The Wizard of Oz and 'Moving On'...

Not sure where to start this one - this week has been stupidly busy as the children have been doing Oz for most of it. They absolutely loved it - and the parents all oohed and aahed and breathed a collective sigh of relief as the last curtain came down, knowing that we weren't going to have think 'show' again for another 2 years. Certainly the costumes were spectacular, the children performed with the enthusiasm that only a child can perform with; the piano was so loud that you couldn't hear the characters singing and the sound effects generally arrived several minutes after the cue - and Lou and Becs were on and off so quickly that I wasn't quite sure whether they had actually done their bit or I had just imagined it!

That said, Oz is now done and I have been left with the aftermath of two totally wrecked daughters. Becca is coping with 'Post theatrical stress disorder' far better than Louisa who is still an absolute shocker when she is tired. And of course, this week we still have gymnastics, netball, brownies and music! Roll on the holidays!

Becca's team, the Chelsea Stars, were back on court yesterday and rather spectacularly won 12 - 1. Lou's, the Chelsea Chicks (she thinks this is a very uncool name, and who am I to disagree!) play on Wednesday and have to come back having lost the last 3 matches - hoping they play well, as for the last few weeks they seem to have been playing with lead in their boots - and I'm hoping it's just because of the effort involved in doing the Oz thing!

Speaking of the holidays, (tried to move this paragraph but won't let me!) we have our next visitors just in time for the girls school break. John's sister, Suzanne and his Dad are coming over. They are going to stay with me and the girls for most of their stay, I think, but will obviously spend a fair amount of time with John too. The girls are getting very excited at the prospect of 2 weeks of Grandad and Auntie Nin - think it will do them a world of good to know that all the old relationships are still there, despite Daddy not living here anymore.

While on the John front, I had been having a fairly lumpy couple of weeks - new revelations emerged that meant that once again I hit the floor with an almighty thump, dissolved into blubbering mess which soon evolved into ranting and raving etc etc. Think first port of call was a virtually unintelligible phone call to Matthew and Sarah - and Matthew, whilst sympathetic and, by now getting very good at interpreting snivvly Lisa splurge, suggested that it might be time to start trying to 'let go'. Mark, a little later, made a similar suggestion - and when my boss and Soph both said the same thing the next day, I started thinking perhaps they had a point! And so, I am trying to 'move on'. Suspect that there will still be many bumps along the road, but right now it seems like a hell of a lot easier traveling. John and I have agreed to 'start from here' - and to have the relationship of parents of our children rather than ex - partners. No idea how easy it will be or how practical - but has to beat the alternative. In the spirit of the new truce, John came and had dinner with us last night for Father's Day - slightly surreal, but we managed to survive the evening without bloodshed and have exchanged e-mails today.

And all of that, I guess, leads neatly on to Mark! Toyed with the idea of a separate 'post' - listing Marks 'vital statistics' etc (sounds a bit rude) - but thought better of it! Anyway, yes still seeing him. Will be 6 weeks this week. (Counting in weeks always seems so sad! I mean - last year it was, 'how long have you been together?' - and the answer would be 'oooh 14? 15 years now' - now it's erm 5 and a half weeks!) That said since last blogging, have had flowers, fire wood, more beach, more walks, Scrabble, Jenga and meeting each others friends - and more dinners and lunches out - diet not going well!
Yesterday, Mark treated the girls and I to a day at the zoo which was fantastic. I think he may have figured it out as being a relatively safe and painless way to lower himself into the mire that is children! Bearing in mind that he has no kids of his own and his only nephew lives in Sevenoaks, I suspect that it was the first time he has ever spent a whole day with children! - or at least since being an adult! Girls were perfect, weather was perfect - and so were the ice creams! New flavour Magnum - white chocolate berry! And please don't tell me that it has been in England for the last 2 years!
Re the Scrabble, he beat me! Arghh - although I did beat him at Jenga - but I'm not entirely sure that you get boasting rights with Jenga! Speaking of Scrabble - have decided that men play much more tactically than women - you know, grabbing the triple words and making every tile finish four words off and all that sort of stuff. Women, on the other hand, like putting down nice words! eg - I put down 'Tithe' not a great word, like Pronk, but a nice word - Mark found me about an extra 24 points just be putting 'Hit' two squares over - I took the extra points, but confess that I still prefer Tithe!!!
Oh, and while Mark is a Kiwi, his Mum comes from Guernsey!
Next weekend we have been invited to dinner with Sarah and Matthew - which for Mark will be the equivalent of me taking him to meet my Dad! He seems quite calm about the whole thing - maybe I need to beef up the magnitude a bit, just for fun?!?
And yes I am having a very nice time and he makes me smile!

Work wise - change of plan!!(dashing on rapidly - dying to be in bed!) Have decided to ignore the HR route and instead get into something that has interested me for years, careers counseling. Turns out there is a nationally recognised qualification offered at AUT, which I can do FREE!!!! Now just have to figure out where to put the kids! Anyway, starts in Feb - and I have all but signed on the dotted line!

Although, I still haven't started my book! That said, found one of my 'starts' last week and think I quite like it and might run with that for a while...

What else? 41 next week - have decided to count backwards for 3 years - much prefer the idea of being 39 again!

And oh, the beautiful weather we are having!! August is still supposed to be mid-winter, and yet we have had the most glorious uninterrupted sunny weather pretty much since the Lions left!! (sorry Dave!) - Saturday after netball we had hot chicken baguettes on the beach and the girls went rockpooling for 2 hours! I even have a little bit of pink on my nose and forehead (note to self - buy suncream!). This probably means that we are having our summer now and come December it will rain relentlessly for the whole of 2006 - and Chrystaltips hair will be the new hair craze - at least for me!

Saw Lou's specialists last week. No change all fine - latest best guess is that she will hit a fairly normal 5'2" - 5'4" - will just cross my fingers that she is not blessed with my boobs or my feet! Poor love!

As for Becca's skin, well it had been fantastic for about 2 years until last week when after 4 nights of make-up she was looking absolutely dreadful - all pinky eyed and dry and scaley - that said, fortunately already her face is pretty much back to normal, so hopefully, she may eventually out grow the eczema.

Up and coming...Triv rematch - girls hoping to have more luck with the dice and polish the guys off in the first hour - but the boys will have extra fire power in the form of Mark whose specialty is Chelsea Football Club and all things Kiwi! (must remember to keep using the English questions!) - also, Football club dinner (guess at 40 / 41 should really have been to a football club dinner at least once??! - Maybe I could be the Tania Turner of Birkenhead FC!) - oh and Sarah's baby shower is only 3 weeks away - which means I had better get on with sewing her cot cover!

By the way - cool kiwi music to check out (no idea which ones are in UK already - so forgive!) but Bic Runga, Greg Johnson (latest album - Here Comes the Caviar) and Goldenhorse.

And with that it is time to click the heels of my ruby slippers 'There's no place like bed; there's no place like bed; there's no place like ..............'

snogs xxx