MrsBrown's philosophy of life and stuff

Tonight's the night before the big weekend.

The night I'm finally well enough to bustle around and organise... stuff!

My house should be full of people pulling things out and asking, "do we need this?" or "do you think we could fit this in?"

We should all be working together and having a good time doing it.

Instead:
mr_bassman is off teaching someone how to make a gambeson (I'm sure he could work it out with all those other people there) and he took Rose with him.
MrPeacock would be up for it, but has gone to dinner and a play with his grandmother
Sneetch  "couldn't be bothered catching a train " to my house "again" and just wants to spend one day in one house
and MsNotaGoth told me that she's grownup and doesn't need my help.

Late news, MsNotaGoth interupted my whinge to come and tell me she's ready to pack now and now she's on the phone persuading Sneetch to come over too. (but mostly because she wants to drive our new car)

Anyway, I was going to observe that I'm playing happy families, and I need to have another look at what my needs in this situation really are.

My children have gone. They are off touring the world* for the next 5 weeks, and MrPeacock won't be back until just before christmas. I took them to the airport and managed to avoid becoming a blubbering mess, although I could have if I'd let myself. I just developed a small leak as I hugged MrPeacock. And I'm only leaking a little bit right now as I write about it.

It's going to be very quiet around here. I wonder if I need to bother having a mobile phone, 'cos they're the ones who mostly ring me?

OTOH, this is such an opportunity. Major furniture reorganisation is planned, and, if we can find the money, a certain amount of renovation of the Family Room while it's empty of furniture.

Of course, we're also heading to Christchurch during the 5 weeks MsNotaGoth and Sneetch are away. Also sewing for Coronation and bridesmaidery, AND attending a couple of SCA events. Never mind the supervision of reasonably active toddler.

We'll see how far we get. Maybe they'll come home to a housing disaster.

btw. Rose is still here, she's not "my children", she's my baby.

*Hong Kong, UK, Greece, Italy, France, Holland, Germany. MrPeacock has a work visa for Germany so I expect he'll be there for the rest of the year.

- Sneetch and Mr Peacock spending the afternoon cutting vegetables for the roast

- Mr Peacock's comment during the meal, "every vegetable has been corrupted by fat and heat"

- the joy that mr_bassman, Sneetch and Ms Not-a-goth got in putting Rose's present together, and apart, and together. It's been a trike and a push toy at least twice each. Rose likes it too.

- the achievement of the happy family, without having to pretend, until 3.30pm. It couldn't last.

We seem to have started a family tradition. I have always (since having children, and only on the years they're home) had pancake breakfast with berries and cream on Christmas day. Last year my Oma and the kid's Oma came on their way to their main festivity. It was great and they asked if we could do it again. Then my sister invited her family over too. It was nice enough to do again.

I had a cunning plan to buy berries at the supermarket after they'd been marked to half price but mr_bassman and I were having too good a time singing carols to the people in Eltham so we got to the supermarket after it closed. Luckily, (actually, I knew I had a backup plan) I had some jars of cherries in the pantry, so we had black forest pancakes instead. Cherry pottage, chocolate ganache, pancakes, cream and ice-cream.

I only slightly over catered for the 10 of us, not including two babies. Please come to my place for morning tea, afternoon tea or dessert very soon. I have enough for at least twenty.

Note for next year: I may be considered too old for this, but good christmas gifts are the ones you can play with on christmas day. I didn't want to re-read a book.

We have an enormous influx of girliness and Rose is sitting in the midst of it all.

Tamaly had a Buffy video night last night. There are 8 teenage girls lying around under blankets in my family room and Rose has been a bit of a hit.

Hooray! My niece is here, and I'm an aunty!!!

Pictures can be viewed, if you're that way inclined, in the usual place.

I did indulge my inner busybody and took myself to the hospital. I asked the midwives to tell my sister I was there and willing to leave again if she wanted me to. She asked me in!! I was there for all of it!!!

When I arrived she was still in labour, on a drip to get her labour moving and constrained by two belts and their associated wires to "monitor the baby" just like the crap I had with Rose. They kept on moving her to the bed, on her side and I kept persuading her to sit up, to try other positions. Each time, the bad cop midwife would find some reason to make her lie back again. We finally compromised and H sat up, on the bed, but was admonished not to lean forward too far, to maintain the integrity of the monitoring.

That hospital has a policy that women deliver on the bed!! The doctor and midwives appeared to be incapable of checking progress without making a woman lie on her back. I realised I was very glad to have had my babies as a public patient, via a birth centre, in the care of midwives. My midwives didn't blink about me delivering Rose while I stood. They didn't ask me to move onto the bed and lie back, "just until we've done this monitoring", or "so I can just check your progress". Helen got fed up with moving and so delivered in the lithotomy position, for the convenience of the people attending the birth and at risk to her unstable pelvis. Bastards!!

I was interested that they provide wireless monitoring for women in early labour, "so that they go down to the coffee shop in the foyer" but they won't use the wireless version when women are in advanced labour, when women would be SO much more comfortable with fewer wires and more freedom of movement.

Any way, she's here! and I'm an aunty!!