In the interests of equality

I thought I ought to let you know which books are by Simon's side of the bed.  A sort of balancing act... hope you don't mind, is this too intimate?  No. Good.

As time has passed, and after Tom was born, Simon took the task of reading Phoebe's bedtime story - which was a good way for them to spend quality time as he often got back from work late..  Nowadays I do Tom's bedtime story, between 7.15-8.00pm and then Simon and Phoebe have their routine between 8.30-9.00pm usually.

So, he's got a few back issues of Runners World and Bike magazines.  Then he's got a rather wobbly pile of books something like this:

• Life, Keith Richards (Xmas or Birthday pressie from me)
• The Black Dahlia, James Ellroy
• Master & Commander, Patrick O'Brian (this was actually on my side of the bed first.  I wanted to read it after hearing it adapted for radio on Radio 4 some time ago.  I think he's finished reading it, so it'll come back to my side when he's back from the USA)
• One Good Turn; When Will There Be Good News?; Kate Atkinson
• Kensuke's Kingdom; The War of Jenkins' Ear; Little Foxes; all by Michael Morpugo (reading with Phoebe)
• Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacs (Xmas pressie from me!)
• In The Evil Day, Peter Temple

and I think he's taken the Conan-Doyle 'Best of Sherlock Holmes' with him to the USA...

Simon likes crime, if you hadn't already guessed.  Our shelves downstairs have mostly all paperback collections of Colin Dexter, Ian Rankin, Reginald Hill and James Lee Burke.  I've read a couple of the James Lee Burke.  I enjoyed the deep south Louisiana/Missouri/Mississippi atmospheric descriptions very much, and the crime element was OK, not my preferred genre.  I'd give JLB the time of day again, if only there wasn't so much other stuff that I want to read!!!

So, onto other stuff.

Today, usual morning routine: get up, make tea, let dog out, get Tom milk, let hens out, shower, dry hair, get dressed, cajole kids to get dressed, breakfast, teeth, faces, school bags, drive to school.  Then, I walked Roly.  Took photos on the way(!).  Got back, put washing in.  Had cup of tea.  Made Tom's birthday cake.  Took washing out and hung it outside on the line to dry (things are looking up!).  Tidied kitchen windowsill, and cleaned kitchen windows inside and outside too!!!  Mopped kitchen floor and hall floor. Had a cup of tea.  Looked at ironing. Started to iron while floor drying.  Blew the fuses.  Stopped ironing, reset fuses, reset the boiler timer.  Took cake out of oven, had lunch.  Plucked eyebrows, took off nail varnish.  Cleaned out hen house, re-positioned hen house on fresh grass, collected 1 egg.  Had a cup of tea and hot cross bun.  Painted nails.  Went to collect children.  Popped into Budgens for a few bits and pieces. Came home, made kids sandwiches for supper (they get hot lunch at school). Took Tom to one-to-one swimming lesson - he did really well - got home, skyped Simon so Tom could tell him how well he did, cajoled Phoebe to do homework.  Cajoled Phoebe to go running club training. Did Tom's bedtime story routine.  Roly and I walked round to leisure centre to collect Phoebe from training.  Sat down to write blog.  Phew. NFK. (normal for Kat).  Guess what? The ironing's still there...  and there's always tomorrow!  9.30pm as I write this and it's getting to my bedtime.

So this morning's efforts on the photo front, I'm quite happy with this:

Daffodils at the Folly

I've got busy few days coming up, so may be quiet for a while (at last, I hear you cry!!!).  I'm working at Library tomorrow and Saturday morning.  Simon's back from USA early Saturday morning. Then we've got Tom's 6th birthday party - treasure hunt, on Sunday afternoon, and his actual birthday's on  Monday... and Tuesday 13th March happens to be the library's 40th birthday, and there's celebrations planned for that as well.  Phew!

Night night, sleep tight! Thanks for reading.  Kat :)