Delayed Gratification

I am the sort of grinch who makes my family wait (patiently) until December 1 before carols and decorations can be unearthed, eat their vegetables, say please and thank you AND wait until their birthdays before they can open their presents.

Its a gift that I have and, while not always appreciated at the time, it is darned well appreciated by the day of the actual birthday *.

Paris is having her birthday on 21st December.  Yes, that is correct, the Mayans knew that she was going to turn 3 and stopped their calendars for the occasion **.

While I have stipulated, it does not mean that the grey area around the "wait until your birthday before you can open your presents" proclamation cannot - and does not - get thoroughly investigated here in Paradise.

However, when we have loved ones living far, far away *** who send gifts in boxes with lots of foam peanuts, the sting from the whole command dissolves.

For what is a box, if it is not a car, what are foam peanuts if not art materials - and what is a sister, if not a magician?

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* Disclaimer - this is in no way proportional to the disappointment to seeing that the whole inventory of Toyworld is not awaiting them as requested on perusing the brochures.

** Obviously quite prescient, those Mayans - she is already turning on a few little tantrums that require "time out" - I wonder what the Mayans see when they decreed such a complete time out!!

*** who are far more organised than I and therefore have enough little ducks lined up to ensure that present arrival date is less than birthday date - a trick that thus far eludes me...

In the Morning

In the morning, if I am lucky enough to be awake before Paris, I take a moment to look around the living room.

(Sidenote: every morning I am lucky enough to be awake before 'Salina, because 'Salina is now officially a teenager and therefore is relishing the sleep in far too much to enter the race.)

I take immense joy in the cleared floor.  I look to the lounge and only see tousled cushions.  The books are stacked neatly.  Ah, coupled with the peace of that first cup of tea with the sun glinting off the windows and slight breeze, this is the recipe for perfect mornings...

In the morning, if I am lucky enough to have Paris awaken me with a dulcet "good morning", I get her dressed and allow her to peruse the delights offered by the library DVD selection du'week and I take a cup of tea to wake up and try to get my eyes and mind to catch up to hers.

In the morning, sometimes 'Salina saunters out decked in uniform complete with the hairstyle of the day and a smile.

In the morning, if Paris thinks she is awake before she really is, I can tell off the bat because the tinkle in her "good morning" appears to have broken, and the getting dressed can call for several time outs and a threat of being sent back to bed.  The tea needs a coffee chaser before I can even look toward the lounge, generally trashed with a trail of Paris debris.


In the morning, occasionally I need to regard the clock and gird myself to knock on 'Salina's door to check on status.  Their is generally an echo from a person half my height but with less than half of my tact and diplomacy screeching "you 'wake, 'Salina!!!!?"

In the mornings, the big daughter and I used to go for walks and got fit and more often than not attempts to bond were made with sporadic success (and spectacular failures).  That doesn't happen any more.

However - there are times when the little daughter says "Mum, in the morning" and requests such a pleasure...

In the mornings, there is so much potential on offer.  Perhaps this is the recipe for perfect mornings.

Everyone is a critic

Including the spammers, it seems.

Ever since I have been compelled to lose my chastity belt, Anonymous has been my number one commenter.

Do you know that Anonymous doesn't work on a Sunday?  True!  I get 10-12 spam comments every day bar Sunday.  Obviously that is their day to repent.

Anyhow, I have been keeping a file of the interesting ones, because some of them certain could teach me a thing or two about segues and stream-of-consciousness.

Here are a few prize entries:

One of the earliest icons to have adopted the Barbour Jacket was Steve McQueen who is the peak of Hollywood royalty, his name has even been put to his own range of jackets by Barbour which are replicas of Jackets he wore through out his life.

See, I didn't know that! The things I (and indeed all of my readers and commenters) could learn were I not so heavy on the "Mark as Spam" key.

Consequently, the woman attempted to avoid the paparazzi by means of revealing the woman with child stomach together with your ex Herms bag. Males and girls started out explore why she succeeded and also the tasteful purse grew to become a symbol relating to Marilyn Monroe. From then on, it's got been recognized as the Bag Despite the fact that, there isn an absence involved with on the internet web pages or stores that occur to get advertising and marketing these purses and purses, nevertheless it actually is well-advised they make an acquisition by certified also to standard retailers.

They know me so well, these spammers, to refer to the woman with child stomach and avoidance of paparazzi...

In case you are retaining reside plants within your aquarium inside the lights wants will probably be a tiny bit unique than in the event your aquarium is often a fish only aquarium. You could possibly have recognized any time you have formerly place vegetation within the tank that they really don't previous extensive in any respect. Probably you assumed that aquarium vegetation which might be short-lived? But, in fact, aquarium vegetation should really dwell just as extensive as property plants the condition is the fact the majority of people will not supply them together with the correct style of lights Within the aquarium.

Or not - perhaps they read the Tale of Miss Jeanie and the Bad Fish and decided to pass judgement on how well I maintained their environs...

Don't finish by saying, "thank you," as if they are performing you a favor. You might be undertaking them a favor.

But alas, I am not performing them the favour of publishing their comment, thereby ensuring that the lovely louis vuitton links will never get to my real people. I hope that you don't mind...

A journey of a thousand miles...

Its a famous translation of a Chinese saying, attributed to Lao Tzu - but it wasn't until I googled it (because I had a whole nother post in mind not five minutes ago) that I found there was disagreement on what it should actually be translated as.

Should it be "begins with a single step", thereby inspiring us to put that first foot out and just start?

Another line of thought is that it should be "begins beneath your feet", meaning first you start with stillness and grounding.

And then there are those who apparently feel it should be "thousand miles to be travelled, start with foot (placed) down" - because we all know that the Chinese need firm instructions...

And really, when you consider that it probably wasn't miles to be travelled but another unit and it may not have been one thousand but instead a less rounded figure, all we have to contemplate is the journey and the beginning...

So I will consider this one foot being planted.

Bombed

Today we bombed.

V also bombed 2 weeks ago - which merely woke some of the ugliest mutants of cockroaches from years of slumber.

Unfortunately we got some by-kill.

I hope I haven't nipped a evolution in the bud, or terminated a unique species forevermore...

(PS the dust on the table is flour - we cleaned out the pantry in preparation.  The fly was brought to the table for the photo opportunity from the window sill we found him on. 

This is why I am not known for either my housekeeping OR my photography.