Say what LV?

On leaving the house mid-morning:

Me: Ohhhh, that smells nice, someone must be cooking...
LV: Maybe they're having a BBQ
Me: Maybe, I think it smells like bolognaise...
LV: Or a banana...
Me: ummmmmm maybe


xo.

Ladies of the laundrette...

I've never really paid that much attention to my washing machine use until this weekend, when a cracked pipe led to me not being able to use it. I had no workworthy clothes ready for the week ahead, LV's favourite hoodie and converse trainers needed a seriously good clean and this all meant one thing....a trip to the laundrette was required. Who knew how expensive it was to use a laundrette (£10!!!!), and who knew how stressful it would be having a 3.5 year old in the laundrette, stressful mainly for the other laundrette users, for me not so much. LV had a superb time, she helped load, she helped unload, kindly dragging all my underwear across the laundrette floor for all to see, she lined up baskets and hopped from one to another, she sang a song whilst holding onto the machine during its spin cycle (creating an unusual high pitched vibrating voice)....a total hoot (for her, and me). She got bored after half an hour, so I placated with a pan au raisin, did the trick and we left the laundrette after an hour with two loads of clean clothes all dried and ready for the week ahead. I prefer the comfort/privacy of doing the washing in my own home, but I might take the little one there again, just for fun!

Snapped before the pan au raisin

xo.

Last week.

xo.

The great escape.

Last week I had to do some work in the night, I set my alarm for 12.45am, got up, supported a website release and then headed back to bed at 3am. It took me a while to get off to sleep so lets say I fell back to sleep at around 3.45am. I was exhausted. At around 5.30am, I heard a noise, I stirred but didn't wake fully, I rolled over, opened my eyes and there she was, LV had escaped her room and was staring me right in the face. This is the first time I have ever experienced extreme terror, my child isn't terrifying usually, but my irrational, snoozy mind could not process that someone was in my bedroom (LV has a security gate across her bedroom door). I squealed a bit, which freaked her out and I went all shaky (I think there was a bit of fear that it was an intruder...a tiny intruder, but an intruder all the same). I calmed down, she clambered into bed and we went back off to sleep.

When I got up in the morning I was baffled, her gate was still locked, surely she hadn't scaled the gate? I've seen her attempt this unsuccessfully a couple of times. Bit odd, but that was the only explanation really, I was just glad she'd manage to land the climb uninjured.

I didn't think anymore about it until yesterday, we were in the bathroom, she left and when I asked her where she was she said in her room, she had somehow managed to beat the security gate again, it remained locked but she was now inside her room. So, I waited it out, I knew she'd want to get out soon so I set up camp in the spare room and watched. When she'd had enough she got down on the floor, pushed the bottom of the gate outwards (the door frame fixtures have come loose), shimmied underneath holding the metal gate above her and then pushed it back into its original position! Gotcha! Crafty little minx. There's some DIY to be done this weekend, I can't handle another intruder panic.

 Scary intruder.

xo.

Say what LV?

LV is full of cheek at the moment. Her new favourite saying: 'It doesn't matter, I don't CARE!' This doesn't sit well with me, she receives a stern look and threats of treats being with-held. This doesn't sit well with her so I think we're getting somewhere. However, the classic of this month was hollered in the middle of M&S: LV 'who's my dad??? MUUUM Who's my dad' Ahhhhhhhhhhh cringe, hide....... Me 'what do you mean? You know who your dad is!!!' LV ' I mean where's my dad?' Phew Me 'work sweetie' Panic over, my daughter knows who her father is. Phew. Xo.

I heart retro prints.

Yesterday LV and I hit the shops early. I was focused and ruthless. We didn't get much, some face paints for her and a camping chair for me. I have wanted one of these chairs since last Summer, well, I wanted two, but there was only one there so the hunt for another will continue, but these retro camping chairs can reach a fair amount of dollar on ebay! Not that I'm going to sell it, I'm going to hide it in the shed and when we get some nice weather I'm going to bring it out and hope Rob doesn't feel the need to mention yet another of my random purchases. It was £2.99 and is surprisingly comfortable and very light, perfect for taking to the seaside. We rarely go to the seaside, but when we do, we'll be prepared!

I also stumbled across another typewriter....oh what to do. I didn't buy it, telling myself if it was still there today then I should buy it.....I'll let you know.
xo.

Mystical land of 'HAVE A GREAT DAY'!

Last week I was fortunate enough to venture to the US with work for a conference. It was a whistle stop tour in that we flew out and flew back within 72 hours but I'm not complaining I was over the moon to get to experience the land of excessive fizzy pop refills even if it was just for a few hours.

The flight was brilliant, I squeezed in two meals, 3 films, a couple of chapters of a new book 'The Help' and three magazines - I laughed, I cried (film) it was an emotional rollercoaster. I rarely get to do any of these things so I made the most of it. The flight back, well that was a whole different story, I fell asleep as we took off and woke up 20 minutes before landing. That's what business class will do to a gal! My first and probably my last experience of flying business class and I snoozed my way through the entire experience.

So, onto the good stuff, I got off to a good start, for the first 2 hours after landing I avoided doing anything embarrassing (mainly because we were in a car and I was concentrating on not being sick). I was thrilled when we arrived at the hotel and I was still physically well. My sleepy mood was lifted by the onslaught of cheery 'Where are you guys from?',  'Are you having a great day?', 'You say cheers? That's so funny'! etc. This is when things took a turn and I lapsed into my normal state of being embarrassing, a few of the things that happened to me in the few hours I spent in USA.

Concierge interaction
I asked if it would be ok for me to drink the tap water. The concierge looked at me like I was insane and said 'Would you like some bottled water?' me 'oh no I just wanted to check it was ok to drink the tap water' at this point I realised how ridiculous my question was so excused myself.

Starbucks, I ordered a green tea
me 'please can I have a tall green tea?'
waitress 'hot or cold?'
me 'tall' I assumed she'd misheard me
waitress 'hot or cold?'
me 'what do you mean?'
waitress ' would you like to drink your tea hot or cold?'
me 'do people drink tea cold?'
waitress 'yes'
me 'oh sorry, hot please'

Automatic door debacle
When a door requires more than than simply pulling/pushing it open or pushing it shut I struggle. I've had a bad experience with a rotating door before when I accidentally squeezed into the same compartment as my boss and had to shimmy behind her trying not to make contact, awkward. These types of doors make me nervous. But the doors in our US office were worse, they rotated and required both a card swipe and patience...a tricky combination. I swiped, I entered, the alarm sounded and a voice over lady told me to get out, fail. So I tried again I swiped, I paused, but this time I paused too long, entered too late and was instructed to try again. This happened approximately 8 times and as the queue formed behind me (it was rush-hour) I got more and more flustered. My colleague had a go, made it through first time and I was left to try again...with an audience. Thankfully I made it to the other side, finally....I think I heard a round of applause...I didn't look back.

Actually, I've just realised that I didn't last 2 hours before doing/saying something embarassing, as we went through passport control I squealed with excitement as I spotted an Amish family..I was literally overjoyed. I tried not to stare but was so intrigued I pretty much followed them...just for a bit...my collegaue slowly but surely inched away from me. It was a highlight for me. 

There are plenty more where these came from....tip of the iceberg one might say. But for now I'll leave you realising/or reconfirming what a mentalist I really am.

Have a great day now. xo.