Five good things

Ray's plot to begin Marmaduke's musical education in utero by playing loud music whilst I'm sitting near a speaker wearing earplugs.

Starting to make our wedding rings and finding gold easier to solder than silver.

Needing some maternity clothes.

Enough spring warmth to sit outside at a cafe to watch the sunset.

The very wonderful leap of Jonathan into the world.



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Five good things

Taking my 8 year old bridesmaid (and niece-to-be) shopping for a pretty dress (and sparkly shoes, and butterfly hair slides)

Craving scrambled eggs on toast at our favourite breakfast spot and fulfilling my desire this morning.

Snowdrops flowering in the garden. Signs of (an early) spring.

Having the gold ready and waiting to make our wedding rings. (Just have to get over the nerves!)

Flutter flutter tap tap tap.



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Five good things

All good things relate to pregnancy at the moment. We've been trying very hard not to get too far ahead of ourselves and punctuate many sentences with "if". But it's so hard not to believe that this little one is going to make it. We need the optimism.

Feeling movement... probably... possibly.
103 days until we get married. Whoop. Yikes.
My Mum's excitement and optimism.
Managing to control The Fear. Mostly.
Figuring out the best configuration of my many pillows to ease the aching in my hips. For a while at least.

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Five good things

I'm pregnant.
I'm pregnant.
I'm pregnant.
I'm pregnant.
I'm pregnant.


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Five good things

It's been a week of breakages one way or another:

Ray's computer, his very expensive self-built computer, blew up with an almighty POP.
A sneaky virus on the little netbook.
The extractor fan blew up.

Good things?

The internet shop was very reasonable and sent a courier for the offending power supply unit.

I rid the netbook of the sneaky virus thus earning heroic geek points.

The extractor fan was stomped to death in the garden by a frustrated poppet who "got it out of his system".

Finding the perfect parka for Ray and it arriving in time for christmas.

A very nice Indian takeaway that didn't play havoc with my interior.


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Five good things

I solemnly promise to write a proper blog post soon. Really I will. Definitely. Maybe.


Taking my mum out for a "posh" cup of tea and seeing her delighted excitement when talking about our wedding.

Ray. Um, have I mentioned him before?

New twinkly fairy lights on the mantel.

Last Wednesday.

Sweet kitteh devotion.



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Five good things

New socks for winter.

Global Aroma cafe in Teignmouth. Never before has a vegetarian had so much choice and an omnivore had a bigger breakfast.

Marrying into a really great family.

The wind and the rain and being warm in the car whilst the wind blows and the rain pours.

Chips by the sea.


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Five good things

Must blog more often. Must blog more often. Must blog more often. Must blog more often. Must blog more often. Must blog more often. Must blog more often.Must blog more often. Must blog more often. Must blog more often. Must blog more often. Must blog more often. Must blog more often.

Seven good things:

A bargain electric blanket with dual controls.

Watching North by Northwest on the macbook in bed with the electric blanket on, a kitteh on either side and a cup of fruit tea at 9pm while Ray was out.

Car insurance for Ray sorted. Finally. And without going into debt.

Chocolate wedding cake. Oh. Yes.

Talking about moving somewhere new. Maybe this time next year.

Ray's wedding "jokes" eg. "I expect all my washing to be done for me when we're married you know..."

Crystallised ginger.


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Five good things (bad blogger version)

I know, I know, it's been ages. Sometimes I wonder at how fast time speeds by. It really does speed up as you get older you know. Whoosh. Just you wait. Unless of course you are waiting for something important and then it drags along at a mind numbingly snaily slow pace.

So, five really rather good things:


My Dad being mostly ok with a week in a care home while my Mum got some much needed rest.

Taking my Mum out and about to do the things she can't easily do with my Dad.

Booking our wedding ceremony. 19th May 2012. Only 7 months to go!

Finding a most marvellous and, most importantly, very-tight-budget-friendly wedding reception venue since we think May might be a bit chilly for a beach party.

The support of friends.


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Five good things

More good news.


21 lengths of this swimming pool. (Which is rather tattier these days than this just-built brochure shot)

25m x 21 = 525m = pleased with myself. It may only be a third of a mile but when I started a few weeks ago I could barely manage 4 lengths without gasping for air. Next week 25 lengths. Attainable goal attained = feeling good about self = good thing.

Being held really tight while I cry.

Snuggling with a kitteh and a blankie.

Autumn leaves.

Five good things

Your comments on The Great Wedding Fabric Hunt. Thank you! (Well no, of course I haven't decided yet!)

Taking Ray's mum for a cup of tea somewhere local she had never been before.

Saving a butterfly from the evil claws of a kitteh who knows no better.

Beautiful words: solipsism, turgid, diaphanous, insidious, ailurophile, fury, repose, circumlocution, ecstasis, hubris... I could go on.

Kitteh bookends keeping me warm. Or rather, two kittehs trying to get a piece of the snugly blanket action.



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Five good things

Sometimes it take ages for me to sift through the week for good things and sometimes I have more than five. Sometimes I don't think I will find any, but there's always something good, however small.



A 2.7K walk (1.7 miles) to get a cup of tea and a packet of crisps. Followed by a 2.7k walk back to the car. Ouch but in a (mostly) good way.

Unseasonable sunshine.

The last tomatoes ripening in the (unseasonable) sun.

Finally getting my boobs under control after about 4 months of, often agonising, fibrocystic breast pain after ovulation until my period (boo) starts. Whoop. (Definitely Vitex and taking my bra off at every opportunity and possibly DHEA if anyone is interested). I've been walking around randomly squeezing my mostly non-painful boobs: Ray finds it most distracting.

Having something to look forward to. It's been a long time. Hey, I'm getting married!



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Five good things

Pelargonium cuttings happily taking root despite the cooling weather

An afternoon out with Ray's sister.

Finding the book my Mum has been looking for in a charity shop for £1.

No insomnia for a whole week.

Good news from friends.



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Five good things

Announcing our wedding plans at a (Ray's) family dinner for 14 to joyful squeals from him mum and sister.

Not running crying from above mentioned dinner when Ray's newish nephew was being passed around for cuddles (no, I couldn't) or when his step-dad was being lovely, thoughtful and sympathetic and I wished he would stop.

A really really really lazy Sunday.

A bit of passion at lunchtime.

Planning our cheap budget simple wedding for next Summer.

• I'm making our rings
• We're having a bbq/picnic party on a beach (if it isn't raining, goodness knows what we'll do if it is) 
• Helium balloons, buckets and spades, rugs and bunting
• No ties, trying to find a wedding dress that isn't a wedding dress...
• etc

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Five good things

Juliet Lily safe and sound

Finishing a stupid government form

Mum's beetroot and apple pickle

Kittehs thriving on raw food diet

Setting a date... or rather, a month... thinking of a dress... beach picnic... making rings... teeny tiny budget... etc...



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Five good things

Almost miraculously finding Ray's tinnitus noise maker thingy in the garden the day after he lost it whilst gardening, spent hours looking for it and made an appointment to get a new one which would have cost us money we don't have. (It was near the back door).

Keeping calm when I feel like screaming and screaming. I think this is a good thing. Maybe not so much eh?

A visit to a beautiful garden.

A letter from a friend. On paper, written in ink, with a stamp.

Love.

Five good things

Chips in the sun

 Don't forget the vinegar

 Fresh yummy carrots from the garden.
(Roasted gently in the oven, they went very nicely with our potatoes.)

 Hound tor afternoon (inspiration for Conan Doyle's Hound of the Baskervilles).

A picnic on the edge. 

A perfect rainbow in our garden

 Sent to my Poppet to chase his blues away.

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Five good things

Nurse Ray and his thumb bandaging skills.

A lovely late sunday lunch out with the in-laws.

Enthusiastic kittehs eating their raw chicken with gusto.

10 lengths of the pool without spluttering exhaustion.

Our very first potato crop.

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Five good things

Finishing a new shiny and being rather pleased with it. Pics soon.


Starting to switch our kittehs from over-processed cat food to a raw meat diet (in the hopes of saving Lyx's remaining teeth) and finding out that they absolutely LOVE it and will chase me around the kitchen for a bit of raw bloody chicken (held in tweezers/scissors/anything that means I don't have to touch it) as if they have been waiting for it all their lives.

Fleabay bargains.

Baby carrots growing happily in a pot (I had to pull one just to see).

Getting a grip (occasionally).



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Five good things

Finding the joy of reading again. It's been a while.

Some idiot not looking where he was going, not indicating and driving into our car as we passed where he was parked. The good bit? Nobody was hurt and the car only suffered a ('nother) minor scratch.

Some idiot smashing the drivers side mirror as he pulled out in front of us to pass a pedestrian and then almost missed us as he swerved back in. The good bit? He didn't hit us head on and we only need to spend £12 on a replacement glass, not £50 on a new unit.

The (often fleeting) ability to find the good when circumstances conspire to make the bad shine brightest.

Four years and three days with my Poppet (7/7/07).



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