Lazy Sunday

When Chopper cuddled up to me last night, wrapping his arm around my waist (yes I do still have one) and I slotted the crook of my elbow around the shape made by his; I was rocked by the realisation that we are 2 halves of the same jig saw.

Our children are simply newer, more modern designs of our original puzzle. Their laughter warms our hearts.

Our cats soothe jangled nerves, with the sound of their purrs.

Our garden, with it's green hued foliage and rainbow of coloured flowers soothes our eyes.

The smell of sea salt carried in on the warm breezes fills infinitesimal spaces we were not aware existed.

Life at Chez Aspie is a blessing we value and frequently take the time to appreciate.

Dear readers, who or what makes you feel this way and why? Who or what do you value and appreciate?

I hope you all have a lovely lazy Sunday.

Friday

I've had the privilege of reading a fabulous book, Tangled Roots by Sue Guiney and published by Bluechrome. Sue weaves her story much in the same way as magicians perform their acts during a live stage show. I read this book with growing anticipation, assuming I knew what was about to happen and eagerly wanting to reach that point. Unexpectedly and with amazing cleverness the words frequently became twisted puffs of a magic spell; blending and wafting before me, clouding my vision only to have turned into something else once I was able to see clearly again. I would recommend this book to those who take their reading seriously and to those who savour their books. Tangled Roots is unique and very special. I adored each sentence and wish Sue all the success she deserves with this magnificent debut novel.

The winner of this week's wordless Wednesday is Westerwitch with her caption, 'Whilst one Priest looked for nits the other one got ready to hit them.' Congratulations WW, I am not going to post another winner's button as I think you already have the full collection!

I knew that this picture would probably generate lots of unpleasant thoughts (it did for me) but I put it up to make a bit of a statement. I think it is really sad that we all seem to have lost our innocence. What happened to the time when this picture would have been regarded as an exquisite work of art?

What do you think? Is our loss of innocence a good thing? A necessary evil? Just a part of being an adult? Or simply a by product of the society we live in?

I hope you all have a lovely weekend. I will be back with my usual lazy Sunday post.

Wordless Wednesday (please leave a caption in the comment box)

Random comments from N3S - Part 16

'You sounded like an evil dog' (said after I cleared my throat one morning)

'When I die I don't want to be buried!' (Random comment to his hairdresser)

'My mom is very old but her fat is very soft!'

'My dad is very clever and he can fix things too!'


N1 and N2 sons had the privilege of watching the Portsmouth/Cardiff game at Wembley yesterday (tickets courtesy of their mom), while Chopper watched it at home. I kept N3S busy and out of the front room as neither of us are interested in organised sports.

It seems I need to re-do the update on Chopper's health. He is NOT pain free, sorry to confuse those of you who thought I meant that in my last post. Chopper only wishes he was! No he is still on regular painkillers and I still can NOT hug him without causing him pain but the pain has lessened to the extent that he is no longer half mad with it. Also there has been no further episodes of vomiting since the GP gave him tablets to stop him being sick and no further blood loss. So, slight improvements but not anywhere near well yet.

Horse riding has been cancelled this week so N3S and I are going to the cinema. He had a lovely experience yesterday as he got to feed our tortoise lettuce that we had planted as seeds several weeks ago. He got quite excited and wanted to feed him the carrots, runner beans, sweet corn, melon, pumpkin, and tomato plants too. None of which are anywhere near ready to eat yet or particularly palatable to a grumpy old tortoise! Here is a picture of our higgledy piggledy fruit and vegetable patch. The sweet corn and and raspberries are out of sight at the far end. The near end shows a bit of the pumpkin plant and our tiny tomato plants and the middle is our lettuces and potatoes, with sweet peas and runner beans along the fence.

All my meetings tomorrow are in the same building for a change, so I will be attending them all with wild and frizzy, helmet ring topped hair as I am going to take the opportunity to cycle into work again. Might be able to get rid of some of this fat that N3S thinks is so soft if I keep it up! Speaking of which, the novel I am currently writing, Plump WAG's Club is coming along nicely. I am enjoying writing it as the characters are good fun. I spoke to my publisher yesterday and he has not had a chance to read my submissions yet but assures me he will do it asap. I said at this rate I will be submitting Plump WAG's to him before he has read my first submissions...I meant it as a joke and luckily he took my comment as I intended.

I hope you all have a wonderful lazy Sunday, I will be back on wordless Wednesday.

Friday

N3S had to have a tooth removed this week. We thought he would bolt out of the dentist's surgery after he had the injection but he stayed and had his tooth out. Look at the size of that tooth! He has said he is never having it done again though...unfortunately it is likely that he will have to. He was very ill with chickenpox as an infant, in hospital for 5 days and the huge doses of antibiotics have caused hypoplastic teeth. Hopefully the rest will fall out to make way for his big boy teeth before removing them becomes necessary!

This week's wordless Wednesday winner's are:
VIwith her caption; 'For just a pound you can get two bubblegum balls and a jelly snake!' and Maureen with her caption; 'This gives a whole new meaning to the word "Gumballs".... ewwww'. Congratulations to you both, here is your winner's button, display it with pride.

Honorable mentions this week go to Debs with her caption; 'Just off to my meeting' and Savannah with her caption; "listen, darling, would you please bring some product down with you, my hair can't handle the humidity!"

It seems to be a bit of a tradition to post some stats once you've completed a years blogging. So here are the stats for my two blogs for just over a year's worth of posts: 248 posts on Exquisite Dreams and 62 posts on Wild Hippie Child (now known as 'From Zaftig to Aspie) and a combined total of 4444 comments (not counting spammers) as of yesterday morning. Its been an interesting year and I'd like to say thank you to everyone for sharing it with me!

My new job is going...erm...okay? Not sure yet. Will keep you posted. Chopper bought me a gorgeous turquoise coloured bicycle so I can cycle to work on the days that are not filled with meetings in different cities. I rode in today and it felt glorious to peddle along with the scent of the sea flowing past instead of being stuck in queues of traffic.

Chopper has had a relatively pain free week, still on painkillers but suffering less and a good thing too as his URGENT appointment with the specialist is not until the 9th of June.

N3S's school teacher has cancer and will not be teaching his class anymore as she needs to have chemotherapy. We are all very sad for her and worry that N3S is going to find the last term of school even more of a struggle than usual. The SENCO teacher and headmistress have put some plans into place to try and reduce the disruption for N3S and Chopper and I have managed to split the summer holidays between us so he will get our undivided attention, instead of being sent to day camps while we both go to work. It must be quite scary for a 5 year old to have his teacher suddenly disappear because she is poorly and needs the doctors to help her body work properly again. N3S has a 7pm bedtime which means that he spends almost as much time with his teacher on weekdays as he does with us.

Scott has a great poll on his blog: The Best Of The Rest Of The Booker: The Public Vote, head on over and vote if you are so inclined. His blog is on my list of daily must reads and well worth a visit.

I hope you all have a great weekend. I will be back with my usual lazy Sunday post.

Wordless Wednesday (Please leave a caption in the comment box)

Lazy Sunday

I got this award from Sparxs (right back at'cha 'Island girl'!). Apparently I make her laugh...not sure if she means she is laughing with me or at me though...thankyouverymuch Sparxy, you know I *heart* your very funny blog! Go read it everyone, you won't be disappointed.

In imitation of Sparx, I would like to spread the love and laughter by giving this award to all the women on my blogroll.

Things that have made me happy so far in this month of May (idea borrowed from VI's blog)
1) Laughing with Chopper
2) Sunshine
3) Finishing writing my memoir, 'From Zaftig to Aspie'
4) Eating meals while sat in our garden
5) Watching N3S ride his horse with a big smile on his beautiful face
6) Hugs from my family
7) Going to a pamper evening with my (long suffering) best friend
8) Visits from Aunty Vix
9) A note from N3S telling me he loves me
10) A (saucy) poem written by Chopper

I leave you with a photo of N3S doing so 1:1 training in the ring last week. This week he will go on an hour long ride through trails in the woods. He alternates between the two as he loves doing both. We think it is time to buy him his own hat now and proper riding boots but the costs are astronomical so I am watching Ebay in the hopes of finding something affordable in his size. I am going to do some work on my new novel in progress 'The Plump WAG's Club' now while everyone else is still asleep. I hope you all have a lovely lazy Sunday.