Remember that party for my daughter? "How bad could it be?" I thought to myself. "They're only 12 and 13. There won't be any sex and alcohol."

And there wasn't. I'll tell you what there was: grapes ground into the carpet, carrots chewed and spat out onto the walls, cakes lobbed out the window onto the cars below. Our cars. Why did I think they needed healthy food? Or any food at all?

I'd had a nice, relaxing evening with my husband and the cats after slaving in the kitchen getting the food ready and then running up three flights of stairs with it. For I thought it would be best if they stayed in the playroom. We watched the rugby (England v. France, England won, for you non-rugby fans). I stroked Pearl for ages. She's taken against me since we got Jake, and I needed quality time with her.

Then the parents arrived. When I went upstairs to summon the children, I noticed a few carrots on the floor. When the room was clear, I saw the extent of the damage. The window was stuck open, and I panicked, knowing how costly it is to get these sash windows repaired. By the time that was fixed, I'd seen the carrots on the wall, the smushed grapes, the leaking drink containers.

And I hit the roof! I felt very let down by my daughter. "I didn't do it," she protested, as if that let her off the hook. Hubby took to muttering under his breath. "I didn't want her to have this party in the first place. I never get consulted about anything around here." Jake got so frightened he went in his puppy crate by himself. It took me awhile to calm down, but I did. I went in to see my daughter before I went to bed because I didn't want her birthday to end on a bad note. I had contemplated sleeping in the spare room because I was quite annoyed with hubby for not backing me up. But I didn't. I read for a while then reached over and set the alarm clock for 6:30 a.m. and turned off the light.

Half an hour later I was awake with severe stomach cramps. I went to the bathroom, went back to bed, got up 15 minutes later. After three trips to the toilet, my stomach was quite sore and empty thanks to sickness and diarrhea. In between all that my car alarm went off and I had to rush downstairs to find my keys. I decided I really should sleep in the spare room to be nearer the bathroom and to prevent giving any bug to hubby. I did leave my alarm clock, still set to go off at 6:30, in our room though. Hee Hee.

I spent Sunday in a bit of fog, though I managed to cook Sunday dinner and do the ironing. Jake seemed to sense I wasn't up to much so he was quite calm for a change.

And today is another day. Let's hope it's a better one.