I'm 45. Which is ... well...old. But I'm cool with it. I feel young, and I'm happy and in love, and the woman who is taking over my position when I leave my office thought I was in my early 30s, so I at least don't LOOK old; or I don't to people who are older than me, which is maybe cheating a bit, but I'll take it.

My almost husband gave me an 'away' shirt for Manchester United, which is something I've wanted. It's blue, and pretty. Also Manchester United. So yay.

My almost mother-in-law and both almost sisters-in-law sent me cards. Charlie got me a card.

So far it's being a good day.

Less than a week until my wedding! Everything is ready, I think, and now all I have to do is hope the weather behaves and is nice on Sunday.

Starting today, I am training the woman who will be my replacement. That will be interesting. I've never had to do that before.

I'm super tired because the smoke alarm outside my flat door decided to go off at 2:30 and it's situated in such a way that I can't reach it, even standing on a chair. And standing on a chair at the It's just a good thing I don't have a small child called Damian riding his tricycle around in my house.

The thing did shut up eventually, but not until many minutes. Then it kept going off for another hour.

My cat has gone home with my fiance, so she can get used to her new home and her 'brother' Zonker the cat.

And that's it for me. How are you?

As someone on Facebook reminded me, today is the 22nd anniversay of Jim Henson's untimely passing, and what better way to pay homage to the man that made the Muppets than a pictoral essay of Miss Piggy's career

Charlie went on a school trip to Hershey Park on Saturday. I was the tiniest bit nervous, as no one he really knew was going, and I was really worried that, with his social skills, he'd have trouble finding someone to hang out with, and would wind up all alone. Crowds are not his best thing, either, so...well, I worried.

His friend's brother was going, as it turned out, and Charlie assured me that he was asked to hang with that kid, so that made me feel better.

That night while I was at my hen night, I got a text from Charlie (his father picked him up after the trip, as it was technically his weekend). 'I hung out all day with a bunch of GIRLS' the text read.

I got a bit more detail when I saw him Sunday night. He lost the kid who had said he could hang with him (grr) but he saw these girls, and, though he didn't know them personally, he recognized them from the bus, and asked if he could hang with them, and the said yes, and as far as I could tell, they had a nice time having a boy around to practise flirting at, even though he was probably mostly oblivious. He said when he got up to put his lunch bag away they were saying 'don't go Charlie!'

So I was very pleased and proud to hear that he was able to talk to people and not be left alone. Frankly if it were me, and I lost the marginal friend I thought I'd be hanging with, I'd have moped around by myself. And frankly at that age I probably wouldn't have gone by myself anyway.

Because of the scheduling things, Charlie's dad had him for the last 2 weekends, as I need him for the next two. This meant I wasn't actually with my son for Mother's Day. I honestly didn't care - we had Mothering Sunday after all in March, but Charlie insisted on getting me a mother's day card and present - the aforementioned Hunger Games. He said he also got me a birthday present and a 'wedding card'. (I think his father may have encouraged him to do that, which, hello irony, because never doing things like getting me a Mother's Day present is one of the things that bothered me about our marriage. But whatever.)

Anyway, I think the fact Charlie did so well at Hershey bodes well for his career at Abington. I don't think he'll be shy about trying to make friends anyway. And how could he not, says the indulgent mother. He's a great kid and everybody loves him.

Had my hen night on Saturday.

My BFF's, led by the very wonderful rvnshadow2001 took me to The British Chip Shop which is where, as you may or may not remember, is where Dave and I had our first, memorable date.

They all met me outside, wearing 'Team Bride' badges, and I was presented with a sash and a tiara. Inside, the table was set up with a table cloth and fun napkins, and plenty of wine.

We had a lovely dinner, and the owner, who TOATS knows me because I've gone there so often, came over and congratulated me, which is always fun. One can't help but feel a tad bit like Someone Important when chefs and owners of places know you. Don't know why.

We ordered desserts, because it was that kind of evening, and got a sampler of all their shortbread biscuits as well as a couple slices of the 'grooms cake' (the baker there recreated Prince William's from last year.) The nicest thing was when the server brought the bill she told us the desserts were on them, which was extremely nice, and very touching.

We were SUPPOSED to go to this club in Philly that has an '80's room' but alas the club was doing their monthly 'teen night' when we got there so we couldn't get in. ('you're too old' the bouncer said, not something a girl likes to hear on her hen night!)

We went to another place, and it was perfect. They had an outside bar, and it was a lovely evening, and we got a table, and just talked and laughed and had a great time.

Dave had his stag, too, but it was super low key as all his friends wanted to get home at a reasonable hour. Seriously. :)

Mother's day was spent Charlie-less, as he was with his dad (scheduling thing, long story). He, more than me, was worried about missing it, and he insisted on getting me a present when he was with his dad yesterday. He bought me Hunger Games. He gets me.

Charlie went on a school trip on Saturday to Hersey Park, but that's a story for another post, as I've bored you enough now.

Have a good day!

So, I've made this decision that when Dave the Fiance (by then Dave the Husband) is watching the tennis at Wimbledon, Charlie and I will take a day trip to Brighton.

I thought about staying in London that day and going to Mme Tussauds or something, but I kind of want to get out of the city if we can, and I've kind of always wanted to go there, and I know Charlie will love it.

I'm also nervous, because it will be just me and Charlie taking the train alone to a place I've never been to. However, this guy from our Philadelphia office is actually from Brighton, and he told me it's pretty easy; he says you just get out of the train and walk down the street toward the boardwalk. So, I'm taking the plunge.

Anyone live near Brighton and want to cme with me?

I had Charlie's IEP meeting today, and at one point his counselor was telling me how she's been working with Charlie on his conversational skills for when he is in a new school environment and will have to meet new people.

They would role play, she told me, and he would start out well, by asking, 'What's your name?'

She would tell him her name, then encourage him to ask another question.

She said, and she didn't know why he said this, he would then ask, 'What is your quest?'

She's a very young woman; mid-twenties I would guess, which may explain her woeful lack of Monty Python knowledge, but the science teacher who was sitting in the meeting did know the origin of that particular question, and he burst into laughter.

Yesterday Charlie and I took the day off and came to PA, because Dave the Fiance and I had to get our marriage license. Which we did. So that's done. It should come in the mail by the end of the week.

We also went to the winery where we're having our wedding and picked the wines we're going to have served at the wedding. That was fun. My parents met us in New Hope so we all got to do the wine tasting.

Still waiting for a few stragglers to send in their responses, then I need to call the caterer with the final count, and then it's all good to go. Hopefully.

Praying the weather will be good. The ride to the winery is beautiful when it's a nice day, but possibly a study in terror on a rainy day, as the road winds through the hills on Pennsylvania, following the river. It' all big trees and potential rock slides in the rain, I think, not to mention much of the ride will likely prompt people to say 'where is this place? We're in the middle of nowhere' even on a nice day, so the rain would just compound that feeling!

So, here's hoping for good weather. *fingers crossed*

I also put my notice in at work. That was hard, actually. I do like my job, and the people. Hopefully I will find something I like nearly as well. On the plus side I get to take the summer off, and when I do find a job it won't be because I'm the primary breadwinner. That will be a nice change.

I'm really looking forward to my new life. I think its going to be really great.

Just boosting the signal about this: father records teachers bullying his son. It hits close to home, for a couple of reasons. The obvious one being I have an autistic son, so the idea of the teachers, who I am supposed to trust and who are supposed to be making his life easier bullying him would...well, let's just say I'm glad he wasn't in this school district.

The second reason is I WAS bullied by a teacher, and it literally nearly killed me, so I know how damaging this could be. What's worse, is the school did nothing about it. My mother complained, and they basically shrugged at her. They wouldn't even put me in a different classroom. My mother was told she could sue but it might cause me even more mental stress.

That teacher was still teaching years later, and as far as I know taught until she retired. Or she could still be teaching, I don't know. The school did absolutely nothing to her for what she did to me, and what she continued to do to other students. Its ridiculous and wrong.

This father is doing the right thing. I hope ALL the teachers involved stop teaching, or at least stop teaching 'special needs' because obviously they have no idea what that means.

The worst of this for me, is how the little boy has anxiety about leaving his dad when he goes to visit his mom, and the teachers mocked him for it, and caused him to have a melt down because they, special needs teachers who teach autistic children don't get that the kid is very concrete in his thinking. When Charlie was this boy's age, he was sure the earth was crashing into the son. His teachers had to shut the window shades so he would stop obsessively checking the sky, but they understood where he was coming from and tried to allay his fears. These teachers didn't.

Finally, these teachers are in the same school district I was in when I was bullied by a teacher. This is supposed to be one of the best school districts in the country. It's ridiculous.

I feel for this boy and his father, and I'm glad the kid is in a different school. I hope the Cherry Hill School learns its lesson and puts the welfare of the student about the welfare of the teachers' union.

Awww...deletrius is closing down. I haven't read or posted on that comm in ages, but it's the thing that brought me to LJ, and I used to be in it all the time, reading, commenting, occasionally doing my own sporking.* It's where I cut my teeth on all this 'talking to people on the interweb' thing, and where I learned about netspeak, and fandom, and memes, and funny icons.

Many of the friends I have on my own journal I met in Deletrius.

It makes sense that its closing; no one's posted on it in ages, and the two fandoms, Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter have sort of past their prime now, but I will still miss it a little bit.

*two of my favourites can be found here and here