HURRAH, HURRAH AND THRICE HURRAH!! What better news could greet my return from an exciting SAGGA theme weekend?! Bless.

I'm sitting in bed surrounded by cats, books and paperwork. It's very comfy, and slightly purry, but the one thing I'm lacking is motivation. Sigh.

After a lovely week spent eating my way around England, I'm now back home and appreciating having broadband access again. Geek, moi?!

It was great to get away last week: Rob has written about it at great length, so this is the picture book version. On Saturday I tried on wedding dresses with Wendy and Amy, who both have far better dress sense than me, so were eminently qualified to accompany me. I like to think that we brightened the shop assistant's day. Pictures of this bit of the holiday are banned, so readers aren't put into therapy by pictures of me in a dress. (Actually it's because of copyright, but that's far too mundane a reason).

On Sunday, we did some walking in the Cotswolds...


...on a pile of logs...


...by a lake...


...and then watched a film about a rabbit, and heard a man talk about some food. Top day.

We went down south on Monday to eat stay with Rob's mum. We ate lots. We went to the sea
(Rob complained that I cut the top of his head off in this photo. I think it's just coz he has a tall head)

From Deepest Darkest Devon we headed up to my parents' house for a few days, where the Mad's-Mother-Cutting-And-Sticking-Machine went full speed ahead making wedding invitations:
This picture shows that the the invites are being made VERY VERY quickly.

The first 50 to be finished. Rock and roll.

And now I've got a week at home, pottering about and generally doing all the things I should have been doing all term instead of planning a wedding, along with reading this with baited breath. Blimey.

Rob's latest cookery adventure has been the creation of samosas. The first time, he made them all alone and I just got to eat them. This time, I got to make them myself. Well, "make" is perhaps too accurate a term. Here is Rob's attempt:

And here's mine:

It's been re-names the Poo-mosa, because it looks like poo, especially compared to Rob's expert efforts:

Pah.

There is little better than the moment when, after an intense weekend away doing Guidey things, you are greeted by a man, some cats, a shower and a roast duck, all of which appear glad to see you.* The weekend was an INTOPS event, which is about the international opportunities within Guiding, ranging from international camps in the UK to being WAGGGS representative at global seminars. Some of the weekend was devised to allow selection for GOLD (Guiding Overseas Linked to Development) and the activities were fun but tiring, particularly the [censored] and the [censored]. I wasn't too keen on the [censored] but overall it was great: it's what I needed to fight off the blue-knickered cynicism that was creeping in around the edges. There are GOLD projects going to a few exotic places next summer, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed - after all, if I'm saving for a wedding and a house then an expensive overseas trip is just what the doctor ordered! On the other hand, I already have SAGGA camp in Sweden, a Guide camp by the seaside, and service crew at a UK camp to look forward to if I'm not selected, so I'm not going to be too gutted if it doesn't work out.

I suspect that this has become a stream of consciousness post which - with my braincell in its addled state - is becoming increasing difficult to follow. I think I'd better just stop

* Well, the duck didn't look too chuffed, but it was well and truly stuffed by that point anyway, so didn't have much say in the matter.

D of E this weekend was good - I got to spend a lot of it in the emergency support minibus, driving the country lanes of the White Peak looking for kiddies and then hurling abuse at them as we passed! Our new motto is "Be good, don't be bad, talk to strangers!" and we're considering getting this printed on the back of hoodie jumpers for all the staff, with "D of E Barmy Army" scrawled across the front. The kids were great (apart from two whingers, who we packed off back to school asap) and I've got a good feeling about D of E this year. Now, though, I'm knackered.

I am disowning My Cat. I've just got in from lunch and discovered her lying on the floor licking her lips, surrounded by feathers. Poor birdy.

Term has only just begun, in relative terms, and I'm exhausted already. Anyone know a good way to stay awake that doesn't involve obscene amounts of caffeine or illegal drugs?

We've had the cats for something like 16 days. I can't remember life without them. What was it like to wake up without loud licking filling the room, or to have breakfast without having to deal with cat poo first? And what did we do without catsnot to laugh at, especially when attached to a catsneeze that leaves the sneezee looking shocked and slightly surprised? They have fitted into life here very easily, and are now bouncing in and out of the windows with consumate ease. We owe the RSPCA a huge favour for letting us take them.

(If you hadn't guessed, I've been drinking and although I could whitter on in a similaar style about my dearly beloved, I'll transfer affection to the cats so you don't throw up on your computer. I'm considerate like that.)

While google-searching for something or other wedding related (as has been my wont these last few days) I discovered a website selling Russian brides. Rob and I spent quite a bit of time looking at the range of goods on offer, and I was going to recommend that you take a look yourself for a quality bit of amusement, but then my spyware scan showed I'd picked up some adware from the site, so my recommendation now is that you steer clear. Mind you, it's better than picking up some virus by meeting them in real life.

In between bits of teaching and Guides, including a manic cleaning session at our Guide hall this afternoon, I've been trying to get my head round getting married. The key requirements are a) some sort of service, so that we are actually hitched; and b) a big party for all the people we want around. Neither is as simple as it sounds. I've spent three days talking weddings with anyone who's not fast enough to run away, have already forgotten who I've told what to, and have basically lost the plot. I've bought a notebook for all those sudden thoughts that happen when you least expect it, like when you're teaching a very mundane topic; Rob's set up at least one spreadsheet; the cats are practising being bridesmaids: it's all go here!

So far, we've made a sort-of decision about location (Repton) and time (February half term or Easter holiday 2006, depending on hall availability), reached some firm agreement about what we like and don't like, and I've made a half-hearted, mouth-open-in-bewilderment attempt to look at wedding dresses online. To be honest, so long as I can wear my new flowery docs under my outfit I'm not too bothered what I wear!

In true geeky style, and following in the footsteps of the King of Geeks and his good lady wife, we've set up a wedding blog. Rob's already dreaming of .pdf documents for people to download from the site while I've been trying to justify buying a good digital camera and a flickr pro account rather than hiring a proper wedding photographer. Even now, at 11.00pm on a Saturday evening, we're sitting on the sofas geeking away. It seems there is no hope for us: we might as well have this wedding online!

Yesterday evening, I got in from school to the news that Rob had bought me a present. He pushed me in the direction of the kitchen and produced a polystyrene box from the fridge. After a brief moment or two (in which I did tea in the House) I then opened the box to discover two large fillets of fish. I know that we buy silly presents for each other, but the fish seemed quite practical - at least it was a present that I could eat. The conversation went something like this:

Me: A fish. How lovely.
Rob: I know. It's a Ling.
Me: Oooh. A Ling. That's very exciting.
Rob: It's a special Ling.
Me: Really?
Rob: I thought it might be an engagement Ling.
Me: An engagement Ling?! [at this point I start to cry and forget to say yes]

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is honestly how it happened. He's nothing if not romantic.

Rob's cat has just done the HUGEST sneeze ever, with catsnot flying everywhere. Sometimes I wonder if children would be easier - at least they eventually learn to blow their own nose.

In other news, teaching is good. D of E is taking up a wee bit of time though.

There have been a number of time-consuming developments in the last few days, not least the need to teach. Preparing lessons is also taking longer than I remember - I'm not quite sure what's happened to my lesson-planning-skills but they've gone AWOL. Damn. I've really lost the plot when it comes to school stuff - I hope I find it before too long!

On Saturday I got caught on duty at the sixth-form social, where they put me in charge of the "dining area"... after all, I am an expert in dining, so well-suited to the job. I would rather have been celebrating the youngness of El Senor Johns, but work sort of took over. I WILL make an effort to get free next weekend.

I got in from school on Saturday morning to be greeted by Rob teling me that we had a viewing of the house at lunchtime. It was lovely. The garden had an orchard section (including apple, pear and damson trees) and a brook at the bottom of the garden. The house was nicely done too: Rob was most impressed by the cellar; I liked the idea of a big roof space. We then spent a fraught weekend trying to work out if we could a) get a mortgage and b) afford to pay it. This required much searching on the internet (my department) and making spreadsheets (Rob's department). We ended up staring at the computer screen for hours, trying to work out if we could live on what was left after mortgage, bills, tax, car loans, broadband... One not-quite-so swift phone call to the mortgage company, some detailed pouring over bank statements, and we worked out that, while we would get the mortgage and could probably afford to pay it back, it might be better to wait 12 months and pay off as many of our loans as possible before attempting house purchase. In a way I'm gutted, as it was a lovely house, but with my sensible head on it seems the only way to avoid repossession. Harrumph for being sensible.

In other news, the cats have ventured outside and survived the ordeal. They've coped admirably with jumping in and out of the windows, and they seem to enjoy having some freedom to wander. They're still un-named as yet, other than "my cat" and "your cat", but they seem very happy, so there's no great pressure to name them.

Discoveries of the day:

I still fit into my suit (just)

I can still remember how to teach

I can sit in the House and use wireless to do geeking while the kiddies are in prep

This house, for sale in the village (there's enough room for cluckers aplenty in that garden)

"This Cat" (as opposed to "That Cat") is sulking. That Cat did a big smelly poo in the litter tray, This Cat refused to use it and so used the hallway, This Cat got shouted at, This Cat is now sulking like a teenager denied her mobile phone.

The girls have only been back a couple of hours and already their pubescent hormones have affected our cats. Waaah! I just hope that Rob remains free from the influence of so much estrogen.

This morning was spent in far more fruitful and meaningful meetings than yesterday, and I feel quite enthused about the impending arrival of the little darlings. I'm off to de-cat-hair myself, and then it's off to make a good impression for the new kiddiwinkles.

This term started today with a whimper - anything approximating the decibels of a bang would just have been too much for my post-drinking head. Instead, I was forcibly woken by a man bearing tea and have just sat through some most bizarre training. A man talked about declining morals and spirituality for quite some time, in a very general sort of way, with little practical guidance or advice; we then had to go off into small groups to discuss the matters further, without really knowing why we were discussing it. It was very odd, and certainly not what my hungover-braincell could cope with first thing on a Tuesday morning. It was nice to move from that into department meeting to talk about normal things with normal people! This afternoon's excitement is training on the new school database, which is bound to be riveting stuff.

I need to get teaching properly as soon as possible. Either that or a holiday.

There's no point having cats if you can't take the mick out of them. This one's got a nice career as a Guider lined up, if the size of her arse is anything to go by:

A fine layer of cat fur covers our sitting room. It seems that the cats have arrived.