Happy Halloween

Surely that's an oxymoron. Aren't we supposed to scared out of our wits tonight? So have a frightening, alarming, terrifying, petrifying, spine-chilling, blood-curdling, horrifying, nerve-racking, fearsome, eerie, sinister, creepy, spine-tingling and spooky Halloween.

May the spirits of Celtic festivals past fill you with sugary and pumpkinny mirth. The UK doesn't really do Halloween so I shall have to live vicariously through others. Please take lots of photos of your costumes.


In other news… I have decided to use the month of November and the enthusiasm that abounds with NaNoWriMo to whip my WIP into shape. I need to find a Wipometer thingy for my side bar (please leave suggestions in comments). My goal is to at least have produced a finished 1st draft by Nov 30th. I'm going to blog the prog (that's progress in case it wasn't clear) and in doing so try to fulfil the challenge I was set to do NaBloWriMo - which is to blog every day in November.

There does my life I guess.

Onward to writing oblivion!

Just a Quickie…

Hello.

Greetings from the world of flannel jammies, big thick socks and fluffy red dressing gowns. In short my sick bed.

Of course this is exactly what I'd planned for this half term week anyway but I hadn't factored in the sneezing, sniffing, shivers and mountain of tissues I'm going through. I guess I didn't escape the virulent lurgi that Expecto expectorated all over me last Monday and I have succumbed to my first cold of the season.

It's a bit unfortunate as I had planned to wrestle the WIP to the ground and beat it into shape this week. But right now my back aches and I'm freezing so I think I might go back to bed.

Oh sod! I have to walk the dog.

OK first I'll walk the dog - then I'll get back into bed. Bum! I have to feed the kids.

OK first I'll feed the kids, then I'll walk the dog - then I'll go back to bed. Bugger! I'm still in my Jammies.

OK first I'll get dressed, then I'll feed the kids, then I'll walk the dog - then I'll go back to bed. Except I really need a shower.

I can't be bothered. Today is going to be a stinky day.

Be thankful the internet hasn't smellivision. I will go off and get well before bothering you with pointless posts again..

A Morning Visit To The Movies.

Today I got paid to go see a movie. It was Happy Feet. It was free. The catch was I had to go with sixteen four-year-olds, most of whom had never been to a cinema. And only two or three had seen the film before.

Now I don't know how many of you have seen Happy Feet. It has amazing animated sequences, brilliant music, fantastically choreographed dances and a stirring environmental message. Oh yeah - and it's really scary in parts. Big, huge, teeth-coming-to-gobble-you-up scary.

Perfect for a 4 year old's first trip to the movies.

The lights went down, the crimson curtains opened and a little boy (let's just call him Expecto) stood up and yelled at the top of his noggin,

"Mrs. V I'm really scared!"

Only 2 more hours to go!

I called Expecto over and he sat on my knee for the rest of the film. I whispered reassurances in his ear, preempting what was about to happen and helping him understand what was going on. To be honest with you - it's not really a kids film, in my opinion. He, however, wasn't easily calmed down and he proceeded to shout questions in my ear the entire film. The thing is he kinda sprayed every time he opened his gob. I had to take my specs off several times to wipe them down. On top of that he had a cold. Not the streamy kind - the thick, gooey, block-your-nose-up kind so that when he wasn't spraying , he was sniffing.

Actually it was more like snorting. It was deeply unpleasant. But I'm a professional and poor Expecto was nervous.

By the end of the movie I wasn't sure if he'd taken in any of what had gone on. All I was sure of was that I needed to go home and disinfect my face and my right ear. Then the lights went up and we set off two by two to the designated parental meeting point. Expecto walked in front of me chatting to his best mate, Nutty.

"Did you like that movie?" asked Nutty.

"Ye-ah! I thought it was brilliant!" said Expecto, his spittle dissolving into the gentle Autumn drizzle as we marched on.

My job is sometimes damp but it's never dull.

As I was saying.....

So this morning I said 1) that it was my first blogiversary and 2) that I had to go to the dentist. The first is still true ; the second is now in the past tense.

I write to you now with a frozen face and minus one very healthy upper right 8 - that is my wisdom tooth. There was absolutely nothing wrong with it and it it really didn't sit well with me that I should pay someone to whip it out. But I am not a dental professional and my hygenist told me that because it was so tightly packed into my jaw, it was impossible to clean around and my gums were suffering because of it. Also its inclusion in my mouth has caused such over-crowding that my front teeth have started to cross (well in the last 10 years it's become more pronounced) and my jaw is out of alignment. So basically there's nothing wrong with my tooth but I'm promised that my mouth will be a prettier place because I've had it removed.

I feel a bit sorry for my tooth. It's sitting in a little white envelope now. It is freaky lookin' though. On the one end it just looks like what was in my mouth BUT THE OTHER END LOOKS LIKE A SHARK'S TOOTH. No kidding it's about 2 cms long and pointy. It's fraggin' enormous. No wonder it took two people to extract it!

I've had past experience of having a molar pulled where the anaesthetic didn't work so I was less than normal serene self when I went in - but, actually, as oral mutilation goes it was really painless. I have an Eastern European Dentist who is very nice but is somewhat limited in her vocabulary. This was the woman who after cleaning my petrified (then) 10-year-olds teeth said

"Now you brush two times ebbery day or I come take all out. OK? Good!"

Honestly I wasn't confident she was even going to give me an anaesthetic. But she did - one on the upper gum (so unpleasant) and another on the roof of my mouth (excruciating). And thankfully they worked well and quickly. She explained that the lower jaw is harder to freeze that the upper. And so it seems to be for me.

The following couple of minutes were just yuck. There was all this scraping and the dental assistant had to hold my head steady while the 6' tall Eastern European Dentist practically climbed into my mouth to get enough leverage to yank the damn thing. They might as well have used a vice. Still she spoke soothingly to me as my head tossed back and forth.

"You do werry well. Das good. Juss one more minute. GOT IT!"

Then before I knew it my mouth was packed with cotton and she was barking a list of instructions while I was handed my coat and ushered out. It took about 5 minutes in all.

"No eat for two hour. No eat anything hot after that or mouth will bleed. No hot drink too. If pain after anaesthetic juss take normal painkiller. You be fine. Any kvestions? No? Byeeeee!"

Then I was handing over my credit card and drooling down my chin.

So here I am - tealess. It's two O'clock in the afternoon and I haven't had anything since breakfast at 7.30 and I can't eat for another hour. I'm bloody starving.

And no tea for the rest of the day. Who'd have thought that going to the dentist could have such unpleasant consequences.

Happy Bloggiversary to me.

One Year Old

A year ago today I did my first blog post. So today's my bloggy birthday. In a few hours from now I'll be sitting in a dentist chair while she takes out my only wisdom tooth. I'm not scared. Really. Not even slightly.

I am petrified.

Right now I've got to get up and do life stuff but I will return later on with the details.

Tagged Again

So whilst chatting with my buddy Absolute Vanilla recently, I mentioned that I'm having a hard time thinking of things to blog about. We're back to my missing Moos again! Being the fabulously generous woman that she is she tagged me … twice. I had actually done the first one earlier in the year. You can find it here if you're interested. But I am delighted to do this one. So these are the rules:

*Tagged bloggers post answers on their blogs & replace questions as they wish.
*Tagged bloggers state who they were tagged by & cannot tag the person whom they were tagged by.

I just used the same questions as Vanilla.

1. What do you do before bedtime? Generally I just watch TV or read - the former being followed by me waking up around midnight on the couch with a neckache.

2. What is your favorite sound? I do love the howl and crashing of a good thunderstorm. Hubby and I have been know to stay awake into the wee small hours just listening to the rain bashing off the windows. I love hearing the sounds of nature - so being by the coast or walking in the woods are two of my favourite things to do. Of course the laughter of my children is pretty hard to beat.

3. What were your childhood fears? I remember being absolutely paralytic with fear of the devil - and all things pertaining to evil and evil-doers. There's nothing quite like being taught religion by an ageing nun on the verge of a mental collapse to put the fear of the bogie-man in you. I spent quite a few years periodically suffering from nightmares and being scared of the dark. Luckily when I am asleep I am generally comatose. The weird thing is that now I can't bear any form of artificial light when I go to sleep. I loves the dark - it's the best way to see the stars.

4. What place have you visited that you can't forget and want to go back? I haven't travelled much really but I have to say that New England and The Pacific Northwest of America are two places I will definitely visit again (and again!). But there are many places on my 'to visit' list that I simply have to go to first - New Zealand, Italy, Alaska (I want to see the Northern Lights there), Scotland (I know! How could I have not been there?), Cuba, Mauritius and the South Pacific Islands - and these are just top of a very, very long list.

5. What has made you unhappy these days? Missing my good friends from my old hometown (I moved away almost a year ago now), the way that the greed for oil is screwing up the world we live in - environmentally, politically, financially and most importantly the way the human race is becoming fractured in face of it all.

6. What websites do you visit daily? Facebook, Blogging buddies, Google and my e:mail account.

7. What kind of person do you think the person who tagged you is? Ah Vanilla! (I'm now humming the back beat to Vienna by Ultravox) What can I say except that she is the business. Through her I have made contacts in the writery world (it's probably down to Vanilla that I've cyber-met most of you) and have learned so very very much. When I was a wet-behind-the-ears blogger, unsure of what I was doing, Vanilla extended the cyber hand of friendship and encouraged me to keep on writing and to join SCWBI. Honestly she's been like a little angel sent down to guide me and I can't thank her enough. Aside from all this generosity she is highly intelligent, warm, funny, immensely caring and talented. Oh yes- she is very, very talented. Her blog is one of my favourites because you will always find excellent posts - whether it's talking about the vagaries of writing and trying to get that book deal, the political troubles in South Africa, the wise words of an alien chicken (no you read that right), lots of light-hearted humorous anecdotes and the most amazing photographs you will ever see. I've never been on safari or indeed to Africa but I feel as though I have. She is a beautiful person, a wonderful writer and I am blessed to call her friend.

8. What’s the last song that got stuck in your head? Well now it's Vienna (doo-doodoo! Tsh!)

9. What’s your favorite item of clothing? Jammies - the ultimate clothing for the laid back (and permanently knackered) woman.

10. What is your dream for the future? I am a very happy and contented woman but even I, who am blessed with so much, have a dream - to finish my book. I just want to see if it'll be any good. And if it is - I'll get a new dream. At the moment there just doesn't seem to be enough time for everything. I need to figure out a way.

My Hubby and I also have a joint dream of paying our mortgage off. Man, that'd be nice!

So who to tag? I know that quite a few of you have done this one already. So …

Whirl, Mom-in-Scrubs, McKoala, Robin and Pete.

But only if you fancy it!

Missing - no reward on offer.

Has anyone seen my moos - sorry - muse? You know that certain something that exists within and supplies you with unending inspiration for writing. I think I had one. It wasn't like a beautiful woman in a floaty bedsheet strumming a lyre or anything. It was more like an angel on my shoulder whispering ideas and humming musical words to me. Or a voice in my head. Something other but yet a part of me. I would see something ordinary and Moos would show me another angle. She constantly shifted my perspective and showed me the surprising and the funny. When I sat on my bed and stared into space, conversations and characters crept into my consciousness - images and colours, journeys and conclusions - I was never bored.

Recently when I sit down and stare into space I find I'm just staring into space. Then I think about what time it is and what I should be doing now.

I've been timetabled.

My Moos got bored and went on holiday. I sure hope she sends me a postcard soon.

Brief Intermission 2

I'm away for the weekend. I'm going back to the old home town to visit friends and the lovely MIL.

I'll be back Monday to catch up on y'all. Have a really brilly weekend.

X