Sunday evening after tea – the kids are playing out on the backstreet. Jack on his ‘new’ bike & Eve with a pushchair that Georgina has given her. Hm – the kids have done well this weekend for neighbourly hand-me-downs. Mum & dad got her a pram a while back – but this is a buggy design – she has become instantly attached to it – & as it makes a noise you can here her wheels rattling up & down the street. It has the dolly that she got yesterday from Sophie in it – & she likes that a lot as it has a hat that comes off… & she can take it off & exclaim “Hat! ….HAT!” etc. Jack is jolly interested in what I am doing & breaks off from riding his bike up & down so that he can look at the screen at which I write & try to press a few buttons.
We got Jack the bike yesterday. It’s a second hand one from the local bike shop – but it works better for him than any other bike he had had. An early birthday present. It is sort of obvious it is second hand, but Jack is very pleased & was referring to it yesterday as “new & posh”. Too “new & posh” to allow Kirsten to ride on it initially. She got a look in eventually though through sheer persistence of sneaking up to it whenever Jack was not actually riding it.
Both Jack & Eve have been in a really lovely mood all weekend. Jack especially. Sweet & no grumpyness (in any quantity) what so ever.j yfcderh9iop[;

Jack is playing out on the back street with Kristen, (neighbour’s granddaughter & about 6 months to a year older than Jack) & Eve is pottering between in & out holding a boy dolly that she has been given by Sophie (another neighbour – she won a few dolls & teddies at the school fair). Saturday afternoon after the school fair (fiesta). I got involved at the fiesta – roped into a session of face painting. Did a few – including Jack – who still sports a tiger face. Was surprised at how easy it all was really – was worr

ied about it a little, as it was something I have never done before (I explained this as I was roped in). I was also determined not to fret about it – I would just see how it goes – after all I can hold a brush confidently enough.

hello tiger

The people running the face painting were told I was a cartoonist – so I obliged with a few cartoons on some girls faces to start with

– then Jack wanted to be a tiger – so I did that. – then 2 or 3 other tigers as well. Was getting into the swing of things when it was time to pack up. Hmmm – well… I didn’t make a hash of it – so, you never know – I might get asked again. Nice to wield a brush again – even if the circumstances were a little odd.

I feel as though I’m starting to be less ‘generally tired’ so, perhaps, I am starting to feel better. My head is no longer in a fog, & I seem to have some cognitive ability – perhaps even a little will to try to ‘get on top of things’.
I booked a little bit of holiday around Jack’s birthday today. The most likely thing is that I will be trying to sort out stuff around the house that I have not got time for in the normal day to day. Perhaps get the space in the attic sorted & the decorating restarted in what is our room, but will be the kids room. You can but hope, like.
I have real difficulty visualising the whole thing being done before the end of the year – but I really need to try to get it sorted in the summer months – which are now upon us! Drowning or waving?
I’ve been trying to sort my eMate out with the Ethernet card that I have. If you have tried to get your own newt (“Newton” is the name of the Operating System for the eMate) on Ethernet the guide for such a thing is at Chuma. I have followed the instructions there & got myself an allegedly compatible 3Comm card, but when I try to use it I get the error: “-61001 there was a problem with the card” – which is naturally a pisser. I have found some discussion on the error on archived message boards, but nothing as to reason or resolution. Still – I have no absolute concern over this as I can get my eMate & iMac to talk nowadays – & do the mail thing. I have noticed a rather pleasant development for newt owners in general in that someone is developing a driver to enable the use of Compact Flash Memory instead of the increasingly rare Flash memory cards that they currently are restricted to. Basically the sort of memory, that, say, a Digital Camera might use. A lot easier to get hold of & the capacity (amount of memory) could be quite respectable. Woo! Look forward to that when it’s finally released! If I could afford to splash out I’d do some ‘beta testing’ – & use the untested product.
hmmmm… makes a note to keep an eye out for a cheap PCMCIA Compact Flash Adapter on Ebay…

Nothing much to say. No minutia to impart at the moment – nothing particularly bugging me. Louise looks to be coming down with a stinky cold. Spoke to mum & dad over the weekend & they now know Louise is expecting again. Mum’s response was, like, oh yeah – I knew she would be… (!!) Are we that transparent? How did she ‘know’? Granted she had just been working all day & was well fagged out – so it sounded more deadpan than it probably really was. She admitted the same the next morning when I called so that she could speak with Jack – that was why she was trying to last weekend at that time in the morning, but Jack was already playing on ‘the Internet’.
Went shopping yesterday for some clothes for Louise & she actually found a couple of things! Louise is even more fickle than I am when it comes to buying new stuff to wear. Me, I saw nothing… Got ‘The Avalanches’ album tho, which on the whole is jolly good. Nice indulgence. Jack & Eve were very good. Jack got a new coat, as he needs one & virtually chose a new t shirt for himself. I pointed it out to him & he was, “yes, I like that”. It’s aqua green with a big picture of a gold fish on it. He showed it to Louise & she liked it as well, so as we were buying him a coat, we thought we’d indulge in that. He was then keen to stay & buy more things for himself. I think he thought that he must be on a roll – but we had to disappoint him. I think he must like the coat as he wore it in the house that evening – professing that he was cold, when it was not really.
Feeling I’m not keeping on top of things again at the moment. There are not enough hours & I’m too tired. ZUM! is an obvious thing that I feel gets neglected – I have not been able to keep up with the administration involved.
Bah.

Not been writing a lot of recent as not really felt up to it. Been a bit ill with a fever & aches & pains, but – I can still pick up a phone & I can still talk – so – I went to work. This is most likely what Louise had last week as well. She thought it was something to do with the pregnancy, so she says she was probably suffering through it better under that illusion. Anyway – as I have been ill, I’ve not really been paying attention to what’s been going on around me as much as I might.
Perhaps Jack is not feeling that well at the moment either, as he was being a little so & so yesterday evening. Revelling in a lot of things that he knew would annoy us. Whether it’s an unfortunate attention seeking thing trying to divert us from paying attention to Eve, I dunno. It does get monumentally tiresome though… The best approach to such a situation is difficult as well, as he never quite reacts how you would expect. On the whole though – when he is like that, there is not a lot you can do or say that will deter him. sigh…
Voted yesterday. Funny – the whole electoral campaign this time has been as dull as ditchwater. Perhaps it’s due to the perceived inevitability of t all. Turnout was low as well – perhaps due to the same reason? There’s not the desperation that I’ve felt with other elections that the Tories simple must get kicked out… now it’s Labour – & well – although they are not really that great – they at least are NOT the Tories… What a disaster they would be. Oh, it did raise my spirits when i heard that Hauge had resigned this morning. Schuedenfued-thingy hehehe.

ug – still feel awful. Feel more weird today as opposed to ill, as yesterday. Have yet to decide whether this is an improvement or not. Feel OK enough to try a little typing & thinking though.
I was awake in the night – which is a novelty to a stone cold sleeper like me… I am difficult to rouse – for instance here’s an exchange that Louise told me went on, on Monday night…

Jack: Muuuuuuuummmmmeeeeeeee
Louise: I think you should go get him…
Me: mmm – that’s a good idea (thinking Louise was volunteering to get him)
[Pause]
Louise: are you going to get him then?
Me: uh?
[Pause]
Me: Could you please tell me what day it is?
Louise: Monday, I’m afraid.
[I weave off down the hall to see how he’s doing]
My recollection of this is shaky, at best. I think that the ‘what day’ query was to figure out whether indeed to take the alarm clock with me or not.

Spent last Friday night knocking up a new page on my website that would host all my mental meanderings I type on my morning commute. I did actually finish it as well (this is what you are reading!). Was the last of my BBEdit demo application tho. Back to the basics of the ‘lite’ free version… sigh…
Oh, & the pipes sprung a new leak for us… joy. This time’s where the pipes used to go to the old boiler – the stopped end of that bit of piping. Fortunately it’s an easy spot to get to, so a margarine tub has been strategically placed so that any drips can be caught. There is further damage to the ceiling, but as they are coming to repaper it at the end of the month because of the previous damage (work to be paid for by the insurance) then… who cares… I have been turning the water on & off at the stop tap all weekend to minimise the emptying of the margarine tub. Hattie comes today to fix again.
Jack was a ‘coiled spring’ yesterday – ready to go off… He was playing on the computer for the most part, but any provocation & he resorted to slapping. I think I only have myself to blame as he was hitting me earlier in the day as I had told him not to do something (probably as it was either dangerous or silly – I forget now what) & he hit me, so I said don’t (as is annoying) or I’ll have to hit you back. He did not, so I did – & thus the ‘game’ starts there. Sigh.
–Train stops at just past Walsden today – evident why as I look out at some dumb sheep who have got out of the field & are on the line. The driver has to get out of the train to report them. (Bad sheep-naughty sheep – we’ll tell your farmer on you.) Off we go – bye-bye sheep–
Jack & I had a good days work in general though. He woke well, & was in a good mood. He played some kiddie stuff on the Internet (roaming the BBC ‘small kids’ section).
Oog – this is an old train & I don’t think I can type anymore as aside from all the movement making it difficult, it’s making me queasy.
Train home – ‘1st class’ section – nice table to put the eMate on. Yes, well – Jack broke off from the Internet without to any probs so we could go for the seemingly traditional excursion for the supermarket. No histrionics at the cafe :) The afternoon was spent up in the attic – tidying up. It’s still rather a mess. Dust everywhere. The Dyson hoover got a good workout & Both Jack & I got splinters cleaning the floorboards with a damp cloth; he somehow in his leg, me, more normally, in my finger.
Jack like cleaning up – it’s a good game to him.. who are we to argue – heh. He kept going for a good while – essentially as long as I did, & did nothing really untoward or foolish. There was that point when we butted heads re hitting me, but that was out of the attic, & we managed to calm down & get on with things. It was only later, after tea, that the ‘coiled spring’ arose.
Eve spent a lot of the afternoon asleep. She slipped into slumber in the pushchair on the way home. Louise was not feeling great either – sleepy & raging headache – so she took the chance to have a little snooze – leaving Jack & i to get on with things… As I said, a good afternoon’s work. Got a lot cleaned up, but a frightening amount still to clean…
Then cometh the decorating…
After work today I set out for B&Q to get a new set of taps for the bathroom as one of the bath taps is falling to bits (the one I tried to stop dripping last month or so & made matters worse). So, got a chrome set instead of a gold set, as before. Gold bathroom fittings – yuk… They look ‘dirty’ to start with – what a dead (tasteless) loss. All I have to do now is worry about fitting these new ones, dither, put off & call Hattie to ask her nicely if she can fit us in some time to do it.

hehehehehe I got the eMate to collect email this morning… very gratifying… It didn’t work before, as I did not have the time to properly check over the internet setup on the machine to check that it was all sorted proper. worra laff… now then, what shall I do with it… dur….

Jack was more his normal self on Tuesday… Louise, Jack & Eve went to Leila’s house up the valley a little (I do not recall Leila’s mum’s name..) for the day. Leila goes to the same school as Jack. It’s half term, so they’re both off school. She’s a bright engaging kid, but sometimes the other kids seem to find her a little too loud. She had a spell at Hamish’s school, & Hamish confessed he did not like her, as she was “too loud”. Hamish can be ‘sensitive’ like that. Anyway they all had a very good day. They went playing in the fields & a stream near the house. All sounded very idyllic & I forget the details that Louise told me… bah. Jack was in fine spirits on his return. The only area of contention that he was not wanting to get into the bath & he got mad at me for insisting that he did… but as he was in a better mood in general the tizzy was soon diffused.
The attic may be done, but we’ve not really moved anything back up there & I’m started to get ‘itchy’ to start sorting things out again… I have not even had the chance to clean up the room. It is still dusty from the builder’s finishing, but I cannot hoover in the evening for fear of disturbing the kids, & it is difficult to do in the day as the kids are still about & will want to go up there (& will end up well dusty… sigh). Now we have the eves sorted out for storage we can but hope that they will swallow the majority of the stuff that was otherwise all over the place up there before & keep the room itself a lot more tidy. That’s the theory. In the meantime, our bedroom – which need to be decorated so that the kids can move in there when we move upstairs – is still chocka full of boxes & stuff… bah. We seem to enforce a state of living in flux sometimes.
I think, for the last 3 days, Eve has not had a snooze during the day. She copes well as she must be tired in the evening. She did have a good cry last night when she fell over & Louise was not there. All she did was trip over a toy – something she does many times a day without any fuss – so it was the tiredness that took over – poor thing. Sometimes only mummy will do. Jack was tired as well. He had a full day. Even went off with Hamish (& his mum) to feed the ducks at the canal in town. This was about our teatime &… well, we had tea without him. We made sure that there was tea for his return, but when he came home, he said he wanted to have tea at Hamish’s, & dashed off round there again. I followed to see what all this was about as he said that they were having ‘pies’. Ruth, Hamish’s mum was just getting tea ready for her youngest, Amber, & all was a bit up in the air, but altho I sheepishly felt I was imposing on them, it was said to be OK. They had bought some cheese & onion pies at the supermarket when they were out, & were going to eat out, but the weather having turned a little less pleasant, had just come home. So Jack stayed for tea there. I went round to pick him up a little later (as he was having some chocolate dessert lucky boy). He eats much better at Hamish’s. I think he gets bored eating with us. He ate beans – he never normally eats beans. Although later, as the bath was running he said “I didn’t really want to have tea at Hamish’s…” …sigh.

Well, the Plaid album did not arrive… perhaps today. The Serial converter did tho! woo! I am rather pleased at this – I can transfer data – all these mumblings (previously I had to print out text, then scan it into my mac & OCR it to convert it to text again – not especially useful…). I now can plug them into each other & away I go! I’ve installed the ‘Internet Assistant’ thing as well – so hopefully I’ll get onto the net with it… altho that’s not really the intention. The intention is to use it for collecting emails when away from home. Difficult to really convey the delight of such a simple (& geeky) thing, but this is one of the reasons for using this in the 1st place – to be able to type on the train & feed it to my mac at home.
To realise this ability after a couple of months of use… ahhhh. Spent a bit too long last night messing about doing data transfers, & went to bed late… & then could not get the brain to turn off & stop little fits of glee that it was all working… silly.