h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

[Hati]

I really enjoyed my afternoon with Ben and the Stepson, A wasn't that bored either. We went to see an exhibition of Turner's at the Gas Hall, (the old gas showrooms behind the musuem that are used for special exhibitions). Incidently the building was the site of the Birmingham Medical school until the 1940s.

MR - That's a difficult situation you're in I can offer a and a - a real life should you feel the need to cross the Atlantic. I have been a child recently, well fairly recently.. I just wonder if part of it could be a desire to impart ownwership on things. After all children have very little control over their lives, and if something is yours then you can deface it if you want. I'm only thinking this because all of my purchased textbooks are scribbled on, highlighted, doodled on, purely because it gives me a sense of satisfaction knowing that I've now left home and I can do what I like to my own possessions without being accused of being careless or destructive. If she isn't feeling in control of her situation at home, then subconsciously she's making her mark on her things to test if their hers. That's another of the awful things about being a kid,if my flatmates have a row with each other then I can leave the house, or go to the pub, or just tell them to grow up, but if your parents have a row you don't have that choice, at least not if you're 8 years old. Children pick up on more than you realise, I'm sure that other children at school have divorced parents and she may well be aware that it is a possiblity for you. Or at least worried that it might be a possiblity. If this makes sense to you, you after all know the situation. Does this make sense?

Taking her other things off her would just reinforce the fact that they aren't hers and she isn't in control of her life, but if you don't replace them immediatly she'll at least know that if you destory things then you won't get any more of them.

Then again what the do I know! so feel free to ignore me. It's just an idea anyway. And of course she could be bored to death.

I have to admit that I'm getting rather into the idea of getting some nice containers. I think herbs are a good idea because they smell nice and aren't that heavy. Also some nice bright things in pots as well. Ben if you would be so good as to drive towards a garden centre I would be delighted, but I know you're not really that near me, and there is a Homebase near Selly Oak station. So if it wasn't too heavy I could carry things back bit by bit - it's only 10 mintues away on the train and I have a travel pass anyway. Thank you for all the advice - yes by the wall would be a good place to put heavier pots if I get any heavy ones - I think my pots might be all very cheap plastic! And petunias are annuals? I never knew, considering I'm getting so much help from this site then I really ourght to have some petunia's.

I've given up the idea of having anything other than a few containers with nice smelling or nicely coloured plants in it.

Amy, Houseleeks are lovely things. I never knew they were called houseleeks but I never knew what they were called. I'd like a couple of them ideally as well.

Hypathia I would love some swiss chard, I had never known the name of that either, or had any idea that it was ediable. But it's very nice. I sent the e mail last night.

Never thought about that Amy. Forrester perhaps as in The Forest of Dean as HS would say may be. of course my favourite forrester is the presenter Phillipa. She's met Mini my dog.

As for responsibilities. Well I don't really respond to singular hose but of course a pair is always noteworthy. In the paternal postmenopausal sense of course.

Thanks all for the advice. I think all of you have valuable things to say. I decided on a course of action, and it's going rather well.

She is a hoarder. She keeps so much crap around, like toilet tissue tubes and cardboard boxes and builds stuff, which is of course, very cool. But in her small room, all of that "stuff" can be overwhelming. So what we are doing is the following: I am letting her chose 10 toys, plus her blankie (not taking THAT away) and then we piled everything in her room but for books and her bedding in the middle of the floor. For everything she throws away or puts into the charity pile, she gets one more toy back. She's up to 75 additional toys, and we are only about halfway through the pile. We are going through her room item by item, and she says yes or no, and I put it either in the trash bag or the charity pile. So far we have 2 bags of trash and 1 bag of charity items. I think the realization that I am serious is getting through, and the added bonus is that she's actually getting rid of things, and not shoving them under the bed or into her closet.

In addition, I am going to go to IKEA with her later today, and she is going to pick out some new storage bins for her toys. She has some, but needs more. I think that if she's allowed to chose where her things go -- as Z pointed out, a control issue -- then she is more likely to put them away. We are also buying her her own laundry basket and a bunk bed, so she has a play area that isn't in the middle of the room. Thank goodness for my father's Christmas check.

It's a phase. That's all.

It has got up to 66 degrees Fahrenheit here in the office -- was 58 when I posted this morning -- and looks like being another very cold night, although I think the power will stay on. Apparently the blackout affected all of south central New Mexico, from Alamogordo to well north of here.

So I've got the hearth swept and tonight's fire awaits merely the match.

The bad thing about my movie experience was hearing the sound track from the theater in the next room at one of the quiet points in Return of the King. As Styx would say, Feh!

I was just interrupted by the UPS man looking for one of my neighbors, and that was all it took for Vinnie to escape outside where, if he does nothing else, he will roll in the dust vigorously enough to turn from black to tan.

sorry about blackoutsomeone in Mexico was downloading my page.

When our Art Deco Odeon cinema was converted from one huge cinema into 3 smaller screens the sound tracks from the two other screens was always audible in the one i was sitting in!

Now the Odeon has gone, to be replaced by a serviced block of flats, with private gym (gosh Guildford is getting so posh!), I rather miss the unintended surround sound! The multiplex that replaced it is well attended, but I wish someone would come up with a better idea for clearing the popcorn from the previous showing.

MR, things will get better, it will take a little time though.

soil isn't the only growing medium.
Look on the web for "reuseable kitti litter" or pellets
that you see round the bases of hired plant.


You know in shopping centres airports ect,small round water repellent for arid loveing plants.

You can also get water retention clay like substence,you can also get
gauges to let you know how dry soil is.

Inovation's catalouge that useally immerges this time of year
will have them,also added advantage can be delivered via web.

MR I can imagine how she must be feeling. You may well have to concede that she has different ideas of what constutes tidy, this is bringing back memories of my childhood. The state of my bedroom was the source of a 18 year battle with my parents.

They wanted minimalist, I wanted stuff. I like stuff, it's mine and it gave me a sense of security. Perhaps it was because I was never really secure at home, (too many changes of mother for my liking). I know that's the reason I want a garden in my flat, it would make it a bit more like mine. It's the reason I want to own a place of my own, which is something most people of my age (22) who are single, don't even consider.

My flat is a bit of a mess, but it's clean, that doesn't mean that it's not full of junk, that I don't own far too many second hand books, and we really don't need 40 coffee cups. My parents think that it's a complete tip, and that they've failed as parents because I'm not as tidy as they are. I keep the living room and kitchen tidy, when we're expecting visitors and my bedroom clean, but not tidy. I don't have guests into my bedroom anyway.

[Hyp]

Thanks, logicus (Tracky?) -- that's much more readable. Some of us late middle-agers are too astigmatic to handle dense prose on screen. And if reports are correct, an Apache might have tried to download your page.

My mother was incredibly fussy about housekeeping. I think she picked out furniture that was hard to dust because it sent a signal to other housewives about how hard she worked to keep the house clean.

I don't know. I love the neatness, but when I'm working I don't like to stop to pile things on top of other things, especially when I need them unpiled in order tow rok.

*hopes Garius isn't listening*

You can hear the movie that's playing next door in most of our theaters as well. I suppose it didn't use to be an issue until every movie had Dolby or some other digital system and entire worlds blowing up every other minute.

I've been toying around with the idea of getting an indoor herb garden as well, because I love fresh chives, tarragon and lemon thyme and I don't like the aesthetics of most houseplants. Either they're too fleshy (succulents) or stringy (everything else).

What's wrong, Hypatia?

try to get a few shallots plant them as house plants
handy on kitchen window sill, snip of bits of shoot's leaves
when makeing oml sc eggs ,all the time bulb below is
growing.

Egon here in an aternative identity, so as not to erase the *600 POST* backlog.

Evenin' all.

Thanks for all of your interesting ideas LTP, I'm getting really keen on the idea of garderning now. Well small outdoor containering anyway.

Don't get me wrong...I am not the neatest person in the world. I have tons of books, and I tend to leave piles of paperwork everywhere. I'm not opposed to clutter, but I am opposed to destructive acts and dirt.

We are now up to 4 bags of trash and 2.5 bags of charity items. She's doing quite well.

I just got my seed catalog in the mail last week, so I'll be ordering my seeds soon. I'm hoping to have better luck then I did last year, when all the seeds sprouted then promptly died. I'll try setting them by a different window this year.

And we can still sometimes hear the film next door in the brand new multiplexes with stadium seating, but it does depend on what film it is.

i don't remember ever hearing the movie next door during RotK. or any other movie, for that matter. but then again, we have quite a wide selection of theatres out here, so if we don't like one, we don't have to go back.

MR, that sounds like a good way of dealing with your daughter's mess. It may be a lot of work for you, but if you keep it up and reinforce the idea that she doesn't need all that junk, maybe it'll get easier.

My sister and I used to fight with my parents all the time over the condition of our messy room. I myself am a complete neatnik, but when I live with messy people (like my sister, roommate, and fiance) i let the messes go because i don't have the energy or time to clean up after everyone else!!!!