The Laminator

My Dear Princess and Dear Friends,

Fazzy is very excited. And why? Because she has ordered herself a laminator. She is AGLOW with excitement.

Like some other wives I know, she is obsessed with stationery. Caro is the same. Caro will actually sit and STROKE a new notepad if it is from a nice stationery shop. She also likes arranging markers and stickies like she is in a shop. 

I'm not sure if this is all wives. Or just the wives I know.

But Fazzy's laminator has not yet arrived. So she came into the office today to laminate some labels she has made especially for Hani. And she made me go with her to help. 

I recommended we test it out first to make sure the laminator was the right temperature. So today's blip is Fazzy making me a laminated label that reads, "You are the best Uncle Symon". 

"Well you're the ONLY Uncle Symon," she added.

Fazzy. She giveth with one hand and taketh with the other.

But actually she and I had a lovely morning together. We got breakfast and chatted. It was nice to spend time with her again.

After this, Jefe arrived with Manda and we met Shenée for lunch again. I gave Shenée a present for her birthday which is on Monday. It was a book of photography on the wild horses of Sable Island (off Nova Scotia where they run free). The photos are beautiful and I knew she would love it. 

Indeed she was beside herself. She said she had been planning to keep her birthday low-key and really wasn't expecting anything.

"WHAAAAAA?? IT'S YOUR BIRTHDAY???" said Jefe and Manda.

They are consummate liars. And brilliant actors. We are - in fact - all going to a restaurant tomorrow for Shenée's birthday party. Craig is going to deliver her there for about 4pm and we will all be waiting.

SURRRRPPRIIIIISE!!!

She has no idea. She posted about my gift in our group chat later that day and Corrie (also going) reacted by saying, "Oh you NEVER SAID IT WAS YOUR BIRTHDAY!!" 

Poor Shenée. She was talking about making some plans for a movie night with pizza or something. We were all non-committal. 

In all other ways, Shenée is still great and bubbly and as excited about her new job as before. It is a pleasure to see. She was telling us about a course she attended a couple of years ago where she looked like she had a pen mark on her nose and people kept trying to tell her about it and helping her wipe it off.

"It was actually a scratch," she told us. "From a horny chicken that was a bit feisty. So the whole way through the course everyone kept coming over and saying oh you've got a thing there. And I had to keep saying, nope not pen, horny chicken. It was very embarrassing."

See. Stories like these are why we LOVE Shenée. And why we are all looking forward to LEAPING OUT AND SURPRISING HER tomorrow.

Expect pictures.

S.