Happy Mondays: Thirty year old Australian
Hello folks,
1. It was Ari’s birthday! She is thirty now and I have to say, it really suits her. I think she really really enjoyed her birthday. I certainly did. We spent the day tidying in a sedate fashion (camping plan was called off due to weather), and Eve arrived at about half eleven. Ari made dumplings for the party but then we ate them for lunch instead. We are bad people.
I got her some graphic novels and things, and with people's amazing generosity she now has the beginnings of a respectable collection.
Annoyingly, I ordered her main present - the complete Bone - from Amazon and it arrived in German! Really weird, because it said 'Complete Edition' on the front - in English. The listing was in English, and the first review was in English, saying how great the book was. The second review, also in English, concurred: 'What a brilliant book! How great to have it all in one edition! It is in German, but apart from that...' No no, a book being in a different language is not a small inconvenience to most people!
Anyway, they let me return it, and the English version arrived today and she squealed. Yay.
Party highlights:
Rose! Rose is our friend who ran off three years ago to go and live in a mud hut in Africa, and now she's back in Edinburgh for three weeks to see a plethora of her old homies. It was aces to catch up.
Cake! I made Ari and courgette and lemon cake with cream cheese icing and raspberry. I also made a slightly smaller one each for Jackie (a long-standing cake debt and birthday present of her own) and Julie (whose birthday is the same day as Jackie - 23rd). Unfortunately, I made them in silicon bakeware and managed to pour one of them all over the kitchen floor, so they each got one half the intended size.
I was not the only one to make cake by a long shot though - there was so much baking, we could have been at Delia's. We will be eating leftover cake for a week. As it should be.
Treasure hunts! Our friends being the wonderful creatures they are, two people had independently arranged treasure hunts, so we had to combine them and make one lead into the other. The first, John's, comprised Mills and Boon books - 17 of them - and the second, Erin and Brian's, was Preacher books. One was hidden in with my pants drawer. How rude.
Presents! She really did get some awesome presents - mostly graphic novels, but also Australian sweeties, gin, huge posh bookends, a Chop Chop voucher... people were so thoughtful. She still has stuff coming from New Zealand and apparently even her Grandma has sent something from Australia. Presents in and of themselves are not a sign of love and plenty of people got her nothing, which does not mean they don't love her, but I think she was touched by the amount of thought people put into stuff.
Having the weekend properly off. I didn't send an email for two days. We got up remarkably early on Sunday, and were all tidied up by noon. we walked through the park and had a cup of tea at Erin's. We ordered ill-advised Indian food and got into new clean bedsheets. Mmm.
Party lowlights:
Morag and Erin weren't there (they're in America). I think that's the first time that's happened.
There was Something Weird on the picnic table. I think it was cat vomit. Folk put newspaper over it and carried on regardless, by the fire.
2. We’ve had a size up of the moving situation and it’s probably not something that’s imminent - more like 2 years than 6 months. We’re keeping an eye on places, though.
3. I read We Need to Talk About Kevin. Then I put it in the freezer.*
4. Monday club is resumed! True Blood season four starts tonight and accordingly Hazel, John and Tina are coming over. I hope Eric is naked.
5. Sarah came to stay on Thursday night, which is lovely because she was then too sick to make it to Ari's party, so it was good to see her. We all watched Corrie together.
6. I've had really sore shoulders over the last couple of days. I am suspecting some kind of RSI from mouse and phone usage. I'm trying to keep my joints moving, and have swapped bags, so I am now now using one that I can wear with my arms free, so let them swing. Might go swimming soon, too (Aquafit is finished. I thought it was a ten-week course, but it was six weeks)
7. I am hosting The Regent Pub Quiz tomorrow, in the absence of Morag. Come! .
8. Tina is here. Naked Eric here we come!
Lizzie xxx
* not really
1. It was Ari’s birthday! She is thirty now and I have to say, it really suits her. I think she really really enjoyed her birthday. I certainly did. We spent the day tidying in a sedate fashion (camping plan was called off due to weather), and Eve arrived at about half eleven. Ari made dumplings for the party but then we ate them for lunch instead. We are bad people.
I got her some graphic novels and things, and with people's amazing generosity she now has the beginnings of a respectable collection.
Annoyingly, I ordered her main present - the complete Bone - from Amazon and it arrived in German! Really weird, because it said 'Complete Edition' on the front - in English. The listing was in English, and the first review was in English, saying how great the book was. The second review, also in English, concurred: 'What a brilliant book! How great to have it all in one edition! It is in German, but apart from that...' No no, a book being in a different language is not a small inconvenience to most people!
Anyway, they let me return it, and the English version arrived today and she squealed. Yay.
Party highlights:
Rose! Rose is our friend who ran off three years ago to go and live in a mud hut in Africa, and now she's back in Edinburgh for three weeks to see a plethora of her old homies. It was aces to catch up.
Cake! I made Ari and courgette and lemon cake with cream cheese icing and raspberry. I also made a slightly smaller one each for Jackie (a long-standing cake debt and birthday present of her own) and Julie (whose birthday is the same day as Jackie - 23rd). Unfortunately, I made them in silicon bakeware and managed to pour one of them all over the kitchen floor, so they each got one half the intended size.
I was not the only one to make cake by a long shot though - there was so much baking, we could have been at Delia's. We will be eating leftover cake for a week. As it should be.
Treasure hunts! Our friends being the wonderful creatures they are, two people had independently arranged treasure hunts, so we had to combine them and make one lead into the other. The first, John's, comprised Mills and Boon books - 17 of them - and the second, Erin and Brian's, was Preacher books. One was hidden in with my pants drawer. How rude.
Presents! She really did get some awesome presents - mostly graphic novels, but also Australian sweeties, gin, huge posh bookends, a Chop Chop voucher... people were so thoughtful. She still has stuff coming from New Zealand and apparently even her Grandma has sent something from Australia. Presents in and of themselves are not a sign of love and plenty of people got her nothing, which does not mean they don't love her, but I think she was touched by the amount of thought people put into stuff.
Having the weekend properly off. I didn't send an email for two days. We got up remarkably early on Sunday, and were all tidied up by noon. we walked through the park and had a cup of tea at Erin's. We ordered ill-advised Indian food and got into new clean bedsheets. Mmm.
Party lowlights:
Morag and Erin weren't there (they're in America). I think that's the first time that's happened.
There was Something Weird on the picnic table. I think it was cat vomit. Folk put newspaper over it and carried on regardless, by the fire.
2. We’ve had a size up of the moving situation and it’s probably not something that’s imminent - more like 2 years than 6 months. We’re keeping an eye on places, though.
3. I read We Need to Talk About Kevin. Then I put it in the freezer.*
4. Monday club is resumed! True Blood season four starts tonight and accordingly Hazel, John and Tina are coming over. I hope Eric is naked.
5. Sarah came to stay on Thursday night, which is lovely because she was then too sick to make it to Ari's party, so it was good to see her. We all watched Corrie together.
6. I've had really sore shoulders over the last couple of days. I am suspecting some kind of RSI from mouse and phone usage. I'm trying to keep my joints moving, and have swapped bags, so I am now now using one that I can wear with my arms free, so let them swing. Might go swimming soon, too (Aquafit is finished. I thought it was a ten-week course, but it was six weeks)
7. I am hosting The Regent Pub Quiz tomorrow, in the absence of Morag. Come! .
8. Tina is here. Naked Eric here we come!
Lizzie xxx
* not really