A hot Monday

Today has been sooo hot. Too hot to sit outside. It has been one of those days when I got to school picking up time & thought 'What have I actually done today? I've not been doing nothing but there's nothing to show for what I've been doing.'

J's friend Tim is staying with us tonight, I think he & J have just about stopped talking & annoying P who likes to get to sleep early. Earlier the four of us went out for a meal to an Italian restaurant where P & I both had vegetable risotto which sounds boring but is delicious. Having the same as P avoided my usual problem of liking what he gets more than what I get. When it came to dessert though he ordered amaretto ice-cream which I tasted & decided was much nicer than my coconut. He did give me some, well in return for a spoonful of my mango sorbet (you get 2 scoops of ice cream so I chose 2 different flavours). J had chicken & bacon tagliatelle in white wine sauce followed by lemon sorbet & ice cream. Tim had burger & chips then chocolate fudge cake - obviously on a healthy eating programme.

Shortly after we got home the phone rang - J's piano teacher to say J had passed exam. Yippee! The really strange thing though is that his best piece is the one for which he got the lowest marks & he got a good mark for the singing test which we'd all written off as a no-hoper. Strange things exams.

Wales

Another view of Wales.

Update

Sorry I haven't blogged for a while, life has been hectic beyond belief. Here's bit of an update:

• J & I worked incredibly hard for his piano exam, he felt it went well but we'll have to wait & see.
• Zoomed up to see my brother last weekend as he was having a 'surprise' birthday party although I don't think it was much of a surprise in the end. I made a little book with photos & stories from his younger days which took me far longer than I expected & ended up as a mad rush but everyone seemed to like it. P made cake which also ended up as a mad rush - he was icing it just before party started. Had good journeys both ways, after briefly visiting friends on the way (sorry it was so brief) stayed in Wolverhampton Travelodge which was ok except it's really tricky to find the car park. Got there just half an hour before restaurant closed so managed to get dinner which we'd prebooked. They did a buffet for breakfast which was nice, J ate an awful lot - tried a bit of nearly everything.
• My Dad is doing ok, still having to take it really easy though. My uncle says he's beginning to feel he's turned the corner too. We still miss P's Dad, still trying to adjust to him not being there really.
• J has had what seemed like endless series of tests & assessments, preparation for all of which has been a mad last minute rush. He & his partner had to make a breakfast for food tech assessment so that morning I taught him how to make scrambled egg:

'Do you know how to break an egg?' I asked.
'Yes, I did it at Louise's house when Adam & I were helping make cakes.'
Splat! Egg over worktop, running down fridge door onto floor.
'That happened at Louise's house too.'

Thankfully J's partner was an egg breaking expert while J turned out to be the scrambled egg stirring star so they got full marks. J has also developed a taste for smoked salmon - expensive!

• Weather here is wild! Electricity was off all day yesterday & wind blown over runner beans.
• J's prize-giving evening went well, local dignitary handed out prizes. He says he's aiming for an attendance prize next year!
  
• There are some big changes happening at church, bit of a shock can't get my head round it yet, will blog more about it later.
  

Got to go

I really need to stop now & get on with something, I've got letters to write, two houses to sort out, a prayer bulletin to write, washing to hang out & then Andy Murray to watch. Can he do it? Hmmm not sure...

Video

This one is us going swimming, not a very good video & J interrupting to say 'here's your chair Mum,' but I've managed to post it.

Rhododendron

Wow it worked, I just put a video on my blog. This was a few weeks ago when our rhododendron was in bloom & the birds were singing.

Has this video worked?

A good morning

I think I did so well this morning. I got up early & did some more piano with J which went well (but we have yet to hit the dreaded middle section with the trill in Minuetto).

I was resolved to stay calm & when J still hadn't packed his books after I'd asked him 5 times I went over, looked him in the eye & calmly & clearly said:

'I have asked you several times to pack your books & I would really like you to do it now.'

And he did!

My friend who's a teacher says the key is to keep your voice low, if it gets shrill children pick up that you're losing it & play up.

We set off for school nice & early, missed bad traffic, dropped ironing off on way & got him to school 15 minutes before assembly. Wow! If only I could do this every day.

Some really good news is that J has won an award at school! For 'exceptional effort'! We are going to a prize-giving evening to see him get it. He has worked hard at school, I think he deserves it.

Will J ever get his timing right?

J's piano exam is next week & last night in his lesson his playing was just all over the place & his behaviour wasn't much better. He couldn't seem to pick up on the fact that his teacher & I were nearly tearing our hair out. His teacher is incredibly patient, if I was him I'd have been screaming. After J had gone out of the room we had a little talk in which I mentioned possibility that J might fail.

Teacher looked very serious: 'I've never had a failure before. I don't want a failure Liz.'

Ok that's all very well, he doesn't want to upset his perfect record but he's the one who has got J to this point & has probably put him in for his exam before he's ready.

Anyway J & I agreed we will really go for it this week & work really hard.

I need a dongle

I am just so frustrated with our internet connection. P says what we need is a dongle. I don't know what a dongle is but if that's what we need let's hurry up & get one. Even now I've got an 'Error'sign coming up so I don't know if this will publish or not.