Pampered Chef, the Color Purple and nasty people...

I have had a little rest from my blogging, due to general business. I went through meltdown over my last essay on the Color Purple, worrying about whether I should even be on the course, only to get it back with one of my best marks.I have also had sleepless nights over... pathetically... my Pampered Chef party. And why? Goodness knows as it turned out to be a lovely relaxed night and I am soon to harvest the benefits of being the hostess.

I love The Color Purple and found myself enfolded by the characters from the novel as I answered my latest assignment.I was unsure as to whether I would get a reasonable mark as my confidence had dipped, but my tutor seemed to like it a lot.Speaking to one of the other students today I felt that I had been worried over nothing.I was beating myself up over only getting a low B and she was having real problems. I didn't mention my marks, but she told me that she had failed at least 2 of the assignments and only just scraped a pass in the others.I really felt for her, but inside I felt so relieved that I was on the right track after all.

I spent last week cleaning my house in preparation for my Pampered Chef party. I could not have a stranger coming to my house and opening my oven to find the wastelands of Chernobyl inside!! I don't think my kitchen, bathroom or, actually, my whole house have ever been as clean!! In the end I had ten friends who came.Five dropped out at the last minute, but the ten who came were lovely. I had stressed to them that I wanted them to relax and enjoy the evening and not feel pressured to buy anything and the Pampered Chef lady was brilliant.

In the end they did buy loads of stuff. I couldn't quite believe it when the P.C lady told me how much I was entitled to as hostess. I felt both deliciously greedy and shiver inducingly embarrassed!! All I can say is that if you get a chance to host a party... do.

On another note my son played football today in the second leg of a semi-final. We were already winning by quite a margin from the first leg and the opposition had been pretty obnoxious then. Today their tactics seemed to be those of intimidation. I just could not believe their behaviour.One father threatened the referee who sent him away from the match and one of the mothers called one of our players a 'dirty s###head'. Unbelievable! These boys are ten years old. As parents we stayed very low profile, trying to be good role models and not sink to their extremely low level.My boy's team, I can honestly say, are a nice, normal bunch of boys and girls.The opposition played aggressively, urged on by their coaches and parents, but our team did all they could to stay calm and play well and sportingly.Luckily our FA welfare officer was on hand and will be sending in a report. I have never witnessed anything like it though. My heart was beating out of my chest as I thought it would end in a fight. Dreadful.

So.Now I am going to go downstairs and relax. I might even treat myself to a glass of vino.And tomorrow I am starting my careful eating and drinking again. This week I had a relaxed week, but on Monday I plan to go running. Although I have been good and healthy with my eating and have hardly drunk any booze since Christmas I have been stuck on the same weight for a while, so I need to exercise more.Well... that's about it for now. Talk to you soon!