The last week has been dominated somewhat by lots of mental arithmetic and the occasional use of a calculator..
Maths was never my forte at school.. in fact I think I achieved the pitiful grade of 43% in one of my exams... needless to say I failed spectacularly in my maths O' Level.. much to the disappointment of my father (sorry Pa) who was a whizz at mental dexterity and won a scholarship to Reading School with his prowess with numbers..
My strengths lay in other areas and the last few days my physical strength has been channelled in to making these greeting cards for a rash of orders that came in ..
Lists have littered the table in the vain attempt to keep on top of the various orders for cards.. but I am seriously disillusioned when it comes to organisation.. as I thought I won the Brownie badge for 'Being good at simple tasks'... Not so... ! ( I actually never made the Brownies... didn't like the uniform).
Lists have littered the table in the vain attempt to keep on top of the various orders for cards.. but I am seriously disillusioned when it comes to organisation.. as I thought I won the Brownie badge for 'Being good at simple tasks'... Not so... ! ( I actually never made the Brownies... didn't like the uniform). 
I found myself tapping out endless sums on the calculator trying to get some idea of what I had made and what was yet to be made.. each time the calculator having the last laugh and coming up with a different figure ! AAAAARGGHH!
Losing my grip on the basic concepts of counting is yet another sign of my decline..
Losing my grip on the basic concepts of counting is yet another sign of my decline..
Today I was determined before the next round of calculations commence.. to say hello and let you know that I haven't run off to join the circus as one dear friend suspected yesterday.. tempting M.. but not yet!!! But if that strong-man comes knocking on the door .... I might have to leave the cards to sort themselves!
Before I sign off.. thank you dearly for all your kind and supportive comments re: my recent brush with fame.. The paparazzi are nowhere to be seen so maybe it was indeed as Andy Warhol predicted.. that my 15 minutes are up!
Have a fab weekend wherever you may be!
XX
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35 comments:
Oh if there's any sign of a strong man knocking at your door, let me know, we could both perhaps run away and learn how to juggle (or perhaps count, you're not alone Mrs C, I climb up and down over 400 steps to school everyday and do you know I've never once counted the same number of steps twice!). Methinks your 15 minutes of fame is looming on the horizon so don't pack those juggling balls just yet!
As for brownie badges, I think you deserve once for endurance this week. Take care, chin up
Mx
I too failed miserably at Maths and even now I can't seem to make the same row of figures add up to the same total each time I try even with a calculator.
I'd much rather run off to the circus than do calculations anyday, actually I'd much rather run off anywhere.
If a strong man comes a knocking at your door after he has finfished at your house send him up North as I need some one big and strong to dig out the floor in my studio this weekend, if not the only other option is me!
Good luck with the order I hope your calculator starts behaving itself soon.
Vanessa x
Just had a thought, I loved the film "Drowning by Numbers", have you seen it?
Mx
Yes I have ..Peter Greenaway at his best!
Dx
Oooh Michele,you've just given me a trip down memory lane.
I loved my brownie uniform! And all those little badges you could collect and sew down the arms of the dress.
And the fairy ring..and the big large brown owl,who ran our brownies.
And...Thinking Day!
And..'Willing Shilling' (brownie version of 'Bob a Job)!!
What a giggle!
You don't know what you missed!!;-)
You have been so deprived..LOL! ;-)
Poor,Poor Michele!I can't think of a task I would hate,NAY!Fear! more than adding up all those numbers.I think I beat you hands down,I got no more than a grade 5 cse for my maths!shocking huh? I think I got that for writing my name on the top of the paper......bought THE magazine today,great article and thanks ever so for the blog publicity, boy do I need it :( Have a great weekend, love, Annie x
Hope your brain isn't to addled by all that counting?! Maths was never my strong point either!!
I think I spied one of your lovely cards in the window of Crockadoodledoo (Is that what it's called/how it's spelt)? I was on my way to Aqua for a lovely lunch with my mother. Have you tried it?
Jane. x
Oh its lovely to hear from you again - I missed you!! Pete and Polly have just been drowning in numbers too - year 7 maths homework!!! Glad your back - have a nice weekend
helen
Ps I also thought you were refering to the film - I use the soundtrack by Michael Nyman at work all the time.
Love H
arghh, Maths.. I only ever got to the dizzy heights of a CSE.. my teacher used to despair.. Mr Chivers was his name!
Have a good weekend & I hope you can put your feet up!
phew I'd be the same, there's nothing worse
Sarah
Hi Louise, I too failed dismally at maths at school. I never saw the point of quadratic equations (which thankfully I have never, ever had to use since also failing my 'O' level). Thank goodness calculators have got smaller than the enormous desktop things we had at school (with little metal bits that you moved up or down and a crank handle to do the actual calculation). Amazingly however, I did manage to produce a mathematician child, which is odd given my total lack of adding abilities ~ just goes to show how funny life can be sometimes!
Loved the H&A article, the piccies are lovely and what gorgeous rooms.
Chat soon, Liz
I even get confused by reading about maths. I'm helping my son who just started with maths with his homework perhaps I'll learn this second time. In that case I'll blog about it!
An exciting week for you Michelle, Belated Happy Birthday from me and sorry I missed all the celebrations....your meal sounds fab, seems you already have a strong man-about-the-house(any bloke who can cook earns Brownie points in my opinion!). Loved your post about the holiday cottage, and congratulations on your magazine article...looking good, would have put you at 40 rather than 50 :)
Gill
Wow you have a lot of card orders! I loved maths at school and I have always loved mental arithmetic. I was in the Brownies and only got one badge for feeding cake to old ladies! Then I got asked to leave when I told Brown Owl that Brownies stank! I always wanted to be a cub and climb trees and tie knots. That is my one childhood achievement that I am proud of, that I got chucked out of the Brownies! Have a good weekend Jane xx
P. E. and Drama they were always my strong points, never mathematics :) I trained in ircus skills I can only do three balls but I aim to get to five pretty soon.
I have been out and purchased the magazine and look forward to curling on the comfy couch with a shawl and havinga good read, good luck to you all and your fellows X
Circus skills and I am talking about juggling :) Grammar was obviously not one of my strong points either
Hope life is organised now!
what a beautiful place you have here! And ew, I hate math. It always gives me a small panic attack to think of it, and I married an accountant ;)
Nice to meet you!~
Heather
Dear Michele,
Acheiving 43% in maths would've been a good grade for moi! I usually got f-grades...what a terrible admission. I was (and still am) apalling at maths. I not only hated it but have always found numbers scary. English, not surprisingly was always my best subject. I can't get sums right on the calculator either, you're not the only one! I hope you got everything sorted and those pesky numbers are behaving themselves.
Deb xx
LOL! So if you ran away with the circus & I was off with the fairies, who was looking after blogland??
I'm useless at Maths too, I was an English and History girl. I'm sorry that you can't find many charity shop bargains in Bath but I'm sure having such a gorgeous selection of shops makes up for it. I love shopping there, especially towards Christmas when the shops all look so inviting as the windows are dressed for the season.
I hope you have got your numbers sorted. I totally forgot that you was in the Homes and Antiques magazine. I must rush out to the shops to get it! I am not good at maths or retaining any information so it seems!
Shhh - don't tell anyone but I fell in love with my maths teacher when I was 14 and I tried SOOOOooo hard at my class work I actually scraped an exam pass! Who said girly crushes are a waste of time?!
As for 15 minutes - well, honey, I think it has only just begun! t.x
I think that people are either creative or mathmatical, but rarely both! I am certainly not good with numbers, and Grace's maths homework is becoming harder by the day!
Hope you are feeling a little more on top of things.
Cathy X
Hi Michele
Congrats on the article in H&A! Because I have been sadly lacking in reading blogs of late I had no idea and imagine my surprise when I opened my copy to see you featured. WOW! Re the maths - I failed my O level maths three times with two grade 9s (the lowest), a grade 7 and then after having a different teacher achieved a grade 1 (highest). My mother made me query this the next day at school as she said there must be a mistake! Just shows the difference in being taught properly, it all just suddenly clicked.
Ruth x
Math....the bane of my existence, but somehow I always managed to sidestep having to admit that my parents were right about math being necessary in almost everything we do. I have gotten by on unconventional methods of figuring out how to get to the end result on a road less traveled.
You're not alone.
Cheers!
Michelle, I miss you!!! I am catching up on your posts and am also chuckling as I read about your inability to conquer math. Ditto for me, too. English and art were fabulous, math - especially geometry - well, let's just say I basically stunk.
Love the collage you made with the clown. Totally brilliant!! So, so cute!!!
Ok, off to read about your 15 minutes of fame.
ta ta..
Becky
Hi Michele,
I'd be no help you with your maths problems either! I started off in top set....but soon worked my way down, heehee!
Well done with the orders - isn't it such a relief to finish them?!
Finally managed to get a copy of the mag - such a great article Michele - you both must be thrilled.
Niki x
Hi Michele,
Meant to say that I read a lovely post by 'Red Tea Pot Diaries' of your meeting with Wendy from the US.
N x
Wow- how impressive! Am also rubbish at maths. I get incredibly confused at work when I'm using the till and someone starts giving me notes and change on top to try and 'help' I am indeed one of those useless people for whom extra change makes no sense whatsoever...
You've worked so hard. Please take lots of tea and cake breaks, you thoroughly deserve it!x
Ahhh anything to do with numbers makes me run a mile....
Hi Michele,
Come on over to my place and see my doggies in my next posting, if I can fit them all in! Will try and get it on tomorrow (Wed). hope you got all your orders out in time. Love jane xxx
oh Michele, I too suffer from lack of numerical dexterity. So, I married and engineer and he comes in ever so handy.
A laugh perhaps to cheer you: when I was an art director I would spend countless hours on my projects and often an account executive would ask how I could have accumulated so many hours on a job. I would just shrug and say, "It is my job to be a good art director, and it is your job to figure out how to make it profitable."
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