Maggie is a punk rocker 

Lisa at 15:35
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Lots of short snippetty updates: a list.

We are now up to four potential buyers. One of them has even accepted an offer on her own house! From somebody (gah) who has yet to sell their house, so she is still not in a position to proceed. I am truly amazed that anybody ever manages to move; we just can't get a chain forged even though we are prepared to break it by moving out and renting, if necessary. Will we be here forever?

We have another viewer coming tomorrow: will we reach five?

Am considering mounting an expedition south to retrieve stuff from storage, ie Christmas decs and toys that were too old for M when we arrived in the country but are at risk of being outgrown. (Ahem. And perhaps we won't need to buy her anything for Christmas.)

Cameron is being reorganised and will find out next week what job he will do next, if any.

M is being an absolute horror this week, for no apparent reason. Am finding it all quite hard, especially today after just three 2-hour sleeps last night. Chocolate helps.

On the other hand, she ate the most enormous portion of shepherd's pie last night and even asked for more, which is completely unprecedented.

Cameron kindly bought me the Magic Numbers' CD and I *love* it. Haven't had new music for absolutely ages. Had been hankering after it ever since hearing them on Jonathan Ross doing there is a light that never goes out. Was fab. Is not on the album.

Lisa at 13:25
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I'm all for 'experts' coming on the radio, but you'd think they'd credit radio 4 listeners with a bit of intelligence: I can't be the only person to have wondered if they were just saying nice calming things this morning. Call me suspicious. One caller to you and yours asked about letting her son collect feathers, to be told that there was nothing to worry about, bird flu wasn't here yet and if and when it does arrive we will know almost immediately because of all the bird spotters in this country. The very next caller was suggesting that fluey birds perhaps wouldn't feel up to flying hundreds of miles to come here, and was told that actually many birds could be carrying with no symptoms. I am confused, but promise not to panic (I also promise hand on heart to not read the Daily Mail) if they promise to be straightforward.
Lisa at 12:38
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Managing 19 months before calling NHSDirect is pretty good, I think. M fell over and smacked her head off the door this morning - as she does most mornings, countless times. Only this time she went all weird, standing in the corner with her head bowed, then cuddling up to Cameron for ages. We weren't sure for a while if she was concussed (I did examine her pupils) or just being shy because Sara and Ian arrived just as she fell; then she fell asleep on my lap. Well, she hasn't done that since she was a teeny-tiny: these days it is more about trying to get her off than trying to keep her awake, so we telephoned. Cameron spoke to a whole variety of people: one wanted to send an ambulance; one made him look behind her ears then said to get a doctor out to look at her. By this point she had woken up and was bouncing about going daddy! phone! daddy! phone! so I was rather less worried. We then rang the doctor's out of hours number, where I spoke to a very nice, very faint, nurse who reckoned she was fine and to give calpol but to go to A&E if anything changed. Nice to get consistent advice (but actually the last one feels right to me). So I squirted some calpol in (which, as usual, she spat straight back out) and we are trying to 'keep her quiet' - clearly the nice nurse has never actually met a toddler, to give that advice, but she is perky as anything now, has eaten beans and cheese and a marmite sandwich and is dashing about downstairs. Big egg on the side of her head and all.
Friday's viewer doesn't want the house, she reckons it is too much work (I have no idea - maybe the garden?) But never fear, we have another coming tonight. Which is why I am upstairs 'tidying' (the computer keyboard does get quite messy if you leave it alone.)
Lisa at 14:59
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I have finally downloaded (and uploaded) my phone photos from Japan: here. You can hover to see what they are, if you like. Feeling quite nostalgic and sad now.
Lisa at 18:07
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It's finger-crossing time again: extra hard please as I am beginning to think we have missed the Autumn rush and will be here until Spring. We've a viewer coming tonight who doesn't have a house to sell. This is quite exciting. I am assuming it is the woman I spotted parked outside a couple of days ago; when I walked past she was sitting in her car with the local paper open at the houses, peering up my drive. I'd have stopped and spoken to her if I hadn't worried that I would have had to ask her in and known that the house was a complete tip. (I am just rubbish as a housewife and the cleaner was off sick this week. Actually she is going to be off sick every week and we have number three starting next week.) So I just kind of gesticulated and waved and kept going.
Lisa at 13:04
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Every Monday at playgroup, at the end, after we have put away all the toys, we sing for 10 minutes. When they bring out the box of instruments, Maggie dives straight in and always comes out with the same items: a cow-shaped tambourine, which she bangs with an elephant-shaped rattle. A creature of habit.
Lisa at 13:54
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We had a very pleasant weekend: Maggie had her first proper haircut and cut another tooth, and we spent much of Saturday afternoon chopping and squishing apples and pears ready for this year's bizarro apple-and-pear cider/perry/wine homebrewy stuff. Which is fermenting nicely in the hallway as I type. No idea whether mixing apples and pears will turn out to be completely bonkers, but we had a poor crop of eating apples (squirrels, we think) and Sara has a pear tree but thinks pears are the fruit of the devil, so we decided to give it a go. Fingers crossed!
Lisa at 16:03
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a walk in the woods 
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Lisa at 17:59
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Last night's Buffy-fest got me to the end of season 5 but I have now learnt (until next time) that three episodes in a single evening does not lead to a good night's sleep. Very peculiar dreams. And yes, I agree it is perhaps a little sad and indicative of my lack of a life (Cameron was out having a lovely meal and a near punch-up with a taxi driver). But it was very exciting.
Tai chi again today: we learnt a whole three more moves. It is verrry sloooow. I can't decide if this is good (thorough) and if I should just learn to be more laid-back a la the karate kid (at least I am not polishing windows although it does feel a bit that way when we do random moves, copying the teacher, with never an explanation of what why how. I don't like to ask in case that is against the spirit of the thing.) or if it is plain frustrating. There are a lot of menopausal ladies in the class* and they don't pick it up very quickly.
Can we have a poll please? Am at long last going to get my own domain and of course I have to be turquoise. Is turquoise.me.uk or turquoi.se.net better? (If anyone leaps in and snaps them up to spite me I will be very very cross.) Votes in the comments box please.
*I am not being terribly rude and leaping to conclusions: they compare symptoms in the breaks. We have a lot of breaks.
Lisa at 13:06
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An unexpectedly long weekend away: having failed to properly read our email, we were looking forward to staying Friday-Sunday in a cabin in a forest in the peak district. Friday night, when we were discussing what we might do for the weekend, it became obvious that everyone else was intending to stay until Monday. Oops! But no problem: the cats were booked in for anoyher day and Cameron cancelled Monday's meetings (10 minutes after the first was due to start). I've spent the time since we got back playing catch-up and toddler-wrangling (we had our first full-blown in-a-public-car-park toddler tantrum on Friday. The joy.) Toddlers are tricky. Toddlers would rather not eat at all than sit in their highchairs to do so; pull their arms from the straps of the car seat when you are bombing along dual carriageways; want BISC! BISC! BISC! not yummy fruit or veg, then trample it into the carpet if you give in.
We had a very jolly time: we swam, soft-played, ate takeaway and drank wine, went up a hill in a cable car and down a mine, played perudo and squealed excitedly every time we saw a squirrel. Lovely to see people after such a long time.
Lisa at 12:23
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What is the matter with these people who come door to door? After last month's rudeness, I gave today's man 10 minutes of my precious time to answer inane questions about whether I had heard of BT and did I use the internet, only to have him say in complete incredulity you've got a PhD? (Interesting, isn't it. They send people door to door in the middle of a week day; surely they can't get answers from a true cross-section of the population? Doesn't that matter?) I don't know if I came across as unqualified and gormless - although I said I had heard of BT - or if it was the fact that I was home rather than off doing something clever. Both, perhaps.
I might soon be up to doing really intelligent things (like, I delude myself, I used to do) - we had another great night last night, not a peep until 4.45. I feel like a new woman. (And so does Cameron ha ha ha.) I fear I am not going to finish my book before tomorrow's reading group meeting, despite having had it for a month. But it is fab so I am going to hold on fast when the others think it is their turn to borrow it.
Lisa at 13:57
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I felt most peculiar all day yesterday and eventually realised what it was: I wasn't tired! Maggie slept right through from 8ish-4.40 am, meaning that I got about 5 hours straight. (Plus on and off until 8 am.) Unheard of. Back to the up-at-3 norm last night, though.
A busy weekend. Low point: scraping Cameron's car off the bumper of one of those monstrous 4x4 things (which was left completely untouched). High point: well, the sleep. And going to the zoo yesterday.
Bit freaked on Saturday: was helping on the till at the NCT nearly-new sale when I spotted an old colleague. Buying a buggy and some girls' clothes so I presume she has a child now. Even more freaked because she spotted me too, placed me immediately (while I was still going ooh I know her), said she'd email me, then, when I told her I didn't use my work email address any more, recited my yahoo address straight off. I think she must have used it occasionally when I was freelancing in Japan (we used both addresses for urgent jobs, as a safety net) but still. Very impressive and/or a bit scarey.
Lastly, lots of love and congratulations to Duncan and Katy who (despite not updating their blog!) are the very proud parents of a beautiful baby girl, Megan. Glad to see them continuing the "girls names begin with M" tradition and all I can say to Katy is: a nice easy quick labour, before your due date? You won't make any friends like that...(seriously, am thrilled and can't wait to head south to visit).
Lisa at 11:03
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