Herman lives on

I'll just mention that Herman survived and the cake was really nice. Son of Herman is now bubbling away on the worktop.

Squeak

Woke up this morning & thought 'What's that squeaking sound?' then realised it's my chest. This virusey thing is really weird, it comes and goes. On Saturday felt well enough to go to Woman to Woman conference in London, well ok I was a bit unsure about going but I was sooo looking forward to it - Anne Graham-Lotz and Jill Briscoe were speaking. It was awesome and I'll tell you more about it later but journey a bit hard-going due to engineering works and lift not working at Limehouse Station. Towards the end I suddenly started sneezing a lot which was awful because I didn't want to infect everyone around me. I stayed in bed yesterday morning but then felt better and went to 'other church' in the evening but today I have felt bad. I think I'd better rest.

Fruit & veg

Listen, J, I know vanilla comes from a plant but I really don't think you can claim ice-cream as one of your '5 a day'.

Good school trip & I'm ill

On Friday P took J to school for 4.45 to set off on trip to WW1 Battlefields site in France/Belgium. I was quite worried as I'd forgotten to tell P that car needed petrol so couldn't get back to sleep until he was back home. During the morning I had a phone conversation and exchanged several emails with Year 9 administrator. She is taking statements from everyone involved and says they will get to the bottom of it all. Problem was that both J and Head of Year were on trip and then it was half term so a bit of a delay.

After lunch P and I set off for Surrey as Pierrepont, the healing centre I go to, were celebrating the 25th anniversary of Ellel ministries. Journey took a bit longer than we hoped, took detour through Guildford to avoid traffic and went round in circles for a while. Eventually got to hotel where we were staying overnight. Decided to try and find cinema in Guildford but ended up going round in same circles we had before. Had quite a nice meal in a restaurant instead. Managed (just) to resist the choc fudge brownie with vanilla ice cream and marshmallows and hot chocolate sauce. Didn't sleep very well as room a bit hot and we could hear every step taken by the people in the room above and for some reason they took a lot of steps in the night. However disabled access was very good and staff very helpful and it was a nice room.

Saturday was lovely day and we had awesome time. Couldn't believe how much teaching spoke to us, I have been studying Joshua recently and teaching was all from Joshua and about how we can break down our own personal 'walls' and come to a place of breakthrough. I need breakthrough, I really do. We had a nice lunch and met several people we knew and got to know some knew ones. Then at the end of the day they said we could have some prayer if we needed it which I found really helpful and they offered to pray for P as well.

Almost as soon as we got out of the gates I started to feel a bit unwell. We were driving to pick up J straight from trip, stopping at Sainsburys to get sandwiches on the way. We thought we'd have plenty of time but when J phoned to say they would be early I was a bit concerned as it was the teacher in charge was the same one who led the trip in Year 7 where they had to wait for us to arrive (not really our fault) so it would be really embarrassing. We managed to get there before J and he got off the coach with a big bag of Belgian chocolate and he'd had a very good time. A bit mystified by French breakfast though - 'It was just a croissant & a pain-chocolat'. I asked him if he was moved by seeing all the gravestones 'Spose', he said.

That night in bed I felt like I was still travelling and when I got out of bed the floor was definitely wobbling. I spent Sunday in bed and missed church and spent Monday in bed &and missed going to visit our friends and spent this morning in bed and missed the social highlight of the year - the Over 60s coffee morning and I'm going to have to go and lie down again in a minute. So I'm a bit fed up really. I'm still a bit dizzy and have a sore throat and J is saying he's got a sore throat and is a bit dizzy. Is this the same germ he's had for the last few weeks or a new one?

If you're reading this, friends we missed seeing, we will rearrange for another day when we're all better. 

Bad day

It was when I picked up J that the day turned bad. As soon as I saw his face I knew something was wrong, he was pale and shaking and fighting back the tears. Then he told me that someone had punched him hard on the ear and smashed him against a wall. I looked in his ear and there was dried blood which was a bit scary so I called in at the doctors and the receptionist said we could see the nurse (they are so good at our surgery). Anyway the nurse looked in his ear and said it was just a cut to the inner ear, nothing serious but watch out for signs of head injury etc and she thinks he can still go on his trip.
As soon as we got home I got J to tell me the full story. Turns out there's this boy (boy 1) who's been teasing him about his hair colour for over a year. J played badminton today against a friend of his (boy 2) and there was a mix up about the score - J mistakenly thought it was a draw but in fact boy 2 had won. Boy 1 then came over and accused J of being a cheat and a bad loser and J erupted with frustration and hit him lightly (he says) on the arm with the racket. Boy 2 then started swearing at him and J hit him with his racket then boy 2 grabbed him up and swung him round (must be a big boy) but stopped when the teacher started walking towards them. As J was walking out of the changing room boy 3 (who has previously been violent to J and is threatened with permanent exclusion if he does anything else) deliberately blocked his way. Boy 2 then smashed him into the wall and tried to kick him. J kicked back in self-defence and boy 2 punched him hard in the ear. This was witnessed by at least 3 other boys, 1 of whom may have filmed it.

I feel so upset about it and I'm trying not to feel really angry with these boys.
I have left a phone message with the year 9 administrator and sent her an email with all the details so they had better sort it out. I said to her that in the whole of J's time at school there has never been a single incident of bad behaviour and he had never been aggressive to another child so if he lashed out at boy 1 with his racket it must have been due to the frustration of being bullied for over a year.

I wish he'd told us about the teasing.

Don't go shopping when it's just turned cold

Today I got up ridiculously early so we could go and meet the SENCO. It actually went quite well, we are all really encouraging J to go and ask her for a laptop to use on class when he has lessons with a lot of writing. He is quite reluctant partly because he doesn't like going to the 'special needs room' and partly because he feels embarrassed about using the laptop in front of the others. This is sad really.

Then I dropped P off at work and went shopping to get a few things for J's school trip. Today was the first day it had turned cold which actually is not a good day for me to go shopping because when I popped into Mountain Warehouse to get J a money belt I also picked up a shaggy fleece, gloves, scarf and warm socks (all for me that is). In M and S I picked up some fleece lined ankle boots and thermal tights. Well they say it's going to be a cold winter. Actually I really did need the boots as my lace-up shoes are finally giving up the ghost after 7 years.

After I got home the friend of a friend who's moving from a caravn to a house came over with her husband and a van to pick up the fridge, cooker and cupboards from P's dad's house. Her husband is deaf and dumb and such a sweet person. It's amazing how much he communicates just by facial expressions and grunts - he got across 'Are you sure the electricity's off before I unscrew this cooker socket?' remarkably well.

It's sad sorting out P's dad's stuff.

Poor Herman

Yesterday I met up with the woman who was leader of the housegroup at 'other church'. We met at a coffee shop and had a nice chat. She's a nurse at a local hospital and while we were there one of the doctors she works with came in and came over and sat with us. He was very sweet. Anyway it was really nice to see her again. She was telling me about one of the women in the group whose second baby died at birth last year and now she's pregnant again which is really lovely.

Yesterday I was given a 'Herman sour dough starter' which is like this yeasty thing you look after and feed for 10 days then you can use it to make bread or cakes. Trouble is it says in the instructions not to use a metal bowl or spoon so I was careful to put it into a plastic bowl - using a metal spoon. I think I may have killed it.

J just had a piano lesson which actually went quite well.

KANGAROOS!

Ok it's not P's fault he was coughing in bed last night but I am so seriously sleepy today,

The scout campfire went well although there was a bit of a long wait for hot chocolate at the start. There was this amazing bloke leading the singing dressed in a blanket covered in scout badges and doing some impressive dance moves. This is the sort of song we sang (to the tune of Frere Jacques):

Cuddly koalas, cuddly koalas
Possums too, possums too
Wallabies and wombats, wallabies and wombats
KANGAROOS! KANGAROOS!

I'll say no more. Except I don't see why J begrudged me 2 marshmallows in my hot choc.

Tired

P off work today as his cold is bad.

Last night in spite of being exhausted I couldn't sleep. Went round to pray with someone at church (as in usual church) this morning. We meet up every so often to pray together. I can't believe how much I moaned. Normally I try to be positive. I've got so much for which to be thankful, what am I moaning for? Just tired, I suppose. I am so tired. I've got to go and pick up J then go to family campfire with scouts if he's up to it and then go to church meeting.

Perhaps I'll have a sleep first.

Still more random thoughts

• My cleaner, with whom I now get on very well, has started at uni (nearby that is), which means she can't come so much which is a shame but it does in a way get a bit threatening when someone else keeps sorting out your stuff so at the same time I don't mind too much but I do miss chatting to her.
• A colleague of P's is emigrating to Australia and was selling off some of her furniture. We went and picked up a corner unit, a full length mirror, a set of shelves (one of those covered with fabric which lifts up at the front) and we also got a couple of radios. The corner unit really transforms the dining room, I think, especially with my spider plant on it. P says it sticks out a bit so ultimately will have to go somewhere else and he's not sure about the plant. I really like the shelf thing but can't work out where to put it. Hmm... There is so much sorting out to do in the house, it's overwhelming at times.
• After that we went to a craft fair but all I bought was some face cream. It was a lovely Autumn day for a drive though.
• Last Saturday we went to the family housegroup at 'other church'. This was at the leader's house and we had a meal together then did this thing where there were a load of postcards with sayings on them on the floor and we had to pick a couple to say something we thought about our family. I chose 'I love you', 'Keep calm and carry on' and 'Dead fish swim with the tide'. It was a good evening but we were concerned about one of the men who's waiting for MRI results. We prayed for him and then they prayed for me as well.
• The night before we'd been to a 'movie evening' at the church youth group. This is now run by my friend Emily and her husband. The young people had been making videos which we all watched. They had done so well. Emily's daughter had worked really hard doing one on the guide dog puppy they had looked after, Adam had interviewed the school technology technician, J and Tim had interviewed P about being a governor and Becky about being Beaver leader and the other things she does in the community, 2 girls did one on the charity 'Send my Sister to School' and 2 others on the negative aspects of beauty pageants for children and a boy had done one on the history of the village. All very good and it was encouraging to see how much of a social conscience they had.
• Tomorrow night is our quarterly church meeting.

Some more random thoughts

• J has joined the scouts again. The group (or is it troop or something?) in our village closed down a couple of years ago due to lack of leaders but now it has an enthusiastic new leader and he's gone back again. When he was in it before his shirt completely swamped him, now it hardly fits. He wants to sign up for the winter camp - sleeping in a tent in January, brrr.
• We've been invited to a wedding and I'm wondering what to wear. The only dress I have is a summer one and really it doesn't fit very well anyway. My usual 'smart' outfit has very thin sleeves and won't look good under my smart coat which is a problem as it's in winter. So should I get a new dress? Should I? P said to 'make something' but the last item of clothing I made was a maternity skirt so I'm a bit out of practice. I could get a casual sort of dress and wear a scarf or something with it for the wedding and then get some more wear out of it.
• We have actually managed to get an appointment with the SENCO at J's school to discuss what support he needs. We should have had this 2 years ago, I think. I blame the parent liason officer who seemed to see her role as preventing parents coming into contact with teachers at all cost. She's now left & been replaced by an 'adminstrative officer' for each year, one of many changes at school. Anyway this appointment is at 7.30 one morning, a tad early for my liking.

I can't believe what P just did

Last night I missed Strictly Come Dancing because we were out. So today I started watching it on catch-up but paused because P and J wanted to watch 'Night at the Museum 2' (which was a bit stupid I thought). Anyway that finished then P went and switched back to BBC 1 to watch Antiques Roadshow and got the end of Strictly and even though I was screaming 'turn it off, turn it off' I saw who was going off. So it's spoiled for me and is he in the least bit repentant?  No.

The reason we're all slumped like zombies in front of the TV is that we are tired and poor J also has a bad cold and P has what is so far a mild cold and my legs are seriously achey. The reason we are tired is that last night we went with Becky to a quiz which was a nice evening but went on really late, we didn't get to bed until just before 12 and this was a quiz that started at 7.00. There were 4 music rounds as well, mostly being recent pop music so we were very grateful for Tim's sister who knew most of them. Right up to the end it looked like we were going to win and J was calculating how to divide up the prize money (the first quiz I've ever been to where the prize was money, usually it's 3 bottles of wine and 2 boxes of chocolates to divide between 8). Anyway we didn't win, we came fourth.

I had one of those mornings at church where I didn't feel well enough to go though to coffee which was a bit miserable really. J didn't make it at all and stayed at home coughing. I hope he's well enough for school tomorrow.

Bit of a random update

• We are basically all fine although J & I have been struggling with colds/viruses & he had 2 days off last week.
• P is working hard on the house, we have had a major sort-out of the utility room & he has put up 4 shelves in there. We are also sorting out the study & P is painting our book-case from the old house which was dark wood but is now white. Plan is to clear out junk from study & move book-case & keyboard in there. P also has made & put up barge boards & is planning new sewage system. As well we are trying to clear out his Dad's house which isn't easy. A friend of someone at church is moving from a caravan to a council house & is taking the fridge, cooker & 1970s cupboards which she loves. Always happy to help someone escape from a caravan.
• I have taken up jam & jelly making as a hobby, mainly due to the large amount of fruit this year. Have had some issues re deciding when it's set so in some cases have made toffee instead.
• J is approaching his Grade 2 piano exam which is so stressful. He has this habit of playing his pieces at twice the speed they should be but his teacher says this would lose him marks & it would be a totally crazy reason to lose marks & he's never ever had a pupil lose marks for playing too fast before so please don't be the first. Every practice session is accompanied by shouts of 'Slow Down' & 'I AM BEING SLOW!'
• J seems to be enjoying school this year, he has started Graphics as his GCSE Technology option & really likes it. With a father who works in Graphics though his homework has to be perfect!
• We went to a local Dyslexia charity yesterday & they were really helpful & gave us some good advice & tips. They recommended a study guide to help J with essays & I thought it might actually help me with my essay. I'd just love to get beyond this one so I've finished the module & can start another one. I've ordered the book anyway. We've got an appointment to see the Special Needs co-ordinator at J's school next week (at 7.30 one morning!) to discuss the situation re his GCSEs.
• P has been planning to retire next May but they've asked him to stay on. He's not sure what to do now but I think if they want him to stay they will in some way have to make it worth his while.
• For the first time yesterday went into the adult section to buy J some new trousers. He's now taller than me!
  

I'm back again & gone digital

Hello little blog, I'm so sorry I've neglected you so badly. I just don't want to talk about the internet issues we've had, it's just too tiresome for words. It would take too long to explain but as part of the long drawn out saga we finally went digital on our TV. I was quite concerned about this as I thought the boys might end up spending too long watching it but who's the one who's recording Downton Abbey & Strictly & Educating Essex & watching repeats of Come Dine With Me? Er, yes it's me. The novelty will wear off though I suppose.

What's really good though is that we now have really good reception. Can't wait for Wimbledon - I'll actually be able to see the ball.