Industrious.

So don't be lured into falsely assuming that it has all been fun and frivolity around here. Far from it.

Over the last two days I have done four Bikram Yoga classes. Yes, call me insane, however, I must say that my abs feel amazing today.

I have also been slavishly labouring away at putting together all of the info for our very belated tax returns. I get an instant headache just thinking about it. Thankfully, I'm making progress and the first installment will go into the accountant today on my way out to lunch. Relief.

I have also been unable to put this down:

Have you read it? It spans a cast of thousands - the first Duke who set the whole Blenheim Palace extravaganza in motion; Winston's mother, Jennie, who after her first husband died found not one but two husbands who were twenty years younger that her only to die after having her leg amputated; the 9th Duke who married the reluctant American heiress, Consuelo Vanderbilt, for nothing more than her pots and pots of money and then had a second wife, Gladys, who had over fifty Blenheim spaniels which, after she became loonily eccentric, had free run inside the palace and turned it to utter squalor. Apparently the stench after she was evicted out was unforgettable. Yet, let's not beat about the bush, this book was mostly about the most famous Churchill of all - Winston. Years ago we went to Blenheim and saw the room in which he was born yet to be honest, I really haven't given him a second thought since then. Now I'm keen to know more - how could you not? Fascinating.

And then today, Toby's class had an end of term morning tea so last night I made these biscuit schoolboys. I used one of Nigella's very easy recipes (How to Be A Domestic Goddess p212) and then serendipitously found a chocolate pen in the deepest darkest reaches of the pantry. What luck. The children thought I should attempt the school crest on the tee shirt. I know my limits.

And I'm on my second sample pot of magenta paint for our front door after feng sui dictated that it should be magenta (or silver or gold or white or yellow):

Who knows what they think in at the Dulux Trade Centre where I've been twice now to discuss the perfect shade of magenta. It's not as simple as it might seem - I've have had to wade into the world of paint bases and other secret paint business as not all colours can be used externally. It's true - you learn something new everyday.

R