Children can be so cruel...

So, the weekend approaches again!





Saturday sees my family scattered around - the girls are visiting my FIL, my eldest son is going out with friends, leaving me and my youngest on our own. I am looking forward to this. We don't get much time with just the two of us.

So my plan? We go to town to buy some last minute presents for Mrs RC, then head for home for the evening. Dinner will come from the local Chinese takeaway - my son loves chicken balls - and then we will play Wii until the others return.

I love Mario Kart, even though I totally suck at it. I don't think I have ever done better than 10th out of 12 cars, but it is the sort of game that I don't get mad with, I just laugh and crash some more!

But I decided that this Saturday will be different. I told my son that I won't let him go to bed until I have beaten him. Now I know my kids, they are all more than a little competitive with things like this. There is no way that he would deliberately allow me to win! And given my appalling ability with this game there is no way I will ever beat him! He looked at me in horror, clearly thinking that we will still be playing at sunrise the next morning.

So I smiled and said

"Never mind - maybe you will fall asleep - then I will beat you!"

His reply?

"I doubt it!"

OOOOOH YEAH!!!!!

The pic is of the wrestler Randy Savage, whose catch phrase was always a big, loud OOOOH YEAH!! Just in case you didn't know.

Anyway, I have had a mega productive day, and am now sitting back and saying OOOOH YEAH! in my best Randy Savage voice.

I'm eating M&Ms too.

Somehow, I managed to do a whole lot different stuff all at once - I guess it is called Multi-tasking and women do it all the time? Got a load of work done and also nailed my latest assignment. Just one more assignment to finish off (with 2 and half weeks to go so no pressure yet) for the year! Then all I have to worry about are the exams! How splendid-ally-doodle is that?

So, better think about getting ready for the ride home through the inevitable rain - it has been raining on and off for days now, with no sign of an end. Shouldn't complain, at least we shouldn't be facing any water shortages this summer!

PS Sorry about the Go Away post earlier - didn't want anyone thinking I was dead or anything, but it was fun to see a couple of comments anyway. Thanks guys!

PPS OOOOH YEAH!!!!!!

Not long now...

Making real progress!

Go away...

I need to concentrate.

Please come back later, though, I might have something then.

Eeeewww!

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/21/20100224/tuk-theme-park-is-taking-the-pee-6323e80.html

Stuff...

Just a quick update...

Having fun with my dad again - apparently nobody does anything for him! Given that I bought his shopping last night and spent half of my lunch break paying bills for him, I find this statement very debatable...

Spent the other half of my break getting some birthday presents for Mrs RC, who will be 21 again very soon. She is very easy to buy for - she gave me a list of books that she would like, I bought her tyres for her garden truck (as requested) and some stuff with elephants on from the local Thai shop -a bag, ear rings, etc. The woman in the Thai shop knows me well by now. When I told her that this summer sees out 25th anniversary, she congratulated us and said that she thinks the elephants are bringing us luck. In a way, I think she is right. I buy Mrs RC something elephant related. This makes Mrs RC happy. If Mrs RC is happy, I am happy - as we all know, an unhappy woman has a way of spreading the misery ;-) If we are both happy, we just become stronger as a couple! So thankyou Mr Elephant!

That's enough of that! Have a great Wednesday!

As American as Apple Pie...

On Saturday we went tovisit relatives.

On the way back we passed a farm shop that was selling huge bags of apples for a really silly price. My instant thought was...

apple pie....

So I bought a couple of bags and, on reaching home, I set about peeling, slicing and cooking them.

They were great apples, straight from trees in The Garden of England.

Once this was done I made the pastry - a big batch of my sweet shortcrust which goes so well with apple.

I ended up with one really big pie and a ton of individual sized ones. I was intending to freeze some, but by evening all we had left was the big one! The small pies were just so delicious! We ate them on their own, with custard, and with ice cream. They were just perfect!

The big pie gradually shrank yesterday. I have brought the last slice to work with me as a snack.

I love apple pie.


As American as Apple Pie...

This always struck me as a strange phrase...

Apple Pie is not an American invention, of course. We have been eating it in England for hundreds of years! But I guess it is something that Americans have taken to their hearts and made their own.

Maybe it is a bit like:

As British as Curry?

As French as Fries?

As Chinese as Tibet? (Woo, getting political here! :-) )


Any others?

Summer...

... is definitely coming.

Yesterday afternoon was actually very spring-like, sunny, and warm in places. You could almost feel things stirring in the earth, roots and shoots making a first tentative move towards the surface or fresh earth...

This morning was cold, with lingering patches of ice and snow, but if you stopped to listen there was the constant sound of trickling water, running off fields, into ditches, along lanes. The birds seem to sense a change too, especially a Starling who seemed to be practicing his love songs...

Summer is coming!

*******************************************************************

I am getting really excited about this summer. It will mark our 25th anniversary!

Sounds like a long time, I know, but it really doesn't feel like it. I can imagine that 25 years with the wrong person would be a nightmare, but when you are with the perfect partner it is no more difficult than breathing.

So, what do you do to celebrate 25 years together?

Mrs RC has suggested that I will need a new silver guitar. I love the sound of that - will have to start looking around to see what is available in silver!

I am working on a plan for the two of us to go away for a couple of days and visit a place that my wife has seen on TV a few times and desperately wants to see in the flesh. I hope it works out - I would have such a mountain of brownie points...

Give it it me straight, I can take it!

I heard a great one liner on the TV the other night:

"You can't have fun with a man who owns more than one pair of slippers."

Says a lot, doesn't it?

The woman who said it found her husband amazingly boring, clearly. But does owning multiple pairs of slippers make you boring?

I own around 4 pairs - 3 at home and 1 at work. Does this make me terminally dull?

OK, I'm not the most exciting guy around - I don't do extreme sports (unless you count my journey to work each day), I don't drive a fast car, I don't go on exotic holidays...

But I don't think I am THAT boring either!

So, give it to me straight: where do I fall on the Boring-Incredibly Exciting continuum?

The Weekend...

...was pretty darn good!

Saturday saw Mrs RC going to visit her dad again while I walked the dogs and made sure the kids were OK. Not a hard job these days, I must admit!

Sunday was Valentine's Day, of course. Sorry if the reminder seemed unnecessary, but it seems to have had a fairly low profile around here and could have been missed by the less observant among us...

We spent a large part of Sunday just relaxing and having fun. In the afternoon we watched District 9 - a rather brilliant movie in my view! A great sci-fi movie set in a South African shanty town. Who would have thought of that,huh? It is pure genius.

In the evening we watched what we expected to be a cheap rubbish crocodile movie, but it turned out to be really good! It was called Rogue...




I tried to play a trick on Mrs RC. I bought her some Ferrero Rocher chocolates - a large heart shaped box which I gave to her and a smaller pack which I kept secret. When the main box had some gaps in it, I refilled it from the smaller pack. But guess what? She didn't notice! And I had been so proud of my wonderful idea!

OK, better go.

Hope you all had a great weekend!

Have a great Monday!

Friday!

Well yesterday I was snowed in - we had around 4 inches of snow in our garden (forgot to take photos - sorry), with blizzard conditions when I battled up to the field to feed Humphrey the Pony. He seemed happy enough, though!

In the afternoon there was a bit of a thaw, but then everything froze solid over night.

This morning saw the main roads OK, but I had a good walk at each end of my journey over ice-rink conditions. Nice... Stopping to feed Humphrey again was a nice diversion, though.

So, other than the snow things are plodding along OK here in Kent. Just about everyone in the house, except me, is now doing the Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred. Mrs RC moves up to Stage 2 tomorrow, just as she was starting to cope OK with Stage 1. If you are looking for a great workout DVD that will really give you results, give this one a try! If you're not impressed I will personally refund your money! Yes, I am that confident!

Anyway, have great weekend - don't forget that Sunday is Valentine's Day! Show the one you love how much you love them. No, that doesn't mean that you should buy yourself a present!

Jeez, some people!

You want to do WHAT to them? Really? OK, so long as they agree to it first!

Have a great weekend...

Wednesday

The snow has started...

And there is more falling as I type!

Tuesday...

Is a lot better than Monday was.

A bit of snow in the air as I headed to work, but this was actually really nice!

An added bonus was that when I went home last night I found that a long section of my route was closed for repairs to potholes. This, of course, actually means "closed to everyone except RC who can have a nice peaceful journey without some stupid bozo trying to run him off the road"! The road was still "closed to everyone except RC who can have a nice peaceful journey without some stupid bozo trying to run him off the road" this morning... This can continue indefinitely as far as I am concerned!

Watched a fun TV movie last night, called Murder in Suburbia. A guy who spends all of his free time making "improvements" to his house - drilling, sawing, hammering, etc - is murdered. Everyone in the street, including his wife, hates him and his constant noise, so who did it?

Still need to nail down this assignment... One week to go... I know what I am going to say, it is just doing it!

I have seen suggestions that some of the snow that is hitting Washington etc will be coming over here at the end of the week - will post some pics from home if it does - I can't see myself cycling in 30 inches of snow!

Have a great Tuesday!

Busy...

Hope to be able to post soon...

Busy...

Weather is rubbish...

Left my water-proof trousers at work on Friday...

It was snowing this morning...

Slush from the waste downwards...

Not nice...

Warmed up once at work, with the help of a hot chocolate in my Life is Good mug... Thanks, Terri...

Busy...

More soon...

...

Ooopsie!

A few days ago I bought Mrs RC the Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred DVD.



Apparently it is really evil - she hurts in places that have never hurt before.

So at lunchtime I phoned home, chatted and then went of to do a bit of shopping, while Mrs RC took advantage of the massive amount of free time that housewives have (haha) to do her workout again.

Shopping mission successfully accomplished, I phoned home again.

The phone was answered by a breathless Mrs RC.

I merrily told her what I had bought, jabber jabber jabber...

Then Mrs RC told me what my call meant. You see it is one of the rules of the work out that if you stop for any reason, at any time, you have to start again!

I'll just let that sink in.

Yes.

Oopsie!

I have got some serious making up to do... :-)

My Oscar...

As promised in an earlier post...

Sadly my arms aren't quite long enough...

The Great Stour

OK, last week I wrote about the river that runs through Canterbury and how it puts the Mississippi to shame.

Well I finally have photographic evidence!

Here it is:

Yes, those are ducks in the middle...

Impressed, huh?

I knew you would be!

Blech!

Feeling strange today.

The week end was a rather odd one - a mix of worrying about a member of the family (seems to be sorted now) and looking at puppies on the internet. Mrs RC is getting geared up for another dog and is also rediscovering the internet thanks to our new laptop and its super wizzy internet connection. We found some mega cute looking dogs for sale near us - French Bulldogs, British Bulldogs and Pugs are the current favourites.

The cold is still with us - on Friday I rode home through a blizzard of hailstones - not the best experience I have had on a bike! Everything is frozen solid,with less used roads having large areas of ice on them in places. Custard loves it, though, so I make sure to stack on the layers before taking him out - he won't rush just because I am cold, he takes his time whether it is sunny, snowing or raining!

So this strange feeling? Yes, it is like I am on the edge of catching something, like there is a headache sitting in the back of my eye sockets waiting to pounce, and my arms have that slight weakness to them that you get.

Gah, listen to me throwing a pitty party for myself here!

Slap me!

Going, slap me!

Harder!

HARDER!

OW! NOT THAT HARD!

Thanks...