We made it!

Our first brownie session without the old leaders! The only injury was a loose tooth falling out. We had a new starter without any hitches. They all had lots of ideas for what they wanted to do this coming year, from simple baking and badges, right though to round the world trips and bunjee jumping. A tad adventurous I feel, but have to give them points for imagination!

I bought a couple of nice pasties today in town. Mediterranean veg and cheese (or something) for me and steak and stilton for him. Then I left them in the fridge in the office. Instead, we went out to town for dinner. Turns out 'spoons do a pretty good butternut squash risotto at the moment. Yum.

I really must get ready for bed, as I have a bit of a long day ahead tomorrow.

Starting to feel the need

I guess it is time to be honest with myself. I am starting to look forward to having kids. Not in the 'yeah, it will be kinda cool one day' way, but in the 'when is the soonest I can get pregnant' way. That's kind of scary. There is a no-way-no-how restriction on me at the moment as I just had an MMR jab, and if I get pregnant in the next 6 months there is a risk of birth deformities. As I say, no-way-no-how. Then the other things preying on my mind are 'stuff.' I cannot deny being ambitious, and there are some things I really want to achieve before we have kids. Would you like a list?

Things I want to do before I have kids:
- Buy a house in a nice area near good schools
- Have a job I can work from home
- Travel around Europe on motorbikes with Mr SC
- See Thailand, and a monsoon
- Learn to take nice photos

- Have a wardrobe of clothes I like

- Be in the habit of looking presentable when I leave the house

- Have a house that is decorated the way I like
- Refresh my German skills, so I can make some attempt to help my kids not be ignorant English-speakers
- Have had a few years of just me and Mr SC as a married couple

That is something of a list isn't it. Some things I am happy to strike through on the basis that it is just me being silly and conforming to society's supermum fetish, like the stuff about my wardrobe, looking presentable, home decor and German items.  Others are non-negotiable, like the house-buying bit. I really hate renting. I hate not being able to paint walls, redo the skanky bathroom tiles, rip out the kitchen, install a back boiler, fix the windows and doors and so on. I know all this can be done with kids there, because I lived through it in my own childhood.

I don't mind altering the travel bits, so that we can do them with kids. Motorbikes wouldn't be practical, but an old VW bus might be. Thailand and the like could be done with kids past toddler stage. Maybe I could narrow down the 'just us' years a bit, since we have already lived together for two years, and have at least one more on our own once we are married. (see the bit about the MMR)

The other major motivator for having kids sooner rather than later is Mr SC himself. He is 10 years older than me, and we both want for him to not be an 'old' dad. So really, we need to get ourselves in gear and work towards buying a house. Which sounds great, but there is a slight hitch there, what with Mr SC going back to college and all. A couple more years of living on my wage alone, not really being able to save, and no chance of me being able to give up my day job in order to try working from home.

I don't mean to whinge, but I am starting to get impatient, and need to remind myself why I must wait. Anyway, time to stop moaning and get on with dealing with all the stuff I need to get sorted before we get married!

I just have to add this

This has to be about the most amazing thing I have seen in ages!

Just had to share. Now I wonder if I can train next door's sheepdogs sufficiently to do that?

New improved formula: with added resolve

Once again, time has run away with me. Having spent two weekends ago with my parents visiting us here, and then visiting them in Surrey last weekend, I am home alone this weekend as Mr SC has decided to go camping with friends this weekend. 

I won't say I am not disappointed to be abandoned to my own devices while he is off gallivanting, but it does give me time to finish our wedding invites, chill out listening to music he doesn't like and possibly even eat all the ice cream without his interference....

Since two weeks ago, not a great deal has happened in my world. Work carries on as normal, there is only six weeks left to the wedding, I have a work lunch 'do' on Tuesday coming. Him indoors meanwhile, has decided that he wants to go back to college. I'm all in favour, as long as he throws his all into it. And it would be kinda good if he could get a part-time job to fit around it.

What else? Oh yeah, brownies start back for the Autumn on Monday. Somewhat nervous about that, but I'm sure M and I will cope with 18 girls for just over an hour. Yeah. Definitely.

So today, I was on the phone to my mum, sitting on the sofa and contemplating coffee and toast, when my neighbour S knocked. I knew I had to move our old car from their field into the yard, but was hoping I would be able to do it this afternoon. Like once I had got dressed and all that. Anyway, went up to the yard to find out where it needed to go, but S was still in the house, and J didn't know. So I just did the sensible thing and emptied the stuff that was useful into a wheelbarrow and hauled it home.

Back in the house, I sat down with my coffee, and Mr SC rang from camp, having just woken up. Yeah. Just woken up, when I had already started clearing up shit that I was nagging him to do all this week. He had the nerve to ask me to try to drain out the petrol tank, since it had about half a tank of petrol in it still. I don't have a pipe to siphon it with, so he tells me that I can get under the car, disconnect the fuel pipe and drain it into some petrol tanks that are in the garage. Yeah. Like that is going to happen. Let's just say that I am looking forward to some serious pampering on Sunday night when he gets home.