Phone calls with a teenager

Phone call No 1:

"Shelly, right, that's it I am leaving here, I've had enough of this shit. That wagon, is out of line and I am going to report her and she is dead as soon as I am finished with her. You know what she did, she feckin said I couldn't bring my portfolio home with me? Like what the feck, who does she think she is. I'm NOT staying here with this shit, I don't need this crap"
"I.."
"And I'm feeling sick and she's making me feel shit and who the hell does she think she is to tell me"
"Well"
"She's nothing, she's a and a and this is shit. Reporting her isn't going to work, nothing is going to change, its crap, and I'm not putting up with it. I am standing up for what I believe and this is just crap"
"But,"
"I'm leaving and I'm taking my portfolio"
"You're staying in school"
"YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND, its all about rules this and rules that and I am not being oppressed. "
"We have all to sometimes put up with situations we don't like, sometimes I don't want to come to work, but if I gave up and just walked out, where would we be?"
"Oh, its always about a good job and money with you, what about my beliefs , what about me standing up for myself, just because you allow yourself to be walked all over does not mean its going to happen to me"
"Stay put"
"But Shelly , you don't understand, its shit and she has no right and stop making excuses for her"
"Okay, we'll talk about it this evening, okay?"
"Kay"

* Hangs up *

Phone call no 2:
In a hushed tone
"Shelly, I'm in trouble"
"What?! What's up?"
"You know the way my ginge got the shit kicked out her, well, the dolphin is coming down to the school to beat us all up"
"He's what? Calm down, I can't understand a word you're saying"
"He's getting a gang together to beat us all up!!"
"Okay, now seriously, do you think?"
"Isn't school nearly over and where is the ginge?"
"She's in the loo crying"
"Well, when school is over, just come home.."
"I can't leave the others all by themselves!!! SHELLY, I am warning you, if I knife someone.."
"Where will you get the knife?"
"I forgot it today..." silence "Only kidding, just warning you if I arrive home beat up, there'll be trouble"
"Yes, there will. If anyone lays a hand on you, there will be trouble and I'd like to think Mister Flipper knows this. I sincerely doubt he will arrive down at the school to beat up a group of school girls"
"Okay."
"Chat to you this evening"
"Kay, bye bye"

The people I work with must think I have some sort of drug problem from the amount of mumbled conversations I am having in the hallway.

Conversations in Teenage ville

The kid's mate dropped down, K. They were hanging on the couch and the following coversation ensued:
Phone rings
"Its me , yeah what about me ginge, hey, what's up? Ya what? He did what? I'll kill him. No, hold on" turns to the mate K, "its me ginge, the boyf bate her up"
Shocked reaction from the mate K.

"No, hold on, I was telling K, yeah, you okay, no way, okay hold on, how are ya feeling? Ya, a course, no don't worry I'm on it" Hangs up. Retells story to K and us. We were sortof used to this sort of conversation and so we nod in all the right places.

Phone rings again, another mate. She starts crying when she hears it, this makes the kid and K feel better about getting their mate to get some friends and head to some place that begins with the word poppy. Kids hangs up and another discussion ensues. Phone rings again, at this stage both K and the kid are on the phone.

"Yeah , do you know someone, I need someone bate up. No, for real" I ask her if she's on the phone to Dial a Gangster and if there is something big going down', I want no part of it.
Hey, I watch enough gangster movies to know when a hit is going down. The following conversation would most likely make sense if you were 17 or stoned.
"Yeah, okay listen D, right you got transport?" I stupidly ask who D is
"He's the guy that wants to give you sperm"
Its always nice to hear this from your kid so I stop asking questions.
"Right, you know some skinheads?" Obviously this guy was answering in the affirmative because she continued with the planning and plotting.
"Head to , take a left at the ginge with the broken jaw and keep going until you see a fellow that looks like a dolphin. He shagged his sister, apparently. I KNOW!, anyways, you call me when the job is done, right?"
She hangs up, turns to the mate and says in all seriousness
"Its gonna be sorted"
I ask if the guy is so stupid why they can't ring him up and ask him to beat himself up. They look at me, so I refrain from making any more stupid suggestions like that. So now I have this image of my head of this stoner, she told him to look like a junkie to 'fit in' and so the dolphin won't suspect anything, driving around this imaginery place looking for a dolphin to beat up? Oh to be 17 again. I told her she was probably taking the skinheads away from beating up poor defenseless foreigners. Cue more eye rolling.

Monday blues

I can be such an idiot at times. But that's a seperate issue. The kid arrived home on Friday pretty pissed off. Usually Friday is a good day for her as its the weekend and she has no school until Monday. Today however the love/hate relationship continues with the art teacher who thought she was being funny. The kid made some remark about someone being drunk as a joke and the art teacher retorted with a comment about not everyone having a drink problem like her. Now as far as I am concerned, the kid was suspended and the issue dealt with. There was no need for the art teacher to throw her quip in. Of course it upset the kid. We said that she should complain to the vice and if nothing was done, we would get involved. The fun of being a parent. I was shattered on Friday from the mental week, both emotionally and physically. Decided to completly go mad on the Saturday and ended up paying the price on Sunday. Was death warmed up and in a fine condition for an attempt at getting pregnant.

Our man, who has the patience of a saint when it comes to us, reckons a drunken shag might just be the one to do it considering my ovaries are such skanks. The poor man was left waiting for us on Saturday night due to a falldown in communication. I feel so bad, we did make him dinner. I always feel sorry for people when they stay over at hours, we have the appetite of newts and them poor souls, they must be thinking a titch barbeque might not be a bad idea. Like I said he is fairly easy going but I reckon we test his limits at times.

As always, the baby attempts take a lot out of Mammy2 and she's out of work today as well. She's been hit pretty bad this time with the evil depression. And the kid is on flying form regarding nattering and wanting to hang out. A lovely combination.

Top all that off with deadlines for this week and the website celebrates its 2nd birthday bash on the Saturday. Big waterfall, sharp rocks underneath, bring it :)

It is a week to Rome. I can't wait. To switch off from everything and spend lots of QT with the little woman. I hope that she's well enough though, was chatting to her this morning, sometimes I can talk her down from the mood and sometimes she's just so caught up in , there's no talking to her. Thankfully,its her birthday tomorrow so she has something positive to focus on. That and Rome should keep the spirits up.

Just had the kid on txt ranting about the bus driver, the teacher, the weather, school...etc...Mammy2 has left the shape of herself in the door to get out of the apartment before she arrives home. Fun times ahead this evening, I reckon by the time I get home, there'll be a body bag in the apartment. As to who's in it, I'm taking bets now.

Working '9 to 5'

Or not. Its very rare in my line of work that I would work long hours and the odd weekend, but with a deadline looming it has to be done. Just bad timing with the week that's in it I guess. Mammy2 has been quite unwell, the kid has been bouncing off walls literally and I am up to me oxters in work. This week has consisted of the following, in no particular order

- Work
- Phone calls from Mammy2 upset about being out of work, feeling guilty because she had to go to the doc, because she had to pay money to her therapist, feeling guilty about life in general.
- Phone calls and txts from the Kid demanding to know why the shopping wasn't done, when were we planning on doing it and how she NEEDED 10 euro for some dress, mounting boards for her portfolio and prints out of the interview process from the four colleges she applied to. Oh, and while I'm at it munchies.
- Nixer updates and organising birthday bashes.
- socialising
- work
- work
- more phone calls as per above.

I'm pretty sure the people I work with think I am some sort of drug dealer, as I tend not to take personal phone calls in the office,so usually when the phone rings, I have to leave the office and head to some remote corridor where I can talk. This week, its happened a lot. Hopefully things will calm down next week. Have I mentioned I am crap on the phone? Txting is fine, but actually answering it? Nah.

I was getting a wee bit stressed about the workload and the hours and then I had a thought. Like I started this blog post with, it is very rare I have to work these hours. I'm in a job I'm very happy with, I get well paid and the odd time I have to work late. There are people out there who work 2 to 3 jobs, hating what they do but do it because they have to. To take care of their family, or to pay for college fees or to just survive. So my few extra hours, doing something I really enjoy is not something worth complaining about :)

The kid got 124 out of a possible 150 marks in her Oral. I am well impressed. From the way she was going on, she thought she might have messed up. She's also nearly finished her portfolio prepartion. There is a list longer then my arm waiting for me at home, regards mounting boards. She'd ask Mammy2 only for Mammy2 is a bit out of it this week and the fact that she gets up and dressed is a bonus. Its that time of the year which is pants for most people, but if you suffer from depression at all, then I reckon its a bitch. Its so hard though to try and make her understand that she doesn't have to worry about anything and that she's too hard on herself. Stuff will get done and there
is nothing that can't wait until tomorrow.

The french grinds kicked off last night, a friend of ours is giving her French grinds, we're hoping she can move up from the E in the xmas exams! We were also in touch with an agency about chemistry grinds as that was the other E. Chemistry is something she has always struggled with but is really interested in. Madness. She's been in really good form though, thank feck. With the exception of me forgetting the munchies one evening, she's been fab. Bating green tea into me like it was going out of fashion. Ovulation is this weekend. I hope the body is ready for it. I hope the
ovaries are ready for it. Feckers that they are. I received a letter from them during the week.

Dear Shelly,
Did you skip biology lessons or summit?
Green tea alone will not get through to us. How many documentaries have you see where there is a green tea bag swimming towards us as a deep voiced man talks about conception.
We need sperm. As you're a laserbeam and don't know what this is, I suggest you have a conversation with a straight person and get back to us asap. Or google it. In the meantime, don't call us, we'll call you.

love and kisses,
your ovaries

They are such bitches.

Irish Oral and being hip to the groove

The kid had her irish oral today and appeared to do alright. The examiner said she had a good grasp of the Irish Language, the kid reckons its because she's from the bog. I doubt they were her exact words but you get our drift. She's been in great form, she has her moments as do most teenagers. I was chatting to her at the weekend, and asked how her mate was, but I stuck ster on the end of the girl's name. She gave me that look, that says "Can you stop embaressing yourself?" and responded with

"Shelly, you are old, you will never be " and she did the air quotes " down with it". I don't give up though, I'm sure in some countries I would be hip. Perhaps. Mammy2 has been sick again, the poor thing. Its that time of the year, I keep mentioning Rome and she seems to perk up. We had lots of QT at the weekend, the kid stayed over in the boyfs and then 'missed' the 6 o'clock bus and got home around 10. We caught up on lots of rest and DVD watching. Yes, I know hardcore.

Work has been mental , so much so that my nixers are on hold. Its good stress though, if there is such a thing, I'm learning so much though its great. Stuff that you could be ages studying, when you're thrown in the deep end , its always the best way to learn. Although I could do without working weekends.

The best mate C finally got in touch. He rang me yesterday, I was in no mood for chit chat. He acted as if everything was normal and like he hadn't blown me off for the last 2 weeks with no contact whatsoever. When you think we used to talk at least once a day, it was a bit of a shock to the system. I guess blokes think differently to girls and in his head, I am just another nagging woman in his life. Pants to that. I don't have the energy or time or the inclination to analyse why he does the things he does. I guess I'll just leave him to it and he knows where to find me if he wants to catch up.

Things on the website have calmed down a lot thank god. My stress levels couldn't take much more of but what about meeeeeeeee bshit that was going on. I think, and I honestly believe this, the people who left, thought that if they left, the place would grind to a halt. Its a community, an online growing community which is bigger then me or anyone else on it. Listen to me, I should write for HallMark :) I'm meeting a member of the website tonight, he's been around for like forever, since the scary GCN days. I don't feel like I know him personally as we've never met but I feel like I know him. I'm not sure that made any sense, I'm pretty sure I never make any sense. I am excited and nervous
and scared. What if he doesn't like me? What if he thinks I'm a nutcase. This is most likely, it has been said to me a few times. I suppose all I can do is be myself. If that doesn't freak the bejaysus out of him, nothing will.

In summary, the last 2 weeks have been work, work, work, rest and work. Did I mention the new pillows? They are sooooo soft and warm. And make you never want to leave the bed. We thought it was a good investement as Mammy2 spends a fair amount of time in bed sleeping. Before your minds travel to the gutter. Yesterday was a strange day, I was very tired, stressed, out of sorts with the world and then a few things triggered stuff that I prefer not to think about. Like the mother and the fact that I am not pregant. We used to organise a parenting meet for gay people who were planning on having kids. It finished up around 2 years ago due to lack of interest and us not having the time. I since joined an online community and one of the couples who used to come to our meetings are pregnant. I am of course delighted for them. Its just hard, when you hear about someone else's success and yet month after month my ovaries do everything but the job they were designed for. With the Six Nations coming up, I've a good mind to avoid the rugby altogether. Let that be a lesson to the picky biatches.

That might backfire though because I like the rugby. I may need to re-think this.

NCAD and family meetings

The kid filled in her CAO form last night with the help of Mammy2. I was on google alert.

"Check Ballyfermot? What's the course code?"
"NCAD"
"Thought you didn't want to do go there"
"Stop asking questions and search"
"Sir, yes sir"

And so it went on. She was so nervous about it the poor thing. She put NCAD first in the end, from the way she was talking she was putting that last as it was nothing but a place for ponces and so on. But its first, Dun Laoghaire second and DIT third. I think she put 2 diploma courses after that. We had decided that weekend, as she was being so good, to play a joke on her. Usually when there's something up, we call a family meeting. But this time and she had been so good and not causing hassle, we called one anyway. Her face was a picture.
I just said to Mammy2

"Should we have the meeting now then" after they had finished filling out the form and her face fell
"What, what did I do? Oh, god" etc
I looked at Mammy2, tried to keep a straight face and started with
"We've been worried about you lately, you appear to be happy, you're doing the housework unasked..." and then
we started laughing. It took a minute for it to sink in that we were joking and then it was "YOU BITCHES" Mammy2 gave her a hug to calm the nerves. We thought it was funny, although perhaps while she was stressed about the form wasn't the best idea to play this little joke.

The brother was up for a visit yesterday, he brought up our christmas presents up. Well, he had to bring the kid
shopping for her new phone and he lost our voucher so he gave us cash. But it was good to see him anyway. He was
all chat about who died down home and who was sick. He can be so old fashioned at times! He was talking about
some stuff that he was moving up to the house from the old house. We had stored a lot of Mam's stuff in the old house when we didn't know who was going to be living in the new house. Our uncle who has a mad penchat for cleaning got rid of nearly all of it, including Mam's stuff. We let on we weren't too put out as the kid took it badly. Naturally enough, it was most of her stuff as well. So all we have left is photos of her now, nothing else. Which is a bit shite to say the least.

Granted, they were only material things, but they were Mam's and there were memories attached to them. There's nothing down there for us now, in the house at any rate.

But enough moaning...I guess we just have to stockpile up on the tweed!

The website drama continues..I wish people would take the time to realise that we are real people behind our usernames...and when did people get so mean.

Just in general. This week , between PMT, people making demands of the team and of me, I just want to tell them to PFO. Only for I don't curse. And I wouldn't be so rude.

But what's with being so mean? Do you get fun out of barbed comments? Out of making other people feel like shit? So you can feel all superior? I do not understand the need for it and how people can do it.

However, the bday bash is coming soon and I am starting to get excited about it :) It should be a good night and I hope no issues. Apart from what to wear ;)

What global warming?

I'm on the 2nd floor of our building and it looks like the set of a disaster film outside. 2 people just blew past my window. Okay, slight exageration, but you get the picture. Lashing rain and wind whipping around the building. It takes my mind of this technical specification that I need to write. Yawn. But yeah, the weather.

Alpine Skiing: Races shut down as the Alps heat up
Freak weather causes travel chaos
Flights and ferry sailings disrupted by stormy conditions
Thousands of homes suffer power cuts amid heavy storms
Drivers urged to beware stormy conditions

Now granted, us Irish declare a state of emergency when someone farts, but this appears to be quite rough. I'd hate to see is if there was a tornado. The county would shut down, people would stock pile peas and carrots and think Armageddon was upon us. Tourists would be forgiven for thinking the end of the world is nigh the way we react. I suppose we don't have much going on here, so when the wind rises to a max of 15 kmph on low ground, its time to donate your body to science.

Speaking of donating bodies to science, I should sign the kid up for that. I've never seen anyone have so many illnesses. The latest. A migraine. Which resulted in 3 phone calls this morning, in the middle of a meeting. Its a never a good time for the school to ring me as most of the time its not good news, but this was taking the piss. I explained to the teacher that there was no way I could get up to the school and could she stay in the study hall. The teacher said that was grand, she just thought she should ring. Easy know she didn't live through the black death/menigitis/cancer/hiv scare of last year. If she had come home, she could forget about going to hang at his place tomorrow night. Funny how the headache is exclusive to school isn't it?

She got her Leaving Cert timetable. Still no sign of stress. She got her art result, she got 78 so was pretty happy with it. She's set out her timetable for the next 3 weeks before her mocks and as a result, how we are going to spend our evenings. Apparently we're her study buddies. I told her I passed my leaving years ago and didn't fancy re-sitting it. She made some sort of teenager cool face. Speaking of teeanger coolness, she's trying to teach me some new lingo the kids are all using. Apparently, to say some young wan is
"Bet up his hole" means she really likes or is well into the young gentleman. Said in your best Dublin twang obviously. If you see some young gentleman or woman, lets not be sexist, you say they are "touch meself lovely" . There ya go, throw in those phrases the next time you are at a dinner party and you'll be the belle of the ball. Or not.

Today's shopping list - Mastadon tickets. Don't ask, I didn't, I just queried the price, mentioned no pocket money until the year 2023, in which case she should be bringing us out and left it at that.

I Did Not Die

I Did Not Die

Do not stand at my grave and forever weep.
I am not there; I do not sleep.
I am a thousand winds that blow.
I am the diamond glints on snow.
I am the sunlight on ripened grain.
I am the gentle autumn’s rain.
When you awaken in the morning’s hush
I am the swift uplifting rush
Of quiet birds in circled flight.
I am the soft stars that shine at night.
Do not stand at my grave and forever cry.
I am not there. I did not die.

I love this song :)

As you may have I noticed , I have discovered the joy of YouTube AND I have discovered how to post things from it to the blog. How tech savy am I?

Xmas tests and fun with art

I arrived out yesterday morning to a note saying could Mammy2 make sure to have money, when the kid dropped up after school as she NEEDed to get red hair dye. Also would I pick up sugar and potatoes. The needs of a teenager. When I got home, the bathroom smelt like a chemist and all the rubber ducks looked like they were taking part in some orgy. They freak the kid out apparently and so she must move them about and make them look pornographic. I'm pretty sure she's not related to me. Mammy2 was a wee bit sick, so after putting her to bed and making sure she was all tucked up, I cooked dinner for myself and the kid. She was yapping about her results and how she has to start working on her portfolio now for art. She mentioned something about interviews this month, but I am pretty sure they wouldn't start interviewing before the CAO forms are filled in and sent off? Or have things changed that much since I was in school.

Overall, her christmas results were quite good. She was disappointed with the 41 in Biology and the E in French. The mad teacher won't let her drop down to Pass. The teacher is quite fond of her and thinks that if she'd work at it, she would do well. Its the same for a lot of subjects, its not that she doesn't understand any of them, its just that she's lazy. She got 71 in her Englishwhich she was chuffed. English and Art are her favourite subjects, despite the constant battles with the Art Teacher. Who was nice to her yesterday. I told the kid to play nice and get all the details about her portfolio sorted first. Which she did. I was amazed. Turns out we have to buy more stuff. Mounting boards etc. I'm sorry I asked. Today I need to buy in no particular order a toothbrush and jam. Don't ask. I'm pretty sure the people in the local Spar think I am losing it.

Dinner was the best thing ever according to her, she shares my obession with potatoes and I did mash. A half an hour later she's fast asleep after starting It by Stephen King. I got lots of work done on my re-design and chilled out to some of my news without the noises from the clan along the lines of:
"Shelly, what the f**k are we listening to?"
"Please change that"
"You've got to be kidding me!" and so on and so forth.
You get the idea. My musical taste isn't appreciated by the family.

Drawing lines

The previous post was supposed to be set to yesterday's time and date. Because I am a programmer and have
difficulty with the most basic things like editing the date on a blog post or working a mobile phone, its gone and
placed itself in as Tueday's posts. Sometimes I don't understand code. Only sometimes mind you and its usually
when I can't see it.

The meeting went well yesterday and the team all gave their feedback. One of the administrators, who also happens
to be the best mate,C, couldn't make it. Spoke to him this morning and I can tell he's pissed off as a result of certain
descisions that were reached at the meeting. As a result, there's been no contact. I've been told I'm great for drawing lines for people. There's a difference between be just being Shelly and when I am an adminstrator on my site. I don't see how its an issue to draw lines? I've had numerous conversations with various members at different stages who just don't get it. They feel if they are friends with me, that I should be able to talk to them or that I can answer questions about the site. I can understand their confusion. I guess it just makes things simpler for me. Although with the best mate, I would expect him to understand.

This is the time when I need him most, both as a mate and as my administrator. But on both accounts, he's decided he's peeved. Sometimes we make mistakes, sometimes the descision goes against us, god knows I have been out-voted more times then I care to remember when it comes to most things but you have to learn within a team, and accept certain things. There's 10 people in the team, so if six of them vote for one thing, chances are its the right thing to do.

Men, sometimes they are fecking complicated. The kid has made a full recovery. We arrived home after the meeting to find her painting a picture of Marilyn Manson for her mate K. She needs hair dye, to get her hair colour, phone credit and her pills. She's home one day and the bank account is doing press-ups. She headed into school today. Thank feck. She was up at the ungodly hour of 6.30, something to do with hair straightening. She's meeting up with her man tomorrow and she might be staying down with him on Friday night. I'm trying to keep the smile from my face. Another night of free time and time to spend with the lovely Mammy 2. I'm starting to like all this free time I have.

A pair of boots

It was a picture moment, I should have taken a picture of it had Eddie been behaving himself but I guess it would only have made sense to myself and Mammy2. The apartment had stayed virtually the same for a week, everything
was were we had left it, the floor clean etc. The kid gets back from Holland , is in the door 5 minutes and:

- The boots lie discarded on the floor.
- Her shoulder bag throw on the couch.
- Her rucksack on the other armchair

Its good to have her back. To say we enjoyed the week break would be an understatement. A break away from being parents, from the constant attention a teenager requires and allowed us to be just a couple. It was great. Hopefully, this year will be a tad easier then the last with her. Who knows with her, its always a surprise. She's back and within minutes, her room looked like she'd emptied her wardrobe and thrown everything out. When I asked her what happened, she said she was and I quote tidying. We left her to it. I decided to take a break from the PC and catch up on some Current Affairs. Green tea and relaxing. With what was going on on my site, I was surprised at how relaxed I was. Normally, with the stuff going on , I am sitting online watching every move people make and panicking. I think I have learned to switch off espeically when there are more important things like family and the kid needing a hand with a bookcase. We moved her 'alter' out of the room and she now has a big bookcase for all her stuff. I'm hoping that the small species starting to grow at the bottom of her bed will be moved out. Sure enough, it was looking
a lot tidier as I passed on my way to bed.

She's at home today sick. I had a feeling she'd be ill and to be honest I didn't want to start her first day back with us with an arguement. I also appreciate that she needs to attend school but as I always say to Mammy when we have chats about this, her mental health is far more important to us then anything else. So I would rather she be happy, get her passes in the Leaving Cert and work from there. Thankfully its Art she wants to go on and study so it will be all about her portfoilo and interview process rather then the points system. Speaking of which, this week the CAO form needs to be filled in and also she needs to approach her art teacher. That's a horror film coming to a cinema
near you folks. If I can convince her to get the portfoilo details out of the way, then she can go back to actively hating the woman, which seems to take up a lot of her time.

As for my website, things appear to have calmed down. People are strange, I wish they'd take the time to think stuff through before splurging how they feel all over the place? Throwing out accusations, left right and center with nothing to back them up with. I don't usually mind, after all, way back in the dark days of looking after another website I had a helluva lot of personal stuff thrown at me, you develop a thick skin with these sort of things. Comes with the terrority, but when it comes to the stuff that was being said, then it wasn't on and I will stand by that. I am hoping to meet up with the guys who take care of the site alongside me this evening and see how they are holding up. As I have said all along, its them I worry about. I want to make sure they are okay above everyone else, because if they're not okay, then they can't very well make sure other peeps are. Despite all that, stress levels are relatively low and as is coffee intake.

The above paragraph was written before some more crap surfaced. Turns out the stuff going on affects other members as well and well, today just sucks. Royally. When it comes to the website. I've had better days.

Too Caute!

More pics here

http://www.angrypotato.net/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=13204

Makes me smile.....every time :)

Sometimes the road less traveled is less traveled for a reason

New pillows! No its not the name of the new porn movie starring Mammy2, get your mind out of the gutter. I am all excited about getting new pillows. Like I've said before, its the little things. Our pillows rival toast for lack of plumpness. Even with 2. There's nothing quite like a fluffy pillow. See what I mean about the little things. Its been 4 days since the kid left these shores for a week long stay with the sister in Holland and there is no way to describe the peace, the quiet, the relaxation of just being able to sit. Mammy2 compared it to a country that has battered by storms for months, torrential rain and tornados and then the calm. After the clean-up, and believe me , it took some time, you should her room, we are starting to just enjoy each other's company.

I have said it before, I love the kid to bits, but sometimes we all need a break. I have taken this relaxing to heart
and have done little or no work since christmas. Work in the evening I mean. There's been playing about on Youtube,
getting the awards section ready for my website and just watching dvds. Its been such fun. She's doing fine in Holland, she rang on New Year's day. Under the guise of wanting to chat. She cut to the chase pretty quickly. Some band, called Mutant or Masted or Monstorous are coming in March and she wants to get tickets for the boyf.
Out of her pocket money. I can't remember the last time she got pocket money! She's constantly saying "Oh sure, take that out of my pocket money" The bank rang last week to see why we weren't spending copious amounts of cash. Espeically when she appears to think we're ATMs. She returns on Sunday and its going to be mental. Mocks, CAO forms, portfolio perpartion and stress about the Leaving. Not to mention her 18th.

* head explodes *

I am PMTing at the moment, its the only explanation for my ability to fly off the handle at peeps. I have a meeting tomorrow with the team who do work on angryPotato to discuss the birthday bash, amongst other things. There's a long list of things but we are getting there. Slowly. I am hoping to get the re-design of the site ready when the birthday bash kicks off but realistically it may not be possible to get the 2 going together. Stress wise, with me trying to keep the levels down, I might hold off until after the Roosters and the birthday bash. Or drinks lots of green tea. Take up kick-boxing again. Its on the cards. I need a new ward-robe though, its been at least 6 months since I went shopping for clothes. Retail therapy and all that jazz. I think its time for some glad-rags. Always makes one feel better :)