Right now feel a little bit stressed & this is why. On Sunday 2 of the people who work with the young people were saying to me how good it was that P was organising trip to Christian activity day. 'Is he???' I said. 'So you're organising trip to activity day?' I said to him. 'Am I???' he said. Anyway while P was at meeting last night I spent whole evening on computer/sending emails/having problems sending emails/ making phone calls & thinking wouldn't if be nice if somebody replied to one of my emails & generally trying to organise it.
At coffee this morning Becky said 'You do realise that that day is when they have the Year 6 leavers service at the Anglican church?' Oh no!!! Given choice between Year 6 leavers service & activity day I know which J will opt for. P & I feel he should go to service & Becky has offered to take him & Adam along late to activity day but P is saying they don't like people arriving half way through & if J's not going he's not going & I said 'You have to go you're the organiser' & he said 'But I only said I was going because J was going.'
Help!!!

Went to the hairdressers yesterday. Said I wanted layers cut off, didn't realise having layers cut off would involve losing most of my hair. Picked J up from school, 'Your hair looks awful,' he said. Picked P up from station (cos he'd been to London) 'Your hair looks awful,' he said.
Went to coffee morning rather apprehensively as was going to have to go into room full of people with awful hair. 'Your hair looks lovely,' said several people.
I don't know. It will grow again though, I suppose.
When hairdresser asked which school J going to it turned out her sister going to same one. This might not seem unusual but school is 10 miles from hairdressers in different town. Funny if they end up in same class. She said uniform cost is even worse for girls as boys can wear just plain white shirts & grey trousers but girls have to have special blouses & skirts & one blouse costs £17. They do look nice in their uniform though, especially the girls. There's none of this hitched up skirts & tons of make-up & bleached hair business. They even stipulate which shoes & socks/tights they wear. Ok, when I was at school I hated having to wear a certain type of shoes & tights (brown lace-ups & American tan tights - ugh!) but as a parent I think they look nice. (I don't mean brown lace-ups & American tan tights look nice, the pupils look nice).
J went to the woods with the scouts last night. They played hide and seek & he had a whale of a time so he wants to join scouts now. Next week they are going to skin & cook a rabbit! Apparently last time they did this was the week when all the girls decided to leave scouting but apparently the three girls in it now are made of sterner stuff.

Have felt desperately tired today but it's no wonder as have done quite a lot recently. On Friday P & I went to the Christian Resources Exhibition at Sandown race course. We managed to get free tickets from Premier Radio. We had easy journeys both ways & it was a really good day. There was loads of interesting stuff there especially lots & lots of books. We got several book & CD bargains, will have to work out which of the books are for the church library & which we'll keep. There seem to be quite a lot of challenging Christian books around at the moment, questioning whether the traditional way we've 'done church' is the right one. I'll let you know when I've read them.
We briefly met up with a couple of other people from church there, they were looking at church chairs because the church is considering removing the pews & replacing them with chairs.
Louise had picked up J from school & they ended up taking him to a pub for a meal with them. He got home quite late but had to get up earlyish as it was the men's breakfast at church again so he was a bit tired all day really. In the afternoon we went out for a drive & ended up going to a museum in an old boathouse near a river. J loves museums but always wants to zoom round quite quickly while P likes to take longer, reading every single bit of writing. I struggle a bit as the thing with a wheelchair is you're at right angles to the exhibits so you either have to keep twisting your neck or keep being spun round. We also found a farm shop on the way & loaded up with supplies including some yummy chocolate crunch things (the weight loss program is going quite well, despite that).
Am reeling in shock a bit as got order form for J's school uniform. £200! Someone whose son is going to the grammar school says it costs £250 there so I suppose I should be thankful. We also got the timetable which J is excited about as they do loads of Maths, Science & Technology. He has to learn German as well as French which he's not very happy about, don't know why really, he might like German once he tries it. He also said he's a bit nervous about bullying which is understandable. We also found out he has to go & do some tests in June to decide which sets he goes in!

Here I am just back from the scouts, cubs & beavers AGM with a headache which is no wonder cos they're not really what you'd call quiet. It was J's last evening as a cub. He's going to go along to scouts to see if he likes it, he probably will enjoy the first one as it's an evening in the woods. We'll have to see if he can fit scouts in once he starts senior school & has even more homework. He's starting working for his piano exams as well. It's a bit awkward as his friend Tim has been playing the piano for over 3 years & still hasn't started Grade 1 but the most he ever practises is once a week & J practises every day.

For the record I just want to say, for my vindication, that while it is illegal to park across someone's drive as in get out of the car & walk away, you are allowed to stop & let somebody out of the car. So there. I won't stop there again though, not worth the agro.

We've got a really nice view through our side kitchen window at the moment - there's a broom bush outside & it's just a mass of yellow flowers. The kitchen is beginning to come together now, especially after our major tidy up. We are rearranging some of the cupboards & drawers so that near the cooker we have cooking equipment & utensils rather than spanners & screwdrivers. We went out shopping & brought some rubbish bins, storage boxes & a bar stool so I can do more at the sink & cooker (I'm beginning to wonder if that was such a good idea).
I went round a friend's house yesterday & I realised her kitchen was actually more untidy than mine. I no longer have the untidiest kitchen in the world. Yes!!!

I'm just feeling like all the computers in the world are ganging up against me. On this one I keep losing internet connection, at the same time I'm doing some scanning on our other laptop & it's just not working properly & I don't know why.
P & I both had a bit of an unusual start to our day (or should it be days?). On his way in to work he found an old man by the market totally confused & not knowing where he was, how or why he was there or where he lived. All he could remember was his wife's name. P called an ambulance & they came & took him to hospital. Poor man, hope he's ok.
I stopped outside somebody's house (where there wasn't a car in the drive) for a couple of minutes to let J out this morning & the woman from the next house came out & started being really rude about me parking across a drive. 'That's not a parking space, you shouldn't park there!' she said. I said I wasn't parking, I was just stopping & wasn't getting out of the car & I would move if anyone wanted to get in but she said 'That's not the point!' & stormed off.
I know it must be frustrating living near the school & there are a very small minority of parents who do park selfishly but they have chosen to live there & they must expect some congestion around 9.00 & 3.00 near a school & it wouldn't hurt to show a little tolerance & understanding now & then.
Anyway this wouldn't have happened if J hadn't been in go-slow mode this morning so we could have got there on time to park somewhere else. His reluctance to go to school isn't diminishing at all at the moment, especially as he's doing his SATs this week. He came out nearly in tears after the writing ones so I don't think they went very well but the others seem to have been ok so far.

Last week we went to see Star Trek which I found a bit boring (I just like films to have a bit of a plot) but P and J enjoyed the special effects. There was one sex scene which seemed totally unnecessary seeing as they know quite young boys are likely to watch it. The next day we took Tim and Adam to Pizza Express as a joint celebration for J and P. We had a very good time although to my astonishment Tim had eaten his entire pizza before I'd even put my fork in my pasta. It's no wonder he's got a bit of a weight problem. Then the boys came back here and had a wild time running around outside and playing with Digger (who seemed to enjoy it).
The big celebration was on Sunday for P's Dad who had a BIG birthday. P's brother, his wife and her son came down. P cooked a really nice meal and we had a good time. I think P's Dad really enjoyed it. We had a major tidy up beforehand, kitchen has never been so clean and tidy, looks quite good.
Have to go it's dinner time.

It's a lovely sunny day. Unusually for a Friday everything went smoothly this morning. J got up in cheerful mood, finished homework without complaint (although he insisted a device for measuring temperature is spelt 'thermometre') & I made him scrambled egg. We left early, in time to call in at village shop to find they hadn't got any wholemeal bread. Tim was almost ready when we got to his house & I got them both to school in good time for gym trail. Since then I've done 2 loads of washing, tidied up a little, sent an email & typed half of prayer bulletin.
After school yesterday we went into town & got J's hair cut. It's now ever so short! Bit disconcerting in barbers as all staff Spanish so talking in foreign language & I kept thinking 'What are they saying about us?' J just sat & scowled in silence like he does at hairdressers but they gave him a lolly which cheered him up. Then we went to Waterstone's & managed to get him a book by Bear Grylls which he wanted. He's just devouring books at the moment which is good I suppose.
I've been reading a book by Fiona Castle called 'No Flowers... just lots of joy' which is very moving. It's about her marriage to Roy & his illness & death & how she managed afterwards. I've got a couple of copies for the church library along with some other books. Being church librarian is such a doddle, I love reading & buying books. I might write a couple of book reviews for the magazine. Or should I tidy out a kitchen cupboard instead?