Simple Woman's Daybook: 8th June

Outside My Window ... a brighter morning after a cold, wet weekend.

I am thinking ... I'm not doing thinking today. My brain is fuzzy with a cold.

From the learning rooms ... Angel is loving her new GCSE courses - so far she has enjoyed every lesson in every subject. Graphics is a particular favourite. They are working on scale drawings, and she finds the detailed, painstaking work relaxing. She is in a small group (just ten students) who are all equally focused, which makes for a nice working atmosphere.

I am thankful for ... a new kitchen that is now more-or-less in working order. Not finished yet, but making good progress.

From the kitchen ... still not quite at the cooking stage, beyond heating up tins and ready meals. We even had to borrow a can opener from Next Door as we couldn't find ours. Tevye says it is like trying to use somebody else's kitchen - we don't know where things are or how things work! I am studiously working my way through instruction manuals. I have managed to get to grips with the dishwasher, but my first attempt with the combination microwave oven resulted in an undercooked ready meal and a plastic lid melted onto the back of the oven. Let's just say I learned the hard way ... there are things that work in a gas oven, but not in an electric fan oven.

I am wearing ... denim jeans, pink t-shirt and purple cardigan. Also wearing a chunky watch with brown leather strap and pink face. I like this watch and was sad to lose it a few months ago. After a couple of months I gave up hope of finding it and bought another. Star found it in the stationery drawer on Saturday. How on earth did it get there? And how come nobody spotted it earlier?

I am creating ... still the same Cherub cardigan. I am procrastinating over the making up. Not my favourite part of knitting.

I am going ... to Star's school to drop off her lunch. I found it sitting in the middle of the sitting room floor. It seems she lost focus somewhere between fridge and bag.

I am reading ... The Catholic Revival in English Literature 1845-1961 by Ian Ker

I am hoping ... the nasty cough and cold I have doesn't turn into another chest infection.

I am hearing ... a drill buzzing in the kitchen and Cherub watching TV (she doesn't spend all her time watching it, honestly - it is just that when she watches, I blog!)

Around the house ... less bags and boxes as we gradually put things away in the kitchen cupboards. New toys scattered over the sitting room floor. Today is Cherub's third birthday. How can that be?

One of my favorite things ... long conversations with my teenage daughter.

A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week ... a new Jo Jingles class for Cherub tomorrow and we are planning to try out story time at the library on Wednesday; playing with the brass band at a village fete on Saturday; the stone setting for Tevye's aunt on Sunday (in Judaism a service is held a year after someone dies to dedicate the gravestone).

A Picture Thought I Am Sharing ... Cherub blowing out her birthday cake candles with a little help from A-next-door

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