What I did at the weekend. A monster update. Actual monsters not included.
Friday was a busy day. Not terribly exciting, but certainly busy. I got up and did laundry before larking to CHQ to see Catriona & give her lots of bits of paper & the drunk goggles. I do not want to In4m on binge-drinking for a very long time, possibly ever again. But never mind. There was the usual random conversing and I may possibly have patted her. These things happen. La. Then (after the false start when I got back to reception and realised I still had the photo CD I managed not to give her the last time I was in) I went off to terrorise M&S. I went first to Victoria, then to Marble Arch and then to the other end of Oxford Street. I was roundly spurned in my quest, and thus went and stood in the longest queue in the world ever to ask about the item I was hunting. Sadly I was stuck behind a très mad Swedish man who had an overly complicated query. I was starting to think my legs might be going to drop off by the time I finally got to speak to someone who did not seem to understand what I was asking at all, and seemed to think that I wanted age 4-5 pyjamas for my own personal use. Presumably as a hat, because, while I am small, I am really not that small. Non. However, there were none in the whole entire world, not even in Croydon. There was rather a lot of woe, and then stealthing to another part of the shop for to buy my granny's Christmas present, a simple purchase, which seemed to cause the lady on the till an unexpected amount of grief-angst&woe. Whoops.
There was then further stealthing, this time to Lewisham, to go to Tesco. Always a joy and a delight. There I bought stuff with which to do laundry (because clean clothes are good things) and also some veggie bacon, which I do not plan on using to wash anything with, but let us not rule that out entirely because I am, as we all know, me. I then got the bus home, which was fine until the point where I had to get off the bus as that involved practically having to climb over people, which is never a good game, although possibly it is better being the climber than the climee. After a quick sandwich, I spent rather a long time making the parcel for pass-the-parcel with the Brownies. It was a bit of a monster parcel by the time I was finished, although at one point it almost got stuck to my hair as there was a slight cellotape incident caused by my being distracted by The Box of Delights. Alas. There was also packing, in the hope that there would be going to the PF, which meant I was everso glad that the rosyposypie was appearing to help with carting things to Brownies. Huzzah.
The Brownie Christmas party was, if I do say so myself, the best Christmas party ever, apart from possibly the one held in Bethlehem a little over 2000 years ago. And even that one did not involve craft, face-painting, pass the parcel and party food. Well, not unless the Bible was quite heavily edited on that point. But yes, it was all terribly fine. We did Brownie ring and the Brownies then sat on the floor where they wished and did craft. The Sixers and Seconders were making festive bracelets, while the rest of the Unit were making pom-pom tree decorations, with sparkles. All through the evening Brownies were being stealthed in twos to have their faces painted by Cinnamon Owl and Spectacled Owl, and there were some very fine face-paint creations indeed. After the excitement of craft there was food. And might I just point out that the Brownies were good and sat still to eat, rather than leaping about the place like loons, as might so easily have happened. *nods* But yes, there were crisps and mini rolls and jam tarts and lemonade and there was much joy all round. There was more joy over pass the parcel, which was quite tense at the end, but was eventually won by I, who was overjoyed with her Christmas teddy prize. Then there was dancing to festive music, and, as Barn Owl pointed out, clearly the Brownies have been watching rather too much Strictly Come Dancing. They were all doing the arms... There was Brownie-woe at half past seven because it was not only the end of the party but the end of Brownies for the term, but, as I pointed out, the Guides had their meeting, so the Brownies really could not stay at all...
The Guides were doing craft for most of their meeting, after they had played Ladders and none of them broken any limbs, which always helps. There was an awful lot of paint involved in the meeting; and some hysteria (on the part of the Guides) over a spider. I was at the other end of the hall, so I could afford to be calm... I spent much of the time drinking lemonade left over from the Brownie party. Some of it with Pim-germs in because she stole my cup so then I finished hers in retaliation. Because we are the grown-ups. Most of the time. The Guides were all being a bit mental, frankly, but such is life. Doing horseshoe does always feel a bit wrong as I have only done it about twice in my life, as I am not at all in charge of the Guides. Non. I am a mere minion and quite like it that way. All un peu bizarre.
As you may be aware, there was plumbing woe, and thus no Gather joy to be had. Alas. So I shamelessly foisted myself onto weird_bird for the weekend. And the Pim came too...
I had a very fine time indeed at the Kathye's. There was rather a lot of lazing in pyjamas for one thing, and repeated hysterical-laughing with the Pim. I helped clean the car and wage war on weeds. Nell appeared on Saturday afternoon and I broke out the chocolates that were to have gone to the Gather as I did not really want to bring them all home again. Oooh, and in the morning there had been the immense excitement of my birthday present from Kathye Darren and Megan. I now have a mug with my name on. And giraffes. It is so fine, and has a little stand-thingie and everything. (Also with a giraffe on). Plus I now have a sign for my room. With another giraffe. Mwahahahahahahaha. (SO a horde not a herd...) Pim and I have created a library of imaginary books including Ballet Shoes for Xanthe, Pim Begins, and Tim Goes To War. It was a productive weekend. Honest. There was quite a lot of playing with Megan done as well. And Pim read aloud, which is always splendid. And the nasty ladybird face was a thing of wonder and masterful acting skills. Someone put her on the stage. Possibly. But there was much joy and giggling and I got to see the Kathye which is always a terribly fine thing. I also got fed scrummy food, including jam tarts, which I always forget are rather scrummy between occassions on which I eat them. Mmm, jam tarts. Apologies to anyone who was expecting order or just vague chronology in the paragraph as I am much too tired for any such thing at the moment.
Further fineness included:
* getting to see the video of Megan's nativity play because it was übercool and she made such a fine angel
* the sofa... I do love the sofa, and also its bed form
* the top 50 Celebrity Animals (thank you random Sky Channel) which was lots better than the X-Factor & Strictly Come Dancing (Jaws was number 1, in case you were unfortunate enough to miss it)
* wanting the Christmas trees to win X-Factor because they had such a lot of stage presence
* being an entire variety of sea-creatures (including coral) this afternoon
* managing not to break myself (and Pim creating an ambulance-calling policy just for me)
* very scrummy dinner made by Darren on Saturday night...mmm...
* Pim's sparkly jamas being so cool and sparkly + Pim not being a bed-hog, which is always a good thing in ones friends
* the wonder of Kathye and Darren's LP collection...
So yes, I have been a très busy Xanthe and now I am jolly tired and quite possibly need to sleep. Because I am only a small animal. In stripy socks.
There was then further stealthing, this time to Lewisham, to go to Tesco. Always a joy and a delight. There I bought stuff with which to do laundry (because clean clothes are good things) and also some veggie bacon, which I do not plan on using to wash anything with, but let us not rule that out entirely because I am, as we all know, me. I then got the bus home, which was fine until the point where I had to get off the bus as that involved practically having to climb over people, which is never a good game, although possibly it is better being the climber than the climee. After a quick sandwich, I spent rather a long time making the parcel for pass-the-parcel with the Brownies. It was a bit of a monster parcel by the time I was finished, although at one point it almost got stuck to my hair as there was a slight cellotape incident caused by my being distracted by The Box of Delights. Alas. There was also packing, in the hope that there would be going to the PF, which meant I was everso glad that the rosyposypie was appearing to help with carting things to Brownies. Huzzah.
The Brownie Christmas party was, if I do say so myself, the best Christmas party ever, apart from possibly the one held in Bethlehem a little over 2000 years ago. And even that one did not involve craft, face-painting, pass the parcel and party food. Well, not unless the Bible was quite heavily edited on that point. But yes, it was all terribly fine. We did Brownie ring and the Brownies then sat on the floor where they wished and did craft. The Sixers and Seconders were making festive bracelets, while the rest of the Unit were making pom-pom tree decorations, with sparkles. All through the evening Brownies were being stealthed in twos to have their faces painted by Cinnamon Owl and Spectacled Owl, and there were some very fine face-paint creations indeed. After the excitement of craft there was food. And might I just point out that the Brownies were good and sat still to eat, rather than leaping about the place like loons, as might so easily have happened. *nods* But yes, there were crisps and mini rolls and jam tarts and lemonade and there was much joy all round. There was more joy over pass the parcel, which was quite tense at the end, but was eventually won by I, who was overjoyed with her Christmas teddy prize. Then there was dancing to festive music, and, as Barn Owl pointed out, clearly the Brownies have been watching rather too much Strictly Come Dancing. They were all doing the arms... There was Brownie-woe at half past seven because it was not only the end of the party but the end of Brownies for the term, but, as I pointed out, the Guides had their meeting, so the Brownies really could not stay at all...
The Guides were doing craft for most of their meeting, after they had played Ladders and none of them broken any limbs, which always helps. There was an awful lot of paint involved in the meeting; and some hysteria (on the part of the Guides) over a spider. I was at the other end of the hall, so I could afford to be calm... I spent much of the time drinking lemonade left over from the Brownie party. Some of it with Pim-germs in because she stole my cup so then I finished hers in retaliation. Because we are the grown-ups. Most of the time. The Guides were all being a bit mental, frankly, but such is life. Doing horseshoe does always feel a bit wrong as I have only done it about twice in my life, as I am not at all in charge of the Guides. Non. I am a mere minion and quite like it that way. All un peu bizarre.
As you may be aware, there was plumbing woe, and thus no Gather joy to be had. Alas. So I shamelessly foisted myself onto weird_bird for the weekend. And the Pim came too...
I had a very fine time indeed at the Kathye's. There was rather a lot of lazing in pyjamas for one thing, and repeated hysterical-laughing with the Pim. I helped clean the car and wage war on weeds. Nell appeared on Saturday afternoon and I broke out the chocolates that were to have gone to the Gather as I did not really want to bring them all home again. Oooh, and in the morning there had been the immense excitement of my birthday present from Kathye Darren and Megan. I now have a mug with my name on. And giraffes. It is so fine, and has a little stand-thingie and everything. (Also with a giraffe on). Plus I now have a sign for my room. With another giraffe. Mwahahahahahahaha. (SO a horde not a herd...) Pim and I have created a library of imaginary books including Ballet Shoes for Xanthe, Pim Begins, and Tim Goes To War. It was a productive weekend. Honest. There was quite a lot of playing with Megan done as well. And Pim read aloud, which is always splendid. And the nasty ladybird face was a thing of wonder and masterful acting skills. Someone put her on the stage. Possibly. But there was much joy and giggling and I got to see the Kathye which is always a terribly fine thing. I also got fed scrummy food, including jam tarts, which I always forget are rather scrummy between occassions on which I eat them. Mmm, jam tarts. Apologies to anyone who was expecting order or just vague chronology in the paragraph as I am much too tired for any such thing at the moment.
Further fineness included:
* getting to see the video of Megan's nativity play because it was übercool and she made such a fine angel
* the sofa... I do love the sofa, and also its bed form
* the top 50 Celebrity Animals (thank you random Sky Channel) which was lots better than the X-Factor & Strictly Come Dancing (Jaws was number 1, in case you were unfortunate enough to miss it)
* wanting the Christmas trees to win X-Factor because they had such a lot of stage presence
* being an entire variety of sea-creatures (including coral) this afternoon
* managing not to break myself (and Pim creating an ambulance-calling policy just for me)
* very scrummy dinner made by Darren on Saturday night...mmm...
* Pim's sparkly jamas being so cool and sparkly + Pim not being a bed-hog, which is always a good thing in ones friends
* the wonder of Kathye and Darren's LP collection...
So yes, I have been a très busy Xanthe and now I am jolly tired and quite possibly need to sleep. Because I am only a small animal. In stripy socks.