Having some family friends round, and the quick banter that happened around the dinner table.

Getting my new laptop delivered

Playing cribbage and knockout whist (for prizes, naturally!) with Bagpuss this afternoon.

Oh - did I mention the sherry, too???

Something

I just spelled Rosencrantz and Guildenstern correctly

Getting some beautiful new units for the kitchen at my studio at a 75% discount! I saw them a few weeks ago at the full price and couldn't begin to afford them. Now I can.

Playing 'Joy to the World' with Bagpuss, on mini-handbells from last year's Christmas crackers...we both had tears running down our faces...and Bag's wrist action was truly something to behold (don't ask )!

Making the first post of 2009! Happy New Year everybody!

Lost my saint-saens organ symphony CD but while i was looking for it, i found my long lost Susan Milan flute CD, and a big tube of smarties my mum said i could have!

Jacob.

Out for a ramble today with OH and seeing a barn owl and a kingfisher. Have only ever seen one before via Bill Oddie!
Then into the pub to thaw out over a glass of something warming.

Nanaging to unfreeze the dozens of yards of hose pipe to the fields with the aid of a dustbin full of hot water. I remembered to drain the water out afterwards this time so that it will work again tomorrow.

Meeting up with a good friend for the first time in months, finally getting my recording software set up as I like it, not being called out to work, taking some good pics while experimenting with my new camera...it's been a pretty top-notch day for me! Cracking start to 2009 - sure hope it continues!

The fact that some of the pictures of me from last night actually look nice!

Hey Lucky, havent spoken in a while... Happy New Year!

Happy New Year Soph!

1. We have beaten the technical gremlins and managed to get our Christmas presents to ourselves up and running - TV and DVD reader/burner plus digital tuner box for the old TV.

2. The flat pack unit to stand it all on was supposed to take two people an hour to assemble, with just a hammer and a screwdriver. My estimate was more like a week but we finished it in a day!!

3. I go back to work after the weekend but having been forcibly semi-retired I nolonger have the nursery class to look after. This makes me sad in some ways but the thought of a day and a half more at home each week and not having to work six days out of seven is a happy prospect.

I have an offer from Cambridge

I'm not particularly confident that I'll be able to fulfill it though

Great news! Well done Sarah123

Well done Sarah, that is great!

Oooh whats the offer?

x

For maths: Two As at maths and B at something else (should be fine ), then two 1s at STEP II and III (not so fine )

Well done Sarah!

Doing a whole lot of stuff off of my to do list





Congratulations

Well done Sarah.

What's made me happy today?

Well we decided to have a nice family meal at lunch time kind of a repeat of Christmas dinner - A really tasty chicken and some good veg and a bottle of wine between the adults in advance of my husband returning to work on Monday after a week and a bit off and my daughter being back at school on Tuesday.


Just nice to take some time out, from hectic scheduling, as a family to eat, relax and enjoy each other. Finished with a game of Eye spy with the kids. Fun all round. A lovely couple of hours.

Congratulations! (sorry, but what are Step II and III? I'm too old to know this from the days of my own A levels, and my children aren't old enough (quite) for me to have come across it for them!)




I've only just started to make mine




That sounds lovely. I think we're having de-frosted curries in an attempt to clear out the freezer. But that won't happen as long as my husband and sons keep buying repeat supplies of Ben and Jerries

My happy day? Lovely sunny, crisp weather, a beautiful fire burning in the grate and No. 1 son doing revision without argument. I think it's time for a glass of wine while I watch Poirot.

Both my kids have just had the monster of all strops! Why does this always happen after expecially lovely times?

Enjoy your wine CrotchetyMum!! (Looks for a relevant emoticon in vain) CHEERS!!!!

That will do nicely, thanks!

And I think they do it because they can Perhaps the very fact that it was a lovely thing to do before school starts again reminded them that it's looming. I know that mine would happily bury their heads in the sand until 7 o'clock on Monday morning

STEP stands for Sixth Term Examination Paper, or something along those lines. Basically, they're Cambridge entrance exams, based on the A level syllabus, but with much more difficult questions (Supposed to be aimed at the top 2% of A level candidates). They used to be used in most subjects, but are now only used for maths. There are three different papers: STEP I is based on slightly more than AS maths (only people who do this are ones who didn't do double A level), STEP II includes a bit more than A level and STEP III is on the whole of double maths. The grades you can get are U (fail), 3, 2, 1 and S (this used to get you a scholarship, when they still gave them). Most Cambridge colleges give offers of 1,1 1,2 or 2,2 in STEP II and III.

To give you some perspective, the exam is 3 hours long, and to get a 1, you need to answer 4 questions fully and correctly, but at the moment it takes me an average of about 3 hours per question

Warwick also give offers based on STEP.

Thank you Sarah - and huge amounts of good luck

yeah, could be for the elder one (nearly 6) but the younger is only 3 so no school!!! However, he does miss his sister when she is at school. Think a bit of jealousy kicks in though I keep telling them that they are both my favourites like in a book we have where Mummy bear has 3 babies and they want to know who's loved best....

Anyway, Having lovely times helps keep the not so lovely ones in perspective.

Finding time to fit in time to watch one more film from my Christmas collection - A Christmas Carol with George C Scott. So this year I have been able to watch Scrooge (Albert Finney), Scrooge (Alistair Simm), White Christmas (but not Holiday Inn as I don't have that yet) and It's a Wonderful Life. My husband will sulk if he doesn't get to see The Snowman, so I expect we'll watch that this evening, and then it will be time to pack them away again..... Or perhaps I might squeeze in one of the Scrooges again. Probably the musical so that I can watch Anton Rogers singing Thank You Very Much one last time before next Christmas

Ah - a woman after my own heart (and that of Bagpuss too!)!

I just adore the story - one of the most wonderful ever written - and don't mind how many times I watch it (in whichever incarnation) or read it.

I too have a particular fondness for the Albert Finney version - about 10 years ago I did it with 120 Y5/Y6 children because we had a wonderful Year 6 that year and one very special boy who could carry off the title role. I only had the music so I sat with the video and the pause button and wrote the whole script out...the performance lasted an hour and fifty minutes and I'll never forget it (and neither will the children concerned - those I'm still in touch with still talk about it and the boy who was Scrooge (now nearly 21) says he still has a copy of the programme in his bedroom!).

And I quite agree about Anton Rodgers - he was a very talented song-and-dance man and this aspect of his talent was very underused. And that song ALWAYS makes me feel better...!

I found myself serving at church this morning - I was the thurifer (incense swinger). They don't normally "do" incense, but it was a special service for the feast of the Epiphany. Everyone seemed rather surprised to see me doing it, but I enjoyed it very much, in some ways more so than playing the organ!!

I just love it - all versions... even the Muppet one

Christmas wouldn't be the same without it.

Having a warming homemade butternutsquash soup for lunch with the whole family.

Having a free lunch (yes, there are such things) for two, at one of the best hotels in town. Won the lunch in a raffle last year.

Perhaps we should set up an 'I Love 'A Christmas Carol' club???

Playing to a large audience

Cleaning the oven.

Not actually doing it; that was a horrible job - but at least now I know it's clean.

Singing Howells, Arvo Part, Joubert, Poulenc etc at our Epiphany carol service.

Yessssss *nods enthusiastically* ( )

I am not sure but just feel quite happy. I've done 1000 words on my essay today, got some new clothes, have a friend coming tomorrow and I'm eating chocolate.

i've done 2500/3000 words on my performance practice essay... some of my friends are coming back as well...though term wont start till 19th

back to organ practice tomorrow!!!! yay....

Definitely. Or, in the words of the aforementioned AR ( ) Thank you very much!

Going to visit a friend and her two granddaughters with another friend. The other friend and I had a really good laugh on the way there, the tea with the friend and the granddaughters was lovely, the children were sweet and the cat (a wild-eyed big kitten) was suitably crazy and made us all laugh. Then driving home and it was snowing...............it was just a lovely afternoon.

Then a really good phone call with a male friend - more laughs and warmth.

It's one of the best things in life I've just realised - laughing about silly things with good friends.

(which reminds me - will answer your WONDERFUL PM very soooooon!!!!)

Getting up early this morning completely rested and cooking my family breakfast

I know this is absurd and some of you might even feel annoyed with me for daring to suggest such a thing, but I'm happy today because work starts again!!!

I was ill for the last two months of 2008 and couldn't work so I'm very far behind but I feel a whole surge of energy for the New Year and all the work I'm going to do...


...starting this afternoon

(well, I'm having coffee with my neighbour this morning )

Where I woke up today has made me quite happy, I guess.

I am assuming you're still in mwl1 territory Floss!