Party

I have just had my Oxford Christmas drinks party and it was a great success. Everyone came and they had a great time. and so did I which is what really matters. Tomorrow I clean up and then go down to the farm to spend the evening and night with the Gee's. We will watch the X factor final and I will get up early to go to the bus to go to Heathrow for the flight to America. I'm looking forward to seeing Daniel and Jane and families and also Darcy and Joe who are my mainstays. I will also see Malcolm but given our recent interactions that might be tricky. I will see and report.

This is the lattice fence as mentioned below.

A lousy week

I'm now at the end of the week I was writing about in the last post. Well, things only got worse. My cold carried on for a few more days. I had to leave the class on Monday evening half way through. Then on Tuesday I found out that Malcolm is bringing his girlfriend to England in January to meet his daughters and their families. I know I shouldn't mind but I do. They are coming on the weekend that I was planning a family get together to celebrate a late Christmas since I will be away during Christmas proper. So typical. Then, to top things off, I got my first graded essay back yesterday and I got a C. I'm so disappointed. I was hoping for a B so that I could feel good about this new endeavour of mine. I'll have the tutorial to talk about it on Monday and that should be helpful. I've been finding the course extremely difficult and this grade certainly proves it. I'm sitting here in a real funk. I've lost my husband and it looks as though I'm not going to be able to replace him with academics.

OK - enough moaning. The bright side is that I am having a party on Friday for my neighbours and close friends and I'm leaving for LA tomorrow week where I will have another party and see my American friends and family. I'll also be seeing Darcy and Joe which is a real treat. Another positive thing is that my garden is coming along beautifully. I've hired a wonderful person called Judith who lives nearby. She is an actress but she does gardens on the side, actressing being an iffy occupation. I'm very lucky to have found her because her taste in, and approach to gardens is exactly like mine. I've been trying for thirty years or more to have a proper English garden and now I will. At the moment it doesn't look like much because it is middle of winter but I have had a lattice fence put in and I will find picture of it to post.

Cold, wet and dreary

The title describes the weather, not me. It has been hovering around 0 (that's centigrade). I have a v. bad fluey cold which has kept me indoor for the past three days. The upside of that is that I have not ignored my essay, the title of which is: "How successful were Marxist Socialists in winning support amongst the European working classes". It is not due until 12 Jan but I want to have it mostly done before I go away for Christmas. I started Christmas shopping yesterday from the comfort of my chair in front of the computer. I think everyone should have a wish list on Amazon. It makes life so much easier. The tree men are here removing some branches from the huge trees in my back garden. It will give me more light for growing things.

I'm going to the Mall. Can I borrow your credit card? I'll take good care of it.

A Lovely Weekend

I had a dinner party on Friday which was very successful then Alison, Sian and Harry turned up on Saturday for the weekend. Alison dropped Sian and Harry off with me and then went to the farm to get Rosie. Charlie was having his birthday party (23 guests from 3 different schools) and it seemed advisable to get Rosie out from under. She and Harry played together. Actually I think it is called parallel play. It's like an old married couple, each doing her own thing but in the same room. They had tea together (I have two highchairs) and then they had a bath. Rosie walks now but Harry is still at the crawling stage. Alison took Rosie home and the three of us crashed in front of X Factor. The girls were glad to see Daniel voted off but I would have liked to lose JLS. On Sunday everyone came to me for lunch. We had Ikea meatballs and they were a great success. I was going to serve them on Friday evening but Rachel said I would be hounded out of the neighbourhood club so I desisted. Everyone left after lunch and I fell asleep. On Monday I finished my second essay so I'm feeling pretty good except when I think about having to start immediately on the next one so that it will be done before I come to LA next month.

The grind goes on

I had my tutorial this afternoon and it was disappointing. Not because she said anything bad. It was just rather flat although I did get a few hints for the next essay which will be useful. The amount of work I am having to do for this course is quite overpowering. I used to hang out in coffee shops and M&S; now I hang out in libraries. I have to keep reminding myself that it's all good and something that I wanted to do. I have a stack of books on bloody Napoleon and his effect on Spain and Austria (next essay subject) which I have to read and turn into a lucid argument. Ha Ha. I have to stop myself from writing things like, "then he took troops to Spain where another 4 or 5 thousand young men died in a muddy field." Maybe I should have done Sociology. Military history sucks. We don't get out of Europe and back into England until February and then it's the Tudors who shed a fair amount of blood. Why can't we study a nice king like Edward II who was a sweet, gay boy. He did die a horrible death at the command of his homophobic mother and her boyfriend but his son had revenge on his behalf.

Just when you thought it was safe to go in the water............

It has been almost three weeks since I have updated this. You all know that I am 'back at school'(American)'have started my course'(BR) It is hard work; fortunately, very interesting. I'm reading about Napoleon and the French Revolution. It seems that there were about 39 different countries in need of subduing. Some were no bigger than Oxford and were eventually incorporated into the larger ones but in the meantime, they all have kings and they fight constantly. And I'm supposed to know what they are and who is in charge. My next essay is due in about three weeks and this one counts. I have my first tutorial on Tuesday to talk about the first essay. By Tue evening I will be either very pleased or ready to quit. I will let you know.

Oh dear!!

(this is a copy of my post on the GoalsRUs blog)
I slipped up on Friday evening. I had some people round for a meal and by the time I had cooked it, it just seemed too cruel to deny my self a glass of Sancerre. Strangely enough, that lead to another and another. On the plus side, it was an excellent evening. I'm back on the wagon again. I was looking after Rosie and Adam on Saturday and driving Chloe back and forth to Bicester for her ballet. Had it not been for those tasks, I would have spent a good deal of the day resting up. Rachel had a birthday drinks party for herself last night. Depending on your point of view, it was a great success because the last people didn't leave until 2am. Adam and I went home at 9:30 so we would be able to get up for the Star Wars movie this morning. Now I have to get back to work. I'm going over to have a meal with Nancy tonight and I will drive so there is no chance of my being tempted by a glass of anything.

At the beach

I'm in Brighton and having a relaxing time. Little Harry continues to be the most wonderful baby. I looked after him on Friday so Alison could go to work (he had the week off creche due to a slight illness). You can plan your day with a child like Harry because he is on a schedule. We all went in to town on Saturday, dodging rain showers but, nevertheless, having a good time. I love shopping in Brighton. I found a beautiful chest of drawers for my bedroom. This, after buying some Ikea junk the week before which is considerably cheaper and considerably uglier. Now I have to convince myself that I can afford it given the dodgy financial climate. I'll be happy to hear from anyone who wants to assure me that it is okay to spend 800 pounds instead of 250. Now I'm off back to Oxford to continue reading history. Until I got involved in a British academic course, I thought it was pretentious to say, "I'm reading history." Now I understand it.