Grammar, hoaxes, and things that make me cross on Facebook

Grumpy Cat has nothing on me - image from Grumpy Cat

There are some things in life - mostly on Facebook - that make me cross.  They cause me such distress that I want to set people straight and I have to literally handcuff myself to a radiator to prevent me from correcting them.  Now there's something else that annoys me: saying 'literally' when really I have never handcuffed myself to any radiator, I just wanted to be dramatic.

I wonder why I'm like this?  Why can I not let it go that someone has put 'your' when they should have written 'you're'?  Why do I want to correct people when they share those silly hoaxes? Why do people share things just because someone told them to share it?  Yes, why do these things make me grumpy?

Perhaps I'm just a grumpy cat.

LOL :)

I'm taking part in Jen from Conversion Diary's 7 Posts in 7 Days Epic Blogging Challenge.

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7 Quick Takes Friday (vol. 226)

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This is my first ever '7 Quick Takes', I thought  I'd join in to help give me some inspiration for an easy and quick post for my 7 Posts in 7 Days challenge.  Because I'm on holiday at the moment I don't want to spend too much time blogging otherwise I will be exceedingly unpopular amongst ma famille.

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I dropped red wine on the carpet yesterday.  Why?  Why do people carpet their holiday cottages with the palest of pale beige carpet.  Much scrubbing commenced.  I think I've got the stain out.  Otherwise that's one expensive mistake. :)

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Squidge is constantly upside down.  She's always been upside down.  I've even found her on the stairs upside down reading a book.  She has now decided she wants to be a gymnast.  I think she'd be rather good at it for a number of reasons: 1) She is constantly upside down; 2) She's quite fearless, she'll climb to the top of the tallest climbing frame like a little monkey and then hang upside down and swing (I invariably have sweaty palms in playgrounds because she frightens me to death with her exploits); and, 3) She has a never ending supply of energy, she will bounce and jump and run from the second she wakes up to the second she falls asleep.  We have a video of her at the age of 2 leaping from one sofa in the living room to another - she flies through the air like those flying squirrel things

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Squidge's new name is homunculus.  A homunculus is a perfectly formed miniature human being of folklore.  We first heard about it on Big Bang Theory.  It's Sheldon's name for Leonard.

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Speaking of Big Bang Theory.  I love it.  So funny!  One of my new favourite comedy programmes.

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I spent some birthday money yesterday.  I bought a GORGEOUS key box in a gift shop in Wadebridge.  It has the Tree of Life engraved on it.  Love it. Love it. Love it.  Plus it will hopefully encourage me to keep my keys in one place, rather than the daily rage around the house, "Where ARE MY KEYS!?!"

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I also bought a book, 'A Dictionary of Celtic Saints'.  I know very little of Celtic Christianity and I would like to know more.  Hopefully the book is good.  I bought it in a little bookshop in Wadebridge.  The lady in the shop was having a bad day. She was rather cross about a busker who had been singing outside her shop since, "10 O'Clock this morning!"  Apparently she was going to make her complaint known to the council.

For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary!

Day 4 - the blogging challenge starts to take its toll

I'm taking part in Jen from Conversion Diary's 7 Posts in 7 Days Epic Blogging Challenge.

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I had a lovely birthday.  The hubster and I went out for a meal, it was delightful.  Except it didn't agree with my stomach.  I was awake 'til silly-o'clock with a very large and growly belly.  I often have stomach issues, it's the cross I have to bear [note melodramatic tone].

We are on holiday in Cornwall with my Mum and Dad at the moment.  When I came down in the morning Mum had decorated the living room of the cottage we are staying in with streamers and...wait for it...Red Nose Day balloons! No expense spared on the decorations then. LOL

We visited St Michael's Mount during the day.  It's an old castle and church, there used to be a monastery there.  It is so called as there is a legend about some fishermen seeing Archangel St Michael in 495 AD standing high on a rocky ledge.  

Ay me! Whilst thee the shores and sounding seas
Wash far away, where'er thy bones are hurl'd;
Whether beyond the stormy Hebrides,
Where thou perhaps under the whelming tide
Visit'st the bottom of the monstrous world,
Or whether thou, to our moist vows denied,
Sleep'st by the fable of Bellerus old,
Where the great vision of the guarded mount
Looks toward Namancos and Bayona's hold:
Look homeward Angel now, and melt with ruth;
And, O ye dolphins, waft the hapless youth.

~Lycidas, John Milton

I have lots of photos, but I'll upload them when I get home I think.  Here's one from my phone camera:

St Michael's Mount is accessible on foot during low tide and we walked over, we got back just a the water was starting to cover the path.  The above photo was taken as the water had become too deep to cross on foot.

After that we drove back and got ready to go out for our meal.

A lovely day...apart from the stomach issues, ha.

Hugs.

So excited to be 40!

From Grumpy Cat

I'm 40 today.

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And there completes day 3 of the blogging challenge :)

I'm taking part in Jen from Conversion Diary's 7 Posts in 7 Days Epic Blogging Challenge.

Day 2 of the blogging challenge...

I'm taking part in Jen from Conversion Diary's 7 Posts in 7 Days Epic Blogging Challenge.

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Well, if you've been living in a cave you won't know that the Duchess of Cambridge has given birth to a son, the future king of England.

It was interesting to read all the statuses on Facebook.  Statuses ranged from really pleased, to 'I don't care', to 'I hate it all', to 'I am above it all and eschew all baby related statuses'.

I love babies.  I cry if I watch a programme called 'One Born Every Minute'.  As soon as that baby's born I'm all welling up and emotional.

So I was all excited about this birth, a) because I do like the Royal Family and b) because it's a baby!

I like to see the excitement and the festivity.  We Brits can be rather cynical about stuff and it's great to see people genuinely excited about something (the Olympics and Jubilee were fun for that too).

It does rather irk me though, when people turn it into a Christian 'let's point out you're all wrong' thing, 'we would never have any other king than Jesus' thing.  The whole, 'How can you possibly get all excited about this birth, he's just an ordinary person, the real important point is that a baby was born in Bethlehem...etc, etc.'

Totally grinds my gears.  I get excited when a friend has a baby, does that mean I don't love my own babies more?  I get all excited when birds have babies for crying out loud - cute little chirpy things.  I get drawn into the excitement about a royal baby and then it's like somehow some people think I'm (and anyone else who gets excited) taking away some of the glory from Jesus!  No, He is the King of kings, Lord of lords.  There will be kings (and the Bible tells us to honour them) but I know there is one eternal King. Nothing can take that away.  I love Jesus.

Yes, I am quite capable of distinguishing between a human being who is born into a royal family and the eternal King of kings. Thanks for pointing it out though.

Thing is my irritated reaction is a bit of a throw back to our old church.  For 30 odd years I had to listen to the Pastor bang on about how he'd never bow to the Queen and how he'd never call a judge 'lord' because he had only one King and only one Lord, etc, etc.  Except, by gum the Queen obviously really did affect him because he didn't half go on about it endlessly.  In fact he expected everyone in the church to follow these 'rules'.  Fact is, he had very left wing political viewpoints and it had nothing to do with his love for Jesus, it was more that he thought that extreme Christian socialism was the answer with a 'benevolent' dictator at the helm. [That's the problem though, ha, you get rid of royalty nothing becomes equal, you just get yourself a president or a dictator or an emperor - worldly authority will always have it's power issues til the day Jesus comes so I think let's just enjoy the awesome royal family and all the pomp and ceremony and amazing history.] 

So when I hear the same old rubbish being spoken in the name of Jesus I feel a bit sick.

Well, that's my off the cuff post today.

Hugs.

Day 1, the blogging challenge begins...

I'm taking part in Jen from Conversion Diary's 7 Posts in 7 Days Epic Blogging Challenge.

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My two girls love one another deeply, but they also love to annoy one another.  Last Tuesday I mentioned about how Chatterbox was annoying Squidge by singing the tune to Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring in a loud and rather obnoxious voice.

Here's the full story:

I've sent them both upstairs to tidy their rooms because every surface, including the floor and tops of their wardrobes, is strewn with stuff.  It's not long before Chatterbox starts singing Bach's lovely tune in an annoying shouty voice.

A few seconds pass, then I hear Squidge shout downstairs, "MUMMYYYYYYYY, B IS DISTRACTING ME, I CAN'T CONCENTRATE!"

"What sort of concentration does one need to tidy a room," I muse to myself, but say shout, "JUST GET ON WITH IT!" [My neighbours must love this, we have thin walls, ha].

A few minutes pass, then Squidge is in floods of tears storming down the stairs. "MUMMMMMMMY, B WON'T LISTEN TO ME!" [Then in 1940's melodramatic actress mode] "NEVER, in my ENTIRE LIFE, has anyone ignored me like this!"

I must admit I laughed, so she backtracked a bit.

"Well, people have ignored me before, BUT NEVER B, NEVER LIKE THIS!" More wailing.

Now Chatterbox is stomping down the stairs mouthing protestations of innocence, etc.  So Squidge ratches it up a notch.

"AND! AND, she THREW me out of her bedroom!!"

"I didn't THROW her out of my bedroom, I asked her nicely to leave but she wouldn't, so I picked her up and put her outside my room!" Sayeth the Chatterbox.

"AND THEN, SLAMMED THE DOOR!" adjoined Squidge.

"The window was open!  A breeze took it from my hands!"

"No it didn't, YOU slammed it!"

"No I didn't, Mummy I DIDN'T!"

You're not allowed to laugh, because this is a LIFE AND DEATH situation.  So I tell them to get a grip and get on with tidying their rooms.  It isn't long before they're best of friends again and making new mess with their Build-a-Bears.

 I love being a Mum.

7 Posts in 7 Days: An epic blogging challenge

Conversion Diary: 7 Posts in 7 Days

I'm joining Jen at Conversion Diary and blogging everyday this week from tomorrow! It'll be especially exciting because I am 21 on Wednesday.

I'm also a terrible liar...I'm actually 40...shhhhhh

Some of the posts may be one liners - but here's hoping I manage some interesting, cogent pieces of literary art.

Hugsies.