Woke up at 6.30am this morning. Damn my body clock. I usually get up at 6.00am or so to go to work, but as I get older it's becoming distressingly difficult to just sleep through when I don't have to get up. So I got up, no point in fighting it. I made a cup of tea, had a ciggie and logged into blogger and caught up on the last few days of Diary Creme.

After a hour and a bit of time learning stuff on Lynda.com, I went back up to bed and slept through till 12.30pm. Ah bliss. I've learned that you can get enough sleep but you have to work at it.

Today we had to wash the dog, but that turned into more of a whole day project than we thought, as we trimmed and brushed her, then bathed her, then dried and brushed her again. It took between 1pm and about ten to four. Then I had to run out the door and go to ASDA to get milk, coffee, Pepsi Max (our coke of choice) and Minute Maid orange juice. All drinks. Hmm. What's that all aboot, eh? What can I tell you? We are drink oriented household.

Case in point - cool food hack of the season: I love vanilla and I love coke but I like Pepsi better than Coca Cola. Problem. Plus Vanilla Coke tastes nasty to me, kind of an unpleasant aftertaste. So I put a splash of Cream Soda in a glass and fill up with Pepsi Max = Vanilla Pepsi Max!!! You can do the same thing with Cherryade to get Cherry Pepsi Max. Great taste, and you can use really cheap soda as your mixer. I get the ASDA own brand sodas for the kids and they are perfect for my mixing experiments. You should also try Cola + Orange soda = a previously unknown taste explosion. Why don't they make orange coke? It's like a kind of Terry's Chocolate Orange in a glass. :)

After taking Yo home and picking up Ted we came home and ate spaghetti and sauce and the kids got their stuff ready for school and then bed. Mia watched Star Wars "Revenge of the Sith" which we have on rental from Amazon.co.uk and while she did that I got my work done. I wrote up the notes for my course I'm teaching this term starting on Tuesday, the first year video project as I said a while back, and tried to finish my proposal for my book which I'm submitting to Focal Press in the USA. They asked me for a proposal for a 3D graphics book based on an idea I submitted months ago, and I've worked it up into a proper proposal over recent weeks. They should be back at work properly like me tomorrow, so I need to finish it tonight. Might be up late, not sure.

Tomorrow we have to endure a couple of presentations at a meeting for all staff members all morning. I'm trying to figure out a way I can avoid it as I have a buttload of work to do before term begins in earnest on Tuesday and I was hoping to get stuff done and escape relatively early. But I've been told that while attendance isn't compulsory, we kind of have to be there. Figures. I guess I'll have to fit my work in around the meetings again. D'oh! Come Tuesday we're in the pipe, 11 weeks of interruptions puctuated by temporary solutions to any problems which arise, no time to yourself, few lunchbreaks, and yet moments of sheer elemental joy at jobs well done, students getting the point of what your talking about, young people eager to learn and the ever present joy of creation and filmmaking. It's a freaking rollercoaster and no mistake.

Oh and by the way, some of you who know me well will possibly be wondering why I am so much less profane in this blog than I am in real life. Ok. Two reasons: 1) I made a conscious decision to be more creative and think of more interesting words rather than just effing and blinding all the time, and 2) I happen to know for a fact my mum reads this blog. It's bad enough she knows I smoke, let alone swear all the time. (Hi mom!) I know what you're thinking, I'm 45 years old and so why should I care? Well, I counter that with mind your own damn business. It's my blog and I'll do whatever the fudge I like.

:P