Automated Attack Monkeys, Scalpel Mines, & Acid

So, Holly has a school trip to Bankfield Museum for a Churchill's Children day on Wednesday. My mum has her Tuesday nights, and therefore takes her to school on Wednesday mornings, and had assured me that the dressing up requirement would be taken care of.

I got a text this morning: "Have you sorted out Holly's outfit for Bankfield yet?"

*headdesk headdesk headdesk*

My mum has decided she can't sort out the outfit, and has given me lots of notice to pick up the slack. So basically I have a day and a half to get hold of a 1940s girls' outfit. Any tips? I don't mind doing a bit of sewing, but I won't be able to do tons. I don't even know where to start. If she was a boy it'd be flat hat and itchy trousers with braces, but my costume-by-date knowledge draws a blank for wartime girls....

Would it be possible to dress her up as Rosie the Riveter or The We Can Do It Lady?

ETA: have got a fancy dress coat/hat/satchel thing from ebay with the promise of next day delivery; however, still need a dress to go under it. I think I'll be able to knock something up though. Panic (hopefully) over. However, if anyone knows of a good internet-based pattern for a basic child's dress then please point me at it. :)

Mister Choy, the consultant gynaecological oncologist at the MacMillan centre, was very lovely. I have had more blood taken because although the initial blood tests checked my blood cell counts and liver and kidney function and blood sugar they didn't actually check for cancer markers. This is possibly because the first suspicion was an ectopic pregnancy.

Gideon is slightly bigger than a walnut. He's about 7 centimetres in diameter. It's still possible that he's a fibroid or a cyst, and I may need to go for another scan.

I have to go back in two weeks (unless I need a scan) when they have had chance to analyse my blood and have a meeting about me.

So, all in all we don't really know a lot more than we knew yesterday, aside from the fact that Gideon is more grown up than we at first thought.

Two weeks...

I am trying not to panic, but it's really hard.

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So, as matgb and I both predicted, it was bad, but not as bad as it was being spun. Could it be that all the doom-mongering was to make us terrified so we'd be grateful for small crumbs of comfort? You might think that, I couldn't possibly comment. Nor, given his ongoing performance at the moment, could Alan Johnson. I've never seen a man so far out of his depth, even with the crib notes from Balls.

Glad to see science funding frozen, rather than cut (anyone else think that Vince ran this up the flagpole precisely because he knew what the reaction would be and then he could bat for science with the backing of the twitterati? Or am I just too cynical?). Other stuff needs examining in detail before I comment, I think.

If you'd like to examine the statement in detail yourself, it's here.

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• First and foremost, happy birthday to the lovely magister. See you soon, sweetie.


• I have a Jennie-for-pres facebook page now, courtesy of tajasel.


• Mat is making vanilla buns and they smell awesome.


• I am a bit stunned by how quickly people have started publicly declaring for presidential candidates when nominations haven't even closed yet, let alone made a proper pitch, but I suppose that's the nature of the beast. I should clarify that I am not going to be offended by anyone, even Mat, voting for someone else; it's entirely possible that I won't get my own first preference (assuming I get the noms) because I'm going to decide after hearing what people's pitches are who I think is going to be best for the job. I just don't understand the mindset that has made a final decision on who to vote for already, even though I understand that there's probably more people with that mindset than with mine.


• Speaking of getting the noms, given that each candidate must collect the signatures of 200 voting reps, and each rep can only sign one person's form, that means that over half of the expected 1500 voting reps will be signing someone's form. That's a lot more than (for e.g.) would be needed if we could all go around signing each other's...


• I have to timetable what I am doing at Conference. This is going to be even more conflicty than usual...


• There's not enough time in the world to do all the stuff I need to do RIGHT NOW

And on that note....

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It's election week. Because of a combination of other factors I am also working a 6 day week at the day job. My daughter has been to her grandad's funeral today (my ex's dad). My cousin Geoff died this morning. And it's the time of the month.

Anybody else got anything they'd like to throw at me? Oh yes, about a billion Lib Dems want me to help them with their campaign, like I'm not busy enough with my own and Hilary's on top of everything else...

Is it Friday yet? Please can it be Friday soon...

So, this morning I reluctantly dragged myself out of bed at stupid o'clock, even though I will be working till midnight tonight, so I could go and participate in what is laughingly referred to as an Action Day. For those of you who are not politically active, an Action Day is when a whole bunch of activists get together to deliver leaflets to a given area. After about an hour or so of having my knuckles scraped by ridiculously snappy letterboxes, and falling over on uneven paths, and generally feeling pretty battered and bruised and grumpy, I got to a house where a skinhead with no shirt on and a BNP tattoo set his dog on me.

I haven't been bitten because I vaulted his garden gate. I'm glad I am pretty physically strong and have good reaction times. It might possibly have helped if my hands weren't already bleeding from booby-trapped letterboxes, but it might not. I've come home now so that I can have a panic attack in peace.

I do not ever want to deliver leaflets ever again. Ever.

I suspect that this is a big part of the reason political parties are haemorrhaging membership. The expectation that people risk their own personal safety for nothing on a regular basis is not a rewarding experience for the activist. Now, if you don't mind, I'm off to have a bath. Shaking, sweating, and vomiting is not good preparation for an eight hour shift at work.

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Mat has (kind of) mended my old desktop which he broke and I thus have internet access. Clunky, annoying, slow, crappy, internet access, but internet access none the less.

So now all I have to do is go through the 154 unread emails... Oh sod it, Question Time is on.