Hmmmm.. My blog has emigrated and now everything look weird. Not bad, just... weird. Ah well, we'll see how it goes.

Anyway, haven't been doing much, just working and hanging out. I made the mistake of getting back into playing Sims on my Gamecube. Yeesh. I forgot how much fun it was to play God. I ended up killing one of my Sims as he was trying to cook dinner, but I played odds or evens with Death and won so he's still with us. I should have them throw a party or something. So that's what I've been doing with my time while my daughter was is away camping.

She left on Tuesday and is due back sometime today. I'm so curious as to how it went because this is her first time in the wilds of Nebby, and it's been a stormy and hot week. She does not function well in the heat so I hope she wasn't too bad off. Her best friend invited her to go with her family, and at first I was kind of chuffed at the prospect of having a few days to myself (bad mommy!) but I really miss her and can't wait until she's home. I did manage to get her bday pressies sorted out. Nothing spectacular I'm afraid as I broke down and gave her the new bike for Easter so she'd be able to ride it more so that was the big present for the year. Still I got her some nice things she'll enjoy and she's having friends round to the Water park next weekend for an all-day swimfest instead of a proper birthday party. I think she's getting a little too old for a traditional 'skate' party or something like that. When she's older, and we live in a bigger space, she'll be able to have parties grown-up stylie, but she's completely thrilled to be able to spend all day at the water park for now.

Well, time to get back to work. I want to try to find some new modules for my sites.

Well I finished the book. We've had ever so much fun (don't I sound posh?) this weekend and I'm so impressed and pleased. I took the kidlet and her best friend to the shop where, to be honest the 'fun and games' weren't all that fun - but I got to hang out with my old co-workers that I haven't seen for a while, so that was nice. We got last-minute panic calls earlier that day telling us we needed to ensure that we bought the pre-order gift card or else we might not get a copy, so had to rush out and grab a couple (I wanted 2 copies of the book). So midnight finally rolls around, one woman was going to have a minor heart attack if she didn't get her copy. I wanted to smack her actually, she was annoying and her kid's diaper needed changing. Not pleasant when you're crowded close together in a packed line. Anyway, we got our books and my daughter carried them reverently to the car. Arrived home and went to bed. I know she was reading aloud to her friend for a bit, but I think I read for about an hour and a half before I gave in to sleep. So by morning I was about 5 chapters ahead of her and it just about killed me to stay quiet as we read. And did we ever read. Both of us, the entire day Saturday with small breaks for food and stuff. I wanted to just devour it and I didn't want anyone to spoil the surprises in the book for me so I stayed offline for most of the day. It was so wonderful to curl up with my daughter on the bed and just read together. What a wonderful time.

I just couldn't put it down and ended up finishing it around 3am-ish. I did have a couple of breaks, one to chat online for a bit with an old friend, and another to chat on the phone to another friend. The kid gave in to sleep around 1am and she finished the book this afternoon (poor thing slept til noon :)). We are both exhausted from our marathon reading session, but thoroughly satisfied as well. It was so worth the wait.

The reason I'm impressed is because I'm thrilled to see so many people - adults and children - lining up to read. Especially to read a book that's nearly 1000 pages long. What an accomplishment. I admire JK Rowling so much.

Ahhhh... Now I'm going to re-read book 4, then read the 5th one again. Anyone out there reading this, I hope you enjoy it. If you're not a fan, that's okay - it's probably not everyone's thang. But I wouldn't trade the experience the time I've had sharing this wonderful book series with my daughter for anything. Sappy, I know, but oh well :)