The other things I've done this week, as far as I can remember are:

On Monday did lots of tidying.
On Tuesday went to funeral for old man from church we had been visiting in hospital sometimes. He died very peacefully. The last time I saw him he held my hand tightly & gave a lovely smile. A lot of people at funeral & a very moving service. On Tuesday afternoon our minister & Linda from church came & prayed with me, P was there too. Just had a very simple time but there was a real sense of peace & I have felt more peaceful since.
Wednesday was coffee morning then watched some Wimbledon then picked up J, scooted round town quickly & got him another Bear Grylls book, picked up P & took J to dentist. J liked it a lot more than old one which is good. Had been concerned he would need orthodontic treatment on front teeth but seem to be straightening out now. For some reason quite a few of his adult teeth have come through before the baby teeth have fallen out so they don't have enough space at first. Dentist said some of his back molars are deformed, too small & missing the top layer but there is a new treatment that can build them up so he did first layer & will do another at each checkup for a while. Then went home & watched more Wimbledon.
On Thursday went into town, met up with P, got J's photos from residential trip back, for some reason he took a lot of pictures of his bed. Did a bit of shopping, rushed back to get J, went swimming, I went to doctors for check-up, doing fine, then more Wimbledon.
Friday did a bit of sorting out paperwork then fell asleep. Watched a bit of Wimbledon, just when Federer match got interesting had to go out as had arranged to go round Lucy's for coffee. Took her some flowers as after many attempts & thousands of pounds she has just passed her driving test. She had left her car in Village Hall car park as she couldn't get it into her garage. She has this horrendously narrow garage. Did I mention that last week my wing mirror collided with her garage wall & was quite badly cracked? 'How can you crash into a wall?' P asked. 'The same way you crashed into a post.' I felt like saying. Actually he was quite reasonable about it, just a bit mystified & the post he reversed into he really couldn't see whereas I can't really say I couldn't see the wall, I was just looking the other way.

This is what we've been doing a lot of this week - going swimming. It's been so hot (although today is cooler so far). I'm so thankful for the use of the pool, J & his friends get lots of fun & exercise & I just sit there with my feet dangling in the water chatting to the other grown ups. Bliss!

My boy is home safe & sound & had a really good time. He even liked the food.
What is really astonishing is that he actually seemed to like his tidier room especially when we said that it was tidy enough for him to have Tim for a sleepover last night. What is even more astonishing is that both boys went to sleep quickly & had a good night's sleep.
We went to church this morning then met up with Louise & Steve & others for lunch at pub then have been at local church flower festival & fete. Flowers amazing, cake in tea-tent delicious, gymnasts scary & J won first prize in his age group for the pet drawing & painting competition!
Now J wants to go swimming as he bought some flippers for 50p at fete although at the moment he's chatting to my Dad on the phone probably completely mystifying him with his talk of computer games.
This feels like a non-stop (but fun) day.

Yesterday evening we went for the first time to a new dentist. Mavis has recently started going to them & we decided to try them because while in my opinion our old dentists was never all that close to the top of the hill it's definitely been sliding further downhill recently. I won't bore you with the details. Anyway yesterday poor Mavis had to have 4 teeth out & false teeth fitted & we had check-ups. Going in for a check up with P wasn't really a good idea because he never has to have anything done. So he went first & was fine & while the dentist was peering into my mouth & ordering 6 x-rays & muttering that he could try & redo the root canal which he reckoned the last dentist bodged but it wouldn't be easy & they might have to take the tooth out in the end & that upper molar has a hole & that crown's definitely dodgy but perhap's he'll leave it for now, during this P was brightly saying 'It's funny how I never need anything doing & Liz nearly always does' & I lay there contemplating which part of his anatomy to kick.
Then I got up too quickly from the chair & went to see how Mavis was & everything was going black before my eyes & I was trying not to let her see I was almost fainting. She was a bit shaky but not too bad really considering. They had real trouble with my x-rays as my mouth is very small which is part of the reason I have so much trouble with my teeth - they're crammed in too close together. But apart from all that the dentist was very nice & it was much brighter, more modern & high tech (they even had a computer!) & cheaper than our old one.
Then we took Mavis home picked up an Indian take-away, P brought his Dad over & we ate it.
As you can see the diet's really on track!

Today P was off & our 'fun' consisted of a walk in woods by a lake. This was nice to start with but P is a bit of a keen bird watcher & there are several bird hides at this site. This is fine if there are interesting birds to watch but today there weren't. He however wanted to sit & wait for something to come along. After sitting for quite some time waiting in 3 different hides I rebelled & refused to go into the fourth much to his consternation. It was after all a bit cold & the hides are a bit smelly & I was tired & wanted to go home & have a hot drink & a ginger crunch biscuit.
'That's all you do in your life,' he said 'sit and wait for something to happen.'
I don't think this is strictly true, sometimes I make things happen. I did play a part in making J happen. And I'm determined to make him have a tidy room.

On Monday J went off on residential school trip. It was all a bit of a rush getting ready, I don't know why but I always get a bit stressed when it comes to packing but we arrived at school almost on time. Louise & another mum helped us get from the car park & we joined the parents & children milling round in the hall. The girls all seemed to be staying close to their mums while the boys stood together in a group acting like the adults were nothing to do with them. Louise & I pondered the real possibility that our sons could go for a whole 5 days without washing at all. Then we went out to take group photos of the children in their special tee shirts. This was the moment when my camera ceased to function. Hopefully someone will let me have one of their photos.
Then the girls were flinging their arms round their mums' necks & going 'Mummee I'll miss you' & the boys were rushing out of the door with a casual 'Bye' & they were on the coach & gone. Only one mum burst into tears. I don't think any of the boys' mothers would dare.
I wasn't worried about J as he's been to cub camp so hopefully he won't get homesick. I'm sure he's been having a wonderful time. Meanwhile although it's been really strange without him we've been using the opportunity to go out & have a bit of child-free, no need to worry about a babysitter fun. This included a really yummy meal on Tuesday night - seafood risotto, hot chocolate fudge cake & vanilla ice-cream. Bliss!
I've also taken the opportunity to sort J's room out a bit. I'm sure he's going to be so grateful.

P isn't keen on me putting photos of us on my blog but there's one member of the family I can show you: