Birthdays, Books and Bootloops..

Another manic weekend has drawn to a close..though I'm still feeling it!

My son's 3rd birthday dominated and we pulled it off on a shoestring..his Dad finished building the huge hand-made garage, the main present, at 10.30pm on Friday..and then it was down to me to paint it..I knew when the project started that I'd be up until stupid o'clock painting and varnishing in the half-light of energy saving bulbs..2.30am I finished it..well, the walls and road and grass were painted on..getting arty with it is for another day..

My boy spent the entire Saturday playing with his garage and his selection of new cars and trucks..he paused only to eat. I managed to open the shop for a few hours in the morning, which was just as well, as it was busy..not too busy to read almost half of Anne Brooke's Thorn in the Flesh though..more about that later..

We had friends come up to stay on Saturday, so a huge pot of veggie chilli hit the stove, and a bigger than lifesize gluten-free chocolate hedgehog cake was built by my own fair hand..I'm not what you'd call a domestic goddess..though I'm allegedly a fine cook of un-normal things (I think that was a compliment)..the cake was good though..good enough for seconds all round..

The birthday celebrations continued way after my son and all the other kids had crashed out and we were hanging on Sunday morning..

..but, the sun was warm, and the West Midlands Safari Park beckoned..a fantastic day out..it always is..

Three stand out moments..

The couple who smirked at me and then each other..
"Wow, kids, come and look at the tortoises.."
I hadn't seen the two having a good old public rut at the front of the tank and waited for the "What are they doing, Mummy?"

We were sat in the usual traffic jam by the camels when one of them stuck it's head inside the car in front and reappeared with a guide book in it's mouth..had a good chew and proceeded to fight with another camel over it..
My 4yr old decided to chuck a crisp packet out of the window because she then thought that camels ate rubbish "like Yucketypoo"!

On the second drive around ( we never get away with one ) the lions were at it..and the question came..
"They're playing" was my reply..well, it wasn't a lie..it only lasted 30 seconds and didn't look very committed..the male seemed to lose his balance..
I'm sure I saw a momentary glint of envy from my old man as we talked about how many lionesses there were to that one alpha male..mmm..

I opened my laptop up last night to find it stuck in a ruddy bootloop..again..and I had no files backed up..again!
This happened last year and I paid a techie £45 to sort it so I didn't lose everything on it..and my son deleted Aisling Dreams the other week which I got back with the help of a another techie..why don't I back up? It's like some mental block..
Second to the fact that all my writing is on here, so was the email with my Glastonbury registration number on it..which I'll need on Sunday to try and get a ticket..

So I spent Sunday evening reading the rest of Thorn in the Flesh..which I thought was brilliant, both in it's plot and writing..it stirs all sorts of emotions..some familiar, some not, some good, some bad..thanks Anne x

After being told the techie's couldn't guarantee my laptop back before next Monday, I decided to tamper myself..six hours later, and here I am, writing this blog on my suddenly super-fast system..feeling a little smug after beating the Trojan whores..

So I feel like I've done something with my writing today, I've submitted the poem a couple of blogs down to the Alzheimer's Association, though I doubt they'll publish it for obvious reasons..