'Tis the Season

... when tempers can easily become frayed.

Even the most angelic among us can fall from grace when pressure mounts up...

When your HoH looks like this

whatever you do, don't poke the bear.

Take a deep breath...

Picture some fluffy kittens...

or pour yourself a glass of wine. Well, it is Christmas after all.

Make sure the only goose that gets cooked is the one in the oven...

                   

    then all your spankings

     will be Good Girls

      (or Boys).

And on that happy note, all that's left to say is

from Rosie and Harry

Once Upon a Time

Things have settled down here, we're slowly getting back to normal, whatever that is. The thing about normal is that life is uneventful, which means I have nothing to blog about. Instead of disappearing again, I thought I'd have some fun and write a story. This is a fictional tale but any resemblance to living people may not be entirely coincidental. 

Are you sitting comfortably? Then I'll begin...

Once upon a time, a little girl was born into a family that had not heard the patter of tiny feet for many years. Her grandmother, the family matriarch, had expressed her preference for a boy but, on holding the infant in her arms for the first time, declared that she wouldn't change her for a boy if his backside were studded with diamonds. The child was christened Rosamund on account of her fair English complexion, with her rose-coloured cheeks and rosebud mouth.

With seven grownups in the household twisted round her tiny fingers, it was almost inevitable that she was a little spoilt. She was treated like a princess by them all but her biggest fan was her doting Grandmama. The old lady wasn't a total pushover, though. She insisted on ladylike behaviour and taught Rosamund her Ps and Qs.

In spite of, or maybe because of, having three younger siblings, she grew into a somewhat solitary child, with her nose often stuck in a book. Though no hand was ever applied to her bottom, the little princess had a fascination with spanking, fuelled by the many instances in the story books of the day. By her early teens, she had begun to fantasise about being spanked, mainly by handsome men on horseback.

She was mistress of the witty put down and, as a consequence, found herself over the knees of two early suitors. She liked how it made her feel but neither of the young men touched her heart. Her Grandmama told her she was a very special girl who would need a very special man. She was biased, of course, but that's the way it is with Grandmamas. She advised the princess to carry on kissing frogs until her prince arrived.

And so it came to pass that a knight in shining armour came forth on his trusty steed, Lambretta, and stole her heart away. Sir Henry's kisses made her swoon, but before long she craved the thrill of a spanking and asked him to oblige. He was appalled. He had been to knight school with his peers and learned that a man's job was to care for and protect his fair lady. Only a coward would strike a woman. Rosamund was nothing if not persistent, chipping away until, in exasperation, Henry forbade her from raising the subject ever again.

Many years passed, during which the pair married and had two beautiful daughters.Their union wasn't all sweetness and light; this may be a fairy tale but they had their ups and downs like everyone else. Rosamund could be a handful when she didn't get her way and Henry's strategy was to keep his head down until her ill humour passed. In the meantime, doors would shudder on their hinges and no-one could pout or flounce better than she.

Their daughters had left to make their own way in the world long before the day that was to turn Rosamund's life upside down. Henry was gazing fondly at his wife, who was slumbering in the afterglow of some mighty fine loving, still clad in the *F--k me* outfit she had worn for his pleasure. She had fulfilled many of his fantasies over the years and it was to his sorrow that the only one she wanted for herself was the one thing he couldn't bring himself to do. Lately though, he had begun to wonder whether it was such a bad thing. A story had been written about many shades of grey, it's fame spreading far and wide, with its scenes of spanking setting feminine hearts all a-flutter. When Henry told Rosamund he was willing to try spanking, solely to add some extra spice in the bedchamber, she wasn't at all sure she wanted to after all these years. She told him she would think on it.

She dressed with great care the first time, choosing undergarments that would present an appealing target once her skirts were up and her knickers were around her thighs. Henry had always admired his wife's bottom, a little on the large side but smooth and firm. The last thing he wanted was to smack it but he had promised. Rosamund jumped when the first spank fell, out of sheer anticipation. Henry made himself deliver another twenty or so smacks, turning her bottom a warm shade of pink, before picking her up and carrying her to their bed.

The next time, to Henry's chagrin, she was left with some light bruising. Perhaps it hadn't been her brightest idea to mention pat-a-cake when he asked how she felt about the first spanking. She cared not a jot about the bruising, her worry was that Henry would not spank her again. What was she to do? There was only one thing for it, she would use her magic tablet to consult the Fount Of All Knowledge. Tapping three times on the glass to summon Google she asked her question. The answer came from a man who spanked his wife, avoiding bruising by warming up gradually with moderate smacks before the real spanking began. A few more taps led Rosamund to the Land of Blog, where she found many women who were spanked by their husbands, not only for pleasure but for discipline too. She passed on the warm up tip to Henry but kept the rest of her discovery to herself; she didn't want to put any ideas into his head.

Her deviousness was in vain for, once Henry accepted that spanking caused no lasting harm, it was only a matter of time before Rosamund was spanked for real. She had been in a foul mood all morning and Henry bore the brunt of her ill humour. When all else failed, he decided to spank her out of it. Rosamund was shocked to be summarily upended over his knee but knew she deserved it and was soon making her apologies. That day wrought a change in our trusty knight. With his soft, contrite, wife in his arms he vowed that, henceforth, he would brook no argument from his feisty princess. Peace and harmony would come to his domain, for now he had the means to rein in her waywardness. For good measure, he would give her frequent reminders of his new expectations, whether she needed them or not.

His lady wife submitted to her husband's strictures for she found them curiously calming and, by some alchemy, his strong leadership brought her and her knight closer together. That's not to say everything ran smoothly from then on; the princess could no more change her character than a leopard could change its spots. There were times when she would try her husband's patience to the limit and her hindquarters would feel the sting of his wrath. He knew he would never tame her entirely, nor would he want to. Life would be dull if his Rose lost her thorns.

Cue Happy Ever After music...

** I have used narrator's licence here. Harry is a benign dictator but were I to use the 
    f-word in real life I wouldn't sit comfortably for quite some time.


Rosie

I had questions, Harry had answers

Harry and I had a busy but productive three days over the weekend. First up was a trip to the Midlands, to inspect the work being done on our younger daughter's house. Then, straight from there to Cornwall at the other end of the country, to carry on helping with the renovation of the ancient cottage our elder daughter and her partner are doing up. It's coming on well, though there's still a lot to do. The phone signal is poor there and they still have no Wifi. No wonder BT has been rated below the banks for customer service.

Cornwall wasn't looking quite so lovely as on our previous visit -

Ah, here's a much better view -

Gratuitous photo for Meredith and me

Anyway, Harry agreed to answer the questions in Lilli's meme, so here's our shot at it...

 1. What is something I always say?
     Have you locked the back door?
     Yes, I say that a lot, I have a thing about it.

 2. What makes me happy?
     Going across my knee.
     😍

 3. What makes me sad?
     Getting up in the morning.
     I wouldn't say it makes me sad, I'm just not a morning person.

 4. How tall am I?
     5'7" 
     5'6"

 5. What is my favourite thing to do?
     Reading your iPad - can't keep you off it.
     Guilty as charged.

 6. What do I do when you're not around?
     Read your iPad.
     There is some truth in that but I do keep house sometimes.

 7. If I became famous what would it be for?
     Writing.
     In Harry's dreams, I could pen the next £1million best seller.

 8. What makes you proud of me?
     Your intelligence and good looks.
     Oh!
     
 9. What is my favourite food?
     Panna cotta.
     And crème brûlée.

10. What is my favourite restaurant?
      Hartwell House.
      A special place.

11. Where is my favourite place to visit?
      France - no, wait! New York.
      I love New York.
      
12. If I could go anywhere, where would it be?
      New York.
      See above.

13. How do I annoy you?
      Let me count the ways...
      No, let's skip that one.

14. What is my favourite film?
      A Good Year.
      France and Russell Crowe, what's not to love?

15. You get a phone call that I am in trouble, who will I be with? 
      Your Mum. She'd be the one in trouble, you'd be looking after her. (Pause) 
      Sixteen seconds. (Puzzled look) Sixteen seconds is the time it would take me to
      collect up the necessities and hit the road if you needed me.
      But would he remember to lock the back door?


Thanks to Lilli for sharing this meme.

Rosie

Hide and Seek

Come out, come out, wherever you are! Don't be shy!

It's the eleventh annual Love Our Lurkers event, two special days when bloggers invite our silent readers to come out of hiding and say ''Hello". I was a long-time lurker, so I know the thought of making a comment can be daunting. The first time I made a comment I deleted it twice before summoning the nerve to hit the blue 'publish' button. But you don't need to do that, I'd love to hear from you and I'm really not at all scary, I'm more like this...

You don't have to give a name, you can be completely anonymous if you want to.

You can even ask me questions if you like...

So come on, be brave and make my day on Friday or Saturday, whichever one you choose.

Rosie

Counting My Blessings

I didn't mean to be away so long, I don't know where the time went. No - this isn't going to be another account of how busy I am, far from it. A reader of my last post commented that, though I am very busy, I have a lot to be thankful for. She is absolutely right, I do. Yesterday, I came across a piece of advice in a similar vein: "Stop focusing on how stressed you are and remember how blessed you are."

These are some of the things I have been thankful for since my last post...

🌟My loving, spanky, husband's bone-melting stress relief.

🌟Fun with my younger daughter on her visit home from a million miles away.
There should have been a silly Snapchat photo of me disguised as a demented rabbit here but the minx put it up on Facebook, so you'll just have to imagine that one.

🌟A bonfire party with friends to celebrate Guy Fawkes not blowing up the Houses of Parliament on November 5th 1605.

🌟My mother had an extra scan that showed no change in her condition, a great relief. 

🌟I am up to date with our company's accounts and the VAT return balanced first time.

🌟A bit of a splurge on new clothes.

🌟Sunday afternoon dates.

🌟Last weekend in Poldark country with our elder daughter and her partner.

No sign of this chap, sadly.

 🌟And did I mention my loving, spanky man?

Yes, another reset but I count it among my blessings; there's nothing like it for restoring my equilibrium and setting my world to rights.

🌟I couldn't end this post without being thankful for my Blogland friends. Thanks for the emails and sorry for the lack of comments lately. Normal service will be resumed shortly.

Rosie

Life, the Universe ...and Spanking

Life here continues to be frustrating. I like to look at my wall planner and decide how I will divide up my week between all the tasks I need to do. I don't like it when my best laid plans go awry, such as when our broadband supplier messed up and left us without WiFi for two days last week. We have a business to run and so much is done online nowadays. Service was restored on the day Harry and I were travelling to the West Country for a long weekend, so I had a lot of juggling to do. I was even less happy when I got a call from the hospital at short notice, moving my mum's appointment forward to one of the days I'd be away. And don't get me started on Harry's relentless work schedule. 

I do get stressed at times but it would be ridiculous to claim I am hard done by when, in reality, I lack for nothing but time and sleep. My mum is being monitored for any changes in her condition and, all being well, she will not need the hysterectomy that was recommended after the MRI scan. Harry has taken on some temporary help for the business so he won't need to put in quite so many hours. We got a lot of work done on the cottage last weekend and won't be making the trip again for another month. Light is slowly seeping through the tunnel and I know all this will pass.

In the meantime, there is a very bright spot to look forward to at the end of the month, when our younger daughter is coming 'home' for a short visit. She lives a million miles away on another continent, so we don't see her often. 

The Universe fascinates and terrifies me in equal measure. We have had some beautiful clear nights in our neck of the woods recently and Harry has called me out into the garden a couple of times to look at the moon and gaze at the stars. On one of those nights we were able to watch the International Space Station hurtling across the sky at around 5 miles per second. I read that it orbits Earth and sees a sunrise once every 92 minutes. That's truly awesome.

...and Spanking is Harry's method of choice for relieving stress and keeping me on an even keel. When he steeled himself to land those first, tentative, spanks on my behind I could never have foreseen that the reluctant spanker he was then would gain the confidence and assurance he has now. I'm not going to pretend he's a strict disciplinarian, he still spanks mostly for fun, but these days he doesn't hesitate to spank when a reminder or reset is called for. During a particularly difficult week, he decided that little and often was the way to go, so we had what Katie calls 'dailies', only it was 'nightlies' in our case.

Sadly, one of our trips to Cornwall triggered a reset. It's difficult away from home, when small things can escalate because they can't be taken care of straight away. We were in a pub with our daughter and her partner, taking a lunch break after a hard morning's work on the cottage. Harry and I were being a bit snippy with each other but there was nothing that really needed attention, until I crossed the line between teasing and attitude with a barbed comment. The atmosphere between us was distinctly frosty for a while, but we got over it. By the time we arrived home, late on Sunday, I thought we were good. Monday evening, however, Harry arrived home from work and poured two glasses of pink Champagne. Instead of handing me one he cocked his head in the direction of the stairs, telling me it was for colour matching. It was a particularly dark shade of rosé, not good news for my bottom. He set the glasses down on my bedside table and told me to take off my jeans and knickers whilst he sorted out the pillows and implements. I'd prefer it if he removed my clothes but he insists I do it myself. I think it's a way of reaffirming consent. 

Anyway, he sat against the headboard and I went over his lap. I can usually tell when a reset is over because he uses the wooden paddle for the last five spanks, two on each side and one in the middle. This time, after he put the paddle aside there were four more spanks with "Owww, what on Earth was that?!!" He told me it was the strap. We don't have a strap. What he had used was the evil rubber thing with raised bumps that was only supposed to be used if I did something really bad. I complained but he said he rather liked it and gave me two more smacks. When he let me up I reached for the Champagne but he held me back, telling me I'd forgotten something. I always thank him for spanking me. That's not something he requires but I've done it right from the start, when spanking was solely for fun and he was going against his nature to do it. It appears it's something else he rather likes.

I told him I wasn't sure I could thank him for the last six spanks but, to be honest, he's used the 'strap' a couple of times since and it's not so evil after all. Like anything else, it depends on how it's wielded and he doesn't put much force behind it.

We still find time for fun spankings. Yesterday, Harry was doing some vacuuming that I'd neglected during the week and called me from the sitting room to come and see the mess in there. I knew there was no mess and guessed it was a ruse to get me in there for a spanking. I was in the kitchen and called back that I couldn't come, I was really busy, to which the response was "Get in here!" I went across his lap on the sofa, where he started right in with the leather paddle, saying naughty girls don't get warm-ups. There was a lot of shrieking and laughing and when I went back to the kitchen it wasn't only the pans on the stove that were simmering nicely.

My mother came for a late lunch and I wasn't sure whether we'd make our calendar tryst but as Harry was leaving to take her home, he whispered in my ear that he wouldn't be long and I should make sure the heating was on in our bedroom.

Good loving and good spanking. Really, what do I have to moan about when all is said and done?


Rosie

Footnote:
I started this post last Tuesday but had to abandon it until today, so references to 'last week' are actually from the week before. I'm still pressed for time, hence lack of any pictures. I'm hoping to be around more but next week I may be up north helping my younger daughter sort out her house prior to selling it and will have no access to WiFi.

Snakes and Ladders

Life this last month has been like that childhood board game, where reaching the goal depends entirely on the throw of the dice. Landing on ladders didn't help because there were too many snakes to send us right back down again. A few 'miss a go' squares would have been welcome to give us some breathing space, but time rushed by so fast it was more like 'advance three squares' when we really weren't ready for it.

Our goal in this case was a return to Mallorca, where we went for some much-needed R&R back in May. At the time of booking we were busy but life was uneventful. Then one of our clients hit a problem and Harry was drafted in as troubleshooter. That was all very well but it meant he was working all hours because he couldn't abandon the jobs he was already running. My own plans went pear-shaped when I took my mother for an ultrasound scan for a minor problem that mushroomed into something more serious, requiring four more hospital visits in a little over a week. Two days before the start of our holiday, she was admitted for a procedure under general anaesthetic and was terrified she wouldn't wake up again. We were there for a gruelling nine and a half hours. I'm taking her for an MRI scan tomorrow, with a follow-up next week. I hope that will be the end of it, for her sake. She is nearly ninety and the anxiety of not knowing the outcome is overshadowing her life.

Spending so much time with my poor mum meant that I was way behind with my work and had an important deadline hanging over me. I hadn't had time even to think about packing and didn't know how I was going to get everything done. To add to the pressure, we had a booking at an event in London the night before our departure, made long before the holiday was mooted. I could have done without it but Harry insisted we go. Somehow, we got it all together but I was still fretting when we were getting ready to leave for the airport. Harry said there was just one thing left to do and pointed upstairs. I protested we didn't have time for that, we were running late. He said he only needed five minutes, and what a difference those five minutes made.

There was one bright spot amidst the chaos that I was determined not to miss. Ella and Sam were coming to town all the way from the USA and she had invited a group of bloggers to lunch in a London pub. I was so excited to  be meeting Ella, Ami, Ronnie and Del Fonte and to catch up with Jan again. As you will know from Jan and Sunny, Ella was feeling poorly but she was a real trouper and kept the party going. We talked nineteen to the dozen into late afternoon, exchanging gifts after the other diners had thinned out a bit. Anyone watching would probably have thought we were a group of cooks.

I managed to do some catching up on readings blogs whilst we were away, though I must confess I was mostly a lurker. Hopefully, life will return to uneventful again over the next couple of weeks and I shall have time to keep up with you all again. In the meantime, I'm sure you'll be glad to know that my itchy-palmed husband is taking good care of me.



Rosie

Friendship

When Harry landed those first tentative smacks on my behind, I could never have dreamt how much my life was about to change. Our second spanking left some light bruising, prompting me to put 'how to spank your wife' into a search engine, hoping for some advice on how to spank without leaving marks. That's when I found Blogland. I had never thought I was a freak for wanting to be spanked but, nevertheless, it was so good to find that there were women who felt the same need as I did. Even better, a lot of them were older women, like me.

I lurked in the shadows, not having the nerve to comment and never, in my wildest dreams, imagined becoming friends with some of the women whose blogs I read so avidly. And if anyone had told me that I would not only write my own blog one day but also meet other bloggers in person, I would have sent for the men in white coats to take them away.

If you've read Jan's blog during the past couple of days, you will know that the two of us met up on Friday. There was no awkwardness between us, it was as if we'd been friends for ever, which I hope we will be in reality now.  Jan is just as lovely in real life as she is on her blog and we had a lot of fun together. We talked so much our coffee went cold and we completely forgot about lunch.

Jan knew it was my birthday a few days later and very sweetly gave me presents, a lovely bracelet and some wooden salad servers. I'd never owned salad servers before, so they came in very handy when Harry made a big salad for lunch. Who am I kidding? I knew perfectly well what my dear friend meant them for, as did Harry.

I shall be seeing Jan again soon, when we go to London next month to have lunch with some other bloggers, an event organised by Ella. There will be six of us, which seems to be a magic number at the moment. We're all excited and can't wait.

I could never have foreseen that being spanked would lead to making friends in different parts of the world, with whom I can be myself and who are so supportive of one another.

Oh, and it's done amazing things for my marriage too. 



Rosie

Ella's Midsummer Night's Meme

Ella has come up trumps again with a new meme for us to enjoy. 
(Is 'trumps' a bad choice of word at the moment?) 

Here's my shot at it.

1. Name a place where you have always wanted to make love with your partner.
Somewhere warm, on a blanket, under the stars.

2. What is your least favourite implement for a discipline spanking?

Although I recently had a narrow escape, punishment isn't part of our dynamic. "Discipline" in our house means reminder, RA, and reset type spankings. The horrid wooden paddle always makes its presence felt on those occasions. Thankfully, it isn't used for the whole spanking.

3. Name or describe a piece of lingerie in which your husband loves to see you.
Corset, stockings and heels does it for Harry too. I think most men love that look.

4. Do you favour silver jewellery or gold? Besides a wedding ring, do you have a signature piece that you wear often or even every day?

I'm a pearls girl and have some beautiful pieces. Harry bought me a sapphire and diamond ring for my 60th birthday, which I wear every day with my wedding band.

5. What was the worst job you ever had?

I took a part-time job as an assistant accountant a few years ago. The couple who ran the company were financially illiterate and not open to suggestions on how to improve. I got so frustrated, I had to leave. They went into administration not long after.

6. Is there something your husband does (or doesn't do) around the house that drives you crazy?
Harry piles his clothes up on the chair in our bedroom, which drives me nuts. If he can't find something, it's a safe bet that it's creased up in the pile somewhere.

7. What is the hardest thing you ever had to learn? Could be school, career, life, or even ttwd.
I needed maths A-level to be a computer programmer. Although I only needed applied (logical) maths, the subject could only be taken in tandem with pure maths. I was good at the applied subject but much of the pure maths was beyond me. I gave up after failing to plot a parabolic graph from a quadratic equation and mark points x and y on it - or something like that anyway, it was a long time ago.

I became a successful life insurance underwriter instead, changing tack to accounting after my daughters were born.

8. Besides a spanking, tell us something that always brings a tear to your eye. Could be a movie, a song, a memory, or something else.
There are songs I can't listen to in my car because they make me cry; I've sobbed at the cinema and wetted the pages of books. And don't ask about children's Nativity plays!

9. What was your favourite grade in school (K through 12) and why?
I can't say I had a favourite time at school. I stayed on until I was 18 but never went back to visit. My younger sister picked up my examination certificates for me.

10. As a child, did you have a favourite stuffed animal or doll that you took to bed?
Marmaduke, my Teddy bear. Most of his fur has been loved off and the straw is poking out of his left paw where I sucked it. I don't take him to bed now but he sits in our room on a cushion.

11. What was a make-believe game you loved to play when you were a kid?
When I was four or five, I used to love dressing my cat up in bonnet, matinee jacket and booties and wheeling her around in my doll's pram. She didn't seem to mind.

12. Look in your closet wardrobe. Is there a lot of one particular colour? Are you drawn to that colour when you shop?
My staples are all neutral colours, black, navy and grey; easy to dress up with brighter pieces. I love purple but there's not a lot of it in my wardrobe. 

13. What is your favourite alcoholic beverage? What is your favourite soft beverage?
Harry and I make regular trips across the Channel to stock up on Champagne, which is our favourite alcoholic drink. I am a coffee drinker; can't get through the morning without it.

14. If you could have your dream job for a day, what would it be?
My dream is not to have a job! I want to retire but Harry isn't ready yet.

15. Describe your wedding gown. If you were going to get married again, what would you pick today?
Harry and I had been together eleven years by the time we married and, much to our parents' chagrin, were living in our own home without benefit of bell, book or candle. We opted for a civil ceremony, so a white dress and veil was never on the cards. Harry chose my dress, a lovely, floaty, confection in cream silk crepe de chine, with lilac smocking around the neckline and a matching rouleau ''goddess'' belt at the waist.

In the unlikely event that I married again, I'd wear a pale dress and jacket combination with a big hat.

Incidentally, the word 'obey' did not feature in my wedding vows.

16. Tell us about your first car! How old were you? Did you give it a name? Do you remember how much it cost?
My first car was a Datsun 1600 estate. I called it Blue Streak because it was blue and went like a rocket. It wasn't running too well at one point and had to go in to the garage. In those days, you handed your keys to the mechanic who was going to do the job and explained the problem to him. I said, very technically, "It's going chug, chug, when it should go vroom, vroom." Harry was mortified. When we went to pick it up the mechanic said, "I think you'll find it goes vroom, vroom, now." And it did! 

I was 22 years old and paid £450 for the car.

Mine was a darker blue

Thanks, Ella, this was fun.

Rosie

Bed Time

Life has been crazy busy of late. Harry has been working all hours and, as well as trying to keep up with the business admin, I have had a lot of family commitments. There just haven't been enough hours in the day and we have both ended up exhausted by the time evening comes around. 

Harry bounces back as soon as his eyes are open but I am not a morning person at the best of times. I have to come back into the world s-l-o-w-l-y and with at least two cups of coffee. If I don't get enough sleep I am not nice to know, grouchy just doesn't cover it. Harry has been very helpful on the worst days, either by using his magic sleeping aid (why do we sleep like babies after a spanking?) or sending me to bed early.

That's another of the many things I thought I would never write. When I first started reading blogs, I was astonished to find women being sent to bed by their husbands. There was no way I'd put up with that, absolutely not!


Unfortunately, Harry must have missed that memo because one night, not long after my first 'real' spanking, I was up late reading when he came into the room, saying I should go to bed; the next day was going to be busy and I needed my sleep. I said I'd just get to the end of the chapter first and carried on reading. It was a gripping book and, two chapters later, Harry came back and told me to go upstairs or I'd get a spanking. I protested that he couldn't do that, I'm not a child, and I would go to bed when I was ready and not before. I got spanked.


The following evening, as he was leaving for a late session at the local sports centre, Harry told me that as I'd had a long, tiring, day he wanted me to be in bed by the time he got home. That did not go down well, as you can imagine, and I was quite determined I was not going to comply. Much later, I was immersed in my book when my phone buzzed beside me with a text alert: "I'm just leaving, you have fifteen minutes." My resolve melted away and I dived into bed just as Harry drew up onto the drive. He knew I'd only just made it but he kissed me and said, "Good girl." I know some of you melt when you hear that but I loathe it, it makes me cringe. That amuses Harry, who uses it as a non-impact means of letting me know who's in charge.

I really struggled with the bed time issue and Harry was patient but unrelenting. The learning curve continued something like this:

H: Rosie, time for bed.
R: Okay, I just need to finish this, five minutes.
H: Do you want a spanking?
R: No, but...
H: No buts. Go. Now.
Still having trouble giving up control...

H: Rosie, time for bed.
R: Okay, I just need to...
H: (smack) Off you go.
R: Okay (kiss).
Getting there...

H: Rosie, time for bed.
R: Okay, night, night.
H: Sleep tight (smooch) (pat, pat).
Got it!


Sweet dreams,

Rosie