He's after your pudding!

Christmas

Have had a really good Christmas - lovely church services, good food & great time with friends & family.

On Christmas day it was P's Dad & us, on boxing day the four of us plus Mavis from church who would otherwise have been on her own.

Yesterday some friends came with their 2 boys and we really enjoyed having them.

Tomorrow night it's a party round Becky's again & on Saturday hopefully, weather permitting, my brother plus one daughter & my Dad are coming. Hope they can make it.

Wise Men on Their Journey

Happy Christmas

For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given,
and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

(Isaiah 9:6 NIV)

HAPPY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!

5 hours of shopping

Yesterday woke up with really busy day ahead of me. P took his Dad off to doctors for flu vaccine & blood test & took J to drop him off at Becky's. I had so many cards to write & presents to wrap I was just going to get on with them, then I thought I would just sit down and spend a bit of time with God. It turned into such a peaceful time when I felt so close to Him I was so glad I hadn't decided I was so busy.
When P came back I went into town with him & spent 5 hours shopping! I actually really enjoyed it, the shops were quieter than last time & it was one of those days when everyone seemed to be helpful re the scooter. In BHS I was looking for a necklace for Becky & about 5 came off the stand all at once & got in a real tangle but the assistant was ever so sweet & sorted them out for me. I joined the queue clutching the one I'd chosen then I saw one on another stand that looked even nicer. As the queue snaked right past it I was able to grab it - & it was exactly the same as the one I was holding. Am I losing it or something?
As we drove to pick up J it started pelting snow but later it turned to rain. Today there was quite a lot of thaw but it's now frozen over. Apparently it should warm up tomorrow.

Nativity

The nativity performance on Sunday went so well, all the children did brilliantly and the little ones were so sweet. And not a crook in sight. There were quite a few children & parents from the toddler club who don't normally come to church which was really good. Afterwards we had proper party food, not just mince pies & everyone seemed to really enjoy it. In the evening we had our candle-lit carol service which was lovely & afterwards we had more food!
We sang a religious version of Jingle Bells which was very good, I was going to print it out but not sure about copyright.

Winter wonderland

Our garden in the snow.

Nativity

If you're ever organising a children's nativity play here's a tip - don't give the shepherds crooks. Crooks can be used for sword fights and for poking wise men in the ribs.

Have just returned from rehearsal, nativity involves 2 short plays, one for little children & one for older ones. J & Adam are narrators in first & wise men in second. As most of children didn't turn up last week they rehearsed first play 3 times & second twice with children who were already over-excited & fractious before they even began. Reassured organiser that it'll be alright for the performance tomorrow, but she didn't look all that convinced and went off muttering something about 'those crooks have to go'. Think I'll buy chocolates for J's Sunday school teachers, they do a tough job.

Carol service very nice in snow last night but toes cold!

J about to meet up with Tim & Adam on the common & we're going Christmas shopping. Yippee! (That's a sarcastic yippee, by the way)

Have just ordered some curtains for dining room, wonder if there's any possibility at all of getting them by Christmas.

Lots of snow!

Woke up to several inches of snow! Didn't find out school was closed until 7.40 so had to start getting ready but I was wondering if it was safe to drive or not. J was just so disappointed when he found out school was shut! He was straight out to play in snow. He's just phoned Tim but apparently junior school is open.
We're meant to be going to an outdoor carol service tonight. Brrr! Could be quite atmospheric though.

Snow

It's snowing!

Cold frosty morning

Cold & frosty here but only a few flakes of snow. Drove back way to school through country lanes, very pretty & beautiful sunrise over frosty fields but roads very icy.

Had really good time at P's housegroup social. Was billed as 'mulled wine & mince pies' which was bit of prob for me as I'm off alcohol at moment because of tablets I'm taking & I don't like mince pies but they had mulled apple juice & chocolate brownies as well. Yum. Some nice people to talk to, sadly had to leave early to pick up J from scouts Christmas party. Boys emerged with variously shaped blobs of dough from which oozed mincemeat. They described these as mince pies which they'd made themselves. They enjoyed it anyway.

Yesterday had coffee morning Christmas lunch which was very nice except the fruit crumble which was a bit stodgy. P came too which was nice.

I really have to get on with my Christmas letter now. Don't know what to write!

Christmas catching up on me

Went to brilliant concert Sat night, scouts carol concert last night, scouts party tonight, P's housegroup social also tonight, Xmas lunch tomorrow, carols Fri night, nativity rehearsal Sat am, nativity performance Sunday (J & Adam both wise men & narrators due to lack of interest from other older children) and I still haven't written a single card or finished my Christmas letter.

Help!!

Sleepy day

Today P was at junior school as a governor, mainly helping escort chuldren to & from carol concert at church. He kindly took J to school for me. I woke up with a headache so took 2 paracetamol & decided to have a bit more sleep. I woke up at 12.40! I must have needed the sleep. Actually last week was really busy, I was out every single day.

Highlights of the week were:

• going to Christmas fair at J's junior school on Friday (the children seemed tiny!)

• going to village Christmas fair on Saturday at which J & other scouts were doing car washing, this is a really nice event with beautifully decorated stalls & lots of home-made cakes & chutney & a really good book stall, I went over & chose a pile of books then P said 'I'll take the ones I bought earlier now please' & added another huge pile to my lap, people were laughing at me I was so laden

• our delayed bonfire night on Saturday evening, one of J's new friends who I'll call 'Paul' came as well as Tim & Adam, Paul seems a very nice polite & sensible sort of boy & got on well with Tim & Adam which was a relief. Sadly it did start raining a bit which didn't bother the boys but the grown-ups felt a bit wet & miserable. As usual the kids showed more interest in sparklers & glow sticks than the amazing, multi-coloured expensive rockets & fountains. What we weren't anticipating was one of them (mentioning no names) sticking hot sparklers into the glow sticks so the glow goo came oozing out. This same child then took a bag from his pocket & said 'I'm just going to light my home-made sparkler' 'You're what???' I yelled 'Someone stop him!' His home-made firework turned out to be a stick. I was really glad Becky was there to help keep them under control.
  

Then we had baked potatoes indoors & got warm & the boys played bowling on the wii.

Have to go it's dinner time.

Bedtime conversation

Conversation at bedtime:

Mum: 'I just need to straighten out your sheet.'

J: 'Be careful with the cheese under my pillow.'

Mum: 'Why have you put cheese under your pillow?'

J: 'So the flies don't get it.'

I suppose it was a stupid question.

Will J ever get the bus?

This afternoon I spent on the 'Pre Christmas Tidy-Up' & had quite got into it, kneeling on the floor with a waste paper sack, rubbish sack & cardboard box into which I was chucking stuff & then sticking on a label to say what it was (pretty organised for me!) & was just thinking I'd got 45 minutes until J came home on the bus. Then the phone rang - J!
'Now what's happened?'
'The bus driver didn't stop, he just waved at us & drove past.'
'He what?!!!'
I picked J up. He did ok in his French test apart from spelling 'Quel' as 'Kel' (words fail me). As soon as I got home I was on the phone to the bus company. After half an hour of determined waiting I got through:
'My son says the bus didn't stop outside his school!'
'I know, the driver just waved & drove past. We've been inundated with complaints & when the driver comes in he's probably going to be subject to a disciplinary procedure & we're really, really sorry.'
There wasn't really anything else I could say.

Brrr

December arrived with a vengeance this morning - it was cold & icy. I could find neither de-icer or scraper so had to attack the car windows with a credit card while J did some last-minute homework printing. We made it to school just in time. On the way back I was listening to Premier Radio & they were talking about World Aids Day & someone was describing a trip to Uganda on which she'd come across a 7 year old boy bringing up his 3 year old brother all alone. They lived in what was basically a heap of mud with a twig fire & were eating white ants. She was able to get help for them, they're now at school & the older boy wants to be a doctor. I really hope he makes it. But in Africa there are so many children like them orphaned by AIDs & so many grandparents struggling to bring up grandchildren & earn a living. It's very sobering to think about.
For the first time in ages I was able to go to the housegroup. This has changed quite a lot as several young mums now come along with a couple of babies who are very sweet but quite distracting. There was only Sophie & me there this morning from the original group. Sophie had brought mince pies & Christmas cake but I don't like mince pies & resisted the cake as I'd trying hard to lose weight & was feeling very encouraged as this morning I managed to get into my dark blue jeans! For the first time in 2 1/2 years!
Sophie had left behind her notes & was relying on mine which were sadly very brief as Sunday was the anniversary of my mum dying & I kept trying not to think about it during the service but then thinking about it anyway & also I felt the sermon went off track theologically & so did the woman next to me who's got a degree in theology ( it wasn't our usual preacher). A couple of people in the group said they found it helpful though so I don't know.

Shopping again

Yesterday afternoon I headed for town as I hadn't been shopping by myself for weeks & weeks. I got J a Fair Trade Advent Calendar & P some Fair Trade chocolate brazils as one of his Christmas presents (don't tell him). I also went a bit mad & got a brown 3/4 sleeve cardigan to go over my rust polo neck & a pink polo neck to go under the top I got for my birthday which I haven't been able to wear cos I didn't have anything to go with it. Then I saw some really cool boots (well I thought they were cool). The thing with my feet is they are long, narrow & a bit knobbly & they hurt. So it's almost like in the rare event of footwear fitting & being comfortable I buy it. And these boots were super comfy.
I carried on whizzing round the clothes shops desperately looking for something for my nieces & almost demolishing a display of jeans with my scooter then headed back to the car to meet P at which moment my mobile rang - J had missed the bus cos he was busy taking a book back to the library so off to school we went.
P went to a meeting in the evening & I tested J on French vocabulary:
'What's French for cat?'
'Chien.'
All those years of sending J to French Club have really paid off!

A lovely view

This was the view from our bedroom window a few weeks ago.

Autumn Crocus

This photo doesn't do them justice but these were some of our Autumn Crocus.

More update

P said he wanted the computer to look up insulation material to make his poor old Dad's house warmer. Not that poor old Dad wants his house made warmer, like the other males in the family he doesn't feel the cold and keeps turning down the heating.

Anyway to carry on recapping on the Sunday after the school fair there was a baptism at church & it was so moving. There was a lady who had a very difficult childhood & lost her husband a couple of years ago & had an amazing testimony about God speaking to her, then a couple who hadn't told anyone they were getting baptised. They had lost a baby daughter a few days before her first birthday & their testimony was so moving it made me cry.
Sunday evening we sent J to do his piano practice & he just slumped over the keyboard at which point we realised he wasn't well. He was off school the next day with a bit of a temperature. The next morning he woke with a slight temperature then he started coughing badly & about 11 o'clock his temperature shot up to 39 & he suddenly became really ill & drowsy at which point I totally panicked & phoned the surgery in tears. Our doctor, to whom I shall be forever grateful, came out straight away. He took one look then went to his car & came back clad in apron, mask & gloves. He did various tests for meningitis which were negative & said he was pretty sure it was swine flu. He authorised some tamiflu but sadly it made J sick, however when P went down with it he took the tamiflu & made a quick recovery unlike poor J. So the last 2 weeks was J & me at home but now he's back at school, hooray! Really there is only so much Star Wars & Dr Who I can take.

Recap

This is a summary of the last few weeks: I was ill for 2 weeks then felt well enough to go to the school fair on the Saturday. This was actually really enjoyable although crowded & a bit tricky getting round with my scooter. There was something strange though. Last year when I was going round J's junior school Christmas fair in the wheelchair nearly everybody was totally avoiding eye contact with me & there were several incidents when people struck up conversations with Louise who was pushing me & completely ignored me. Although I went round with an 'I don't mind at all' manic grin I sort of did mind a bit. Anyway at J's school fair this year people were coming up & talking to me! How odd. Someone even came up & asked if I wanted raffle tickets, I don't think that's happened to me before.
P had a chat with J's form teacher who said he's settling in well & 'joining in'.
Once we'd parted with loads of money & P had won a bottle of wine & some maltesers & J had won loads of sweets, a teddy, a balloon & a giant plastic hammer & I'd won 2 sachets of chemical laden bath creme we went out into the rain & decided to do a bit of shopping. There are some really interesting shops near J's school including a craft shop where I got some card-making supplies.
I'm going to have to stop for now because P is wanting the computer. I bet it's just so he can go on his flight simulator or check ebay for model aeroplanes.

Update

J is still off school. I am desperate for him to go back, I hate him missing so much but I suppose I was ill for two weeks so it's not that unexpected that he has been as well.

Last night I managed to go out - to a Neal's Yard party at Becky's. It was all about organic face creams & bath products. They were very nice and a bit expensive but not too bad. It turned out most of us there have a skin care regime consisting of a splash of water. That's what happens when you have children. When I was at work it was face creams & full make up & blow drying my hair every day. Now it's good if I manage to brush my hair.
I wasn't sure about some of the 'science' though. Not everything that's a 'chemical' is bad for you, water's a chemical after all. And I'm not sure I believe the one about the woman who put so much under-eye cream on that she got giant bags & they had to be cut off & when they were they were full of eye cream.
Anyway I just bought some little Christmas gift packs to see if I like them or not. I just have this suspicion that what you put on your skin might make it feel better & even look better but it doesn't mean it really is better.
It was nice to get out though.

There are so many people I know of who are ill at the moment. This week there's been Tracy who has now recovered from the septicaemia but has problems with her lungs, someone else at church had a stroke but is recovering well and then someone else who has been ill for some time had to have emergency surgery. I haven't heard anything about him today which is good news because I know I'd have got a text if there was bad news.

Yesterday I did a load of cleaning in the kitchen then today I was really tired and crashed out in the afternoon, well as much as J would let me sleep. I've managed to write some of the article for the church magazine on Faith Camp this evening. We used to have a magazine every month but then they changed it to every couple of months with the idea it would be bigger with loads of articles. However we haven't had a magazine since early summer & when I mentioned to the editor I was writing an article he said he would print the magazine when I've done it because he hasn't received anything else. No pressure.

I've just stayed up late watching a documentary about a 3 year old girl who spent most of the night playing with her imaginary friends. She got sorted out in the end though.

I must go to bed.

Update

Tracy who I mentioned yesterday is apparently a bit better today, they gave her a new drug and it seems to be helping. She is off the ventilator & breathing by herself. There is some concern as the drug can have major side effects but things are looking better.

Both P & J were a lot better this morning & I feel less exhausted today, mainly because for the first time in 4 nights I slept in my own bed. On Tuesday I slept on an airbed next to J who insisted he wanted to sleep on the sofa. He wanted me to sleep near him as he was afraid to sleep alone when he felt so ill. The airbed didn't seem to be inflated enough & felt like lying on jelly. J kept coughing & groaning in his sleep.Outside the wind was howling. From the cloakroom came a rustling sound which I was convinced was a pack of supersize rats trying to break in & our in-house rodent kept walking round his wheel (he seems to have got too old to run round it) all night. So basically I didn't sleep. The next night Digger was banished to the kitchen, P inflated the airbed a bit more & J & I swapped over. He slept well but I found the sofa was too short. If I can't stretch out my legs the muscles sometimes go into spasms which they kept doing all night. The next night J went back to his high-level bed but I slept underneath him in the futon. This wasn't too bad, it was a bit short but my legs hungover the end. However the waterproof mattress cover, which I'd put on to cover all eventualities from J's sleepover friends, rustled every time I moved. Then last night I was back in my comfy wumfy bed next to my coughing husband.

Please pray

If you are the sort of person who prays please could you say a prayer for the following two people:

1) Someone called Tracy who is related to someone at church. She is the mother of 4 children, has recently had swine flu & is now in ITU with septicaemia fighting for her life.

2) Our local vicar's wife with whom I'm quite friendly. She has recently been diagnosed with secondary cancer in her spine & pelvis & starts chemo today.

Thank you.

We're ill

Sorry for absence. Basically we all have what seems to be swine flu. I'm getting better but am exhausted. J has been really quite ill but is now on the mend. Tamiflu made him sick so had to give up on it. P went down with it yesterday & went on tamiflu straight away. He is a lot better this morning apart from coughing a lot. It's been a bit tough but we're getting through it.

Getting better

Feeling quite a lot better today. Actually got up this morning & sat in rocking chair for couple of hours. P is very much looking forward to me being able to do school run again. I think it's been quite an educational experience for him.

P's Dad came home on Monday, he's doing well.

Not such a good day

Not feeling so good again today. Yesterday managed to stay awake all day but slept several hours this morning & feel cold & achey.
P & J went to Remembrance Service yesterday, J in parade. P said a lot of people there.
After lunch J (after lots of instructions re good manners) went to spend the afternoon at the house of one of his new friends. P said it was behind big gates down a private road & they checked them out with a cctv camera before opening the gates.
Hmmm.
J had a good time anyway.

Just had call to say P's Dad coming home today.

A bit better

Feeling a bit better this morning but still taking it easy. I think I could easily adapt to sleeping nearly all morning as a lifestyle.
P & J gone to church men's breakfast.
P's Dad should be home any day.
Sun shining. Autumn colours seen through bedroom window beautiful.
Going to turn on Premier Radio & probably fall asleep.
Yawn.

Still ill

I'm still ill. Felt better on Tues & got up then in afternoon started feeling bad & that night felt like I was dying. Phoned doctor on Weds & he said to go & see him. I had to go in through back door & wear a mask & he put on a mask too. After taking my temperature in each ear several times & commenting on fact that one ear was hotter than the other he said I could have mild swine flu or I could be getting worse swine flu or I could have a different virus. He said that in fact no-one really knows who's got swine flu & who hasn't. The government just arbitrarily decided that if you've got cold symptoms & a temp over 38 you can get tamiflu. Anyway he said I should go home & rest. So we cancelled J's piano lesson, the friend who was coming to dinner tonight & the firework party & I'm spending most of time asleep in bed when I'm not coughing.
J's school had a church service for Year 7s this morning to which parents were invited. I couldn't go but P went along & said it was very good but hardly any parents there.
Had bit if a panicky call from J this evening - he had too little bus fare for 2nd bus. Super-heroine Becky went & picked him up then went to get her children from after school club & another mum brought J back here. Quite a relief to see him.

Ill

I'm ill. Got some sort of virus, probably what J had. Don't think it's swine flu as haven't got a temperature but I feel bad. Spent most of yesterday & today in bed.

Update

Quick update:

• Had great time visiting friends yesterday.
• P's Dad doing well, got out of bed today.
  
• Boys slept well on sleepover.
• Went to coffee morning where someone said he thought I was about 30!
• Someone else asked if I'd thought about how to do the next Easter prayer rooms yet!
  
• Adam came to play this afternoon, he & J very lively. I did a treasure hunt for them then they did one for me.
• I did a load of scanning today.
• I'm exhausted.
  

Half term is here

Why, I wondered this morning, did I make a doctor's appointment so early on the first day of half term when I could have had a lie-in? Because doctor's appointments are sometimes like gold dust is the answer. It was only for a medication review & I spent an hour waiting & thinking what a stressful job being a receptionist must be a a couple of people were distinctly awkward. After that went round Becky's for a cup of tea then went home as Tim's tutor coming. He's in the run-up to his senior school entrance exams (how nice to have all that over with). His little sister who will be doing them next year has also started working for them. She seems a lot more motivated than Tim.
Then I went home & tidied & cleaned the house a lot. There are only 2 people I really want to impress with my tidying. One is Becky & the other is my brother (sibling rivalry never dies). When Becky came back with Tim who is staying for a sleepover she was almost impressed by the clear table but said we need to declutter which is easier said than done because most of the clutter doesn't belong to me. I had been doing quite well with getting rid of stuff then I helped at the bookstall at a charity event & we ended up bringing home 3 big boxes of leftover books.
One thing I have done though is decided that the end of the dining room is 'my area' & if anybody leaves anything in it it's instantly moved, so I have a nice clear area to sit in a comfortable chair with my plants & photos & my pansies just outside the French doors.
P's Dad is still doing well, going to start physio on his legs tomorrow.
Hope boys sleep on sleepover.

Dinner conversation

Part of conversation at dinner last night:

J: 'Is G-I-T a swear word?'
Dad: 'No, it's not a swear word but it's not nice to call somebody a git'.
J: 'My Maths teacher called someone a git'.
Mum (shocked): 'Who did she call a git?'
J: 'The minister for education'.
Mum & Dad: 'Hmmm'.

Good news

Good news! P's Dad turned a corner yesterday & is a lot better. J & I went with P to see him this afternoon & although he still looked ill he's no longer confused & his chest seems a lot better.
P's brother & his wife came down for a brief visit yesterday although she couldn't bring herself to actually go into the ward as she hates hospitals. Actually, just for the record, I don't like hospitals either, despite having worked in several & had quite a lot of experience as a patient. But we have to be very thankful for the medical care we receive in this country.

Nice & sunny today. Good church service with visiting speaker. I was starving at coffee time & ate a custard cream & a bourbon & then got P to get me some peanut M & Ms when he went to get the paper all of which wrecked my diet which has been going really well. Never mind, I'll get back on track tomorrow. Trying to rest a bit today as did lot of tidying yesterday (P & J also helped). House definitely getting tidier.

P making home-made pizza. Yum!

Update

Got phone call from hospital 8.30 last night saying P's Dad not letting nurses near him so P had to go in to help them give him his medicine & wasn't back until after 10.00. He had to go back in first thing this morning. A lot of the time he seems to be in a world of his own, thinking he's back in the army but is occasionally lucid. We're still very concerned about him. We were going to go to Wales during half term but have decided we can't go.

J went back to school today & went on a trip to the zoo. This was for those who attended summer school as a reward for working so hard.

I'm feeling a bit under the weather as if I might be catching J's illness.

Had lovely sunny day here. Did a bit of scanning & a bit of tidying & a bit of sitting looking at my beautiful pansies.

P's Dad update

P's Dad was diagnosed as having severe pneumonia & when we went in on Monday he was desperately ill with drips & tubes everywhere. By the afternoon he had improved somewhat & was on an ordinary ward. He continued to improve Tuesday but yesterday morning a nurse phoned at 6 am & said he was very agitated & unco-operative & they just couldn't cope with him. P went in & got him calmed down & he was a lot better yesterday pm. Today P says he's a bit agitated again & when he went in was refusing to take his medicine. So it's all a bit up & down at the moment.
They said he appears to have lesions on his liver which might be a source of infection but they did another scan yesterday & we haven't had the result yet. So it's just a question of wait & see.
Meanwhile J has been quite unwell & been off school again. I really wish this wouldn't keep happening. He's quite a lot better now & is trying to catch up on some homework.

P's Dad

P's Dad just gone off in an ambulance. He's had a bit of a chest infection & this morning was having a lot of difficulty breathing. Waiting to find out how he is.

Bulb planting

If you are wondering why the last post is in underlined writing I don't know, it just is.

Last Saturday I did too much in garden & got really tired. Today I've done too much in the garden, will I ever learn? With P's help we have planted loads of bulbs. Hope they come up & don't turn into squirrel food.

J not been well again but still went to school yesterday. I was really tired during the week. Yesterday I lay down for a rest at 1 pm & woke up at 4pm.

P been clearing out loft. Says he's going to have model aeroplane workshop up there rather than using kitchen table. Yes!!!

Yummy food

Little brother, if you are reading this, this is the delicious Indian meal you cooked when we were staying with you.

Rollercoaster

Yesterday got home from dropping J off & sat down to plan my long to do list & fell sleep & basically slept nearly all day. Went to bed at night & couldn't sleep as had slept so much during the day. When finally got to sleep had terrible nightmares. Right now feel just want to go to sleep but desperately trying to keep awake.
I'm not showing off or anything but my son got 98% in his Maths assessment which gave him a grade of 6c. Wow. This ability he does not get from his mother. He also got graded at 5b in his writing assessment which for him is brilliant. He got 4c for writing in his SATs in the summer so he's gone up a lot. As a reward for working so hard I took him (or rather he pushed me) to the toy shop while P was in Waitrose yesterday. We bought a Lego kit & as were paying for it I noticed the assistants were trying to assemble a Knex rollercoaster & having a real struggle - bits of Knex everywhere. So J offered to help & calmly sorted it out but it still wouldn't work. Then P came in & together they had a go & got it so the car would go round but it still kept getting stuck at the top. After an hour or so P concluded it was a bad design & the ladies said the manager was coming in today so he could sort it out but they were very relieved that it was assembled. I would suggest you don't buy a Knex rollercoaster for your children or grandchildren for Christmas.

My specialist subject

Quiz went well last night although questions were hard, like 'Which family does the okapi belong to?' I mean, I didn't even know what an okapi was. I managed to answer some questions & the others were quite impressed with me knowing who the wife of Odysseus was and where the Islets of Langerhans are. But this is the really sad thing, you know what my star, totally stunningly impressive answer was? To the question 'What does the washing symbol of a triangle with a cross through it mean?' I was the only one out of the seven of us who knew that it means 'do not bleach'.
So now here I am with a specialist subject of 'doing the washing'. Mastermind here I come.

The seven of us were Becky, 2 of Becky's friends, Becky's friend's son, us & a bloke from church who's never been out with any of us before but seemed to enjoy it.

Halfway through the evening there was a curry from the local takeaway which was seriously yummy: chicken tikka, chicken tikka massala, lamb rhogan gosh which I didn't eat cos I don't like lamb curry, pilau rice, naan bread, salad and popadoms. Then chocolates afterward. You wouldn't have believed that all the women on the table are trying to lose weight and the two men should be trying to lose weight.

Surprisingly after all that food last night I woke up starving this morning, there wasn't much time for breakfast though as we woke up late & had to get ready for church. We had a lovely Harvest service. The church looked beautiful & some of the children put on a play which was brilliant. Several of them sang solos & were so sweet. Then the children carried up food to the front which is going to a children's respite care home.

Came across P & minister having conversation about how P & I are going to do a theology degree & he was saying if we wanted to borrow books just ask him. This was a bit of a surprise as a) not aware P thinking of doing a course as well b) I'm only at stage of thinking that I might perhaps consider thinking about considering perhaps doing it & now someone's offering to lend me the books. I don't think P's really got the time & I'm not sure how many brains I've got left since the Teletubbies took them but you just study as much as you want to at the pace you want to so we could spend the nest 10 years doing just one unit. We'll see.

Sunny day

Lovely sunny day today, just like summer again. Spent lot of time outside trying to clear the bank a bit to plant some more daffodil bulbs. Managed to plant 4! Think I've probably overdone the gardening.
Going to quiz & curry night at J's old junior school.
J's tummy a bit better.
He lost 2 marks in German oral test for stammering a bit even though he knew all the answers!

Yuk!

This was at an 'animal party' J went to & someone is holding a giant snail on their hand! Seriously yuk! J said it felt like putty & what's the big deal?

Update

J been back at school but tummy still painful, this morning he said it was a lot worse but he has 3 assessments today (History, Geography & German) so decided he would go in. Just hope he's alright.

I have been really struggling with feeling low lately but today I feel better. I'll tell you what's made me feel better if it goes on making me feel better.

Can you believe what Parcelforce did yesterday? They left my parcel outside our neighbours house & faked a signature? Should they be called Parcelforge? In fact I think I'll email that & say it to them. This even surpasses ANC who took a parcel back to the depot & didn't bother to tell anyone they couldn't deliver it so our 'next day delivery' ended up taking 12 days.

Some other updates:

• I'm knitting a cardigan.
• I have been tidying up garden a bit & have planted some winter pansies in a container. In all my life I've never had winter pansies before.
• P getting on well with ventilation system.
• J's writing seems to have improved dramatically. Yesterday he came home having written a whole page of a story for English & wanted to carry on with it at home & there wasn't a single bit of moaning or procrastination! We can't get our heads round it really. What we need to get him to realise is, as his teacher wrote on his book 'commas do matter'. She's probably also going to consider that paragraphs do matter.
• People buying Dorothy's house have cleared overgrown bushes & brambles away. Looks a bit like a war-zone now.
• A load of Digger's fur fell out but it's growing back now.
• I'm trying (or perhaps struggling should be the word) to learn a bit of German to help J. (The other night I helped him with his French & got it wrong).
• Yesterday we had a really lovely sunny day, just like summer again.
• Removal van outside Lucy's house this morning, can't believe she's really going.
• Doctor thinks I've got 'boredhousewifeitis'. He suggested I should do something with my brain & said 'You're interested in church stuff why don't you do an on-line theology course?' What I'm thinking is 'Why don't I?' Well apart from time, cost etc why don't I?
  

Flowers

Some flowers P gave me. Aren't they pretty?

Poor J

Poor J hasn't been at all well today. Had bad tummy ache & being crying out with pain. Took J to doctor, locum was there (when she pressed intercom to call us in she accidentally played 'your call is important to us' answerphone message & music over loudspeaker). She said it's probably his glands in his tummy being swollen as he's had sore throat etc, give him nurofen & see how it goes. I hate him having more time off school but he can't go in like this.

He said today he's really ill & he hasn't stayed off school because he was pretending to be sick since year 2!

Blackberries

There have been loads of blackberries this year. I even made a crumble the other night. I think, seeing as it was the first time in years I've made one someone in my family should have been prepared to eat it. ( I ate some, it was delicious).

Plums

We had a good crop of plums this year.

September sky

I love this time of year!

Apple trees

Despised dwellings ie caravans in background.

Our apple tree

Sorry for absence

Sorry, I don't know what's happened to my blogging lately, just a combination of busyness, tiredness, lethaargy & being outside enjoying the sunshine (we did have sunshine for a while, it's raining today). If I've got any readers left at all I'm going to try & get a grip & do a bit at least every few days.

So a quick update:

• School still going well apart from J sometimes getting called 'Ginger Head'.
• J off school sick today, think it's just all the new germs at school.
• We went to new parents evening at school, teachers all seemed nice & actually seemed to genuinely remember him which was impressive. Met one of J's new friends & his family from Pakistan. Lovely family, Dad a research physicist, seems very clever, so does his son.
  
• J helped with open evening last week for prospective pupils & parents. Some appalling bribery going on among teachers: 'If you help with my subject I'll give you 10 school points' 'Ok the French teachers giving 15 points I'll give 20'! J helped with technology, predictably & spent the evening trying to stop the robots falling over.
• J really got into cookery since starting Food Technology. Came home with impressive 'Fruit Fusion' (fruit salad to you & me). On Saturday he made us 'Pizza Toast for tea'.
• Travelling to school not too bad, most days I take him in the morning & he comes home by bus.
• There's a reasonably priced Ironing Service on way to school. Yay!
• P working on ventilation system for house. Getting quite creative about forming his ducts, keeps holding bits of equipment under my nose & saying 'What do you think?' 'Er, very nice dear.'
• Dorothy's house sale going though, the buyer's solicitor just been so slow. Hopefully should exchange this week (they said that last week).
• Church & housegroup going well. Tonight I'm going to pub for farewell for Lucy as she's moving (sob). She's going to come to housegroup for a while as her son will still be in nursery in village for this year but they have bought a house in a village about 30 mile away so she will be finding a new church.
  
• J's piano teacher started coming to give him lessons on Wednesdays which is good as it'll prompt us to have weekly tidy up. I've invited Emily for coffee this Thursday when hopefully the house won't be too bad. Perhaps I should invite somebody every week. Can't believe how well J gets on with piano teacher though I think J needs to grasp that if he & teacher disagree on how a piece should be played teacher is probably right.
  

Tired!

Sorry I haven't blogged for a while. Been feeling pretty exhausted, getting used to getting up so much earlier isn't easy. J still enjoying school (though off sick yesterday). Tomorrow he's going to get the bus(es) home for the first time which is quite an adventure.
Will write more tomorrow. Yawn...

Woodpeckers keep out

Sitting here listening to the sounds of birds pecking & scratching at our outside walls, just hope that woodpecker doesn't start again!
Had a busy week-end as Becky needed us to mind Tim on Saturday. We went into town first to get J a watch so he can be on time for his lessons, mad dash back to get here in time for Tim to be dropped off, half an hour later Becky phoned & asked if P could pick him up. J in quite a bossy mood & kept shouting at Tim but most of the time they played together ok. J a bit emotionally fragile at the moment, if something upsets him he goes over the edge easily, obviously the strain/excitement/tiredness of starting school. Have heard from a few other parents that their children are very tired as well. Tim stayed for a sleepover in the end & they seemed to settle down fairly well.
I was quite busy Sat & Sun sorting out church library books & making labels for the shelves on the computer, I think I overdid it a bit as I've got a bad back now. Yesterday morning at church I was happily sticking labels on shelves when heard through the wall the minister introducing the service, suddenly remembered I was meant to be in there.
Yesterday J went to a reptile party & I lay on airbed in the sun. Bliss!
Both J & I woke up late this morning, he got into real strop & kept banging bathroom door (how does it stay on its hinges?). In the end I lost my temper too & slammed the door! However we got to school on time complete with his reading book, homework diary, snack & old shirt for art but minus his drink bottle again. Remembering what he needs for each day is really hard especially as it's a 2 week timetable, so we have to remember if it's week A or week B. Louise has done a spreadsheet for Adam to try & make it easier. Must try & get it all ready the night before.
As we drew near the school J transformed into a sweet natured boy, I'm sure he has one personality for school & one for home. No, that's not really true, he is often sweet at home too but like me he's just not very good in the morning, after years of shouting at me to get up & get ready my Mum would think I got my just desserts.

New school

Just to quickly say J so far is really enjoying school although yesterday he was so exhausted he fell asleep in the car. One of the friends he made at summer school is in his form group so that's really good, they've been getting lost together. He hasn't really done much work yet, apart from some improper fractions today. He has brought home a German text book which I'm grappling with as I don't speak any German. They had a pep talk from the PE teacher today about how their school has the best sporting opportunities in the country as a result of which J is signing up for basketball club & even, believe it or not, considering going in for the rugby team trials! I'd like to meet this teacher.

Pictures

I got P to take pictures of this church we saw just because I think it's pretty.

I might point out that the good photos in my blog are generally taken by P as he's good at that sort of thing. The blurry ones are likely to have been taken by me although P suggested the other day that if I held my arms in against my body & not stretched out then my hands wouldn't shake so much. We shall see.

Thankful Thursday

Just realised it's a Thursday so here are 10 things I'm thankful for:

1) J seemed happy going into school.
2) It's a lovely sunny (though a bit windy) Autumn day.
3) I feel quite happy & peaceful today.
4) We had a really good Evening Service at church last night. Some of us have felt that the corporate prayer life of our church isn't quite all it should be & last night the minister had felt led to change his talk & do one on prayer. We had a time of discussing what we felt difficult about prayer & then a time of just sitting in silence. Then after communion we had a prayer time & it really seemed to take off. I'm usually really shy about praying in church but even I said a prayer. Afterwards we were talking until 10.00 & planning how we can pray together in future. All very positive.
5) P & I are going to set up a 'prayer corner' in the corner of the hall.
6) My family.
7) My house.
8) Hot running water.
9) My washing machine.
10) The lovely bunch of flowers P bought me on Saturday.

J's Big Day

My little baby who's somehow mysteriously turned into a great big senior school boy went off to his new school today. On Tuesday night he had a bit of a major wobble & was pleading with us to home-school him but last night he got quite excited about sorting out his pencil case & packing his bag. Drove him in this morning & got there 10 minutes early. Year 7s were going in later than the others. They all looked so smart in their new uniforms. J having major issue about whether he should do up his blazer buttons or not. He said he wouldn't put on his uniform until the last minute this morning in case he crumpled it. I bet in a few weeks it'll end up on the floor with the rest of his clothes. I just wanted to sit in the car park all morning but realised I was right under the CCTV camera & somebody, somewhere was probably thinking I was weird so drove home along lovely, leafy lanes. Went past primary school just as last of mums going back home. Got home & saw J's school drink bottle by sink. Oh, well, he's old enough to manage to get himself a drink now. Just hope he has something sensible for lunch. Louise asked one of the mums with children at senior school how she made sure they ate healthily & she said one child goes to Pizza Hut & the other buys a couple of packets of biscuits for the week. Somehow we weren't very reassured.

Heat recovery

Got quite stressed at church this morning. J sitting behind me with Adam & 3 other boys. I have already got them to sit nearer the front away from the older people who were complaining they were being noisy. Trouble is there's one who is quite young, only 3 or 4 & he sits there to be with his bigger brother & he is noisy! The others make nearly as much noise telling him to be quiet. His parents sit the other side of the church apparently unaware of it all. The only one who wasn't making any noise this morning was J & despite repeatedly turning round & going 'Shhh' I couldn't really get them to behave, in fact Adam was just getting more & more giggly. Several people were staring & the woman sitting next to me, who just happened to be the one who stormed out of the church meeting, was obviously annoyed. But what can I do? If I make too much fuss they might stop coming & none of the noisy ones are from Christian families, it's good they come to church.
Anyway now August has finished Sunday school will start again. Hooray!
Had long chat with minister about church library. He's all for buying new books which is good & we seem to be on same wavelength about types of books. I've been trying to reorganise the library a bit. A couple of weeks ago I went in & with P's help put the books in piles according to which category they came into. I didn't have time to finish, went home & came back 2 days later to find someone had tidied them up & put them on shelves in random order. Obviously they were trying to help but I could have cried. Anyway I want to sort them out, & get it looking nice.
After church J went round Adam's house & is going to sleep over. Peaceful afternoon & evening.
P has just started working on our ventilation & heat recovery system. This is very good as it might mean we don't have to have the windows open in the winter. It'll be really interesting to see what difference it makes to the temperature of the house. I still want to get a wood burning stove though.

Swimming party

Got quite stressed doing prayer bulletin. Realising that one disadvantage of an open-plan house is that when you need peace & quiet you don't always get it.
Swimming party was amazing - at place with lots of whirlpools, slides, waterfalls, jacuzzis etc Children had wonderful time. Louise & I are contemplating going back without them sometime & just sitting in the jacuzzi. Of course we will take them with us another time.
It was interesting watching the children, while the girls went round in twos & threes the boys every so often would coalesce into a pack. It seems to be the nature of a pack of boys that whatever intelligence they possess as individuals seems to evaporate & they collectively look for the most moronic activity available. One of them tries to block the waterfall by sitting on it so they all do. As J would say 'Duh!'
Do some of the local senior schools realise just what they're letting themselves in for?

What I should be doing.

You know sometimes you're meant to be doing something & you do something else cos what you're meant to be doing is a bit like hard work & you're not sure how to do it. Well, what |I sat down at the computer to do was write the church prayer bulletin so I'd better do it I suppose. Sometimes it's quite hard as people send me emails about problems then say 'you decide how to word it' & sometimes I don't know what to put. Also there are so many troubled areas in the world it's hard to choose which ones to mention. I suppose what I need to do is stop uploading pictures of sunflowers & butterflies & pray about it.

Sunflowers

And these are J's sunflowers.

Butterfly

This is a butterfly in our field.

Busy week

Ok, getting J to try on his uniform when we were all really tired was a mistake, my mistake. This has been such a busy week. J has been doing archery & ice-skating with Tim & Adam & their sisters. I have to say the girls did rather out-perform the boys at skating, gliding effortlessly & gracefully across the ice. Tim's sister got a Grade 4 & Adam's sister a Grade 3. Adam had a rather wobbly approach but managed to get Grade 3. Tim tended to look as if the wall wasn't there he would never stop & he was a little bit what you could describe as 'blundering'. His face was almost constantly in anguish as whichever size skates he wore they still wouldn't fit. Every so often he left the ice to sit in misery. Poor J looked like his body just wouldn't do what he was telling it & he looked very stiff & as if he'd topple over backwards any moment, which made it rather nerve-wracking for his poor mother. Still he was very determined & worked hard. Both J & Tim got Grade 2. Still they all said they enjoyed it & want to do another course. We'd better try & take them back for some practise first. It is cold at the ice-rink though. So cold I had to have a hot chocolate yesterday to warm me up.
When it came to archery J seems to have a degree of natural ability & did quite well. Wonder if we should let him join a club.
Yesterday morning J & Adam missed the archery & met up with the other ex Year 6 boys for a morning of laser tag. They all dressed up in combat gear, divided into 2 teams & had a great time shooting each other in the woods. The idea was that the mums would sit & relax but only 3 of us stayed the whole time while most of the others dashed off to Tescos etc Still it as nice to have a chat with the other two & two more came along after a while. I seem to be getting to know the other mums better since he's left! I did reflect on the fact though that I was sitting chatting to the mums of the two boys who persistently teased J for most of his time at junior school. Still, let bygones be bygones as they say.
Then we had a quick picnic & it was off to skating followed by more uniform buying. Tonight J has a birthday swimming party 30 miles away. I'm exhausted!

Scream time!

Now as a complete break from uploading beautiful tranquil beach scenes I am going to silently scream because buying & getting J to try on his school uniform has turned me into a stressed-out gibbering wreck!!!

Aaaaaagh!!!

How can trying on one simple pair of white PE socks be such major trauma, how can it? They are the largest size they make & he's struggling to get them onto his feet. Ok, that's not easy for him but is throwing them across the room really the answer?

And now we're onto the football socks. J has a very vociferously totally negative attitude to his football kit as he doesn't want to play football or rugby. I don't think he needs to worry as he'll probably spend the whole lesson trying to get his kit on. If he throws a football boot at me he goes up for adoption. And no, I've just said to him, he can't chop off the studs.

And the trousers said Age 13 on the hanger & when we took them out at home they're Age 11 & too short.

And I've still got to wash, iron & label this lot.

I must say though that he does look pretty smart in his uniform.

Monastery

This was an ancient monastery we went to visit.

I was wearing my brown hoody so I pretended to be a monk. We got the children to sit down & contemplate for 5 minutes then tell us what they were thinking about - they came up with some quite deep thoughts.

Scooty

It was a good job I had my new friend Scooty.

The beach

Because down a steep windy path we found this beautiful unspoilt beach.

Some pictures P took of the harbour

Lunch

This was meant to be a light lunch.

Thieves!

These are the criminals who stole J's bait!

Crabbing

This is the harbour where J & his cousin went crabbing. I could have included a picture of the fishmonger who was selling fish-heads he would have thrown away to children for 25p.

Wales

Where we went was to Wales for a couple of days to see my brother & family. We took a different route this time - a southern one so we weren't able to call in on friends we saw last time (but we will come & see you again!). I didn't like this route very much because it was over steep windy mountain roads & made me feel sick. Younger niece was doing activities during the day but we went out with older niece who is 13 & a lovely girl. She & J are just like brother & sister together. We also took my brother's mother in law with us one day, she is living half the time in a flat built into what was originally their garage & the other half in a flat back in her home town.
Anyway we had a really nice time & in the evenings I managed some Barbie play time with my younger niece.

Hello again.
I haven't been blogging for a while because:

• was away for a few days
• have been really busy, mainly ferrying J around
• our internet connection has been rubbish! Right now computer is saying it might not be able to publish this. We are in the process of changing to a new provider so hopefully things might improve
  

Sun set

But it did clear up eventually.

Wet weather

The day it rained a lot!

J' s bed

This is J on his bed (that thing under the blanket is his head).

Our tent

This is our tent in which we lived last week. This shows J's bedroom, ours was up the other end. It was a very cosy tent & I actually enjoyed camping, especially as P did all the cooking & washing up.

What's this picture?

Do you know what this is? It's the window in the roof of the bookshop at Faith Camp which is where we were last week. P took the picture because he liked the pattern. Had really, seriously brilliant time at Faith Camp. If you want to know more about what it's about you can click on this link: www.kingdomfaith.com

Monday morning

The weather is doing it's best to make this a miserable Monday, it's pouring with rain. Was going to upload a video to make it a bit more cheerful but I can't work out how to do it.
Got J to summer school early this morning. Having to reset my timings because in the back of my mind I'm still thinking I have to get him to the village by 9 o'clock. Going to be a lot worse in September when I have to get him there by 8.15. One of my friends moved so they were next door to her son's senior school, I can see a lot of sense in that.
Talking of moving the man who's buying Dorothy's house from us hasn't replied to last couple of letters from solicitor. He was ringing up all the time wanting to know what was happening, now it's gone quiet. Really hope he hasn't pulled out.

Update

• J living in his tent most of the time now.

• Woman who stormed out of church meeting back at church this morning as if nothing happened. Sort of avoiding talking about it.

• Have been eating our runner beans & they're yummy.

Pictures

Some pictures of J's creation at Sunday School last Sunday. Still trying to work out link to Jeremiah.

This is a view of J's junior school.

This is a blurry picture of the apparatus.

This is the door to the new classrooms.

Yesterday I learned a new skill. This probably sounds a bit pathetic but I finally got round to learning how to load pictures from the camera to the computer.
So flashing back to last Monday this is where we went - the beach!