Life and times

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Sometimes life just seems like an endless round of birthdays. Juniper has entered her teenage years, Caper has become toddler, child and teen, Blue has gone through her toddler days and entered childhood. All three are doing well in school, Juniper made the honor roll and, much to the dismay of her schoolmates, has pretty much stayed at the top of her class ever since. It was her idea for them all to go to the library each day after school to do their homework, and with the extra books and resources available there, all three of them have been getting good grades. Of course, it's not just the kids which have gotten older, both Don and I have gone grey. Don realised his dream of running 500km, and his doctor has said that the effort will put years on his life. He recently travelled to both egypt and china for work. One to learn the strategies involved in an ancient game, and the other to learn martial arts. They did give him some money towards the trips, but it didn't cover all of his costs. That reminds me, Caper and Juniper have just returned from France. Caper had an assignment from the school newspaper to intervies the local's over there, and managed to talk Juniper into visiting with her - though by all accounts, Juniper never left the base camp and worked on her book and her paintings all the time they were there. Caper visited the local museum, did her assignment, learnt how to make nectar, and even ventured into one of the tombs! She found enough bits and pieces of jewels and relics to easily cover the cost of their trip, and even had enough over to order a nectar maker - It should arrive next week sometime, giving us time to expand the house. Don has been promoted several times recently, so his bonuses will help us do that. He has nearly reached the top of his career. For myself, I retired pretty much as soon as I could. As well as bringing up the kids I have been working on my paintings, one was acclaimed by the local gallery as a masterpiece - although I don't think that much of it myself. My little garden has all pretty much died, I'm hoping that Caper will take it over. Since her return from France she has been grapes this, nectar that, and has even asked us to cover the cost of a gardening lesson for her to get her started.

Going up and growing out.

Here we go again, Don just can't help running around in a panic at times like these. It was the same when Juniper was finally on the way. I was feeling suprisingly calm myself, as much pain as I was in at the time, I knew that once babybump was in my arms it would all fade away into nothing.

And so it was. Little baby Caper took just 2 short hours to make her way into the world, and she's such a good baby. She'll lie for hours in her crib, just happy for mom to be in the room. Juniper is doing well at school, getting straight A's on her homework. Such a bright little thing, she never even asks us for help with it.

Work has been good at giving me maternity leave, but I'm thinking of quitting. Having the time at home has allowed me to work on my painting. 'Firebird' sold just yesterday for 514. Don's doing well at work as well. He's had two promotions recently, the most recent one took him up to  Flight Officer after he won the sprint in the military olympics.

His bonus has allowed us to add two new rooms to the house and a few windows as well. My latest painting, "Sunburst", helped as well, it ended up selling for 907! I couldn't believe it. Oh, sorry about the frock, It seems we celebrated a little too much after the promotion, I'm pregnant again!

Where did my life go?

I swear that my primary trait should be absentmindedness, I've neglected to update you all for so long and soo much has happend. First off, I'm married! I know, me, married! The words don't quite fit together somehow. 

It was so much of a whirlwind romance that we didn't even get any wedding or honeymoon pictures. Somehow we did end up with some pictures just before I was about to give birth to our first daughter, Juniper, Don just kept dancing around in an abolute panic which did not help one bit!
Luckily he eventually get around to calling a taxi to take me to the hospital and as all was well in the end, I can't really complain.

It took a few hours, but Juniper did finally put in an appearance and all three of us eventually made it home in one piece. We spent the next part of our lives balancing work, staying awake and keeping baby happy. I have never been so exhausted in all of my life, Don struggled too, but we really wouldn't have it any other way. We've had to do a little bit of expansion around the house, but Don's job in the army is gradually allowing us to save properly to make the

improvements we needed. 

Looking back it seems that almost as soon as we did get her home from the hospital that our wonderful baby girl turned into a sparkly todder.

 Bald at birth, the poor thing seems to take more after Don's side of the family than mine at the moment, we were soon teaching her to toddle around on her own, use the potty (god that thing stinks), and to talk. Don taught her to read and she loves playing with her logic box and xylephone - though a part of me wishes she wouldn't bang on it quite so loudly. As they say, time flies, and it wasn't long before it was time to move the outside and celebrate another birthday.

 

Yay, my baby girl has hair at last!

S

She's a very social little girl, and although she's not very good with her minibake oven yet, she insists on at least trying to sell them to the neighbours. One thing she does keep asking is when she's going to have a little brother or sister. I don't think it will be too long now....

A busy few days.

 

I was out tending my garden one morning when I was hailed by a passer by. This was Daniel Wang. We chatted for a while at the side of the road, but he was in a hurry. As he left, he mentioned that the store in town had been looking for a new produce supplier, and I shoud check it out sometime.

Talking of gardening, I upgraded my sprinkler. It wasn't as easy as repairing the sink, and took me a long time, but at least I no longer have to water my plants myself. This means I get more time to paint.

I tried my hand at a more traditional landscape, it didn't look all that good to me when I finished it, but I still managed to find a buyer. Every penny helps at the moment.

All that practice paid off. My first 'Brilliant' painting. It's worth more than anything I've ever painted before, but I just can't sell this one. I do wish I had a proper wall to put it on tho. One day, one day.

WooHoo! I was promoted today to Shopping Music DJ! This came with a bonus that let me buy a stove. At last, I can actually cook at home. Here I am cooking up my first batch of pancakes. I hope they turn out allright.

And my second triumph this week. On the eve of my birthday too. I sold a few more paintings, and took Daniels' tip about the local store and sold all of the garden produce I had stored up. This allowed me to finally call the contractors in and get the foundations laid. Only one room so far, but I'm out of that nastly loft (which we demolished) and can start to see how the
lot will develop much more clearly.


And for a final bonus this week I won the lottery. It's not a big amount of cash though - but something much more useful. No more bills, ever, for life! Now everything I earn can go into the house. All I need to do now is find a husband, however, I don't think it's going to be Odin - whom I met whilst admiring a flower display in town. His nose is bound to be genetic....

The Bad, and the Good.

I have just had one of those days. You know, the really bad ones. I came home from work - it was a late finish as we had a stock take, and whilst washing up, my sink broke and sprayed water everywhere. I so tired, I couldn't stay awake long enough to fix it, so went to bed amidst the sound of gushing water.

I nearly dragged my bed out into the yard to get away from it, but just didn't have the energy. A couple of hours later I was awakened by a strange noise. I called the police, but it was too late! A burglar stole my wonderful new shower. I was heartbroken. The policewoman was very nice, but arrived just too late. I didn't have an alarm, so couldn't claim insurance either.

It couldn't get much worse, but it did get a whole lot better. One of my neighbours, Jon, saw me painting in the yard and invited me over. Whilst we were there he commissioned a painting from me. We spent a couple of hours sorting out what he wanted and then I ran home to start painting.

And here it is, "Watermelon and Banana en Bleu". I took it over to Jons' straight away and he loved it so much he paid me in cash! I went straight down to the hardware store and replaced my shower. It's just so nice to be able to clean up at home.

Hi Ho!

It's my first day, I'm soo excited, I wonder what working in the store is going to be like? I hope everyone is nice to me. I've always been pretty friendly with folks, hopefully they will see that and be friendly back again. I do need to meet some new folks.

The day did go well, but the next morning my toilet broke! Cheap old thing that it is. Don - the guy I met in the park last week called just after, I'm afraid I had a bit of a rant about it. He may never call back!

Phew, it's been a busy few days, but it's almost the weekend, thankfully! I haven't had a chance to paint all week. The hard work has paid off though. I've been made up to Blue Light Special Designator, the bonus that came with the promotion let me buy my very own shower. It's like a little piece of heaven has fallen into my home.

The last few days of freedom

My painting has been going well, I've been able to pay the bills, but I really need to get out of this roof space and start building my home. I'm going to go with a trailer at first, at the front of the lot, before laying the foundations for the future.

I have my first garden planted, using the seeds from the fruit I gathered in the park down the road. It's not much yet, but I'm really glad I could afford a sprinkler, it makes watering them so much easier.

I spent some time in the library yesterday, reading up some more on gardening, and learnt all about how to tend my garden properly, from weeding the plants, to fertilizing them. After I finished there, I headed to the hatchery to catch some fish.

I ended up with a handful of tiny anchovies and a jelly fish. Nothing I want to actually eat, so it's a good thing these are destined for my tomatoes.

On my to the hatchery I spotted a help wanted sign in the grocery store. I called them this morning, and I start on Monday! To celebrate, I moved my easel outside to do a little more painting over the weekend, it is soooo much nicer out here, I just love the outdoors.