not any old spider but one of the massive house spiders that like to wander about in the autumn. He mumbles something at the top of his voice while the toothbrush is still firmly in le mouth-

"Moley mell, qwat der muckletisdatmuddertrucker?"

Well at least that's what it sounded like, this leaves me WIDE awake because
i. Somebody is mumbling at the top of their voice yo!
ii. Doodles NEVER swears.

Which means it must be something bad.

I shout out and ask him what is wrong and he yells back that it's a mahoosive spider!
Cue me firmly slapping the husband awake to go and rescue us from this intruder. By the time the husband has got there it had scuttled away so torches were brought in and crevices all over the bathroom were examined..
Nothing, zip, nada, negatory good buddy on the spider front.

So, doing what any normal family would do - we shut the bathroom door, shut all of our bedroom doors and went to the kitchen to wash our hands if we need the toilet during the night.

Yes. We. Are. Cowards.

It finally turned up a couple of days later. Me and the husband came home to find the sucka on the floor on the dining room, covered by a vase that Doodles had managed to get on top of it as it trundled past at warp speed.....

We've had two more since then, one that the little dog was caught playing with and had eaten by the time I had gotten something to get it out of the house with (URGH!)

And one that became toilet flush fodder.

Held to ransom. Totally.



Here's a picture of a rabbit and a kitty to take your mind off it....

Wednesday 19 September 2012

Ups and downs, mountains and molehills, peaks and troughs.

Things are all higgledy-piggledy around here at the moment. We've had another birthday - Doodles has reached the grand ol' age of 16, my how time flies.
We had food and outings with a side order of shopping and cake to finish the day off nicely. Actually the cake came the next day as we decided we wanted to have our cake and eat it whilst watching Dr Who. What a brilliant combo, chocolate cake and a time lord.

Then came Monday, off to the hospital to get my machine...... I'm not a big fan of my machine, it's to regulate my breathing over night as I apparently have a tendency to stop breathing when I'm asleep. The machine blows air through a mask and it's decidedly unbecoming. In fact I look like Bane from the latest Batman film.
Grim, very grim.

Tuesday brought tears and sobbing. I miss my Dad so much it really hurts. I've even had Sherm record Dad's answer phone message so that I can listen to his voice whenever I want to.
I think it was a mixture of having the kids' birthdays and the machine and him just not being there. I know it'll get better and that I probably need this time to grieve but it doesn't make it any easier.

Since LaLa is now 18 she is off out a lot, we miss her but also love the fact that she's out there enjoying life and having fun. It's is a special age when the world is your oyster and life is just there for living!
Dancing, parties, friends, boyfriend, work, college. I remember that age well and truth be told, don't feel old enough to have a daughter of 18...

This is his Ninja pose apparently.



Life, it's all still a journey eh?
After.
Before.



How much do you think my Dad is a Galileo lookalike!




Wednesday 5 September 2012

Handling situations with grace

Lala had a get together to celebrate her birthday. We were all very excited about it and looked forward to a nice evening around the fire pit with friends and marshmallows...

What actually happened was this...

*Very drunk teenagers

*Disrespectful teenagers

*Lala discovering her friends aren't quite what she thought they'd be

*Vomit (alcohol induced...)

*Trips to fetch more beer

*Intimidation



I think every parent/child mix goes through this at one time but boy, it's not easy. Especially when your child wants you to give some of these people a second chance.

So, how to handle a situation with grace. I guess I must approach it with an open ear and pleasant smile, also I think I should remember I had wild ways too- back when I was younger. I'm not going to hold the feelings of disappointment inside as they will just eat me up but I am going to realise that LaLa was as hurt as we were and that it wasn't her fault and not to hold it against her or keep bringing it up to cause bad feeling.

Plus, a couple of these people were actually lovely and didn't drink themselves into stupidity or be arrogant and negligent all in the same breath...

Do we, as parents, have the right to tell our kids who is being a good friend and who they should avoid? Or do we step back and realise that some things just have to be found out for themselves and that we should keep a calm demeanour and a gentle smile with arms ready to catch our kids when the unexpected happens.

Lala, Haylesowen & Superman

J-boy and McSpannah

The LaLa and Annie
Grace, my friends, grace in the bucket loads.