No More Excuses...

Ahem....After a couple of years of saying "one's enough" and "never again"...it turns out one isn't really enough (although there are days when one is more than enough!) There is to be another Allen joining our little family...At the moment it is called Shark...and we had our 12 week scan this morning!

Sunshine came too and was very good and even correctly identified the image as a baby...a "baby swimming"! And then it all got a bit too much and she decided that she'd seen enough and turned off the monitor!

So, I have an excuse for being a complete lightweight and going to bed at 8.30pm is becoming a bit of a norm! It's hard enough being a host but being a mummy to an energetic toddler can push you over the edge!

Oh, it's called Shark because I had an early scan and Sunshine also came to that and when asked what she saw on the TV she said "A Shark"....so Shark it was!

Away for a Week

I was in Altrincham all of last week giving a training course..it was enjoyable in so far as being the trainer is...I had a good bunch which made it a bit easier...I wouldn't say that I have a calling for the role, but it is good for the soul to occasionally get out of routine! It's exhausting standing in the front and having to talk,think, move, engage people all at the same time! A week also seems to be a long time these days, especially as Sunshine seems to change on a daily basis!

Needless to say I managed to fill each evening with catch-ups with friends...Katie & Mark (Katie cooked some fab lamb burgers and I didn't scare Tully too much this time!), a lovely evening with Marianthi in Manchester (I'm sure we walked further than we needed to....!) and a class night out...lots of good food and not too late nights...why am I so tired?!! Well, it would have been a bit rude not to make the most of my 'freedom'....but it was definitely good to get home...eventually...

FANTASTIC!

...and a little sad....But a brilliant book! This has got to be my fastest read yet...but then I am away from home...:(

'A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary For Lovers' is a love story between a young Chinese student and an English man...The story chronicles the year when Z attends an English school in London and everything that happens from her point of view. The story is written in ever improving English and tells of her heartbreak. I loved it! I finished it on the tram and I'll admit the end made me well up a bit....

The Parsifal Mosaic

I finished 'The Parsifal Mosaic'...it took a while to get into it as it's not my usual genre of novel. But once I managed to maintain a steady reading pace I found it hard to put down! Although I will admit that I have been tired recently and it took me about 4 attempts to read the final and most exciting chapter!! I was given a further challenge to read another 2 Robert Ludlum tomes straight away (as Peter's mum managed to finish 3 in a week- but then I do have to go to work etc etc...)...but I have declined and decided that as I was on my way up to Manchester to deliver some training that I could find a new book to read whilst at the airport!

I would not read this particular book again...but I may try another Ludlum in the future...if pushed...and there being nothing else to read!!

Dragon...grrrrrr

It's the Southampton Boat Show next weekend...and there were some PR people handing out free dragon masks....I think it's an improvement...

Raiding the Veggie Patch

Trevor seemed to have a lot of produce (especially rhubarb), so after breakfast and the rain, we dug some potatoes with the kids, I picked some rhubarb and lovely onions..Sunshine was responsible for the apples!

Thanks Elizabeth & Trevor!