Following my previous post about ambigrams I stumbled upon ambigram.matic, a site that generates ambigrams from two words. I think it did a reasonable job with Annie and Billy:

I don’t know whether to blame myself or her mother.

Annie has decided to name her feet. She has called the left one Shi-Shi and the right one Norman. When putting on shoes she asks whether the shoe should go on Shi-Shi or Norman, and I have to say goodnight to them at bedtime. Bonkers.

I’ve just discovered this great site that tells you how stuff works. It’s called HowStuffWorks.

In just three minutes I’ve found the following gems:

Can flour explode?
The true story behind The Amityville Horror
What causes an ice cream headache?


This is an essential resource when you’ve got a five year-old.

Last week was highly eventful.
Annie did her first poo in her potty, and Billy’s got his first couple of wobbly teeth.

Today my little girl is 2 years old.
Happy Birthday to you.
She’s really enjoyed it so far - she loves her babies new crib and the doll Billy got her (it has real hair - as Billy keeps reminding us). Both sets of Grandparents are set to join us later - so the day should prove busy.

Things that happened on 19 November:

1600: Charles I, who believed the king ruled by divine right, but lost his head after the Civil War, was born in Fife.
1620: The Mayflower arrived off Cape Cod, Massachusetts, with the first pioneer settlers.
1828: Franz Schubert, Austrian composer, died in Vienna of typhus, aged 31. His last words were: �Here, here is my end.�
1863: Abraham Lincoln made his famous Gettysburg address, with his freedom cry: �Government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.�
1942: The Russians counter-attacked at Stalingrad and surrounded the German army.
1949: Prince Rainier III was sworn in as the 30th ruling Prince of Monaco.
1960: The first vertical take-off aircraft (VTOL) made by the British Hawker Siddeley company was flown for the first time.
1984: More than 500 people died and 10,000 homes were destroyed in an explosion at a chemicals factory in Mexico City.
1988: �Poor little rich girl� Christina Onassis, daughter of the Greek shipping magnate Aristotle, died from a heart attack, aged just 37.
1990: Nato and Warsaw Pact members ended the �Cold War� by signing a weapons treaty in Paris.

We have just got back after spending time in Hell; well the HellFire Caves anyway.

To quote the website “They were originally excavated in the 1750’s on the site of an ancient quarry by Sir Francis Dashwood (who later became Lord le Despencer) in order to provide work for unemployed farm workers following a succession of harvest failures. It is thought that his inspiration for the design of the Caves came from his grand tour of Europe and the Ottoman Empire. On his return Sir Francis Dashwood founded the Hellfire Club and became a leading member of the Dilettanti Society and the Divan Club. The Hellfire Club originally met at Medmenham Abbey on the River Thames. After this burnt down accidentally they reputedly then held many of their meetings in the Caves, some three hundred feet underground and half a mile from the entrance!

At the end of the tunnel is the Inner Temple representing Hell - and it is located 300 ft below St Lawrences Church.We entered the gates on a cold wet bank holiday monday, armed only with a guidebook and two glo-sticks. Billy loved it, although we did play down the spooky haunted stuff until we had come back out again. He now of course remembers it as being more scary than it was. Really good fun and a good way to spend an hour if you’re passing.

Annie was looking through a Saturday magazine today.She spotted a picture of George Clooney, pointed to it, and said “Daddy”.I was chuffed and promptly told Paula. 2 minutes later - Annie saw another picture, again pointed to it and said “Daddy”. Paula looked, laughed and said it was Linford Christie. To add insult to injury, when she looked more closely it turned out to be P Diddy (or puff daddy or whatever he calls himself now). Kids do NOTHING for your self esteem.

Annie after having scoffed second bowl of icecream: “More ice-cream” Billy: “If you have any more icecream you will be as fat as a tree trunk”Annie without having a clue what Billy meant:“<hysterical laughter>”

Annie has discovered she likes lolipops and is onto her 3rd in a row. Wait for the sugar rush…