Tuesday 30 June 2009

Wilting

I am not designed for extremes in temperature, I am one of those "never happy" people who moans when it's hot and moans when it's cold.

Today was HOT!

The school run had me exhausted, and I had a sick child at home (again... what a surprise) Eldest lad was giving it a good go this morning and I immediately set to the default position of "You are going to school"... The boy looked all pale and wan at me and said "I feel really ill, I have a sore throat and my head hurts." I eventually gave in and admitted the possibility that he might be ill and asked to look in his throat.... huge tonsils! Ah, ok then possibly actually feeling unwell .

I sent him to bed with the rules about no telly, no computer and staying in bed ringing in his ears, he went and he slept for a large part of the day... when he wasn't throwing up that was. Mmmmm, seems genuine then. I will take him to the docs tomorrow, but he's going to have to languish on his own as I can't miss another day.

I had a driving lesson today and the walk to my friends house nearly wiped me out before I started, luckily I cooled down before Dave the driving instructor turned up. It was a different car today as Daves car is only just being fixed from the bump it had a few weeks ago. I did not enjoy driving a different car, I mistook the rev counter for the speedo (oops not a good thing) and it all just felt different and weird. I was convinced it would be a rubbish lesson but apparantley I did well and Dave was pleased. I shall let you into a little secret, I have booked my test, not telling you when and it's not in the next five minutes, but I have something to aim for now. I'm not going to tell the kids as I don't want them to be disappointed if I fail, then if I do pass it'll be even more exciting .

I am going to go and make packed lunches now, so I'm not doing the frantic pre-school run dance in the morning (well I will be but not as frantic as when I have to make sarnies), night all hope it's cooling down wherever you are this evening .

Sunday 28 June 2009

Cuteness Alert

Please be aware that I am about to gush slightly about how cute my youngest is and to top it off I am including some cute pictures.... you have been warned!

Today I had my parents coming over for my pre-birthday lunch (that's cos my after birthday weekend will be a bit busy, what with Take That and all ). I decided that Miss M could wear a dress for a change, she was quite happy with this idea and as I put the dress over her head I was saying "Ooh M*** look isn't it pretty?" "Yes" she replied, "My pretty dress, I look like a princess" I was amused and said yes you do, Little Miss sighed and said "Magical, I look amazing!" Oh my goodness where did she get all that from, she's only two.

She really is more forward than the others were at this stage, I suspect younger siblings do get a bit of a head start in these things.

We have had a nice roasty lamb dinner, followed by strawberries and cream, I now feel a little stuffed and tired... too much rich food does me no favours (still gotta have it though) My parents have given me a monetary contribution towards my outing as a pressy (yay) and now I can look forward to getting prepared for next weekend!

Anyway here are some pics.......



There we are cuteness over with, I am off to collapse in a heap on the sofa and hopefully not explode from over-eating!

Saturday 27 June 2009

A "Mum" Personality?

Do I have one? I'm only asking as not only do I have the four children to look after, I appear to have an Other Half who thinks I am the one who does everything!

Can you tell we had a ...er.. disagreement yesterday?

It is over and done now, and didn't blow up out of all proportion (for once...) but it's got me thinking...waits for comments along the lines of "oooh dangerous" "blimey didn't know that was possible" etc. What I am thinking is this; do I come across as the sort of person who sorts things out? You know a kind of eternal Mum to all and sundry?

I do like to be in control it has to be said, and I do like to sort things out, but I would like to think other people didn't jump to that conclusion so readily. I don't have to be the one who sorts it all out, I don't mind if other people do it, I just want it done!

Yesterday Other Halfs wage was short, again. Other Halfs reaction to this news was to have a complete strop and rage on about the company he works for. All valid points, but what are you going to do about it? I then had thrown at me "well I thought we (insert word you here) were going to sort something out a couple of months ago but for some reason we (you know the drill... insert the word you) didn't" At this point I was a little irritated as I had drafted a letter for him to take in and present to whoever was appropriate a few months back. However, he didn't think it was a good time to rock the boat (?!) and wouldn't take it in.

Yet another fundamental difference between us, I don't see asking questions to gather information as rude or pushy, he does. It all revolves around the way his firm has started to pay for fuel and mileage, somehow Other Half seems to be dipping out, despite reassurances when they brought the new procedure in that it "would all even out". It's not. I feel the need to find out why, Other Half does but doesn't want to ask questions, I want to ask questions very loud and irritated questions.

Sigh, maybe I am the mum then, as I would be quite willing to ring up and talk to these people on his behalf, don't think it would look too good though would it? Also maybe he's right, maybe these people are unapproachable and would see him as revolting (being in revolt as opposed to yuk!) he does work there after all, I just can't quite let a steady drip of £60 to £80 a month disappear, we can't afford it.

Right end of moan, I am now on countdown to my
event , I have a hair appointment this afternoon to cover up all signs of grey on my bonce! I may have a slight cut, eeeek not sure about that bit, but I am definitely having the colour. My pal and partner in crime for the event is coming down on thursday night this week, I have friday off , I foresee a trip to the shops.... no don't have to be psychic to see that do you? You can safely say I am looking forward to not being mum for an evening at least, we have checked the hotel booking, we have planned what food items we are taking with us in case of emergency (I refuse to be ill through too much alcohol and not enough food, again) I am thinking bottled water would be a good idea, goodness me so rock'n'roll.

Thursday 25 June 2009

Plea for Help...

Ok how do I get one of those lists of blogs that I follow to show on my blog? I have had a look and sadly my computer illiterate brain is refusing to see how it's done!

Any help greatly appreciated lol, I blame having to tend to sick children... that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it, talking of which best get off this machine and go and check on small sleepy boy.

Silver Lining

My silver lining to my boy being home sick is that I can finally catch up on a few blog things, well one anyway. I was thrown out a challenge by clareybabbling regarding recycling. This is from the The Rubbish Diet's recycling pledge and the rules are

1. Visit www.recyclenow.com and sign up to one of the pledges to waste less.

2. Share details of your pledge on your own blog.

3. Chose five other bloggers, who will also be up for a bit of recycling fun.

4. Come back to this post at The Rubbish Diet and share your pledge with others, by placing a link to your pledge in the comments field.

5. Optional - as a thank you to all involved The Rubbish Diet will be publishing a British Mummy Bloggers' Recycle Week carnival on Monday 29th June. To be included, simply submit your favourite post revealing the progress of your pledge by Saturday 27th June - email to karen[at]therubbishdiet[dot]co[dot]uk.


so here it goes I am going to recycle my textiles, I felt a little smug as I scrolled through the list on www.recyclenow.com and thought to myself "yep we do that, and that, yep that one too.." so I picked this as we don't recycle textiles and I know there is a clothes bank just up the road! My forfeit if I don't do the deed is to abstain from tea drinking for a day (yes that is very very bad)

I suspect you've all been tagged from my quick scan of the blogosphere so I issue this challenge to anyone who wants to join in, no it's not laziness I really think you've all been challenged already...

Now if I can't get up the end of the road with a bag of old clothes by the end of the week there really is something up with me, I will be truthful and let you know and I am sure I will not be missing my tea fix at any point soon.

Best get on and attend to little Miss as she has declared she's in need of a nappy change, yay.

Wednesday 24 June 2009

Greetings From The House Of Lurg.....

...y.

Thought it sounded a bit klingon so added the "y" on as an after thought.

I am much better thank you for asking and just pleased I should be ok to make my little wembley trip.


I haven't really let you know the full horror of the past few days so here we go. Timetable of illness runs like this.

Sunday morning Other Half, eldest lad and eldest girlie went to judo (yay), after judo I asked eldest lad to take the dog for a walk. He agreed to this went upstairs... came downstairs.. "I don't feel well, my head hurts and my stomach feels funny" Grrrrrr, oh but you were ok to go to judo and be on the computer for the last three quarters of an hour!!!

I was unsympathetic and sent him out anyway.

Around about this time youngest lad appears and says "I don't feel well I think I might not be able to go to school tomorrow" Mmmmmm, the boys are playing me up today thinks I. Little man continues "what are we having for dinner... I don't want roast dinner, my tummy hurts" I am now fully convinced I am in the house of wolf (no not a real wolf, you know the boy(s) who cried wolf) and sympathy levels are at zero.

Big lad then comes home and says "I feel ill I am going to bed" up the stairs he trots and then I hear run scuffle scuffle slam of bathroom door, shortly followed by "I just threw upppppp!" Ah, I see. The lad then came and looked at me and in best Spike Milligan tradition said "I told you I was ill!" Yep, ok I'll give you that one .

The full story still hadn't unfolded and I should have seen it coming but no, I didn't. Eldest lad went to bed for the afternoon. We had dinner without him (lamb... his favourite... oops he really really wasn't well) little man didn't have much (uh oh do you hear those loud annoying alarm bells? I didn't) but he did fancy some aero mousse dessert that my girl and I had purchased. Then little boy disappeared upstairs, when I went in search of the small boy I discovered he had fallen asleep, very early. I woke him up to get him into more comfortable clothes... he got up went to the loo and threw up. Yay, both not well then, mums radar on the blink again.

So all day monday I am thinking how unlucky we've been with the sickness bug, and counting my lucky stars that they are ill on my non work day. Both lads seemed ok on monday, a little quiet but not throwing up. Later on in the day I got a call from a mum up the road she was asking if I could pick up her little girl for her. I explained both lads were down with the bug and said I'm sorry I couldn't go. She let me know she had the sickness bug and I said "Oooh I seem to have avoided it so far ha ha" she informed me I did not want to get it... haha! She was right wasn't she! As you know monday evening was not good, followed by what I like to call Wiped Out Tuesday... in and out of sleep for most of the day. I was still thankful that the boys seemed much better and oh aren't I lucky it's fallen on my days off, how organised of me eh?

Today, on the way to drop the kids off a thought of "Mmmm he does look a bit pale doesn't he" crossed my mind as I looked at youngest boy. He seemed fine though so I continued as normal.

I suspect you know where I am heading with this. I am not allowed to have my mobile phone on at work, however I do have it on silent as we don't have personal lines at work. I had a meeting to attend this morning and when I came back to my desk at 12:15(ish) I suddenly had a feeling I best check my phone... aaaargh one missed call and a text message from Other Half. Please call school as the little man is ill. Called the school and they informed me he'd got a raging temperature and was lying down in the office. Other Half was on his way but as he was an hour and a half away I told my supervisor I had to go home.

Got to the school and my poor little man was fast asleep on a pull out bed they had on the office floor .

Well we got home and I got him into bed and all calpoled up (gave him paracetomol for those unfamiliar with the wondrous
calpol). Have to say he perked up quite quickly, although when he had dinner (that he had requested), he couldn't eat much. I am going to look at him tomorrow and see what I really think, and if even a fleeting thought of "mm he doesn't look quite right" passes through my mind I am not sending him in.

Ah well these things happen and when you have four of the little darlings an illness seems to go round and round I'm afraid, let's hope we've seen the last of this little nasty .

Monday 22 June 2009

Got Me

the lurgy has hit, I feel sick, I am at the should I just be sick and get it over with stage. However I hate being sick it makes me cry and my stomach doesn't know when to stop.

I just thought you should know.

Going to distract myself with some blog hopping, bucket is beside me....please don't take offence if I drop by and don't comment, my brain seems to have gone for a wander .

Sunday 21 June 2009

They've Gone!

Hah! I am left with just two kiddies and the others have all gone off to judo! Yay, a semi-quiet household. Youngest lad is upstairs knocking people out on the Nintendo Wii and Little Miss M seems happily engrossed with the Numberjacks (I find them a little spooky).

My kitchen has once again been hit by the cooking bomb, remnants of our steak and chips, pan from Eldest girls pasta and sauce (didn't fancy steak this week) and of course the obligatory seven or eight glasses that got used for juice. Sigh.... suppose I best start in there, after all I need to make another huge mess today what with it being roast dinner day .

As it is fathers day baby girl had made her daddy a nice hat in nursery, and because it was Miss M, Daddy actually wore the hat. She was very pleased and kept running about saying "Hat on, hat on!" Other Half also has a nice card chosen by biggest girl (note the lack of boy input here), and as a treat yesterday he bought himself a bottle of rum (yuk!) so I think he's been well catered for.

Not much else planned for today, although yesterday I went to my friends house and she did me a lovely pedicure. I have nice shiny nails and the last time she did it the varnish lasted four weeks! Longer really I just took it off so that the nails could be cut again. This is all in preparation for my outing in a couple of weeks;
Take That at wembley . My friend is also going to do me a spray tan on my lily white legs (she's assured me I won't be doing a Tango ad) so I shouldn't be glowing, Let's hope there's a bit of sunshine or I'll be covering up in jeans and long boots and all her hard work won't be seen.

It's amazing the preparation us girls will go through for an outing, I am sure Other Half didn't spend the two weeks before his AC/DC trip pampering and beautifying....in fact I think a new t-shirt was his only concession. I just know I will be going on a shopping trip before the day, got to look at more make up (which will of course be the same colour as all the make up I already have), need a new concert going top I'm sure, ooh and must get my hair dyed again... cannot go and see the lads with all these white hairs sticking out all over the place see it's never ending.

Right best get on with some of the stuff that actually needs doing here! Have a good sunday all.

Thursday 18 June 2009

Evening All...

can't remember the theme tune to Dixon of Dock Green thank goodness or I'm sure I'd be humming it right now. Sadly however, I do remember the program... eeek getting very old alert!

Not such a wearisome day today, the hour less at the office makes quite a big difference. I even got a wash done before I left for work this morning, then I managed to cook a noodley dinner for four children (one child not mine.... eldest girl had a friend visiting) and then a not so healthy fry up for eldest boy and finally a quick beef curry for the grown ups...I really should attempt to limit the "mums cafe" aspect of evening meals.

I have yet again watched and enjoyed Krod Mandoon, oh I'm soooo grown up! I am still on the tired side of knackered so am going to attempt another early(ish) night.


Friday tomorrow (just like to get that in there.... friday, friday, friday....hah nearly the weekend) I am looking forward to a nice relaxing weekend, I may be fooling myself, but it does give me something to look forward to .

Wednesday 17 June 2009

Wednesday....

I can see wednesdays are going to be a problem for me. I am rattier than a ratty thing with a bag of rats slung over its shoulder! The kids have had to take cover and lay low (they're not good at that) and Other Half has been seen tip toeing about also (must be bad if he's noticed). Ah well day one of the working week over for me.

Not the best day workwise, lots of very irritated people (can't say's I blame them mind you!) who I couldn't help as much as I would have liked, although I did make progress on a couple of occasions beyond what these people had been told by previous colleagues. I also noticed that although customers were stressed and frustrated they did try their hardest not to make it personal with me, I really appreciated it and let them know so. However I don't take these things personally anyway, I know the person on the end of the phone is just letting out frustration to the only real live human being they can actually speak to!

I am going to have to have another reasonably early night, I can feel my eyelids drooping as I type, this working malarkey isn't arf interfering with my blogging, humph .

Off to bed now, going to have loads of blogs to catch up on when I'm finally wide awake enough....wanders off mumbling about the injustice of all this "having to go to work" business.....

Monday 15 June 2009

Title?

Nope, nothing funny or clever or even cliched is springing to mind this evening. I am (and here's a huge surprise and different to normality) really tired! Baby girl recovered swiftly from her bout of sickness on friday, I did watch her like a hawk for the next 24 hours but she was really recovered and not just pretending.

On saturday I was very brave, I drove to my parents house with everyone on board; I had to encounter some fairly speedy traffic at one point (eek) but there was no crashing or swerving or even horn tooting. Now either everyone was being very kind or I wasn't too bad. I feel I may be getting to a point where I could actually drive, unencumbered by company and licensed by the appropriate authorities. Just have to get these blinkin' manoeuvres sorted, turning wheels this way that way and looking everywhere at once!

The aged parents have purchased a puppy.. he is of course gorgeous and I want one, but that's not happening... unless I take a really big bag next time. His name is Beau and he is a whippet crossed with a saluki/whippet cross. He is a bossy boy and not bothered by small and not so small children pestering him constantly. I knew I liked him when he fell asleep on my feet. We had taken our puppy cage to the parents house as theirs is a tad large for the indoors. I hadn't realised quite how fascinating these cages could be until all four of my children decided it would be fun to sit inside them and bolt themselves in. They had minutes of fun doing that! I would have said hours but I wouldn't let them stay in there that long.... boring old mum.

Sundays seem to have taken a strange turn, last week eldest lad decided he'd like to take Judo lessons, Other Half took him and they both came back enthused and inspired. So much so that this week Other Half not only took eldest girl along as well.... he only went and joined in! The upshot is I have spent the last two sundays with Other Half up and conscious by half eight (this is a minor miracle I can tell you) and then..then, they all go out of the house... for two and a half hours. This is fantastic and I get so much done, and no creeping about whilst Other Half gets his twice weekly three hour lie-in. Wonder how long this will last? I shall just enjoy it whilst it's happening.

Today was driving lesson day, after my last couple of weeks where I felt quietly pleased with myself, I was a little disappointed with todays performance. I am attempting "turning in the road" and "reversing round a corner". These manoeuvres make no sense to me... well they do in my head but my arms and legs and head don't seem to be able to co-ordinate. Where do I look? Where do I turn? How fast? Oh slower! OMG I don't know which way is up!

I'm hoping it'll all get better with practise. Oh and maybe a day where I don't feel like I am being slowly roasted in a big metal conveyance... twas hot today, and I got bothered.

Time for bed, I am still trepidatious about young girl and her possibly throwing up in bed, but I am quietly confident (fingers crossed, touch wood) that she is fine... so it should just be a quick bed check and night time for me .

Friday 12 June 2009

Sicky Pup

Poor baby girl is not well. I discovered this last night after I stumbled up the stairs at midnightish (fell asleep on the sofa watching Greys, not a reflection on Greys, just knackered) and went into the girls room to check them. I was hit by a smell and instantly knew someone had been sick . Little Miss M was asleep with a rather nasty patch on her bed, this little one just does not kick up a fuss when she's sick!

I then had to fidget about in the semi darkness (thank goodness for night lights) get the poor thing up, whip the bedding off (straight into the washing machine, yay for washing machines) find her new bedtime clothes and a new snugger (her comfort blanket) and take her downstairs to be cleaned up. She was asking for a bath but as I didn't want to wake the entire house hold I made do with a flannel and a ton of baby wipes. Luckily the hair seemed fairly clear, hate it when you get your hair covered, yuck! Once she was clean and dry she seemed quite happy to play, I was desperately trying to encourage a bit of sitting about and being quiet but she thought "well. we're up, must be time to play". Actually it was a good job I didn't get her straight back in her bed cos we had repeat throwing up performances for the next hour or so. She wasn't particularly bothered, just a bit bemused by all this stuff trying to escape her mouth, she was trying to prevent it escaping.... not a good plan. So hands, sofa, floor and mummy then needed clearing up (thank god for leather sofas) and finally she seemed to have settled, two o clock bedtime for me .

Madam seems fine now, although she is very quiet for herself, so somethings not right! We don't normally do lying about on the floor watching telly. I'm hoping for some actual sleep so that I can maybe have a snoozey myself for a few minutes... we'll see.

Of course I now have the added guilt of not going into work. I was stressing about it as soon as I got into my bed last night/this morning . I don't know why I feel guilty, I can't avoid the little girl being at home, I certainly didnt plan my nightime adventures and I'd much rather have been in bed.... so why the extra guilt? Must be a mum thing, guilty about everything I think!

I am watching a nice selection of Night Garden, Balamory, Big Cook Little Cook now and if I wasn't tired before I am almost comatose now .... still little lady is yawning, so fingers crossed for a nap .

Thursday 11 June 2009

More Rubbish On The Telly

didn't fancy this but my biggest lad has insisted we watch it, and so far I am enjoying it!

Krod Mandoon in case you were wondering .

I am still of the knackered persuasion, work has got slightly more interesting with the onset of me "hot desking" as of next week. Mmmm hot desking you say, what's that? Well fff for goodness sake, I do not know, however it seems that more people are being installed on our floor and we don't have enough desks. This means that all the full timers will be allocated a desk each and us poor part timers will just have to sit where there is room. I did put forward the question of what happens when there is no room, my supervisor looked stressed at me.

Ah well I am ignoring it for now, I'm fairly certain it'll be changing again in five minutes so I shall just ride it out and see what happens.

Friday tomorrow, had you noticed? I had noticed! One more day and then a weekend of not a lot (unless you count the washing,drying, tidying, cooking, washing up with dishwasher of course) maybe a dvd or two and some sort of goodies to be consumed.... can't wait .

Wednesday 10 June 2009

Midweek And The Hormonal Volcano Is Here!

Well it's been brewing and now it's here, a sore spot on the side of my nose which is threatening to turn into an extra nose! Also, as it is my longest day I am truly shattered. Couple the early morning yesterday (you know, when I was avoiding the wardrobe ) with a not early enough night (Dexter was on last night, can't go to bed when Dexter's on) and I am feeling a trifle ratty.

Madam R (biggest girl.... this abbreviation thing isn't working is it?) seems to be fully recovered from a bout of sickness on monday night, so I was able to go to work today, um... yay? The day went as well as can be expected, I am pleased it's over though.

I am completely without get up and go this evening... guess what? It got up and went! I am going to sit and watch some absolute rubbish on the telly box, have a cup of mint hot chocolate (it's ok I have had my daily tea quota) and maybe read a bit more of one of the two books I've started at the moment.

Hope all is well with all my friends in blogland, I am about to go cruising about a bit and see what's occuring .

Monday 8 June 2009

Karen Has Not Left The Building....

however if you rearranged these words into a well known phrase or saying chicken...headless..around...running... then you might get where I've been at all day (and all weekend too).

I've got the plumbers in tomorrow (not a euphimism ) and the rest of the radiators will be installed (yay, fully central heated for the winter). Today therefore, has been spent racing about clearing space for radiators to be put up, oh and of course floor space for people to be able walk across them.

I had a driving lesson today and good old Dave the driving instructor has re-iterated that he thinks I am getting the idea , phew, hopefully I shall be independently mobile in the not too distant future.

Right, gotta go to bed early, there is a wardrobe to be moved at half five in the morning . Why half five? Well the only place for it to go is on my bed...and Other Half leaves the house at six.... so I best move eh?

Friday 5 June 2009

Finding My Feet...

at the work place at least. I have managed to remember some things and speak authoritatively to customers, I have realised I was slightly mistaken on one occasion, but I do sound like I know what I'm doing .

Thank God It's Friday has taken on a whole new meaning for me now, I now say it with real emphasis. The kids are all healthy at least this week, and I have booked a day off already lol. It is friday the third of july, and that is the day before I make my second attempt at going to watch that little pop combo, you know nice bunch of lads.... oh yeah Take That. I shall really, really not drink red wine and collapse in a very drunken heap (like last time... ooops).

Madam R has started to go to cycling proficiency sessions at school, she's quite excited about the whole thing and now there is a list of accessories required by the young lady for her bike, bell, lights, reflector.... drinks bottle holder... cuddly toy... you get the drift. Eldest Lad is due to go to judo lessons on sunday, he is also excited and is eyeing up judo uniform. I shall be waiting until he's been to a couple of lessons, the boy has a tendency to get bored easily.

Youngest lad is looking forward with great enthusiasm to tomorrow. It is the school fair, yay...sort of. It usually entails hanging about for three hours whilst kids buy a ton of tat, eat sweets and try and win yet more tat. I foresee many many pennies/pounds being nabbed from my hot little hand.

Got to go and watch Have I Got News For You now, eyelids are drooping... better go and find that hot choccy. Night all, have a good evening ....

Wednesday 3 June 2009

Midweek Mayhem

Well, not mayhem as such, more like way too much stuff to do and still only 24 hours to do it in! Today is my ahem "long" day at work (six hours... long enough for me!) I had already prepared the lunches last night, also I had prepared eldest lads food tech (didn't we call that cookery?) ingredients. It was still a struggle to get any breakfast down my own neck - as well as feeding four hungry little monsters, then there was the making sure everyone was getting washed and dressed at an acceptable rate, closely followed by emptying the dishwasher from last night and filling it with breakfast stuff (thank the lord for dishwashers, that's all I can say).

Now once all this is done I have to run to nursery to drop off the kids before school, then I run (no I don't, I walk swiftly, but in a dignified fashion ). Then I get a little rest on the bus (15 minute journey) and then into work. Now bearing in mind I have had, ooh lets see, think it's two whole days of retraining I felt a little thrown in the deep end today as they stuck me straight on the phones. Luckily I was sat next to a really helpful lad who I kept waving at frantically to make sure I wasn't saying anything completely stupid (I wasn't lol). I had a fifteen minute break at 11:45... just time to scoff my sarnie (and of course a swift cuppa ). To give you an idea of what it's like let me just say we are not mean't to spend more than ten minutes per phone call, we are not mean't to send e-mail enquiries on more than twenty percent of our calls, and if we spend more than ten minutes on after call work (logging call on the system, adding notes for people who may look at the system later, entering security details to back up why we were looking at the system) the phones automatically kick back in.... eek all of a sudden there is someone there! It is non-stop. As soon as one call is finished the phone beeps and another person is there! This is straight through to 3:30... god I'm knackered! I'm sure it will become easier but it did seem like a hard slog today.

Then of course there is picking up tired kids , or not so tired kids, all three of whom want to say "mummy, mummy, mummy!!!" at the same time as soon as they see me. Then the requests (hah!) start, can we have ice-cream? No. Can we have sweets? No. Can I have pizza hut for dinner? No! There is a very tired and frazzled mummy walking along the road at this point, also not only am I pushing a buggy I seem to have five year old surgically attached to the handle, this means there is a kind of pulling to one side thing going on... oh and five year old likes to lean back and be towed by mum pushing the buggy!

Today I had a treat as K brought home the dish concocted in food tech (COOKERY!) and it was noodle stirfry annnddd all the kids ate it (and me) so woohoo hardly any cooking to be done this evening . However there was a bit of lunch making (for tomorrow), dinner for Other Half to make, clothes washing, clothes drying, dishwasher emptying, dishwasher filling (there's a lot of dishwasher action in our house), bathing of small children, putting to bed of small children and then finally at the ever so early time of quarter past nine I got a sit down, as I may have mentioned earlier.... I'm knackered!!!

Nevermind, cos tomorrow I get to do it all again, wayhay!

Unless of course ye olde lottery win occurs tonight, and then I might give the work thing a miss .

Tuesday 2 June 2009

Baked!

"We shall see what we shall see I had an elephant for my tea, grilled or baked or boiled or fried, I couldn't eat another one no matter how I tried ....."

Just a random childhood ditty that springs to mind whenever I say the word baked, sorry.

I have spent a greater portion of the day being incredibly and uncomfortably hot. I knew when I was boiling on the morning school run that it would be one of those really hot days. I did however make a slight detour to Lidls on the way home, bananas to buy, oh and a jar of nutella (for the kids ) so I was equally boiled on the way home. I had cleverly, and in a most mummy fashion, slathered sun cream onto all small people this morning. On me? Nah, course not! I feel the prickle of slightly reddened skin this evening.

I was enjoying the shade of our huge conifer tree in the back garden today, Miss M and myself were hanging out the, several loads of, washing and taking full advantage of the weather. Sadly I then had to leave the safety of my nice shady, cool and temperate back garden, to walk to my friends house. It was driving lesson day you see and baby girl had to go and play whilst I had my lesson. My friend and I were having a quick natter and wondering where poor old Dave the driving instructor had got to (he's usually 20 minutes early see). I then noticed a text message, poor old Daves car had been hit and wasn't driveable . Oops no lesson for me today then, double oops... had a walk in the hot sun for no reason then! Actually it did enable me to have a sit down and a cup of tea with my mate, so all was not lost.

I have finally seen some money go into my bank from work, woo hoo! Suppose this means I better go in tomorrow. It also meant that on the homeward after school run I bought ice-creams, hah, a treat that garnered some brownie points with the kidlets (oh ok, I did treat myself as well, well it would be rude not too eh?)

Now I am going to try for another earlyish night (just gone eleven last night.. not bad) as my eyelids are trying their best to close right now. Must be all the sun eh, I hope they've finally sussed how to turn off the radiators at work tomorrow .

Monday 1 June 2009

June Already....

This year is zipping past at an alarming rate! And soon (sooner than I'd like) I will be another year older, getting near those middle four-oh's now!

We had a lovely weekend, luckily all children seem to be fully recovered from the sicky/spotty/snotty bugs. My brother came to visit on saturday, and of course I had my outing with small girls to watch
Hannah Montanna. They were suitably impressed, it was very girly, lots of singing, dancing and a dash of romance. I must admit if I'd been ten I'd have loved it, sadly I'm not ten . We went to a mexican restaurant for lunch afterwards, it was a bit different from KFC and McDonalds. The childrens meals were reasonably priced and a decent size too, I was impressed with that at least .

Yesterday I had the parents round for sunday dinner as well, so only nine to cook for, the weather was glorious but I still did the full roast beef and yorkshire pud. It was worth the effort and everybody seemed to appreciate it, little Miss M has taken to sitting at the big table and refusing to get in her high chair, so we were all crammed round the dining table... it was lovely really .

Of course I made pud, ye old faithful
Eton mess always a favourite in our house.

Biggest girl caught up on pressies she didn't get on thursday (due to aforementioned various bugs) money, clothes and some contraption called a
Password Journal so she was very happy.

I am just shattered myself, the week whizzed by in a blur of bad headaches and vomitting children. All my plans to clear spaces and tidy out cupboards etc where well and truly thwarted. As always after a huge sunday dinner experience I have spent most of today clearing and cleaning up the kitchen. Oh, and because of my new super duper washing line I have had to rediscover the iron and ironing board! Not something I was ever fond of, less so now, with three lots of uniform to get ready.

I didn't have a driving lesson today, so I have that in the middle of the day tomorrow, it's all in a good cause but it sort of fills up the whole day no matter when it is. Sadly it is costing me money of course, money which strangely has not materialised from my employers, although I have it on good authority that money will be going into my bank sometime tomorrow...or possibly wednesday .

Right off to get a halfway decent nights kip now, things to do etc etc tomorrow, wonder if there'll be any money to do it with ?