Cough, cough, cough, sneeze, sneeze, groan...
Wednesday 29 December 2010
Monday 27 December 2010
Lot of it about
J & I both got bad colds. J spent most of Christmas Eve in bed with temperature. Lot of it about. Apart from that have had really good Christmas although for first time in my life I didn't get to church on Christmas day as snow & ice so bad P couldn't get car out of drive. Think it's now finally beginning to thaw.
Saturday 25 December 2010
Happy Christmas
HAPPY CHRISTMAS!
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16 (NIV)
Friday 24 December 2010
Scary
Yesterday I had the experience of getting stuck in snow & being towed up a hill backwards by a landrover. Not one I wish to repeat.
Sunday 19 December 2010
Nativity
We had a lovely nativity this morning although the audience was rather depleted because of the snow. Some really cute little angels. J did very well with his narrating. Bit of a panic afterwards when 4 year old 'Mary' went missing & her mum started freaking out (which I can totally understand). Turned out she was playing hide & seek under a pew. The evening candle-light carol service was cancelled, it's the first time I ever remember that happening. It's difficult when it's icy as our church car park is on a steep slope so people almost need crampons to get from their cars to the door.
We had Mavis the old lady we take to church round for lunch (& had Christmas pudding). In the evening we decided to go to 'other church' for their carol service & Mavis said she'd like to come too. We warned her it might be very lively as she doesn't like loud music & it was but ever so good. They had this brilliant video which was like the nativity on facebook - messages between Mary, Joseph, Elizabeth & family & friends etc There was this bit where one of Joseph's friends said 'You made Mary pregnant?' & he said 'An angel appeared to me in a dream & said it was God' & the friend said 'How convenient' then it said '23 people defriend Joseph'. It was just really funny but it ended up with 'What are you going to call the baby?' & then someone was typing in in big letters 'He shall be called Jesus' which was quite moving somehow.
To our surprise Mavis sang along to the carols, ate 4 mince pies, found someone to chat to & said she enjoyed it. Wonder if she would enjoy their normal service which is even noisier. She could do with enjoying church again.
Just spoke to my brother on the phone, he arrived back home safely at 2 am.
On with the Christmas preparations.
We had Mavis the old lady we take to church round for lunch (& had Christmas pudding). In the evening we decided to go to 'other church' for their carol service & Mavis said she'd like to come too. We warned her it might be very lively as she doesn't like loud music & it was but ever so good. They had this brilliant video which was like the nativity on facebook - messages between Mary, Joseph, Elizabeth & family & friends etc There was this bit where one of Joseph's friends said 'You made Mary pregnant?' & he said 'An angel appeared to me in a dream & said it was God' & the friend said 'How convenient' then it said '23 people defriend Joseph'. It was just really funny but it ended up with 'What are you going to call the baby?' & then someone was typing in in big letters 'He shall be called Jesus' which was quite moving somehow.
To our surprise Mavis sang along to the carols, ate 4 mince pies, found someone to chat to & said she enjoyed it. Wonder if she would enjoy their normal service which is even noisier. She could do with enjoying church again.
Just spoke to my brother on the phone, he arrived back home safely at 2 am.
On with the Christmas preparations.
Saturday 18 December 2010
Maths puzzle
Ok can you do this?
What is the value of P + Q + R in the multiplication below?
A 13 B 12 C 11 D 10 E 9
P Q P Q
x R R R
_____________
6 3 9 0 2 7
Answers on a post-card.
If you're wondering why I'm putting in a mathematical challenge see blog entry below.
The weird thing is I worked it out & got the right answer but then thought my working out was wrong & still can't see why it isn't wrong & have looked up the solution & the explanation for the solution & can't understand it. But it's ok because I'm not going in for the Maths challenge.
What is the value of P + Q + R in the multiplication below?
A 13 B 12 C 11 D 10 E 9
P Q P Q
x R R R
_____________
6 3 9 0 2 7
Answers on a post-card.
If you're wondering why I'm putting in a mathematical challenge see blog entry below.
The weird thing is I worked it out & got the right answer but then thought my working out was wrong & still can't see why it isn't wrong & have looked up the solution & the explanation for the solution & can't understand it. But it's ok because I'm not going in for the Maths challenge.
School's out
Yesterday J's school broke up & he finished at 2.00. I decided to take him into town as he'd got some money he wanted to spend. I didn't realise all the schools in town finished early & one by one they all descended on the town centre - one comprehensive, then another, then the boys' grammar, then the girls' grammar, then the Catholic school then another comprehensive until the place was swarming with teenagers. Anyway J got the DS game he wanted then we went into a cafe & he had an apple juice & chocolate cake & I had a peppermint tea & thought 'This is nice, being here together' but J was only interested in reading the instructions for his game.
Back home I set about trying to access his report which is now on-line. This did take some time. Firstly the stupendously amazing wonderful thing is that this term he has 100% attendance!!! This is brilliant compared to last year when we were on 'special measures' for attendance as he'd had so much time off sick & I'm so thankful his health has been so much better.
Anyway for nearly every subject he got a really good report, even for PE (one of the nice things about his PE teachers is that they're positive about effort), they all used words like 'superb', 'polite', 'enthusiastic', 'hard-working', 'very pleasant' & then I looked at Geography. 'Has made a modest start'... 'needs to look at the subject in detail & not take such a broad-brush' approach'...'could do better'. So what on earth's going on with Geography (pardon the pun)? I decided to email the teacher & ask him, not expecting him to answer until next term but he answered today. I'm not sure if I should think 'how enthusiastic & helpful emailing parents on the first Saturday of the holidays' or 'get a life'. Anyway he gave this long spiel about how he takes a stict approach in order to try & overcome the 'year 8 dip' & he feels the whole class need to 'raise their game' & this approach worked for last year's class & there was a problem in marking the second assessment due to the snow & J actually did better in that one so would have got a higher grade but he thinks he could still do better anyway. I don't know, just have to see how it goes next term but meanwhile he'd better do his Geography homework.
J's Maths teacher said he might put him in for the UK Junior Maths challenge next year. I printed out last year's paper for him, thinking it would keep him amused for the whole holiday but he did it in about an hour & got a reasonable mark I'm still puzzling over the last question. I'll print it in the next blog bit.
Back home I set about trying to access his report which is now on-line. This did take some time. Firstly the stupendously amazing wonderful thing is that this term he has 100% attendance!!! This is brilliant compared to last year when we were on 'special measures' for attendance as he'd had so much time off sick & I'm so thankful his health has been so much better.
Anyway for nearly every subject he got a really good report, even for PE (one of the nice things about his PE teachers is that they're positive about effort), they all used words like 'superb', 'polite', 'enthusiastic', 'hard-working', 'very pleasant' & then I looked at Geography. 'Has made a modest start'... 'needs to look at the subject in detail & not take such a broad-brush' approach'...'could do better'. So what on earth's going on with Geography (pardon the pun)? I decided to email the teacher & ask him, not expecting him to answer until next term but he answered today. I'm not sure if I should think 'how enthusiastic & helpful emailing parents on the first Saturday of the holidays' or 'get a life'. Anyway he gave this long spiel about how he takes a stict approach in order to try & overcome the 'year 8 dip' & he feels the whole class need to 'raise their game' & this approach worked for last year's class & there was a problem in marking the second assessment due to the snow & J actually did better in that one so would have got a higher grade but he thinks he could still do better anyway. I don't know, just have to see how it goes next term but meanwhile he'd better do his Geography homework.
J's Maths teacher said he might put him in for the UK Junior Maths challenge next year. I printed out last year's paper for him, thinking it would keep him amused for the whole holiday but he did it in about an hour & got a reasonable mark I'm still puzzling over the last question. I'll print it in the next blog bit.
Yet more snow!
Can't believe it's over a week since I blogged & here we are with more snow. Yesterday we only had a sprinkling whereas where my brother lives in Wales they had a foot. He phoned me yesterday for advice on buying his daughter's present & said he was working in the North of England & wasn't sure if he'd get home. My dad phoned this morning & said my brother hadn't got home & wasn't answering his phone & his family were snowed in which made me feel quite worried about them all. Meanwhile I was also getting a bit concerned as we had a power cut yesterday & I thought if we had a bad one our only heating is electric so what would we do? So we headed off to B&Q & got one of their last 3 portable gas heaters then on the way home popped into Tescos at which point it started snowing with a vengeance. We had a very long slow journey home during which my brother texted to say he was 300 miles from home & not sure if he'd make it or not. I told him it might be best to book into somewhere but not sure what he has done.
Like everyone else our Christmas plans are all up in the air. J is the narrator in the nativity at church tomorrow, he & P can walk down if necesary but don't know if I'll make it. We're also meant to be having an old lady from church for lunch, don't know if she'll make it.
Feel really sorry for those people stuck at the airport.
Like everyone else our Christmas plans are all up in the air. J is the narrator in the nativity at church tomorrow, he & P can walk down if necesary but don't know if I'll make it. We're also meant to be having an old lady from church for lunch, don't know if she'll make it.
Feel really sorry for those people stuck at the airport.
Friday 10 December 2010
Friday
I've been trying to upload some of my videos of the snow but it's not working, will try again tomorrow.
Something really awful happened to one of my friends. Her car got stuck in the ice & a man came out of his house & offered to push. Then he slipped & hit his head & was lying there unconscious. He went to hospital, just hope he's ok. Obviously it's not her fault but she feels really bad.
The snow & ice have been really bad but it's beginning to thaw now. There've been some very loud whooshes as snow has slid off the roof at the back of the house where it gets no sun.
Today I went out to do some Christmas shopping, well actually I went out & did some on Tuesday as well but in a different town. It's so hard getting round the shops on the scooter at this time of year as not only are there crowds of people but they try & cram as much stuff in as possible making the aisles really narrow. This leads to some embarrassing situations when I get stuck or crash into a display. When I went into HMV with J & knocked down the DVD display he said 'Mum, I'm not with you,' & walked off.
A couple of months ago I was in the precinct eating a sandwich & feeling a bit embarrassed about it as my school gave me a life-long hang-up about eating on the street & I'm not exactly inconspicous when a girl from church came past. Today I was in the precinct again eating a sandwich & feeling a bit embarrassed & the same girl came past. Perhaps she just spends a lot of time in the precinct. She said on Monday there's going to be more snow.
P had his work Christmas lunch today which he really enjoyed. I feel a bit jealous as I haven't had a Christmas lunch so far this year. When he got home he made spaghetti carbonara for J & me but sadly the sauce curdled & was a bit unpleasant. Never mind.
I'd better go & do some Christmas cards or something.
Something really awful happened to one of my friends. Her car got stuck in the ice & a man came out of his house & offered to push. Then he slipped & hit his head & was lying there unconscious. He went to hospital, just hope he's ok. Obviously it's not her fault but she feels really bad.
The snow & ice have been really bad but it's beginning to thaw now. There've been some very loud whooshes as snow has slid off the roof at the back of the house where it gets no sun.
Today I went out to do some Christmas shopping, well actually I went out & did some on Tuesday as well but in a different town. It's so hard getting round the shops on the scooter at this time of year as not only are there crowds of people but they try & cram as much stuff in as possible making the aisles really narrow. This leads to some embarrassing situations when I get stuck or crash into a display. When I went into HMV with J & knocked down the DVD display he said 'Mum, I'm not with you,' & walked off.
A couple of months ago I was in the precinct eating a sandwich & feeling a bit embarrassed about it as my school gave me a life-long hang-up about eating on the street & I'm not exactly inconspicous when a girl from church came past. Today I was in the precinct again eating a sandwich & feeling a bit embarrassed & the same girl came past. Perhaps she just spends a lot of time in the precinct. She said on Monday there's going to be more snow.
P had his work Christmas lunch today which he really enjoyed. I feel a bit jealous as I haven't had a Christmas lunch so far this year. When he got home he made spaghetti carbonara for J & me but sadly the sauce curdled & was a bit unpleasant. Never mind.
I'd better go & do some Christmas cards or something.
Tuesday 7 December 2010
Winter wonderland
It's very beautiful here, freezing fog has coated all the tree branches with ice. A real winter wonderland. Yesterday had horrendous journey to school, woke up late, J forgotten to print out homework (after 6 days off!!!), had to go back for his coat, drive still very icy, seriously bad traffic jams, thick fog...but when I got home after 2 hours I just thought 'Hey, I don't live in a caravan. Yippee!!! Let's keep things in perspective.'
There are several short cuts to J's school which involve going down country lanes. In this weather they are very icy. As everyone else is avoiding them too the main roads get jammed. This morning I decided to risk the icy route, drove very carefully, saw incredibly beautiful sunrise over snowy fields & managed to get him there in good time which was good as I was going out to breakfast with (old) house group. We went to a restaurant in local town & had bacon, eggs, mushrooms, tomatoes & toast, yum.
There are several short cuts to J's school which involve going down country lanes. In this weather they are very icy. As everyone else is avoiding them too the main roads get jammed. This morning I decided to risk the icy route, drove very carefully, saw incredibly beautiful sunrise over snowy fields & managed to get him there in good time which was good as I was going out to breakfast with (old) house group. We went to a restaurant in local town & had bacon, eggs, mushrooms, tomatoes & toast, yum.
Thursday 2 December 2010
More & more snow
Can't get onto facebook reckon it's clogged by all the snow-bound people. They say that what we're having are 'light snow showers' but we're having an awful lot of this light snow, it's been snowing all day. J's school is shut again & I can't really see how they can get it open tomorrow. However he needn't think he can sit around playing computer games all day today. Her can make a start on his History assignment & perhaps we can do a bit of cooking together. Or he could even tidy his room!!!
P went to work this morning but walked most of the way, some of it through a blizzard. The bus he normally gets can't get up the hills in this ice and we can't get the car out of the drive. He says he's going to bring some work home to do tomorrow so he can stay at home. He might go down to the primary school to help clear their snow as it's their Christmas Fair tomorrow if they don't cancel it.
Yesterday I was sorting some of our old photos & P said 'Make sure you keep the negatives' to which J said 'What's a negative?' I suppose all he remembers is digital. Oh no, I'm feeling old again.
P went to work this morning but walked most of the way, some of it through a blizzard. The bus he normally gets can't get up the hills in this ice and we can't get the car out of the drive. He says he's going to bring some work home to do tomorrow so he can stay at home. He might go down to the primary school to help clear their snow as it's their Christmas Fair tomorrow if they don't cancel it.
Yesterday I was sorting some of our old photos & P said 'Make sure you keep the negatives' to which J said 'What's a negative?' I suppose all he remembers is digital. Oh no, I'm feeling old again.
Wednesday 1 December 2010
Nice warm feet
When you've got really cold feet from being in the snow underfloor heating is just wonderful!
(Don't know if I mentioned we've got it in the bathroom now.)
(Don't know if I mentioned we've got it in the bathroom now.)
A nice day
Lot's more snow. School closed. J had Adam round to play in snow. (Poor Tim's grammar school one of few schools still open). P off work. I had nice lie-in, breakfast in bed & lovely lunch at pub next door (my new off-road scooter, Monster Mean Machine, is really good in snow).
What a nice day.
What a nice day.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)