\o/

They've gone, the builders have gone! After destroying our walls, our carpets, our ceilings, our sanities, a laundry basket, a packet of breakfast cereal, my bookcase, a bar of Lush Rockstar soap (you'd've thought such conspicuously manly blokes would have avoided the pink, sweet smelling soap in favour of the inoffensive bar of imperial leather Dad favours, but no, we found it lying in the sink, broken in half, diminished in size by two thirds and covered in so much plaster what was left was irretrievable), three coat-hooks, two floorboards, two towels, two lightbulbs, one toothbrush, the entire back yard and a bottle of TCP, they've finally gone.

The work varies in quality from 'surprisingly decent' to 'typical Housing Exec' and has led mum to enquire on a timescale for me getting published so I can actually buy us a house *g*

Anyway, they've gone, and that's all that matters, and I feel like celebrating...

( Celebration under here... )

Last night was the last big read-through of the play before rehearsals proper begin (just as soon as exams are over, as the leading man and his mistress are both in A/As level hell right now) and it went really well. The cast seems to have been pretty much finalised, we're really getting a feel for the dialogue... yeah, this could be good. Of course, we've not started on the physical side of things... I feel sorry for the leading man - he's got some running around to do!

Also, I realised last night that my character is on stage for the duration of the play. Oh bugger. :D

Spiderman 3 tonight - I think dad's more excited than I am! I promised dracothelizard that I'd keep an eye out for any possible Bruce-ness...

*scurries away to think of bad!fic*

28 years ago today, my mum and dad said 'I do' :)

*-*-*-*

Now, here's one for you from the folder marked Whisky Tango Foxtrot.

In Tescos today dad and I were boggling at the antics of a little girl in stiletto heel boots (she can't have been any older than 7 - her feet! They'll be ruined!) and the mother that didn't seem too concerned about her behaviour. We passed them a couple of times. On the third, another little girl came haring past, nearly knocking things from shelves, with her mother behind bellowing out her name.

"SHANIA!"

Stiletto-girl looks round, confused, her mum leans down. "Not you, Shania."

O_o

*-*-*-*

Everyone else has said everything that needs to be said about last night's rock-fest (including madscot and jamaisneutral - resistance is futile, ladies ;)) but I shall simply say 'pianist's fingers' and grin a lot :D

In just over two hours I will be in Belfast, preparing to scream myself stupid as four men in their late thirties try to prove they can still party like it's 1994.

To say I am excited, is akin to saying that Ant and Dec can be a tiny bit camp sometimes!

I would, however, like to take this opportunity to publicly acknowledge the awsomeness of my dad. Given my propensity to wig out in these kind of situations, even now, dad is coming with me - this despite the fact that he is still suffering Take That fatigue from the first time, and that he's actually claustrophobic, and crowds are not good for his wellbeing. I need him, so he'll be there. Now that is awsome, and I love him :)

(I still had to pay for his bloody ticket though. ;))

See you all on the flipside!

Dancing on Ice judges:

YOU WOT?!

Two weeks in a row now. Two fucking weeks in a row you jettison real talent in favour of well... shite. Dame Kelly may be a national treasure (and I'm never going to say bad things about someone with that name!) but: She. Can't. Skate!

Sean can.

So who do you vote off?

Sean.

Eh?

From the consistantly low marks you gave Sean and Marika's beautiful routines we could tell you were biased against them, but then to dump them in favour of someone who's skating you slag off on a weekly basis? Jesus H Christ on a fucking pogo stick! I mean Marika even lifted Sean! what more do they have to do?

Bloody hell!

---

Meanwhile back in the real (and slightly more even tempered) world,

I had a lovely day today.

Mum had the day off from looking after Auntie, so we went up to Belfast (mum wants one of those reclining chairs to help her back so we went on a costing mission) and tootled around the shops. I managed to snag some goodies in Lush (the only soap in the world that doesn't leave my hands looking like I've been shaking hands with freddie kreuger), we had lunch out, and we did a lot of walking (was really impressed with how far mum managed). Sometimes we really rub each other up the wrong way, but everything seemed to just fall into place today.

Oh, and we discovered the furnature shop that never ends! Seriously, I think whoever built the TARDIS also built this place, it was bizzare, you turned a corner thinking you were at the exit, and there you were... in a completely new bit! Over and over again!

Fun day. 'M sleepy now :)

the christmas dinner went unbelivably well, despite dad having a disagreement with the town hall ovens (oven either on with grill or not at all, hob either on full or off, no inbetween), I wore my boobie top (there are pictures, apparently, heaven help us), ate loads and felt contentedly like I'd never move again. Anne (she who is in charge) had asked me during the week what dad's favourite sweets were, so they could give him a thank you, but when they handed them over,I got a little box of my favourites too, for helping! I was so touched, especially since I didn't do much.

Reason for not posting this before? Combined post-big dinner fatigue (I was running around like a headless chicken keeping an eye on the ovens dad couldn't) and medication withdrawal - yup, I asked if it was ok to go ahead early, since I didn't fancy doing the comedown over the hols, and got the go-ahead, so I'm a little all over the place atm - please forgive any spelling errors, mind is working faster than body.

So that's it, dinner was good, body is fucked, mind is ok. See you on the flipside :)

Ahahaha! The shrink, he has spoken, and he has said that I'm making such good progress that one last appointment to check all's well, and they'll discharge me back into normal GP care!

And the Melanie visits will be ending shortly after that too...

Wow.

I was watching The Parting Of The Ways again this morning, while waiting for Kate to come pick me up for our usual Monday coffee and lunch routine. When she arrived I nipped off to get my bag, leaving the vid running, and returned to find her staring at the screen going 'He kissed the Doctor! That guy kissed the Doctor!'

Once it sunk in she didn't seem terribly upset about the Doc getting some snoggage, but I think it broke her brain for a moment there... :)

This morning dad and I went up to Portglenone Forest to walk the Bluebell trail.

It's amazing. The bluebells are at their peak, and when you come down the hill into the forest, there are just millions of them (no exageration) rolling down the hills from the Monestary into the forest... so beautiful.

We threw some pennies into the Lady's Well, saw a couple of squirrels (one of them doing the twitchy easily distracted while eating nuts thing, which of course prompted cries of "Did I leave the gas on? No, I'm a fucking squirrel!") and had a lovely morning. I hope to go back soon, before the bluebells die, to get some photographs.

Then we sat at a picnic table right at the edge of the forest, and had croissants and hot chocolate that we brought from home (why does hot choccy always taste better outside?) and just talked a load of crap and had a good time. (Nice to spend time with dad, he's been either out or lying down resting his back lately, and I've not been much better)

A Very Good Day :)

Here's a fun little juxtaposition - Before dinner, I was reading slash, very explicit NC-17 slash. Just as I was preparing to nip back upstairs to finish the story after dinner, we were visited by the new parish curate on his rounds. Nice fella, for a priest, bit mad, not too up himself, mum liked him, and as she's the only Catholic in the house, that's all that counts :) But now, back to the slash.

Well, it made me smile :)