Dogs, summer, milk

1. This actually happened last week but I was thinking about it this morning and it made me smile, so it counts for today. There is a senior couple with two dogs that I often see on the school oval as I walk home from dropping the kids at school. One dog is an active black labrador who enthusiastially chases the balls thrown for him, the other is short and tubby and more of a "sniff every bit of grass you walk past" kind of animal. The dogs had never paid me the slightest bit of attention, but one morning our paths crossed. The labrador wanted me to throw his ball for him, but it was all slobbery and yuck so I wouldn't (his owners use those throwing sticks that allow you to scoop up the ball without touching it and then throw it a long way with the extra leverage) and he was a bit disappointed in me, I think. I gave the short fat dog a good pat and he seemed to enjoy the attention.
     So the next morning I see them again, way over the other side of the oval. The black labrador ignored me, presumably considering a very useless sort of human if I wouldn't throw his ball for him, but the little dog raced towards me. It was a long way for short legs and it took him a while, he looked quite funny with the round body bounding along. He seemed to think some more patting well repaid his effort, and I felt loved.

2. The sounds of an Australian summer. Cicadas droning, magpies warbling, cockatoos screeching, a thousand different insects clicking and chirping. As a concerto, quite a pleasing sound.

3a. Oh dear, I ran out of low-fat milk this morning and had to use full-fat in my tea. Damn...
3b. I remembered half a packet of Tim Tams (chocolate biscuits) I had hidden from myself and felt it was the time to get them out. I was momentarily disappointed to find only two left, instead the indulgence I expected, but it's all for the best.

Shirt, lunch, violin

1. I'm looking for a pretty shirt or two for the holiday season. In one shop I waver over a very nice one but it is expensive and I say that I might come back later. Then I find a wonderful shop with much more reasonable prices and quirky items and I buy five. Five!

2. Lunch at my favourite Chinese restaurant after shopping.

3. A mini-concert at my children's school organised by their violin teacher after I asked her if they were having one this year. Eight or nine children play one song each. My daughter plays very well, a Christmas carol she has been practising. My little son, in Kindergarten and only learning for a few months, keeps making mistakes and is a little embarrassed, but proud after he has finished. His first real performance to anyone not family. He snuggles up to me while the last couple of children play their piece.

Babies, early, chocolate

1. Reading about someone else's baby adventures -- the good and the bad. My youngest just turned six, so it is close enough that I remember but far enough away that a cranky toddler can sound amusing rather than bring on PTSD.

2. Tim gets home early after a work lunch function.

3. My supermarket sends me a Christmas voucher for a free box of chocolates, no purchase necessary. I am a "valued customer". Damn right, I spend enough money there!

Warm, over, clean

1. We have had up-and-down spring weather but today is going to be 27C, which I consider to be perfect. Not too hot and not too cold. Perfect day for walking or gardening outside.

2. I have a dentist appointment today but I know it is just for a clean and then it will be over and won't that be a relief! Admittedly this is a pre-emptive beautiful thing but I am looking forward to it being over!

3. I tidied Aiden's bedroom yesterday in anticipation of a tradesman who didn't show up. The room looks lovely without Lego and Pokemon cards all over the floor.

Taste, sneeze, nap

1. Licking the spoon after making passionfruit parfait.

2. I accidentally sneeze all over the computer screen, and actually it is kind of pretty with the light shining through the droplets. Like sparkles.

3. A long nap.

Rain, present, cuddles

1. It's been a bit too hot for me the past couple of days but today is cool and cloudy -- more comfortable for me and I won't have to water the garden so that is a bonus. I walk through the rain to a meeting and don't mind at all.

2. An express parcel arrives for Aiden whose birthday is in three days, I peek inside the plastic mail bag and sure enough it is birthday-wrapped. I can't wait to see him open it and find out what it is, but I will just have to wait.

3. I worry that I don't have a "baby" any more, but Aiden tells me he will still give me lots of cuddles even when he is six.

Remembering, advent, window blind

1. I wrap the pass-the-parcel and make the take-home lolly bags for Aiden's party, and put everything away. Then I realise I've forgotten one child who has never turned up for anyone's party in the past but you never know, so I create another layer and another bag. Thank goodness I thought of it now, not too late, just in case.

2. Instead of commercial advent calendars for the kids, this year I buy a tiny Christmas-themed chest of 24 drawers and put a couple of lollies or chocolates in each one. I'll be able to re-use it every year.

3. The guy from the blinds shop turns up, on time, and moves the window blind I bought last week so that it goes up and down smoothly without rubbing on the window frame. He apologises for the job done by the original youth. "He's new."

Day out, glass, fabric

1. My "day out" with the kids included me getting us lost three times, taking half an hour to find a parking space a long way away so we got to one activity when it was nearly finished, and having a very expensive lunch that wasn't particulary good. And my kids were excited and happy the whole day and didn't care about minor stuff like that.

2. Watching a glassmaker create a multicoloured glass paperweight. Fire, water and twirling.

3. Looking at fabric for new window blinds. The most beautiful texturally-interesting ones were too expensive, but I'm happy with what we chose.

Quiet, flash fiction, commitment to exercise

1. It is a grey day outside, sprinkling rain. I am sitting inside, warm and cosy, with my cup of tea and my blogs to read. I have things to do, but nothing urgent. Nothing screaming at me to be done right now. No kids at home, the house empty and quiet. Aaaahhhhh.

2. A flash fiction piece I wrote was one of ten selected to represent the Canberra Speculative Fiction Guild at the upcoming Conflux. It will be printed on a card and placed in a tenth of the showbags given out to participants. Awesome.

3. I had a tough decision this morning. I was offered some fairly lucrative editing work, but I had already made a commitment to myself to take a few weeks off and really focus on my health and exercising. So I turned it down. I am going to look after myself.

Dirt path, steak, clean clothes

1. I've driven past the raised footpath so many times, today I finally walked along it. It's an long mound of earth, about two metres high, with a dirt path along the top. I assume it is there to block the traffic noise from the adjacent houses. A couple of ant colonies make use of it. A tradies' van is, rather surprisingly, parked half-way along it. The van is about as wide as the top of the mound, and it must have been a tricky drive. The tradesman is painting the back of a house white.

2. Tim makes yellow chicken curry for him and the kids. I'm allergic to coconut so I cook myself a steak. Apparently the curry was nice, but Tim still eyed my T-bone rather jealously. I topped it with onions and shitake mushrooms with a dash of cream sauce, with corn and cucumber on the side.

3. Four baskets of clean clothes, all sorted and folded neatly.

Cheezles, editing, carpet

1. I've been trying to eat healthily, but today for the first time in a while I had a packet of Cheezles. I enjoyed them very much.

2. Finishing an editing job and sending it off.

3. We just had the carpets cleaned, and the house looks amazing. But toys are already starting to accumulate on Aiden's bedroom floor.

Present, perfect husband, blood sugar

1. My mother has a talent for buying presents that are almost but not quite what you wanted. Today is no exception.

2. After dinner my husband puts away the leftovers, stacks the dishwasher, and puts the kids to bed.

3. Since getting a diagnosis of glucose intolerance (almost-diabetes) a week ago I've been moderating my food and checking my blood sugar levels. All within limits, no spikes. I'll be able to argue that I can fully manage with diet modification alone, if indeed my doctor is considering putting me on medication.

Olympics, Olympics, Olympics

1. I was writing on my laptop while watching Olympic highlights when the computer suddenly crashed, and when I turned it back on I seemed to have lost a whole morning's work. But the computer managed to retrieve it all up to the last save, so I only ended up losing a couple of paragraphs.

2. I've been using a rowing machine regularly at the gym, and I am now 2/3 as good as an Olympian. The single woman's skulls takes around 8 minutes for the 2000 metres, I take 12 mins.

3. We are around the other side of the world from London so I only get to see a little bit of live Olympics before I go to bed. But every morning after dropping off the kids at school I watch the two hour highlight show and enjoy it very much.

3BT, Dungeon Pets, mint chocolate

1. Reading the original 3BT blog. She finds three things every single day.

2. My new board game, Dungeon Pets, even though my husband has won both times we've played.

3. Cadbury mint bubble chocolate.

Hot shower, coming home, fish

1. I forgot to turn the heating down last night so I was a bit sweaty this morning. A hot shower rinsed the night away.

2. My husband is away for the weekend but the night without him is now behind me and he called this morning. He'll be home at dinnertime.

3. One of our aquarium fish (a "flying fox") regularly entertains us by doing backward somersaults over and over.

Release, poem, dog

1. I didn't realise that they had changed the free parking at the shopping centre from three hours down to two, and there was a queue behind me as I sat in my car rejected by the exit because I hadn't paid for my two and a half hours. A man jumped out of his car and trotted up. "Don't tell my boss," he said as he swiped his employee card over the machine.

2. I saw a lovely poem somewhere on the internet:
Charmander is red,
Squirtle is blue,
If you were a Pokemon,
I would choose you.

3. Joe brings his little dog Jemimah for the school pick up and the kindy kids crowd around. Jemimah is friendly enough and seems to enjoy the attention, but when she sees her little mistress Miah she leaps to her feet and strains on the leash to get to her.

Thyme, no photo, iPhone

1. The beef bourgignon is ready and I easily find the thyme stalks -- now deunuded of their tiny leaves.

2. They don't need to take my photo after all, which is a huge relief as my hair is unwashed, I have no make-up on, and I am recovering from the flu. It would not have been a good day to be immortalised on plastic.

3. My little boy loves my new iPhone game Tiny Monsters -- and so do I.

Orange, nap, book

1. I cut up a juicy orange for Aiden and it looks so good I have one for myself.

2. Dozing off for an afternoon nap with my sick little boy, warm under the covers.

3. An idea I have for a children's book.

Pantry, less tissues, hot bath

1. Reorganising the pantry, with the help of my little girl. We ended up with two garbage bags full of out-of-date stuff, and a beautiful tidy pantry. And four jars of garlic.

2. Only using a couple of dozen tissues today, not a couple of hundred. The cold is nearly over.

3. I'm thinking about having a hot bath to warm me down to my bones.

Sleep, Muppets, water

1. After a restless night with my headcold I am feeling very tired. Tim takes the kids out at 2pm and I fall into bed and sleep until 4.15.

2. Watching Season 3 of the Muppet Show on DVD. People probably think I bought it for the kids, but no.

3. Cool lemony water on a sore throat.

Bed, aloe vera, soup

1. I'm down with a tiresome headcold, so Tim organises the kids and walks them to school two days in a row while I stay snuggled down in bed surrounded by used tissues.

2. The softness of aloe vera tissues on a sore nose.

3. The hot salty goodness of chicken noodle soup.

Magpie, camembert, The Gathering Storm

1. The liquid warble of a magpie.

2. Creamy ripe camembert on salty crackers.

3. The Gathering Storm, book 12 of The Wheel of Time, is excellent. I am re-reading it in preparation for reading book 13. Brandon Sanderson has done a fantastic job picking up where Robert Jordon had to leave off.

Tea, loss, grapes

1. Trying lots of different black teas as the little Twining boxes were on special. English Breakfast has always been my favourite, but I now like Australian Afternoon and Prince of Wales as well.

2. Losing half a kilo overnight a day after my rather small Weight Watchers weigh-in loss.

3. Fresh crisp green grapes.

Kindergarten, break, ice cream

1. My baby sails through his first day of Kindergarten with no problems.

2. With both kids at school, I am finally going to have some time to myself after a long long summer school holidays.

3. The Weight Watchers chocolate ice cream isn't bad.

Riding a pig, violin lessons, the scale

1. Riding a virtual pig on a Kinect Carnival game (new for Christmas) and trying to steer the recalcitrant thing around hay bales and mud puddles.

2. My seven-year-old daughter's continuing enthusiasm for her violin -- a whole two weeks after receiving it. She keeps bugging me for practice sessions. I thought she would be sick of it by now, as it seemed only a passing whim when we bought it.

3. Seeing the scale lower than it was yesterday.