Open Mouth, Insert Foot

Today we headed off along with the rest of the Fink clan from here about's to enjoy the 21st birthday tea of our niece, Rose. The tea was a surprise so we all hid in the back garden and when Rose opened the door she was showered with party poppers and shouts of, "Surprise!" We sang, 'Happy Birthday' and enjoyed each other's company. GWTBO was there and has helped us solve the mystery of where Mr Fink gets his social 'grace' from.

GWTBO was observing Rose's relatives from the other half of her family coming and going when he spotted her other grandad. Rose's family are blessed with distinctive beautiful noses. GWTBO elbowed Rose's mum in the ribs and with a smile, a wink and an over emphatic gesture towards his own nose commented, "Well we can see where you guys get THOSE from, eh?" 

I groaned inwardly but let it pass, I am after all, the daughter of Shouty Grandad and the wife of Mr Fink, you'd think I wouldn't notice these things anymore.

Later on Rose's mum was telling us about the rest of the plans for her daughter's evening, involving a strech limo and a trip to a swanky London nightclub. now bearing in mind it was 5pm in the afternoon, GWTBO, with a straight face, turned to her and said, "You'll be going to get ready soon then?"

I couldn't help myself  and chimed, "You cheeky sod!" to which he caved in with embarrassment and tried to back pedal; he had not realised what he had said.

Mr Fink's brother raised his eyes to the sky and explained this was nothing new, "Without mum here to keep him in line, he's like a loose canon!"

Good to know mine are not the only parents with the power to make us cringe!

Love you GWTBO xx

Busy Weekend at Fink Mansion

Phew, what a weekend. Mr Fink and I headed off to Wickes, B&Q, Homebase etc to check out the showers. Didn't buy one. While I was in Wickes, The Oracle phoned me and invited me out for a drink (coffee) and a gossip. So we went to the local pub and had a lovely gossip, put the world to rights and solved all kinds of problems! then I dropped her off to meet with her sister and I went home. When I got in I had the most awful headache and felt really sick - must have been all the caffeine from 5 cups of pub coffee. Never again!

Saturday I went to work, when I finished I found several patients wandering round the deserted department, they were lost - my worst nightmare, I just know I'm going to get them lost even more by trying to help them! We found where they were supposed to be and I went home. In the evening we met Nanny and Shouty Grandad at the swimming pool for the Cubs District Swimming Gala. Little Fink came first in her heat of the 25m breaststroke and third in the final. Her team came 2nd out of 16 Cub packs. We were all so proud of her.

Sunday we did the housework and then GWTBO and Nanny S came round for dinner which Mr Fink cooked brilliantly. Afterwards we were treated to a game of Triv and some magic tricks from Little Fink. A thoroughly entertaining afternoon of entertaining!

Next week I have Bob The Plumber (Plumb-bob geddit?) coming round to start the bathroom refurb and the Ovenu cooker guy coming on Thur to clean my cooker. (Note to self - Do not ask the Oven guy to marry you again!)

A BIG Birthday

I had a wonderful birthday. Little Fink gave me a home made Hacker puppet, complete with moving arms and mouth. Mr Fink gave me a beautiful ring with my favourite stone in it. In the evening we went out to the local carvery for a meal with my mum and dad, my in-laws and my honorary sister, brother (Mrs Glum and Bambi) and their children Marsha and Bambino.

We had a wonderful night, mediocre food but great company and lots of laughing and fun.

Bambino gave me a keyring. Marsha gave me a Barbie doll, because she knows how much I LOVE BARBIE! Mrs Glum and Bambi gave me a lovely pearl choker and jewellery box.

I am a very lucky 40 year old! thank you all.

Nutty Professor and Bodyflight

This is Little Fink dressed up ready to go to school on Friday. the school combined the idea of raising money for Red Nose Day and the culmination of Science Week by encouraging the children to dress up as Mad Professors for sponsorship (and fun). I managed to get hold of a genuine lab coat from a kind Lab Tech Freecycler, daddy's Bugs Bunny tie, the Dennis The Menace wig from nearly 10 years ago and a few accessories and she really looked the part! Well done.

Mr Fink has also been off on adventures, for his 'special' birthday last year, GWTBO gave him a voucher for him and a friend to go indoor-skydiving. Which was the only date they had available for clumsy Mr Fink to go and give it a try? Friday the 13th of course! (On that note,I hope Shouty Grandad behaved himself last night - his record for antics on a Friday is legendary). Anyway, the flight went well and judging by the photos and the DVD, Mr Fink and Mr Hammer (JB) had a great time. The huge fan that creates the vortex that they 'fly' in is in the ceiling and 'sucks' them up towards it. I thought it would be in the floor and 'blow' the divers up. You live and learn!

I've had a quiet week this week, concentrating on finding the perfect venue for my 'special' birthday at the end of the year.

It's 8.30am on a Saturday morning, I've fed the cats, put the washing on, filled and started the dishwasher, hung up the wet washing, dusted, hoovered, cleared up. Just the ironing to go and i can feel really smug! Laters peeps!

That which doesn't kill us, makes us stronger. No?

Poor Little Fink, bunged up, sniffing, sneezing, coughing.

"what can I do to help her feel more comfortable?" I thought. "I know, I'll put some Vick's on her chest to help clear her blockages."

So I usher the snot laden child to the bathroom, lift up her jammy top and slather the Vicks all over her chest.

A short while later, she is at the coffee table with her laptop and I note the improvement in her breathing.

"Mummy." she says, little face screwed up against the vapour,

 "I can't see." Ah bless.

Mr Fink now has the dreaded lurgy and was unable to attend the first celebration in the annual calendar of Christmas. Last night it was the gathering of the Fink clan at GWTBO house, this consisted of take away, jokes, fun, babies, Death by Pictionary (terrible amount of cheating from SOME people. One person who will remain nameless, shamelessly whispering "Think Paris" as a clue to the word Eiffel Tower. Shame on you) and lots and lots of laughter.

My favourite comments of the night were....Woogie talking about a hirsute GWTBO, "Grandad wasn't born, he was knitted!" and Blitzen (Doner's girlfriend) when playing Pictionary trying to guess a US President, "Is it John Bush?" (But she more than made up for not knowing him name with her enthusiasm and air punches when her team were doing well!

The babies were beautiful and full of beans and everyone had a brilliant time. Thank you.

A Bit of a Do.

This weekend, Mr Fink, Little Fink and I travelled to Hastings for a gathering of the clans. Mr Fink's brother was getting married. This brought about another addition to the number of women in the country with the same name as me. There are now 5 Mrs *****'s! 3 of whom stayed in the same Travelodge for the wedding, hence the following confusing phone call from GWTBO - father of the groom. As we were travelling past Battle en route to Hastings, Mr Fink's phone rang, it was Grandad With The Beard On,

"Where are you staying?"

Me (as Mr Fink was driving)"Travelodge, Hastings."

"What name have you booked the room under?"

Me.............................."?", "I'll give you three guesses, and the first two don't count!"

Anyway, it turns out he was only aware of 3 rooms booked under the family name, his room, Woogie & Nancypants' room and Doner (Woogie's brother - he has been given the 'nom de guerre' Doner as they both look rough on a Sunday morning) &AB's room.

"I booked the family room for us." I said.

"Oh, I'm standing in the family room, drinking the coffee!"

Anyway, the rooms were sorted, I asked for some bed linen for Little Fink and a duvet cover and pillow cases for our bed, as they only had white cotton 'protector's on, when the lady arrived she only had linen for Little Fink.

"I was hoping for a duvet cover and pillowcases for the bed."

"You've already got them, we only have the cheap ones here!" Ho hum.

We went off to the wedding, the groom was nervous and the bride stunning. I was fine until the Bride started to say her vows, her voice wobbled with emotion and that was it, all the women in the room were toast! The reception was lovely with children enjoying themselves, lovely food and good company.

I jitterbugged the night away with my father-in-law, GWTBO and a good night was had by all.

The next day we had breakfast and arranged to take the Silver Surfer (Mr Fink's step dad) and Astral (Mr Fink's mum) home with us, so we quickly had a walk along the sea front at Hastings before setting off. We decided to stop off for lunch and went to the Airfield Pub in Hatfield.

The meal was well received and the bill duly arrived. Now I don't know about you gentle reader, but us Finks are plagued (in a good way) with friends who won't take no for an answer! Mr Fink was going to pay for this meal as a parting gift to Astral and SS before they returned to Spain.

SS offered to pay but Mr Fink said,

"It's ok, I'll pay, it's not very expensive." he might as well have said...

"Next time we go out you can pay and we'll go somewhere NICE!" good ole Mr Fink always got at least one of his feet in his mouth!

A wonderful weekend, spent with wonderful family and friends. The stuff of life. Bring it on.

We're having a baby

The Barton's are expecting. Grandad-with-the-beard-on gave Little Fink some grow-your-own dinosaurs or Triops. We followed the instructions and added the dry eggs to the tank. Our Triop hatched and has grown from an egg the size of a pin point to the little belter you see above (its body, not including the feelers at either end, is about 20mm long). It spends a lot of it's time upside down filtering the water for food (it has a food pellet held up to it's mouth in the video). If you look really carefully on it's right hand side, where the curved body meets the straight tail, you will see a mass. These are eggs. "Oooh it's a girl" Little Fink. "Maybe not!" quoth I. The Triop is an hermaphrodite so has fertilised it's own eggs - imagine me explaining THAT one to Little Fink. So it just remains for Little Fink and I to say - Thank you Grandad Bob for a brilliant Christmas present.