I love it when a plan comes together!

And right now the plans are coming together here in the happy home of Helen.
Snot and ear aches aside, lack of sleep unmentioned ( for now) things are pretty good.
SOPHIE HAS A JOB!! This is monumentally vital to our lives being orderly and happy. I have long believed that for all her mouth and bluster my daughter is a bit on the low self esteem side. I KNOW she wanted a job, I so know she wants cash and to be able to skip the light fantastic with her friends at the weekend, I am pretty sure she would love to have regualr cigarettes to yellow her teeth and make her morning cough even more fruity, but it has been like asking a mammoth to fly encouraging this child/ woman to get out of bed and seek the means for all her delights and desires.
Last week I saw a notice in a cool and trendy gift shop not 3 minutes from home, smack bang next to the pizza cafe where her cousin works, asking for flexible help. Sophie is a bit flexible, though can be stiff and unmoving at times but nevertheless I felt it worthwhile mentioning it to her. She went in and asked -- WHOOHOO, imagine that! They obviously liked the look of her and she began the very next day. Marvellous, she is actually handed the reins and sits in said trendy shop all on her own with magazines and cups of tea, being paid to watch the world go by and wait for customers . She is growing up.......we can see it, every day, with the responsibility of work, the hugely self esteem lifting thrill of being 'in charge' and not watched over, the enormously important task of locking the shop and having a key has made her stand a little taller. Actually it has made her stand much taller because prior to working she was lying down, almost all day...now she has something to get up for and the knowledge that she will earn more cash than she could ever imagine having has put more than a spring in her step.
She can put credit on her phone, the fact that she uses it all to call me is more than touching and a smidgen annoying as she calls to say "I'm starving , bring me food" or " I'm bored, come and see me" a small draw back of being so close to her place of work! To see her so cheery about anything is heartwarming and may we all pray that it stays this way!?
She can buy false nails, hoorah, just what we need, those things get everywhere and look strangely threatening when lurking on a kitchen floor, I have seen the boys cower and whimper at the sight of a two tone talon threatening their safety of passage.
She can buy junk food, this means that our home smells of shop bought cheesy chips ( fries with grated cheese on) rather than homecooked, a smell that makes me happy because they are eaten out of the paper wrapping- hense no piles of greasy dishes to nag her over.
She can join in on the weekend outings of the visiting hoards, which means that she isn't here, moaning about how unfair it is that she has to stay home while they are all out having lives and meeting new people ( which is so untrue it is the same gaggle of loud and loveable youths that frequent Jordans room and my fridge,) but at least she will be included in the cash demanding pursuits from now on.
She could buy her own hair straighteners ( but won't because mine, I am told are the super best and they are always in her room anyway.
She could buy her own socks but again...why would she?
I am feeling a bit smooshy towards my only daughter at the moment and I rather like it, can we allow ourselves to believe that this is the beginning of she and I being able to like each other and enjoy each other? Oh please say it is!