Mum In Chaos

So Long And Thanks For All The Fish....

2009-10-06T09:06:00.000-07:00

This may mean something to you if you are a Douglas Adams fan... if not I do apologise.

However, what the title is alluding to is my decision to give up this site. My reason is simple I just don't seem to have the time I would like to dedicate to it and participate properly, I seem to be neglecting loads of people and constantly feel guilty at my lack of interaction. So, I just thought I'd let you know it has been lovely meeting you all, and I will probably pop by for a nose every now and then, but I am going to take a break from Blogger for a while (or maybe longer eh?)

Thanks so much to all the lovely people who helped me and made friends with me, sorry I have been so remiss in the past couple of months

Lots of Love Karen x

Dear Lord, Please Give Me the Strength...

2009-10-06T01:18:00.000-07:00

to not scream at littlest girly.

I shall explain... deep breaths think calm non-explosive thoughts, now I'll begin. It is raining this morning, in fact it is pouring, there is possibly an old man snoring somewhere. I decided that we would still be walking to school (much to the disgust of my newly found taxi customers) as parking near school on a rainy day is nigh on impossible, coupled with the road works all the way up to the car park I figured it wasn't my best option. Now Biggest Girly the organised went to fetch her waterproof trouser, jacket etc, I managed to dig out Youngest lads wellies and a raincoat. Myself? Well there was "raincoat" but not a lot else to protect against the elements (elephants... sorry blame my mother she brought me up to speak utter nonsense for a large portion of the time ). Little Miss M (the Moany, as I shall now christen her) had the most effective shielding from the wet in the form of a huge raincover over her most substantial and comfy buggy.

Did she appreciate the huge and effective cover? Or did she scream blue murder the whole way there saying "I need it open, I need it open"? And did she scream and cry for the whole journey there (ten minute walk, unable to see through rain soaked glasses and feet getting wetter and squidgier by the minute) and then scream and cry for the whole journey back! (This was a rhetorical question by the way, hence lack of question mark.)

Now, I have heard of the chinese water torture but I hadn't realised it consisted of getting soaking wet and uncomfortable, having stinging eyes from the rain and on top of all that have a two and a half year old scream unreasonably at you for a straight twenty minutes.

Effective though .

Time for tea methinks, ah and now there is quiet as Show Me Show Me has perked the little monster... I mean madam, up

Monday Morning And It's Dark And Soggy

2009-10-05T01:48:00.000-07:00

however, I am indoors and sitting at my computer so it can't be all bad can it?

It was very difficult to prise myself from under the duvet this morning, this stemmed from my inability to grasp that it was indeed nearly seven o clock, it was way too dark. Also I hadn't made any lunch preparations or ironed a school jumper or two, oops, needless to say it was a bit of a rush.

I have had another busy weekend (not sure there is another type) as there was a work lunch to attend on saturday, one of my colleagues retired on friday and we all went to glare at her jealously for getting out of there... I mean, to wish her well. It was a good afternoon but of course on my return home I had to think about feeding other people, oh and my brother came for a belated Little Mans birthday visit. So, I had to go and retrieve the brother from the train station and then we decided a nice bit of steak would do for dinner. I didn't want any dinner mind you, way too full up (did I mention the caramel apple crumble and ice-cream that went with lunch?) so I just cooked for the others and felt vaguely ill for the evening. Eldest Girl had abandoned ship to go and stay at her friends house so my bro had a bed to sleep in, ok he had to share a room with a noisy Baby girl, but he can ignore these things. As I was trying to get Little Miss M to bed she decided that she simply had to stay with her Uncle for just five more minutes...of course he was very touched and the little madam got her own way. We watched a dvd and I have to say I did quite enjoy it RocknRolla, although you could tell it was a Guy Ritchie film from the off, so no surprises there then.

Sunday, myself and Other Half decided to go and choose some carpet for the living room (he's got a couple of weeks off in november and there are decorating plans afoot!!!!) so we left uncle in charge and disappeared for what turned into an hour as Other Half has most definite ideas about what he wants. Then of course it was roast dinner day so had to get on with that. Amidst all the rushing about I was trying to get clothes for the week sorted, washed and dried, get the bins emptied and generally rush about doing three things at once, Other Half saunters into the kitchen to make himself a proper coffee (with his most expensive coffee machine in the world ever ) and in the course of this he is trying to empty coffee grounds into the little composting bin I have on the side.... the bin is full to overflowing and I am watching him throw coffee grounds all over my clean draining board..."that needs emptying" (I point out the obvious every now and again 'cos people don't seem to notice)"I haven't managed that yet" I go on. Other Half finishes balancing his coffee grounds precariously on the top of the contents of the little bin and then asks "do you want me to empty it?" Mmmmm, now let me think, what shall I say? Shall I respond, as is my, instinct with cutting sarcasm and a question along the lines of "do you really need to be told when things need doing?" (of course he does I do know) or do I simply say "Yes please"? I responded with the latter for a change, but it doesn't 'alf drive me up the wall you know!

Right weekend roundup finished so I best get on with sorting some more of these clothes mountains that seem to be surrounding me .

.......................................

2009-09-30T15:06:00.000-07:00

nothing is flowing very well today, words included it seems as a title eludes me (and I can usually find a song/film/quote to steal from someone ).

Today is my long day at work (my idea of long is six and a half hours you understand). It went well in as much as it went swiftly and I answered lots of phone calls, including one that I think was a "mystery shopper" as the query was so general and unspecific it was untrue. Suspect I waffled a lot and may have sounded slightly over the top but then that's how I usually sound so no change there then. I just hope I actually answered the question asked!

My looooonnng part of the day really got going when I picked the kids up from nursery, little Miss M was shattered, everybody else felt the need to speak simultaneously and I had a litle food shopping to do (bad bad idea). We toddled off to Morrisons to stock up on pasta and pizza as eldest girl has a friend visiting tomorrow after school. The shopping bit was fine, however on the home journey baby girl fell asleep...... uh-oh.... this of course meant that she was asleep at dinner time. I tried to gently waken her but she was zonked out. Also I must mention that eldest boy had asked if he could go out with his friends, and I agreed but he had to be home by seven... HAH! How stupid was I to think he would do as he was asked for a change?

So, we reach about half six and a small monstrous person awoke in the place of my angel baby girl. She cried for a good (bad) three quarters of an hour, she rejected every item of food or drink I offered her, she cried if I sat with her, she cried if I left her, she cried if I tried to cuddle her . She followed me from room to room crying and screaming at my inability to do what she wanted (what do you want????) and I hit the point I have never hit before with madam, I lost my patience with her! I didn't do anything differently but this was the first time I felt irritation at her behaviour, oh dear, little girl must be growing up cos I can usually put up with all sorts of behaviour when they are babies because after all they are only babies. Today I must have felt she was just in a bad mood and could possibly choose not to scream at me constantly!

To top it off my mood was darkened even further by thirteen year old phoning me at ten to seven declaring he was about half a mile away and,oh yeah, would probably be late . When he turned up at half seven little miss had managed to calm herself and was demanding a book with a cuddle.... super, just as I have more cooking to do...

Sigh, I am winding down now, but oh so knackered. Right, getting off here or I shall be even more knackered tomorrow, I know I keep saying it, but this work thing isn't half interfering with my computer time .

Overwhelmed

2009-09-23T14:43:00.000-07:00

I just seem to be continuously doing stuff at the moment. There have been sick kids (again!!) washing that the whole street must put in my washing baskets, driving about (still a novelty and a bit scary), work (mustn't forget work), cooking, a vague stab at cleaning (that always seems to be last on the list... although the litter tray made itself well and truly known on my arrival back home this afternoon ) and of course looking after small people who are incapable of doing stuff for themselves.

And deeeeep breaths, in... and out... nope still knackered and not completely wound down yet.

Today seemed especially full to bursting. First on Karens never-ending list was having to put petrol in the car, I have put petrol in the car before but I had intended to con.... I mean ask, Other Half to do it for me yesterday, I forgot . In order to find the most empty (and therefore easier for me) petrol station I had to go in the opposite direction from work. I got to the pump and pulled up, rather neatly even if I do say so myself, got out and realised it was the pump you could use your card at, eeek, I braved the card machine thingy and was feeling even more pleased with myself. Sadly this then meant I was a little later than usual and my normal parking area was full! Uh-oh, I had to drive around a bit but did eventually find somewhere that didn't require a crowbar to get in and out of.

My work day was full of aggravating questions with no simple answers. I was unable to help as many people as I'd have liked and this always disturbs me, I seemed to spend a lot of today passing queries on to other people and making people on the end of the phone have to wait for someone else to call them back. A situation that doesn't please anyone.

I left work fairly knackered and pleased to see my car where I left it and with no additional decoration in the form of parking tickets (wasn't entirely sure I should have parked where I did ) I got in swapped shoes (there are driving shoes as opposed to work boots you see ), key in the ignition and.... nothing! OMG, no car starting up noises... now what? I sat and tried to think calm, non panicky thoughts for a minute or two. Now there were lights and the dashboard was lighting up like a christmas tree, just no engine starting... what on earth had I done? I had no credit on my phone so had to wander back to the office and ask the security guys if I could borrow their phone (I suspect they were amused at my predicament). I phoned Other Half and asked if we had some kind of immobiliser that I had accidentally activated, nope he said. I described what had happened and Other Half said "Is it in park?" Eh? "Is the car in park, it won't start if it's not in park?" Bing! Lightbulb moment! I wandered off to check, laughing with the security guys and saying I hoped it was that and not something requiring RAC men to come and get me.

Guess what? It wasn't in park... yay.. I mean oops. I won't be doing that again.

So, homeward bound, a fly by to pick up the kids, another quick fly by to a shop (eldest girlie wanted meatballs for tea) and then home. Next of course I launched into the cooking, cleaning and bottlewashing portion of the evening... oh yeah and that litter tray.

I am somewhat tired, off to bed now methinks .

That Was The Week That Was....

2009-09-18T13:40:00.000-07:00

Blatant plagiarism, that's what we like to see. It's just sometimes someone elses words fit my blog so well!

Any hoo, hello all; I did not drop off the edge of the earth.. and I didn't run away to live in london either. What I did do was have a hectic weekend away, return to a sicky oldest boy and then got sick myself.... yay for returning to school germs.

My weekend was good, although staying at my nannys house proved interesting, I wouldn't say grandma was senile but she can definitely get herself in a tiz when things are different. Me coming to stay definitely counted as different. Poor old nanny first of all was stunned and amazed that I had abandoned my babies for the weekend. Then she was shocked and appalled that I was going out to a pub with my brother. She spent a lot of time asking the same questions again and again, and then being just as shocked and appalled when she got the same answers.

My bro and I did venture into the wilds of sunny Surbiton (not strictly London but close enough) to meet my old school friends, we met them straight from their day at the rugby and they still managed to stay at the pub til gone midnight. A good old chat and a few (!!) drinkies were had. We got a night bus or three back to my grandmas house and ate peanut butter on toast about half one in the morning.Nanny was confused and spent about half an hour trying to check the door was locked, she's not as deaf as usual in the middle of the night for some reason... we did creep in, and then I retired for the night and spent about an hour wondering how my babies were doing .

The next morning I was made scrambled egg for breakfast and was hit by the novelty of a morning without the words "mum, mum, mum..." being shouted. The train home was easy (apart from a slight platform change at clapham... I hate not knowing exactly where I should be) and then I returned to find eldest lad languishing with sick bucket on his bed.

Monday night, or should I say Tuesday morning was my turn ... needless to say I wasn't in work on wednesday...oh what a reliable employee I am.

Thursday and today things are almost back to normal apart from two snuffly girls and a sicky big lad(again!) but I have just been wiped out this week. See, a lovely relaxing weekend away just completely throws out my routine! I am looking forward to a rest this weekend, mind you I am due for another saturday night out locally next weekend, uh oh...

Hope everyone has had a good week, I am off into blogland for a proper peruse!

A Weekend Off

2009-09-12T01:00:00.000-07:00

well despite certain setbacks and looking like it might not happen for a minute there, I am off to london for the evening.

The setbacks being of course, one sicky pup child. First week back at work and I couldn't even reach day three! Thursday evening, well actually friday morning, I was awoken by a plaintive voice (at 2:57 I think it t'was) saying "Mummmmm, I've been a little sick on my floor". Poor littlest boy had thrown up on the floor, and his bed, and of course himself (yuk). I was in my usual zombie like state, when it's that time of day I don't function too well for some reason, and on automatic pilot stripped a bed and cleaned a floor. I went in search of ye old faithful sick bucket... (mmm, clean, good!) and then got back to my bed, where I promptly lay listening for the next couple of hours in case a young man was ill again .

My lad was ill again yesterday morning, so my fleeting shall I just send him to school anyway? thought was soon dispensed with. Of course I then had to be brave and phone work to let them know that no I wouldn't be completing a full week after all. Luckily it wasn't as bad as I anticipated.

It seems that little man is greatly improved this morning though as he is declaring he feels he will be able to eat a chocolate cupcake later, I am trying to say much later.

So, I shall be abandoning Other Half and boarding a train for my old hometown to spend an evening with my brother and a couple of old school friends. I have a drinking plan in place (for the avoidance of doing an action replay of Chays night time performance) and will be eating plenty before I go anywhere near an alcoholic beverage! I am looking forward to it, but as always I'm a little apprehensive, simply because it's something different from the norm. Mind you if I think about twenty something years ago, it's exactly what I would have been doing on a saturday evening so it's not different at all!

Have a good evening all, I shall return tomorrow, probably a tired and bad tempered mummy but I shall have had a good time so that's what matters eh?

Day One...

2009-09-09T14:12:00.000-07:00

I am just popping in to reassure the residents of Hampshire that I will be extra careful on my morning drives! Oh and just to inform you all that I made it, woo hoo, first drive to and from work completed without incident... and parking of course, yay!

I felt a little under the weather this morning and had to work very hard at not biting the heads off my poor babies as my stress levels soared. I had a bit of a where's my purse gone moment but my lovely eldest daughter found it for me (in my dressing gown pocket for some reason) and the panic subsided. As always with me the anticipation is the worst bit of any endeavour, and once I was on the road and dropping my littleuns off at school and nursery, I didn't feel quite so bad. The best bit was when I got to work and found a huge parking space (Yay!!!) and managed to park in it, I felt much much better.

Work was as expected, although I did remember a lot more than I thought I would, and the day passed fairly swiftly. It's almost like the six weeks didn't happen, oh well roll on lottery win, that's what I say.

Right, off to try and get more sleep (did get about eight hours last night ) and be fresh and daisy like in the morning.

Sitting

2009-09-08T03:29:00.000-07:00

Currently sitting with dye on my head (and elsewhere as is often the way... sink, floor, shoulders, left ear lobe) trying not to move too much. Also tomorrow is looming large in my thoughts, I am back at work gloom, I have to drive there (double gloom) and then I will have to park (gloom to the power of ten). I may be dwelling on this,

I suspect you could tell.

I am attempting a tidy up today as the clothes explosion is getting on my nerves, the single sock escapade is baffling (a pair goes in the machine, a single sock comes out) and I definitely need to rediscover the hoover.

At least I have managed to get back into the making lunches the night before routine (two whole days woo hoo!) Day one seemed to go well for the kidlets, youngest lad when asked if he'd had a good day declared "I had a fantastic day" when asked what was so fantastic of course the response was " I don't remember" . Eldest girl seems to have settled into her last year at juniors (eeek) quite nicely, she seems so grown up these days, I feel so old these days...

Ooh just as an aside I had a go at the One Shows "what sex is your brain" quiz I was quite surprised to find I had a more male than female brain! Oh dear, I always thought I was brainier than that. (Only joking!!!!! All complaints on the sexist manner of that comment to be addressed to.. well.. um, me I suppose)

Little Miss M has been asking when she will be going to school, so at least someone is going to be cheerful tomorrow eh? Right, off to wash off dye and try and clean up my forehead, ears and scalp.. purple is good for hair, not so good for skin.

New Boys

2009-09-04T04:23:00.000-07:00

Have you seen these cute boys? I am just putting up these pics to remind me why I am spending £75 on jabs and worming stuff, £75!!!!

They are cute little troublemakers though aren't they?

On a different subject I was awoken at the most anti-social hour of 4 a.m. this morning. Both myself and Other Half jumped up when we heard a very loud squealing/screaming noise "Rabbit!" declares Other Half (which was good cos I was a tad confused about where the noise was coming from) and we both steamed down the stairs and ran into the garden, only to see Mr Foxy loxy running away from the hutch! Poor old Splodge

Splodge

I had a quick look at her last night and thought the squeal must have just been fright, however on closer inspection this morning it was discovered that the 'orrible fox had taken a chunk out of Splodges ear!

She seems fine now but we will bathe her wound and I am now looking for a better hutch for the poor girl.

Off to do some housey stuff now, borrrrriiinnng.... oh dear I am beginning to sound like the teenager.

Get To Bed!

2009-09-03T15:05:00.001-07:00

there are two of us up and awake in the house at the mo, me and teenager. Poor lad has first day back at school tomorrow and I do feel his pain . I used to be a complete mess on the night before having to go back, even now I am dreading wednesday, my first day back. I think I kind of hoped for the lottery option to save me from having to go back.... I had six weeks for goodness sake, should have been long enough don't you think?

Sigh, I too am having trouble settling of an evening, I need to sort out my sleep pattern! I also have to do a practise drive of my work route, and then of course there is the finding somewhere to park trauma...uh oh, I think maybe I will still have a dreadful night the evening before I have to go back.

Ok tis eleven o'clock now and all of a sudden it'll be one o clock in the morning...I must go to bed now... I must not play on facebook, I am going.... going... honest .

Bad Mood Alert! Bad Mood Alert!

2009-09-03T04:54:00.000-07:00

Oh well it just keeps getting better.. the words Happy and Bunny definitely do not apply to me today. To go along with the lack of kip and general hair do sulkiness, I now have a what am I gonna do with him moment regarding Other Half.

Things have been fairly quiet on the Other Half front lately as he has been behaving himself quite nicely (patronising moo.. I know). However, at the end of last month his wage was about £300 down...eeeeek! To me it looks like a fairly straight forward admin error as no payment was made for fuel allowance. Getting Other Half to investigate this is a task and a half though. I was happily waiting for him to go to a meeting at the office today, as I knew he was much more likely to make an enquiry face to face than on the phone. I have been waiting to hear the outcome but by half twelve I could wait no more. Other Half cheerfully answers the phone and then says "Oh no, the meeting was cancelled" "So you haven't found out then?" "Oh no, I can't just go in the office I haven't got time" and obviously he can't ring up!!! I did try and point out (calmly) that Three hundred pounds can't just be forgotten about, he started to sound defensive and about to go into a tantrum so I backed off... for now...

Do you know if I could just ring these people up myself I would, I am sure it is all straightforward, but the longer you leave it then the longer we have to wait for things to get sorted!!!!!!!!!!!! (Do you think that's enough exclaimation marks?)

I have cats injections to pay for tomorrow and more little bits and bobs for uniform..... sigh... never mind lottery on friday, maybe my hair will have grown by then as well ?

AAAAAARRRGH!

2009-09-02T13:37:00.000-07:00

AAARRGGH. AAARGH and AAARGH again!

Nothing major and it really isn't that bad..... but.... (and it's a big but... don't say a word!!) I have had my haircut. I thought I would take the plunge and have a bit more than usual chopped off oh and did I mention? AAAAAARGH.

It is shorter than I imagined and it just doesn't look like me. Other Half says it's not bad, and I hope I didn't react too badly to my poor friend who had cut it, but it was a shock to my system, which I am now calming with a large glass of alcoholic beverage.

On to other news, I have been doing a lot of driving about, my bro came to visit at the weekend and I went and picked him up from the train station . It was lovely to go and meet him, then we did a little food and goodies shopping before we came back home. It was a really nice and busy weekend, we watched many films and ate way too much.

On sunday I offered to take Other Half into town so he could go for a drink with his pal, and then I would come and pick him up. This involved motorway driving, driving in the dark and joy of joys... rain! However, I managed it and it made a nice change for Other Half to be able to go for a beer and not have to get a taxi home.

Monday I took my bro back to the train station and we went for a little wander and a shop and a coffee along the way, it's all very civilised this driving about lark.

Today I took the kids to meet a friend and her little boy at Queen Elizabeth Country Park (more motorway and then of course parking at t'other end... you're impressed aren't you?) It was a nice day and we played with big sticks and ate lunch in a den, then we went on a bear hunt and picked flowers, all for the princely sum of £1 parking. The smell of other peoples barbecues was most tempting, think I'm going to have to give that a go sometime.

I am already dreadng the arrival of next wednesday, when I go back to W O R K (I'm spelling it out so that I don't know what I'm talking about ). Poor old eldest lad is first back into the old routine, school starts on friday for him, monday for the others. Although I am looking forward to getting small people out from under my feet I shall miss the little darlin's, it's been nice to be able to run them about places myself.

I do have an outing to look forward to though, I am off to londinium to go out with my brother and a couple of old friends weekend after this, I am hoping I do not disgrace myself and I am looking forward to some relaxy away from it all time... with grown ups!!!

Off to have another drinky, and watch the rest of this X-files film, not really getting on with Billy Conolly at this point but there you go...

MONEY! Woo hoo!

2009-08-28T01:40:00.000-07:00

Money day has arrived, but sadly I suspect the list as long as my arm (almost) will deplete my stocks considerably in a very short amount of time.

Eldest Lad has also decided he needs a haircut and I have to try and describe the style that he is after to the hairdresser man...I don't really know what the style is for the young people these days. I have been told the phrase "emo" is the one to use, sounds a bit strange to me.

I will report back shortly as to the inordinate amount of money spent and the state of my lads hair.... wish me luck... I'm going in!

Monday? Uh-oh Where Did Sunday Go?

2009-08-24T02:35:00.000-07:00

Oh dearie me, I have lost part of the weekend! I got a text from a friend on saturday afternoon, suggesting a little drinky out that evening, I said yes . The rest as they say is history.

I think my problem was the not eating a proper dinner part of the evening although possibly the three pints of Fosters had something to do with it. I ended up dancing about with my friend (and my recollection of this is hazy... which always disturbs me) and conning Other Half into giving my pal a lift home. Apparantley I went with them and then came home and ate food, I am taking this on trust as the next thing I remember is leaning over the side of my bed and being not very well. Someone (me I was told) had thoughtfully found me a bucket which was a good thing.

Yesterday I awoke with a sinking feeling, found the bucket (ugh) got up cleaned up and went back to my bed wishing the world would just keep still for a minute. My head proceded to keep me awake by thoughtfully thumping away whilst my stomach threatened a repeat performance of the previous evening. I ended up stumbling down the stairs and making littleuns some brekkie (that wasn't favourite I can tell you!) and then sitting curled in a foetal position on the sofa, drifting in and out of hazy consciousness. I even took medication and that just didn't cut it either.

When Other Half arose I retired back to my bed for an hour hoping against hope my head and stomach would cheer up as we had a BBQ to attend yesterday afternoon, and we had to take food.

I managed to make some chicken kebabs and have a semblance of a happy face when we went out, I think the fresh air helped a little to be honest. However I am finding that this morning I am still a tad fragile and energy levels are zero....oh I am too old for all this sort of thing, silly woman didn't have a drinking plan and half a packet of noodles was not sufficient dinner to go out on!

Right now another cuppa to try and kick start my motivation, loads to do as yesterday was such a washout

Friday Of A No Money Week

2009-08-21T01:01:00.000-07:00

It's not payday this week... only a week to go, but strangely still things to buy this week! I have a small boy asking if it's sweety day and you'd be amazed at how much a sweety day for four can add up to, I have said "no".

I am being chauffeur again today, Eldest Girly has a friend coming over to visit, my only worry is the petrol, not only have I never done the petrol thing before (Which petrol? How does this thing work? What buttons do I press?) I'm not convinced I have enough pennies for petroleum.... mmm could be an interesting drive.

I performed a feat of great daring yesterday, I parked on the drive! When I say drive let me explain that this is actually the remains of our front garden, complete with parts of old wall and remnants of lawn oh and no dropped kerb! Also there is a drop off one side and if I back in too fast I might enter my kitchen via the front window. I was building this event up in my head and thought I had better just bite the bullet yesterday; now waiting for our road to be clear is also a problem, but I took my chance. It took three or four backwards and forwardsing (getting in the way of various irate drivers) but I did it! Then I shook for about ten minutes (stressed!) then I phoned Other Half to let him know of my bravery and to pre-warn him not to moan about the positioning of the car.... and then I had a cuppa!

Off for cuppa number two and then time for some tidying before madams guest arrives, have a good friday all

Look Out!

2009-08-17T13:55:00.000-07:00

I have been doing something today, and what I have been doing is this...... I have been passing my driving test!!!

I have been so stressed over the past three or four weeks it's been unreal, last night I didn't get to bed until about half one, even then sleep eluded me for quite some time. I am expecting a better time tonight (I have bought a bottle of Baileys to help with that too).

I had my test at 13:08 (why??) and Dave the driving instructor came and picked me up at twelve. I deliberately hadn't told the kids as I didn't want disappointment if I failed. My parents came and babysat for me and I went out feeling like a huge cloud of stress was hanging over me. Dave was smiling at my obvious discomfort, and then I think he took pity on me and chatted away trying to relax me. I made a complete hash of my manoeuvres and I think he despaired . When it was time we went to the test centre and he made me have another look under the bonnet and tell him were various very important things are located.

I sat waiting in centre and finally a lady came and called my name... OMG this was really happening. She asked me what I preferred to be called.. I opted for Karen (what with it being my name and all) and then off we went. First thing I did wrong was forgot how to open the bonnet (aaaargh, he'd just shown me that!) I got my question right but then she launched into a bayparking manoeuvre, managed to muck that up and that's the one I wanted too. I just felt like I had made loads of silly mistakes all the way through (don't even mention my reversing round a corner....abysmal) and when we finally pulled up back at the test centre she did her little notes bit, then she asked if I wanted to have my instructor hear the outcome. At this point I was convinced that meant a fail as I presumed she would be telling poor old Dave how awful I was! So when he came and stood by the car and the words "Well Karen I am pleased to tell you..." Eh? Pleased? "...you have passed" I then turned and in a very high pitched voice said "Oh!" and then I spent about thirty seconds thinking she did say passed didn't she?

This is the weirdest feeling, this morning I was a learner and now they expect me to do it on my own. I made Other Half go and buy me P plates, I feel the need for some sort of indication of my inexperience. The insurance is sorted and tonight I made my first solo trip... up the road to Morrisons and back, woo hoo, all of five minutes up the road. Oh but I did make a slight detour for a cup of tea to my friends house on the way home, it's all very strange and I am sure it's going to take me a while to become accustomed to it all.

Right, I may have bought some alcohol whilst I was out and I feel now is a good time to indulge .

Ugh! Humph And Other Well Known Child Friendly Expressions Of Grump

2009-08-15T01:33:00.000-07:00

Youngest boy decided I did not need a lie in today, twice (as I did manage to ignore him at the ten to seven alarm call). At eight twenty (I know, it's not bad really) he came and "whispered" to me "MUMMY, there's a spider in the living room". Oh joy, as those of you who know me may realise, I am not best equipped when it comes to dealing with our eight legged friends.

"Ang on" replies I as I decide I'd best at least have a look for the poor lad, after all I wouldn't be happy at being stuck in a room alone with one (ooh that's right I was going to place myself in the same room with one). You could tell I wasn't properly awake by the squinty eye look I was sporting, I even briefly wondered if I had my specs on but then I found them (on my face strangely) I bravely entered the arena... I mean, living room. Where is it then and how big is it? My lad then pointed high up to the ceiling near the window, and what was there? Some gargantuan beast? Nope, it twas the smallest spindliest even-I-can-cope-with-that spidey I have ever seen. "That's tiny and I can't reach it!" "But I don't like them" replies the boy "he's not bothering you! He's way over there." My boy then sat back down at the computer (yes he's five and he comes downstairs and turns the thing on and plays on it all by himself, thank goodness for parental controls) and carried on quite happy. Thanks for that then son.

So, I am up and about, and about to start cup of tea number two, at least I'm being productive. Other Half is back to work next week (boo and yet, yay!) so I have to make sure all washing is up to date for monday. This week has been surprisingly housework free as we just haven't been home, but washing waits for no man/woman (delete whichever is applicable, or sounds best) and the dust has been settling itself in nicely undisturbed (and just as I was getting on top of it all) so time to start again. Also I am back to ordinary eating today, I have had enough "goodies" to sink a battleship (no, honestly that much) I feel thoroughly unwell and my jeans don't like me anymore. It's time for some vegetables to appear in my diet as from today, the kids are in for a nasty shock, I suspect they were quite enjoying the eat all you want buffet style of eating we have adopted this week. Sorry kids fish fingers and jacket potatoes for dinner, maybe with some extra beans or any other fibre full veg I can find... oh and no pud.

Right, I am vaguely more with it, just time for that cuppa and then start the proper GETTING THINGS SORTED portion of the weekend .

Ooh... Here I Am..

2009-08-12T14:39:00.000-07:00

Haven't managed to get on here much the last couple of days (could be longer, I've lost track!) It is Other Halfs week off though and we have been DOING THINGS, this is in lieu of actually being able to afford a holiday, so picnics and day trips it is.

Monday was a driving lesson day, and shopping day so we didn't do anything exciting then, Other Half did manage a trip with many and various objects to the local tip (hoorah.... at last) so that was something.

Tuesday was trip to Beaulieu day, and I hate to admit it, but I had a good time! We looked around the very old cars display (which included an old london bus and I'm afraid I found that very exciting). Then we went to look at a falconry display, this kind of made the day for me as I love watching birds of prey. The gentleman presenting the display was very knowledgable too and told us lots of interesting facts about how falconry has impacted on the english language, and other historical points. Did you know "making a pass" at someone comes from falconry? It relates to when a bird will pass by it's prey before it actually catches it. Oh and a falcon will make a "mantle" over it's prey once it's caught it.. this means it sits with its wings covering the prey in order to be able to eat it unobserved, the shape of the wings has given us the word mantlepiece. There was lots of other snippets but my sieve like brain has forgotten them at this minute .

We didn't manage to get into the Top Gear display cos it was just way too busy! However we did have a little trip on the monorail (eeeek!) where I discovered my children are not only fearless, but wicked! The biggies took great delight in bouncing around the little compartment making it rock even more alarmingly, forcing me to hiss"Stop it!" at them (I'm not too keen on heights it seems) and the youngsters were both trying to lean out of the windows and give their poor mother a hear attack.

Today we went on a picnic with some friends to a place called Moors Valley, there is a lovely play trail there with lots of wooden climbing structures for the kids. There is also something called a tree top trail (we discovered this is very hard to say out loud) which is a wooden walkway about twenty feet up, which wends its way through the woods. Littlest Miss M once again frightened the life out of me as she ran along this (quite frankly way to skinny) walkway, oblivious to the drop either side (me? Not so oblivious). The weather was good, not too hot thank goodness, and we had a walk and then a feed and then a play in the adventure playground area.

I am shattered... Other Half is shattered.. the kids are asking what's next.

I think it may be a another farm type experience tomorrow, there is one nearby where they allow the kids to have a go at milking, and there is a nice cake shop too, mmm sold!

Update On Facebook
Just to let you know that Facebook did shut down the fraudulent account so I'm pleased about that, have to watch it in future though, as I'm sure it won't be the last time we encounter this sort of thing, aren't kids luverly?

The Trouble With Social Networking

2009-08-06T14:54:00.000-07:00

Ok I am really angry, proper feeling like going round and shouting at someone, angry.

My eldest son has just joined facebook, not too bothered about that (apart from having even less time on here!) but what I am angry about is that some delightful child has put up a fake profile using my boys name. Now the content isn't much of a surprise, the usual derogatory remarks about being gay and including some highly imaginative sexual preferences on my sons behalf. This child has also made a number of friends with my sons real friends and is making strange comments and declarations on his behalf to them. However what has really annoyed me is that the little swine has put our actual address on the profile information!

I have reported it to facebook and requested some sort of feedback on the issue, also pointing out that the content of the page is very unsuitable and letting them know that I am not best pleased with having my real address splashed all over the internet. I sneakily added this person as a friend and they accepted. I was able to send them a message letting them know they should probably stop this now and that I had reported them. Strangely once they had sussed I was my lads mum they took me off their friends list.... odd eh?

Right, feel a bit better now that's off my chest! Luckily my boy isn't the sort of lad who takes much notice of this sort of thing and isn't bothered by it... I however am... no not going to rant anymore, I've done what I can and hopefully this profile will be removed.

It's been a very busy day, the cleaning bug has hit me, proper cleaning too! I actually got out the mop and bucket, polish and window cleaner today. Not only did I get them out; I used them! My living room now looks much less like a rubbish heap and more like a .. well a living room.. and this is very unusual. I may even invite people into the house now, it's much more salubrious . Maybe the extra light let in by the newly cleaned windows is perking me up.

Of course the weekend is looming and Other Half has next week off so I'll let you know how long the tidyness lasts, you'll be able to tell when they start leaving a mess around the place when a small explosion is reported in the hampshire area (me losing my rag in case you didn't guess).

There are plans afoot to go on outings next week, sadly the manchester trip can't be done due to lack of petroleum money (guess how many miles to the gallon our little chariot does.. go on.. I'll tell you... 18 miles to the gallon!!!) We will be going on some picnics though and possibly Beaulieu (not my preference), I am hoping for some sort of zoo trip but we shall see how far the pennies stretch... Isle of Wight might be nice for a day too.

Right, it's time for bed now, but first a cup of hot choccy and as that game is playing up on facebook maybe I'll watch some telly .

Or go and check whether that games working again ...

We're Wide Awake!

2009-08-05T01:40:00.000-07:00

Morning, I'm up and about, woo hoo. Of course I was also up and about at half one last night... these school hols are playing havoc with my body clock. The trouble seems to be that I am surrounded by my little darlings all day, and then all evening and eldest lad being thirteen seems to mean he has no bedtime. Despite being told in very clear terms to GO TO BED!!! My point being, I then tend to sit up for an hour or two (nooo, not obsessively chasing a higher Bejeweled score, whatever gave you that impression?) unwinding. Oh and last night/this morning there was a very loud bangy crashy noise outside, which I decided not to investigate (well the dog was looking nervous and I didn't want to upset her ) but also I didn't go straight to bed afterwards. It was only one bangy crashy noise so in the cold light of day I am suspecting the kids scooters of slipping over.

Ben and Jerry have asserted themselves and now rule the house (didn't take long did it?) The dog is keeping out of their way apart from a quick wash of their back ends when she thinks they won't notice, of course they do notice and still look most indignant.

Eldest girly had a little friend visit yesterday, this is the newer friend, so it was a houseful. We decided to make some jamdrop biscuits and the girls helped. I find it's always a good idea to get them cooking cos then they have something tasty as a reward afterwards...keeps 'em happy for half an hour or so anyway. No pics of biccys cos we ate them all swiftly, mmmmm warm biscuits with jam, very tasty too.

Sigh, best get off here and try and get on with some housework, no not going on facebook.. nope not even tempted... no I have THINGS TO DO. We bought a couple of sets of wicker drawers off ebay and Other Half collected them yesterday, so I have the task of sorting out all his clothes behind the sofa into said drawers. Don't ask me why he can't have clothes upstairs but he can't apparantley, so this is the best and hopefully tidiest solution.

Here I go, going now, off to do something useful ....

Cuppa tea first eh?

Here We Are...

2009-08-02T12:52:00.000-07:00

sunday evening again! I have been a bit busy, fussing small grey furry kittens . We have named them Ben and Jerry (that was Madam R's idea) and they are gorgeous. I got an e-mail on thursday from one of the mums from school asking if we were still looking for kittens and basically saying she could get me one if I was. I replied that yes I might be in the market for a kitty (Hah! More like yes please get me kitty now!) and someone called me friday saying she had two kittens and did I want them both? Oh all right then if I must. Now these are feral kittens and the mum is a farm cat, apparantley there are many many kittens being born all the time and the farm just keep clearing them out (did ask if they were neutering the mums but she said they can't catch them). These boys are too young to be away from mum in my opinion (about four weeks old, possibly five) but as they had already been removed from mum (on the thursday I think) I said I would have them. I have experience with looking after underage kittens and know the things to look out for, know I'm taking a chance but what was the likelihood of me going and looking at these kittens and not coming home with them? Nil.

So, friday night we came home with two little grey bundles of fur, saturday morning I was slightly concerned about one of them being constipated and ran off to the vet (so the free kittens have already cost me £30 at the vets!) At least the vet could give them a once over and check the sex for me (she reckons two boys too) she wasn't concerned and since then they have provided evidence of not being bunged up .

It is rather nice to have a couple of felines in the house again, I suspect they are going to be a right pair of trouble makers, they have already asserted themselves with the dog. Small bundle of fluff doubled in size and made very respectable hissing spitting noises... dog looked confused and wagged her tail, then hid in the hall for the evening. They have stopped hissing at her and she is annoying them by trying to wash their rear ends, cats are looking most offended and running off with their little up periscope tails.

Right, off the kitten subject now (no honest...) we are in week two of hols and so far not too bad. As it was money day friday I at least managed to take the kids out to do a little fun shopping. We found a sweet stall at the market with a good array of sweeties and bought about seven tubs of various different sugar laden goodies, we still have some left so the kids haven't actually taken off due to sugar overload. I made some luverly fairy cakes the other day (sorry no pics they didn't last very long) we decorated them with nutella.... good lord that was yum! I may have to make some more shortly. Touching wood and crossing all available digits the children appear to be healthy at the mo and we have already got some friends organised to visit over the next week. See how forward thinking I am. I have a driving lesson tomorrow and my mum and dad will be babysitting, so that kills two birds with one stone (no, not advocating stoning the oldies) as the kids then have some fun visitors and I get away for a while (hour and a half tomorrow...eeeek).

I am not going to go on and on about how stressed I might be cos strangely I'm not too bad at the minute. Tomorrow of course will be a different kettle of fishes .

Stress v Swine Flu

2009-07-29T13:20:00.000-07:00

I know which I'd prefer it to be, but whatever it is I'm feeling a bit grot today. It started monday night and I have been steadfastly ignoring it since then, it's not listening though and keeps insisting on pushing it's way forward. So be it illness or stress induced symptoms, I'd like it to go away now please.

My throat is dry (not sore) my head is fuzzy (not aching) and my temper... well my temper is fantastic! Just ask the poor kids!

Patience is not a virtue I am in possesion of today and snappiness is an art form I have mastered well, all in all I am a joy to live with it at the mo.

True to form for me when I get stressed I do that old crabby (cancerian) retreat thing, I noticed that I was avoiding here the other day, my concentration is just shot to pieces.

So, please excuse my absence and lack of commenting when I have passed though, my head's just not working properly! Oh and the cause of my stress will be resolved fairly shortly one way or another (can't say exactly when) and it revolves around the obtaining of a certain piece of paper... to do with automobiles... you know what I mean don't you? I can't even talk about it at the mo and there is still a way to go!!!! AAAAARGH, I don't do pressure .

Going now, fancy a cup of hot choccy and a silly film The Love Guru is on soon, not sure I'll like it but suspect it won't take a lot of working out so it'll do nicely.

Weird One

2009-07-26T12:27:00.000-07:00

sunday and no school run tomorrow (Woo hoo!) Other Halfs uniform is done and dusted (washed and dried in case there is any confusion) daughter number one is at her pals house for a sleepover (yes that pal, the one I was so concerned about ) and son number one has gone to the pictures to see the latest Harry Potter.

I had a strange evening on friday, we went to see a band I used to see quite regularly, took one of my friends who came out the other week and she brought a work friend of hers. I also had one of my oldest friends from around here who came; now I was the oldest one out and about, and we had a very young girl with us. I hadn't realised that my pals work colleague wasn't even old enough to be out and about with us. I am afraid I watched in horror as this youngster got pretty plastered, I just felt so responsible for her! She of course was having a fabulous time and all I could do was stress at the nasty old leering men eyeing her up. It was also a bit strange in that I got kind of nostalgic watching this band and that is not necessarily a good thing, I really don't want to be living the life I was back then and I don't need to be out every night... but... it made me a tad restless. Suspect I need a bit of time off from the outing and aboutings!

I was reliably informed on saturday that young girly got home ok and was fine, but I had stressed most of friday night on and off .

We also had my northern relatives come for a visit yesterday, and it seems we may be wending our way northward at some point in august... eek manchester here we come , I think we may have to visit other more northern relatives if we do go, Lake District is lovely tho so I wouldn't mind a meander there if we can manage it.

I am still in a fuzzy headed frame of mind, see six beers and my weekend is wiped out, I hope I perk up soon there's loads needs doing!

Friday...In Case You Weren't Sure!

2009-07-24T02:46:00.000-07:00

I am taking a few minutes out whilst littlest Miss watches Mr Tumble it gives me about ten minutes... There is a fatal flaw in my plan in as much as those boys are lurking at the minute. It seems that mum on computer = good opportunity to chat to mum. Sadly mum then tends to explode, lose concentration and generally carry on alarming!

Deep breaths... they've only been off since wednesday.

I am off out this evening (disgusting isn't it, that's three times this month!) and have to say I am looking forward to escaping the confines of the house. Little Miss has been a tad more demanding than usual, I haven't been able to move without a small personage attached to my legs/waist/clinging to my ankle. This morning she seems much more like her normal self, we have had a lot more bouncing and chatting and even some breakfast eating, yay .

My big girl is still at her friends house, I did try and give her a call last night but she wasn't answering, must have been busy eh? I am a little bit on the tired side (makes a nice change) as I ended up watching Muriel's Wedding (again) it's not like I don't know the ending! However 1:10 am came and I was still watching, very silly.

Right my time is nearly up, Mr Tumble is covered in spaghetti at the mo (very amusing) and I think it's nearly all over. Got some food to prepare for later (cos I'm off out, did I say?) and some washing to do, not dry however cos the heavens have opened once more.

At some point I must fit in a bath, some hoovering and general tidying, mmmm we'll see what gets done by the end of the day .

Look! Poor Baby...

2009-07-23T01:35:00.001-07:00

Have you seen the state of this poor child?! At least we have seen some smiles this morning, yesterday was a most clingy and sad day. I will again be smothering her in lotions and potions, just hope all the nasty spots are out now and we can start the healing up bit .

Right I am off to clean and tidy the house, in the vain hopes I can start as I mean to go on this school hols....byeeeee for now!

A Day

2009-07-22T15:16:00.000-07:00

first I would just like to say thanks for the kind words. You know how it is when it's so close to home all you want to do is wade right in there and sort it out! As was pointed out to me earlier today, I suspect my reaction also had a lot to do with my own childhood experiences (not so good) and less to do with how madam R was actually feeling.

Turns out my girl has a good head on her shoulders, she didn't run and try to make friends with her little pal today and in fact ignored all approaches (I'd have caved lol). I felt sad as I thought it was a shame this friendship that started in reception was done. However I respected my girls actions (didn't intervene) and she has arranged a sleepover at her other friends house tomorrow. Oh and surprise surprise, she received a sheepish and slightly creeping phonecall this evening. I hid in the hall, how grown up am I? Miss A was enquiring whether my girl was her friend "I don't know" came her reply... eek she doesn't beat around the bush my girl. A then went on to plead her case and I think R will be giving her a chance at some stage, but for now Miss A is on the backfoot as R has already got a social evening planned and is carrying on fine by herself thanks. I am proud my girl has stood her ground and is sure of her own opinions at the tender age of ten.

The majority of my day has been spent tending to a very uncomfortable and spotty little girl, the places these blinkin' spots are situated make my eye's water! One of the other mums at school brought us some calamine cream, much better than the lotion as it stays moist, seems to help, also piriton seems to be a slight comfort. I do hope all her spots have come out now cos her poor little face is almost completely covered, all under her eyes and the back of her neck, even her poor little nose . I can now see how lightly my lad got off the other week, he hardly seemed to notice at all. I think little miss M will have at least a couple more days of discomfort, it's just so hard to explain why I can't do much and what it is. I have been saying those naughty spots a lot today and we have been liberally applying cream, oh and acting on some good advice we tried the bicarbonate of soda bath, definitely seemed to help.

She is having a kip now so lets hope she gets some relief whilst she's asleep.

I am shattered and I am soooo glad there is no school run tomorrow , just maybe there will be a lie in ... maybe not but at least no running up the road and back.

Fingers crossed little lady has a better day tomorrow

What To Do?

2009-07-21T14:10:00.000-07:00

I am having a slight trauma. Not my trauma, a dilemma being experienced by my poor oldest girl R. Now I don't know if I've managed to convey just what a kind hearted, giving and loyal child my girl is.... but she is. This doesn't seem to be working for her at the moment as her friend of the last five years appears to be ganging up on her with another little darlin'. It appears that my girls "friend" is playing with this other girl (we have had problems with this other girl a couple of years ago) and is quite happy for this child to tell R to go away and say her friend (let's just call her A) doesn't like her any more and doesn't want anything to do with her. It has now escalated to the point where A is telling my little girl she hates her and to leave her alone. There is more complication in as much as A's mum is very anti this other child as she was actually bullying A a couple of years ago and she was very unhappy at school.

So eldest girl has started to play with another little girl, this is also not acceptable apparantly and A is showing signs of jealousy and trying to put obstacles in the way of the new friendship. I suspect a lot of the problem lies with A wanting to be in with the "in" crowd and as R goes her own way and has her own mind I don't think she fits the bill.

Tonight was my girls school disco for the end of term, and A's grandma very kindly offered to take her and bring her back for us. Ah good, methinks, maybe it's all settling down. Nope R has returned in a sad and low mood as A ignored her all evening and was running around with the other girl and her posse. Now, tomorrow is the last day of term and my instinct is to go and rip A's head off her shoulders and to let her mother know she is in fact hanging about with this lovely little madam (her mother would then explode!) However my girlie is not up for this scenario, and I know it is inappropriate for me to take a ten year old to one side and have words .

So, any words of wisdom or advice gratefully accepted.

Normally over the school hols there would be a lot of to-ing and fro-ing between our houses, but my girl doesn't want to invite her pal A over, and doesn't want to visit her's either...Mind you she is stressed as to how to put this cos she doesn't want to give these girls room to manouevre her into a worse position . I fell so sad for her, it's a hard lesson to learn that not everyone is as honourable as you'd wish. My daughter would never behave in this way and it makes me so cross that her good nature has been taken advantage of. I think her friend A thinks that she will act as a good safety net and that she can treat her anyway she wishes as R has always remained steadfast previously. I think R should just chalk it up to experience and stick with this other little girl who seems more genuine, but then it's not me who has to slink about the playground avoiding trouble is it? That was a good 27 years ago as I was recently reminded.

Fed up now, gonna listen to my boys (Take That in case you were wondering ) get a cup of hot choccy and try to unwind, whilst not picturing my hands round small childrens throats... I mean, whilst de-stressing from the evenings traumas .

Not Quite With It

2009-07-20T05:02:00.000-07:00

not sure if it's the wind down to school hols or just being completely knackered... or having been taken over by the evil forces of facebook , but I haven't managed to visit here much at all in the past week! It's really not like me and I began to stress that I didn't know what was going on in my cyber-neighbourhood, which in turn made me feel guilty for not visiting my friends as much as I normally do, so just to say thanks to those who dropped by to make sure I hadn't actually dropped off the face of the earth .

I have been inordinately tired this past week, although that hasn't inspired me to get to bed at a reasonable hour, I am soooo looking forward to my lie-ins after wednesday. Speaking of which little Miss M seems to have some blistery spots sprouting behind her ears and on her tummy, so perhaps the chicken pox returneth eh? I suspect nursery will have her unless she has a bad tummy, in which case I will be missing my last day at work for six weeks, I hope I can get in even if it's only to get some leave for the inset days at the end of the hols (they must love me).

I had a very pleasant surprise last week, I received an e-mail via friends re-united and one of my bestest friends ever from secondary school had dropped me a line. I haven't seen this friend in nearly twenty (or maybe even slightly more) years. We exchanged a couple of "Hello! How are you!" e-mails and then I gave him my phone number. It was ridiculous how excited I was when he texted me and said he was going to ring. Phone rang and I immediately reverted to the age of twelve and was giggling and being silly for an hour and a half. The memories just came flooding back and we relived our escapades from young teenager-hood to young adulthood, this is the person I would hang around Soho with so that we could stalk Marc Almond and get his autograph. We used to go far and wide across london to various concerts (oh well yes mainly Soft Cell), we even went to Tunisia together when we were about 21ish. This was one person I bitterly regretted losing touch with and I was truly exstatic when he got in touch... we are in the process of making arrangements to meet up somewhere between Brighton and Portsmouth for some alcohol and a bucketload of nostalgia.

I am now pondering the delights of which household task shall I perform first? Washing in off the line? Washing out onto the line? Washing folded and put away in drawers? Hmmmm, it's a toughie... I suspect washing in from the garden first, that's if Little Miss Clingy lets me get on, she's not 100% cos I can't walk far without having her attached to my ankle at the minute!

Ooh and here is a piccy I got done at the school fair.... all my lot together....

Good innit?

Right I'm getting off here before I decide to check out blinkin' facebook again !

Home Alone

2009-07-14T02:30:00.001-07:00

Me and my girl have managed to turf everyone else out of the house today... to say I am relieved could be classed as an understatement, last week provided just a glimpse of what the summer hols could bring I suppose.

Youngest boy is still a little scabby from his brush with the dreaded pox (chicken that is) and this morning he was most distressed to still see scabs. I think he thought as he was going to school the spots would have disappeared completely, he burst into tears and said "I don't feel a little well... I think I need to stay at home" I reassured him in a calm and Mary Poppins way ("You're going!! Don't be silly!") that he was fine. I couldn't bear another day stuck indoors with hyperactive youngster.

It is driving day again, and after last weeks fiasco I ran to the chemists this morning and purchased some Bach rescue remedy, I am hoping it has the desired effect and calms me a little. I obviously don't do well under pressure and the fact that I've now booked the dreaded test has pushed me over the edge I think. Last week was horrendous and I was almost dangerous! I am determined not to let my nerves get the better of me today, I need a good lesson or I can see me cancelling the test date and putting it off, which I'd rather not do as it would be lovely to have at least some of the summer holiday as a independently mobile mum .

I shall report back as to the calming/non-calming effects of the remedy, I am hoping my cynicism about these things doesn't spoil it.

I am pretty much wiped out and should probably try a catnap before my lesson. Yesterday I was full of energy and cleaned the kitchen, this then inspired me to cook something, properly. I decided a home made pizza would be a good compromise, something the kids would enjoy and healthier than a shop bought one. I was rather pleased with the results... here have a look...

.. impressed aren't you? Well as I say I was, but guess what? Children looked suspiciously at my offering, poked it about a bit, prodded the cheese, looked at the sauce (also home made... two pounds of bloomin' tomatoes!!!) and offered various comments. Something along the lines of "I don't think I like this" "I'm not sure this tastes nice" and my personal favourite "I don't want it, I don't want it!" Of course all this was before even a morsel had passed their lips .

I don't know why I bother sometimes.... At least I thought it tasted nice and to be fair the girls gave it a good shot, just those fusspot boys who had to be force fed mums "treat".

The reason I am wiped out though is because I have a new addiction which must be stamped out immediately. Blinkin' facebook and a game called Bejewelled Blitz, two and half hours I was sat there saying just one more game. The games only last a minute each, that's way too many games in a row. I am not going near that again for a couple of days, half twelve was a bad bedtime for me and I have work tomorrow; fairly certain my supervisor wouldn't see that as a good excuse for inattentiveness at my desk (translate as forehead on keyboard with slight drool escaping from the corner of my mouth).

Right off to see if a cuppa and a catnap will provide me with more energy!!

Ooh ooh did you see I managed to creat my blog roll at last? That at least was one productive thing I managed before being sucked into the facebook vortex!

Ooops!

2009-07-11T17:57:00.000-07:00

Evening! I am....

up really late? A bit tired? A little tipsy?

Ah yes that's the one! Here we go yet more slightly squiffy blogging! Please watch out for deliferate mistakes.

Had an evening out with my pals, we went for a meal and then onto a local drinks emporium. I appear to have drunk quite a lot of alcohol and yet still be upright and vaguely and alert (never knew what those lerts looked like before). Oh dear definitely a bit lively, I am listening to my boys on the headphones, which could get interesting when I attempt to dance about whilst attached.

Had a lovely meal of salmon and ceaser salad, I ordered chips which was totally unnecessary! I drank wine (eeeek bad idea bad idea, but twas rose and not red so I appear to be fine) and then we rounded the evening off with a bit of dancing about.

Sadly we did have a member of our party who turned out to be a little aggressive whilst drunk, we tried to run away but she found us . She was being really lairy with the poor little waiter lad and when I looked stressed at her she got confrontational... nice! Never mind we managed to ignore her and still had a good night, could have been a bit longer though . Oh well I am drinking a cuppa tea (what else) and will try and get some sleep soon, I shall report on the state of the head tomorrow...... nighty nightttttt

Oh and here is photographic evidence of being up and about and not curled round a loo....

Oh and just to say none of the lovely ladies in these pics are the lairy one!

Still Ever So Slightly Obsessed...

2009-07-08T14:48:00.000-07:00

I have not landed properly from my weekends outing and abouting, I still ever so slightly fancy running off with various members of Take That, not all at once you understand, I am just keeping my options open... for when I get the call... you know, sigh... mad as a hatstand I know.

I am also off out this saturday night, it is a joint birthday outing with a friend who is a mere strippling of 24... soon to be 25 (only a couple of years between us ). We are going to eat food and then drink booze, it's a good plan, not too rigid and enough scope for elaboration later on in the evening if we so desire.

I have one sick bunny again this week,youngest lad has most definitely got chickenpox, lots of luverly blistery spots all over the poor little man. This of course means that little Miss M is probably due to get them, as the chickenpox I thought she had when I first returned to work quite probably wasn't . Littlest man seems to be coping ok at the moment, but I'm trying to remember if there is a really itchy point when the spots crust over, I suspect there might be. Ah well we have piriton and calamine lotion, just have to stock up on the old bicarb of soda as I have been told it's great to stick in the bath.

My eldest lad is finally recovered from his bout of tonsillitis, although this evening we have had a "headache" appear when I mentioned homework! It did disappear when I mentioned his friends party on saturday which if he was ill (or grounded through lack of homework) he wouldn't be able to attend.

All kids are in bed asleep and I may very well have to head that way soon myself. I'm not sure. thinking about it, that I would suit a rock and roll groupie lifestyle anymore... I have trouble staying up late two nights in a row, not very alluring is it? A snoring half asleep groupie probably wouldn't attract the right sort of attention

Going On Tour

2009-07-05T15:01:00.000-07:00

I'm sorry but there's nothing else for it, I have to leave home and run away to join The Circus (do you see what I've done there? Take Thats' tour and album, huh, d'you get it?).

First I will say I had a fantastic night, I was not sick, I did not pass out, I danced about a lot and I stayed up way past my bedtime. Oh and I didn't even have a hangover this morning!

The weekend was looking a little dodgey for a mo' there, as I said eldest boy was looking extremely ill and I wasn't sure I could go off gallivanting and leave him. Luckily he had improved sufficiently that I felt ok to go. My friend picked me up at about half eleven saturday morning, we had our supplies of food and water and enough munchies to keep us going when fuelled with alcohol. I had made my choice of what to wear and I stuck with it (most unusual and decisive of me....) we were definitely prepared.

The journey there was going well but sadly instead of following our instincts, we followed the sat nav, and after programming in "fastest route" it took us a good three hours to get to the hotel. Oh and I really should have made that toilet stop before we set off. Still we forgot all that as soon as we reached the hotel and realised that yes, that was Wembley Stadium directly behind it, result! My fears that all the parking at the hotel would be taken, were unfounded and we wandered on up to the reception desk. Uh oh a queue, never mind it was clearing at a good rate. Sadly when we got to the front a nice polish receptionist lady apologetically let me know that the room wasn't quite ready yet. We were directed to the bar and given a free drink while we waited approximately fifteen, twenty minutes. Ok, not incredibly impressed but we went and waited. When we re-approached the desk the same nice polish receptionist looked stressed as she revealled that nope the room still wasn't ready. Off we toddled muttering about how we wanted to go and get ourselves sorted. Not too stressed at this point but as we wandered back after another twenty minutes I was starting to get annoyed. It was a total of two hours before this room was ready, I was irked in the extreme and did something not in my nature at all, I asked for compensation.. in the form of free overnight parking. I think I should have asked for more as the manager gave in far too easily!

Still we got to the room sorted ourselves out, resisted the call of alcohol until I had eaten aforementioned food supply, then make up (before a drink, always do make up before a drink!) and then a little tipple and we were off.

It took literally 30 seconds to get there woo hoo, the location of this hotel is perfect for concert going. I have to say at this point I have very fond memories of the "old" Wembley stadium and was curious about how this new look stadium would be, not particularly impressed I'm afraid, we were herded through our gate. You weren't allowed to deviate from your course at any point, no mixing and mingling around the outside of the pitch anymore, we had to go up about four or five escalators and I was starting to worry about exactly how high up we were going to be sitting. When we finally reached our level I did notice a ton of toilet facilities and loads of food and drink stands. I was also surprised to see that at this gig you could, if you so wished, purchase fish and chips (with or without mushy peas), pizza, popcorn and aero bubbles choccy... I'm sorry I didn't realise I was going to the pictures! How weird, I had visions of people standing there with their edibles and watching Take That in full flow, not my idea of what happens at a concert. Of course there was also alcohol, I neatly avoided wine and went straight to smirnoff ice, not ideal but I couldn't face bloating out with a hundred and one lagers.

Our seats were pretty good, a nice overall view and not too high, I wasn't actually in the clouds which is a good thing.

The start of the show was very impressive, almost theatrical, the clowns and acrobats were fabulous and interesting, the music was haunting and the whole thing was an impressive spectacle. When Take That actually appeared from within a cluster of balloons, the crowd (as they say) went wild! It was non-stop action from start to finish, as someone who was never a fan back in the day (I thought they were a bunch of posey lads with not a lot of talent sorry boys) I was wowed. The music was great, the sound was impressive, the lads look amazing (blimey I must be the future Mrs Owen!!!) I was totally blown away, and I'm not afraid to admit that I may have got a little emotional, before beer number four, honest not alcohol induced.

Sigh, the downside of course is that it is now over, I am even more gutted at missing the previous concert through my self induced coma! I now need to go and follow the boys in a stalkerish manner around the country, oh blimey I hope this obsession fades soon, I suspect Other Half will get slightly aggravated with me mooning about the place .

Talking of which (Other Half that is, not me mooning about the place) I just have to say he coped magnificently, things got done, kids got fed, I got updates (unprompted) as to the health status of my lad, kids got put to bed on time, breakfast was made this morning and he even got eldest girl and youngest boy to judo!!! There were no panicky phone calls, or cross phone calls declaring I hadn't given him enough information, all in all it was more of a success than I could have imagined.

Mmmm, wander when I can make my next outing?

Got to work tomorrow, booo, so I will get off now and try and get some kip .

A Long Night!

2009-07-04T00:51:00.000-07:00

I am so tired as I have been woken up twice last night, once at three and again at six (so technically this morning). First time youngest lad was having a bad dream and I had to shepherd him back to bed, second time poor eldest boy was having bad stomach pains, I was beginning to think I needed to call out the emergency doctor! Luckily some medicine seemed to sort out the problem, I think it might have had something to do with his only food in the last three days, a late night sandwich of ham and brown sauce . He also seems to be having a reaction to the antibiotics and is experiencing a slightly blotchy rash, this appeared about half eleven last night so I was seen rushing about doing ye old glass test! Thankfully he seemed perky enough and as I say even felt hungry.

Off on my jaunt today, barring sick children disasters, so will be back with pics and gushing over "the lads" I'm sure. Will be back to bore you all shortly I'm sure, have a great weekend all.

You Really Know You're A Mum When....

2009-07-03T01:24:00.000-07:00

.....you spend your birthday for the most part at work, worrying about eldest son home with tonsillitis (home diagnosis), then pick up little hot and bothered people from childcare provider, decide to take son number one to the doctors (bearing in mind extremes of heat) have to wait an hour in a hot stuffy room with about 30 other sick people one screaming toddler (mine) one fidgety bored and hot five year old (also mine) one slightly preteen ten year old (yep allll mine) and then into the doctors who asks what's wrong. I fixed him with a piercing glare as last time he misdiagnosed said eldest boy, and said "I think he's got tonsillitis" doctor duly checks and says "what a clever mummy" and we get prescription for antibiotics. Phew, then we go to the chemist to get the meddy, then we go to the Co-op to get ice-cream. Little Miss M was fairly beside herself by this time and I was considering infanticide as a viable option for peace and quiet (it was VERY hot!!!! Forgive me). I then came home to cook tea an hour later than I would have liked, Other Half was home, but of course all children still had to direct queries, requests and general crying in my direction.......I was seen stomping about muttering "Happy Birthday to Me" quite a lot that evening.

But today I have a day off and I am going to the shops, in order to search out concert going clothing . Of course it would help if I knew what the weather was going to be doing, I am just praying it won't be as hot as the last few days, I don't want to collapse in a heap at this concert.

First I shall rush about a bit and get some washing and dishwashing done, in preparation for the weekend (mustn't leave Other Half with four kids and the washing) then I shall await the arrival of my pal, poor thing drove all the way from scotland yesterday, I suspect she'll be a bit tired.

Maybe time for a cuppa, got to get my priorities right .

Wilting

2009-06-30T13:54:00.000-07:00

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 .

Cuteness Alert

2009-06-28T08:33:00.000-07:00

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!

A "Mum" Personality?

2009-06-27T02:43:00.000-07:00

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.

Plea for Help...

2009-06-25T10:52:00.000-07:00

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

2009-06-25T01:00:00.001-07:00

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.

Greetings From The House Of Lurg.....

2009-06-24T15:10:00.000-07:00

...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 .

Got Me

2009-06-22T14:45:00.000-07:00

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 .

They've Gone!

2009-06-21T02:03:00.000-07:00

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.

Evening All...

2009-06-18T13:49:00.000-07:00

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....

2009-06-17T14:18:00.000-07:00

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.....

Title?

2009-06-15T15:07:00.000-07:00

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 .

Sicky Pup

2009-06-12T03:30:00.000-07:00

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 .

More Rubbish On The Telly

2009-06-11T13:27:00.000-07:00

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 .

Midweek And The Hormonal Volcano Is Here!

2009-06-10T12:28:00.000-07:00

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 .

Karen Has Not Left The Building....

2009-06-08T14:15:00.000-07:00

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?

Finding My Feet...

2009-06-05T13:48:00.000-07:00

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 ....

Midweek Mayhem

2009-06-03T14:17:00.000-07:00

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 .

Baked!

2009-06-02T14:28:00.000-07:00

"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 .

June Already....

2009-06-01T14:53:00.000-07:00

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 ?

Yay, Feeling Better...Boo, Half Term Nearly Over...

2009-05-29T13:41:00.000-07:00

I've managed to get some housework done today, I backed away from the computer and I actually emptied bins, emptied washing baskets, emptied... no run out of "emptieds". Anyway, the living room floor has been cleaned, all the clothes that were lurking in baskets have been put away...in drawers ...cor I've been really good today .

R went to her friends for a sleepover today, so we are one child down. C's almost chickenpox seems to be fading already with only two blistery spots in sight , M has been a little minx today, enjoying herself chasing about after me and using her new word "Why?" a lot. K disappeared early on in the day to see some of his friends... do you know, it's been quite a peaceful day, almost tranquil .

Sadly as my little helper wasn't about, I had to entertain littlies whilst hanging out washing. This requires the eyes in the back of your head routine, C kept creeping over the grass (Nooo, the grass seed, get off the grass seed) M kept sidling round the back of the bunny hutch (M... no not there, round here, no not round the back...) and then they came to um, help me. C talked the hind legs off several small donkeys, and M kept wanting to hand me clothes pegs, dismantled clothes pegs.

I sadly made the mistake of switching off when C was asking me things, then I realised I was agreeing to stuff and had to snap out of it quick!

I am just grateful I feel more human, and that all the kids appear to be healthy (ish... young man is still slightly spotty). Off to the pictures tomorrow, a birthday treat for Madam R, so think of me when I am watching Hannah Montanna on the big(ish) screen, I will be buying chocolate and sedating myself for the duration

Here are some random pics of the little darlings

Oh and of course this is Splodge!

The Icing On The Cake

2009-05-28T03:38:00.000-07:00

Despite the fact that it's big girls birthday, there will be no cake . Madam is feeling a bit better, she's even managing a slice of toast as I type (fingers crossed we won't see it again later).

I awoke to a giddy head and a headache(yay) and when I came downstairs, I was greeted by a small boy with a face-full of spots. Hoorah, the chickenpox has landed!

Despite everything they are all a bit more cheerfull today, young man is especially lively, I think that's quite common once the spots actually appear. I hope he survives the day though, my irritation levels are high. Biggest lad bought himself a Slinky yesterday, I now realise how much I dislike the noise of a slinky descending the stairs. It is very, very irritating . It is also a lot louder than you would imagine, and we have wooden stairs, ugh I am not in a good mummy mood.

I need to find a handy pillow to lay my head on, sadly it isn't likely to happen until tonight, and then I will do the usual of waking up and feeling lively around 10pm....

Off to not strangulate small, middling and big children. I may shout a lot, but I shan't kill them .

An Award

2009-05-27T13:43:00.001-07:00

Many thanks to Maternal Tales and Amy of and 1 more means four for this lovely award. It is to show gratitude and I have to pass it on to ten blogs that I am appreciate and am grateful for. I appreciate all the blogs I follow so this will be a hard one especially as a lot of you already seem to have this award! I am going to try hard not to duplicate but please bear with me.

Ok in no particular order I'd like to pass this on to

and just to add things I am grateful for....mmm, let me see....

I am grateful for any quiet time I get (when I blog lol). I am grateful to have four healthy (usually) kids and I am grateful that I have the ability to have some measure of control over my life when others do not.

Just off to tell you all about the award now... hope I don't forget anyone!

A Long, Long Day Of Not A Lot

2009-05-27T13:33:00.000-07:00

Poor biggest girl is still unwell, it seems the sickness bug is hanging on for her. There has been a lot of lounging about looking pale and interesting combined with bucket emptying.

I have had a headache (which has been sort of there for a few days now... I suspect sinusitis lurking) and just couldn't get a move on at all. I had to deal with big girls new pet,Splodge the bunny (don't think I've mentioned her yet, very cute bundle of fluff) and so I got to change her hay and water and give her bunny food (bunny food looks a lot like bunny droppings, most odd). I also managed to get a bunny hug in there .

Eldest lad has been off out for a lot of today, this was a good thing as I couldn't have handled lots of boy bickering, and if he'd stayed home I'm sure the lads would have screamed at each other for a larger portion of the day. Little Miss has been very snotty today but otherwise lively and bit too cheerful for my tender disposition. There was a moment when I was trying desperately to keep my eye's open and had a small but bouncy two year old boinging on my tummy "No! No! Don't sleep! Read!" followed by a heavy cardboard book shoved in my face (ouch). Mummy's just a bit tired honey "No tired! Read!" So read I did, sort of, Elmer I think it was.

Now three are in bed and big lad is bored (hah maybe he'll go to bed then) I am waiting for Desperate Housewives (the programme not a local gathering you understand ) and then time for me to crash.

Oh that reminds me, the dog decided I didn't need much kip last night and growled bravely about half one this morning. Then she barked bravely, I was worried that Splodge might be having a visit from a fox or something, so I came downstairs to investigate. Brave and loyal hound ran and hid behind the sofa when I checked out the back garden!

Humph I think I need a new guard mutt .

Quick Catch Up

2009-05-26T16:33:00.000-07:00

First things first a big thank you to Maternal Tales for The Lemonade Award she bestowed upon me. I was going to take her sage advice and pass it on quickly lest I forget what I'm up too. Sadly as you shall see events have overtaken and I'll do it tomorrow, honest I will, I'm just a bit knackered at the mo!

We currently have child number three down with the sickness bug, I am hoping against hope that child number four escapes it completely, oh and also hoping the same for adults one and two .

Yesterday Other Half took the three biggest kids to the park, I was making a sunday dinner yesterday to make up for not having one the day before (you know... sunday). Because of the delicate timing involved in roast potatoes and yorkshire puds I rang Other Half to see how much longer they would be. "We're on our way back, I think C (youngest lad) has been sick" Oh dear, Other Half does not do sick, and what did he mean thinks he was sick?

I anxiously awaited their return, however I was a tad surprised at the reaction of Other Half when he pulled up. He had an expression I can only describe as outraged, on his face. Confused I asked what the matter was "There's puke all over the car and it's all in the crevices and it's going to stink..." how's C I asked? Not good, poor little lad was as white as a sheet. I managed to manoeuvre him upstairs and into the loo before more vomitting occurred. I got him changed and into his bed, with the all important sick bucket beside him. I then went downstairs to the raving lunatic who was ranting and doing nothing productive. "I will clean it" I hissed at him. "We'd better get some disinfectant" he raved... I have disinfectant, I will clean it! "It's in all the crevices...!" Shut up about the bloody crevices, it's not the childs fault, if you carry on like that he'll think he's done something wrong!!! I then went on to some very indiscreet muttering about "who's the bloody adult?" and "it's not even that bad, what's all the f... fuss about?!"

Other Half finally started to calm down and disappeared whilst I cleaned the **horrendous** (what's all the blinkin' fuss about??!) mess in the back of the car. He reappeared and declared C was Ok and he'd just been to make sure he was alright, oh good, should have done that first really shouldn't we? I think I managed to inflict maximum guilt onto him as he behaved impeccably for the rest of the day. I do think he has "issues" with sickness and germs, he just completely over reacts and has to run and wash his hands, he won't even touch some things (sick bucket for example) I cruelly expressed the opinion that if he was going to get it, he was going to get it, cos it was already in the air (now watch me go and get it for being evil!)

Today young C is much better; sadly now eldest girl has thrown up (lots) this evening. I do hope she's better for her birthday poor girl (thursday).I am also desperate not to have a sick baby girl as their aiming capabilities are about zero and no bucket will save me then. Ah well at least it is half term and I don't have the added worry of time off work !

On a different note, the driving lesson went well, although Dave the driving instructor did take me on a nasty fast A road , but I managed it. Just felt sick for the next twenty minutes, but I did manage it.

Off to have a hot choccy and ignore this headache...I am not, not, not going to be ill (please, pretty please?)

I Love Youuuu....

2009-05-24T16:21:00.000-07:00

I may be a little cheerful, actually I am quite a lot cheerful, lets hope I'm still cheerful tomorrow when I have a driving lesson . Here comes a slightly tipsy blog, woo hoo.

I went to see a Robbie Williams tribute act Lee Pashley, and what a good show the young man put on! I was dancing from start to finish and got thoroughly hot and bothered (he's fairly fit actually ). My companions for the evening where also impressed and we ate (dinner included) drunk and definitely got merry. Now I have buzzy ears and I'm a bit sleepy .

It's been another one of those good days you hear about, the family fun day was lovely, it was mostly free too. The kids played games and won sweeties, the biggest two were so determined to win a coconut that they went back once we'd left (they bloomin' won one each as well ). The weather was fabulous and the kids could run about independently and do what ever they liked, it was a good day.

Now I am off to my bed whilst I still have the cheerful thing going on, tomorrow I may be bad tempered and tired .

Back To Normal

2009-05-24T02:05:00.000-07:00

I have lost the quiet and subdued boy, he has now been replaced by the loud and vaguely (actually, very) irritating lad. So, big lad is obviously feeling better!

We made a trip to the emergency dr yesterday (appointment for 5:50 saw dr at 7 o clock!) and the boy has tonsillitus! At last we have medication and he seems to be a lot brighter, yay.

It is a gorgeous sunny day here and we are off to a family fun day at the church at the end of our road. There will be cakes and BBQ and a bouncy castle, so of course the children are over-excited already! I am really looking forward to my night out this evening now, I can relax now biggest boy is back up to full (almost) capacity. And of course an afternoon with hyperactive youngsters is bound to make me appreciate adult (drunken) company even more!

I am going to try and get all washing, drying, cooking done before I go anywhere today, in the hopes of a quiet and relaxing day tomorrow. We shall see .

Ok, off to start the preparations and maybe another cup of tea have a great bank holiday weekend all!

Someone Trying To Tell Me Something.....?

2009-05-23T01:25:00.000-07:00

It's been another fairly long and arduos three days. Last week (week number one back at work) it was Little Miss not well, this week eldest lad has been struck by some dreaded lurgy. And the boy definitely isn't crying wolf this time, he was throwing up in a bucket and everything! I like to throw in the little details so you can share my experience to the full.

This meant I had to spend three days at the office worrying about the state of my lad back at home. I know he is now a teenager but it grated on me to have to leave him, thank god for mobile phones is all I can say. He is still suffering now even though a trip to the doctors brought the reaction "he's got a cold" yeah cos I would really be disturbed by a cold! I think he actually has an ear infection, and of course I am also aware that the doctors tend to refrain from giving anything for an ear infection.

So, is someone trying to tell me that going to work just isn't for me? (I might be!)

Work itself has lived up to my high expectations (sarcasm rules ), and I have been abandoned swiftly and surely by the powers that be. I have just managed to get myself sorted with our human resources (they know I'm back at least), I contacted payroll (also know I'm back but not sure they're going to pay me) and I've had my first go back on the phones answering queries. I then discovered I hadn't been given full access to everything I need to answer queries , also I was expected to remember what I'm doing after a two year absence! I insisted on a companion to sit with me and listen in, in order to not give completely c**p advice to the public! My line manager then said "Ooh of course we won't just abandon you!" Oh of course you just were about to madam!

I am happy that I at least managed to help a couple of people who both incidently, wished me a very good day, that's the bit I don't mind.

Now it's half term, so a week off! Woohoo! I will return afterwards having forgotten everything won't I?

I think son number one may have shared his germs with me, as I have a persistent headache at the mo , oh and I have a night out with the girls tomorrow....hope I'm feeling better by then, I've paid for the ticket now!

Have a good weekend all, I am off to make up for my lack of tea intake these past three days... ahh maybe I'm suffering from withdrawal and I'm not ill at all!

Oh My... Hugh Jackmans Phone Number!

2009-05-19T01:55:00.000-07:00

Warning, warning, this is a test, this is not an actual star studded revelation!

I was reading another blog the other day (as you do) when it was mentioned that if you added certain key elements to your title you might attract more traffic. Being a newbie to this site I thought I might test the theory out.

What better way to attract attention than a mention of lovely Mr Jackman (phwoar) apparantly his new film is even more eye catching and he is resplendent in it... really must attempt to get to the pictures at least once this year! It's not like I don't fancy a film, but how do you co-ordinate a cinema visit with four kids ranging from 13 to 2? And as I am still a non-driver it isn't that easy to transport everyone to the pics, they are all a good distance from me and the bus fare alone would require financing of some description. Of course then you actually have to pay to watch the film, I daren't even think about how much that costs these days!

Sigh...I remember vividly the excitement of going to the pictures with my mum, and those were the days when there was a cinema at the Hammersmith Appollo (then the Odeon). A huge dark place with lights to guide you up the aisles and a lady would come round at intermission with ice lollies and ice creams. We took our own sweets and cakes (liked to be prepared) and there was always a cartoon before the main film...oh lord I'm old aren't I?

Right off to do some washing (woohoo) and not fall into a pit of nostalgia for the day.

Zzzzzzzz

2009-05-18T15:00:00.000-07:00

Hope I get into the swing of this soon. Still tired!

It's been a good day today, blimey when was the last time I thought that? I had a visitor this morning and Little Miss and I got to natter and play (I nattered, she played... just thought I should make that clear). My kitchen was a tip from sunday dinner, but I ignored it, couldn't be rude and ignore my guests could I?

Had a friving lesson today, oops make that driving lesson (see how tired I am?) and I was, as usual, anxious and stressed. I got in the car and poor old Dave the driving instructor wasn't well. Now, don't know if the distraction of talking about his sore throat and loss of voice made me more relaxed, but when we pulled up outside my friends at the end of the lesson he said "You been practising?" "No!" I said a tad surprised and trying to figure out whether he meant I was better or worse. He meant I was better , and now he says we'll do a mock test (purely driving, not manoeuvres) next lesson. I was quite chuffed I have to say. However I have just remembered that my next lesson is the morning after a night out with my pals. Do I cancel my lesson in anticipation of a slight delicate head the next day, or do I say nope it'll be fine lessons not til one o clock? I can't quite decide.

The kids were all vaguely civilised today, I have made tomorrows lunches, all dishes currently in the dishwasher... washing, yay. Ah and of course one small blot on the landscape (well on my face to be more accurate) Mount Vesuvius is erupting on my chin at the mo, well no it's not erupting. It's just sitting there and now faintly glowing, I have attacked it and of course wish I hadn't (oooch it hurts!) I can only hope by wedneday it is down to a manageable level.

Going to sleep now, the tired is overtaking swiftly.

An Award And A Tag....

2009-05-17T01:50:00.001-07:00

I received this lovely award from Modern Mom and after discovering how to get the pic over here I am going to pass it on, the rules are

Accept the award, post it on your blog together with the name of the person who has granted the award, and his or her blog link.
Pass the award to 10 other blogs that you’ve newly discovered. Remember to contact the bloggers to let them know they have been chosen for this award.

Here are my winners and as I'm new to this all the people I follow are new to me, lol

Are We Nearly There Yet Mummy?

How To Survive Life in The Suburbs

Caution...Woman At Work

Is It Just Me?

I Need a Martini Mom

Midlife Musings

Another Day in the Madhouse

and 1 more means four

Sane without drugs

Maternal Tales from the South Coast

and I was also tagged by Maternal Tales and I think I know what I have to do so here goes. I am to say five things that I hate

not getting enough sleep, I never get enough sleep so I know I hate it!
rudeness, no need as far as I am concerned
thoughlessness
missing my favourite programmes (ah the joys of sky plus)
packaging on kids toys (if I can't undo it how are the kids going to?)

As I've already passed on the award thingy I am just going to throw this tag open and if you feel like declaring your pet hates I would love to know what they are!

Right hope all my links work :S gonna press the publish button now!

Only Three Days

2009-05-17T01:40:00.000-07:00

I really didn't three days at work would wipe me out so much. I hope I get better at this! I have some more washing to get done for monday (now there's a revelation) and of course today is roast dinner day...not that I've got anything to roast (oops).

Little Miss seems to be over the *chickenpox* if indeed thats what it was, all spots are fading and not one of them seemed to blister. Maybe it was just a mild case, we'll soon know if youngest boy develops spots won't we?

Yesterday we had to do something I found most disturbing, and as a pet owner it's not something I thought I would do. We had to rehome our last cat, Chaung was it seems terrorising the neighbourhood. I didn't know this until about a month ago when a neighbour knocked on the door looking very worried and said "Karen, I don't quite know how to say this..." not the best start to a conversation. She went on to tell me how Chaung had been systematically stalking and terrorising her cat, she had even had to take hers to the vets a few times due to fairly nasty injuries. I as horrified of course and assured her yes he was "done" and I'd ring the vets to see if they could suggest anything. I rang the vets and they suggested something called Feliway as they thought he might be suffering from anxiety and this is upposed to help. I duly ran out and bought this thing, it takes about four weeks to have an effect so I gave it that. Then I get a call from a friend of mine who lives at the back of us, this is when I find out that all the cats in the adjoining gardens have been attacked by my boy and some of them have required vet hospital treatment! Turns out he's been doing this for years, and the reason my friend was telling me now was because Chaung had badly bitten a cat that lived near her and she'd found out about it. I then went and knocked on doors and yes, it seems that all I spoke to had cats who would no longer venture out.I decided to take Chaung to the vets, hoping a physical examination might reveal some treatable problem. When I took him he was an angel (of course) and she looked him over, declared what a handsome boy he was and when I told her my problem said "Oh I've heard of him!" oh dear notoriety at the vets. The vet checked him all over and said she didn't think there was anything wrong with him, she couldn't see any obvious signs of hormonal problems as he didn't have any particular tom cat traits, and she asked some questions and then said apart from fairly rare neurological problems she couldn't think of anything that would be wrong with him. She and I came to the same conclusion that he was just being a cat and thought it was all his territory.

The end result of all this angst is I decided to rehome him. Not my favourite especially as this means no cat in the house, however he has bitten little Miss when in a mood (oh and she was standing on him), so his aggression is not limited to neighbours gardens.

I phoned a burmese cat rescue at the beginning of the week and they said they would take him in. So yesterday I phoned them to find out if it was still ok, the lady said she'd had a call yesterday morning and a lady who lived near us was after a cat. I asked if she'd explained his problems and she said yes, so I called this prospective owner. She sounded ever so excited and said she lived in a house that backed onto loads of fields and near a golf course, we discussed the fact that he was so territorial but to be honest if he's got a big territory without other cats he might not fight so much. There is one child in the house but he's ten and so hopefully able to read the signs of cat annoyance before they turn to scratching or biting. The woman and her son came to see Chaung yesterday, you could see they thought he was gorgeous, they stroked and loved him and of course he lapped it up... it was a done deal as soon as they saw him.

So I am now catless, not a state I am used to, I feel slightly happier with the situation of rehoming as we didn't have to take him somewhere to await a proper home, hopefully he will settle and love his new surroundings. I've been promised updates so we should get to hear how he's doing.

Today I am going to do all the usual, and not trawl the internet for a kitty looking for a home.

I Lied!

2009-05-15T14:24:00.000-07:00

I am not up to full blogging capacity today! Still shattered and thanking G I F.

Little Miss has the most confusing case of chicken pox I've ever seen, the little blisters have almost gone and the rashy spots on her tummy and legs have gone right down. This was not how I remember the others getting it. We shall see how youngest boy fares over the next couple of weeks and see if anything develops with him.

Today at work was the most boring so far. We were trying to get me onto the office system, the IT blokes had set it up, I had icons on the screen and everything...however, trying to get into anything proved fruitless, all day. Nothing changes. I'd like to say I was surprised, but then I would be telling an untruth .

I am off to watch the rest of Fifth Element now, I can watch that film over and over without getting tired of it, good old Brucie .

Day Two

2009-05-14T15:21:00.000-07:00

I am shattered! Not a huge surprise and at least there's only one day left. I am not up to full blogging power this evening but somehow to go a day without an update just seems plain wrong.

Work was the easy part today (also not a huge surprise) the run around with kids before and after was a little taxing. Baby girl is so close to spotty it's untrue. She has nasty raised bumps on her abdomen and legs oh and think I spotted a blister in the nappy area (of course, how hot and uncomfortable will that be!) She is still cheerful(ish) not floppy or tired, shame, and I think she'll last the day tomorrow. Then we can have four days of bleugh (not a real word but I think you get my point).

Youngest boy is suspiciously sad and grumpy, I am hoping he developes spots during half term (only a week away) then my absence from work will be minimal. Thank goodness the older two have already had the lurgy.

I would just like to say Hi to my new visitors, lovely to see new faces (well names you know what I mean) I will be back to proper blogging tomorrow, bloomin' inconvenient this having to go and earn money thing.

Made It!

2009-05-13T14:39:00.000-07:00

I am here, I made it through my first day at work, yay!

I almost didn't make it into work as Little Miss seems to be on the verge of chicken pox (no really this time). She was all snotty and snuffly this morning, hot as a hot thing and there was a strange kind of pin prickly thing going on. No blisters but still looked decidedly dodgy. I proceeded with the morning as though I was going anyway, when I got to nursery (22 cases so far lol) the nursery manager said "leave her here, we'll see how she goes".

So I left my poor sick child although it has to be said she did run straight off and start playing, and ran for the bus. When I got to the office I warned them of my fear and was met with a lukewarm response, don't think they want me to have leave straight away. I was fully equipped for my day, mug, tea bags and pint of milk. I got to sit with someone I worked with before, and all I had to do was listen in... easy peasy. It was strangely sad how quickly things came flooding back. I also suspect that even with a two year break I may be one of the more experienced staff at least I had proper training. I'm not going to admit too swiftly that I think I know what's going on... they'll abandon me pretty sharpish if they think I have any confidence.

It was very nice to wander around and see all the people still sitting at their desks, the grins and looks of disbelief kind of amused me but it did mean I caught up on all the gossip and felt right at home.

Fast forward to going home time...got to nursery and was met by cheerful bigger kids, Baby Girl was also cheerful but still snotty and awfully bumpy! The nursery manager said she really wouldn't be surprised if she sprouted spots any minute now. However she also said that as the whole of nursery has had them, as long as Littlest Girl is happy in herself they will have her in....phew!

Ooh nearly forgot, I was awoken this morning by my alarm at 6:45, five minutes later I reached to press the snooze button, only to realise that it was the phone ringing. Awake now I picked it up and heard the noise of someone moving about, obviously unaware that they had called me. I shouted "Hello!! Hello!" but nothing, then I realised that there was music in the background, and being completely serious here it was the Dr Who theme tune . I put the phone down and thought, "how odd" when I did 1471 I didn't recognise the number at all.... Ten minutes later it rang again, same noise and still Dr Who in the background, do you think David Tennant was giving me my alarm call?

So here I am at the end of the dreaded day, and of course the antici...............pation (hee hee sorry couldn't resist, and if you're not Rocky Horror fans you won't appreciate it sorry) was so much worse than the actual event.

I am ready to go back tomorrow, which is saying something, fingers crossed little lady isn't too poorly .

The Day Before

2009-05-12T14:33:00.000-07:00

I go back to work... a two year break has simply flown by! Especially as I wasn't convinced I would ever be going back.

It's been busy, busy, busy here of course. I have been doing my usual good job of leaving everything til the last minute. I couldn't even get up this morning, I must have pressed the off button on the alarm. I've got no recollection of it though... not a good sign for the morning, unless of course I go in the other direction and don't sleep at all. I left myself with no time to get baby girls lunchbox this morning, however I did get it done, and got very hot and bothered in the process. I also discovered I cannot walk a mile in six minutes, but I managed to beat the Tesco man to my house anyway, good job it's a two hour time slot.

Yesterday eldest boy did his best dying duck impression and do you know what? I caved, he got monday off. He was very good though, even did sound effects from the bathroom "I've thrown up!" he shouted. I'd had enough and figured if he was going to have a day off this week it was better to be monday than wednesday. He did stay in bed all morning, I suspect he knew he'd be the target of low flying missiles if he dared show his ashen features downstairs .

My friend gave me a lovely pedicure, something I've never had before, and although I usually hate people touching my feet it was strangely relaxing. There is also the added bonus of having snazzy coloured toenails now, so my feet look half decent in a pair of summer shoes.

Today, after the eight minute mile (nah not really more like twenty minutes) I was ever so slightly knackered. I still had small mountains of washing to get through and wanted to organise my work clothes, so as I say it's been a busy day and my new and shiny washing line has been well used. It also seems as though Little Miss is coming down with something... of course she is!!! However I don't yet know whether it's a case of the sniffles or whether chicken pox has finally caught us. She's a bit hot and her nose is runny, there are no spots (or at least there weren't when she went to bed) so we shall just see what the morning brings. I do know that the morning will bring a very panicky, running around like a decapitated fowl, like mummy. I have taken measures to lessen the panicky mad mummy thing and lunches are made and clothes have been sorted, so we will see if I can actually get out the bed .

I am off to panic quietly in front of the telly box now, I may need a cup of tea...OMG what am I going to do tommorow? I'm fairly sure they don't allow ten cups of tea a day oooh and I better sort myself out a cup... and tea bags... oh bug***... I mean dear... I thought I was sorted .

Three, Two, One... GO!

2009-05-10T14:51:00.000-07:00

Sunday, Monday, Tuesday....yep there it is...Wednesday, still the same order as usual I see, so sadly wednesday will be a work day. Gloom, doom, depression, yuk! I know there are still days of freedom left to me, but I am starting to dwell already as is my wont.

Tomorrow is another driving lesson day and the euphoria at passing the theory test is fading, and slowly but surely being replaced with the more familiar nerves and anxiety. I shall try and bear in mind that last time was a good lesson and build on it from there. My friend who looks after Baby Girl is going to give me a pedicure when my lesson has finished (it's ok she's trained and everything) This is so I can have fabulous glamorous toenails when I go back to work. No-one but me will know, but as a Wise Woman of my acquaintance pointed out, the knowing will make me feel good (although she was actually recommending snazzy undies as I recall).

I also have to go and purchase a lunchbox for Little Miss tomorrow (awww her own lunchbox, sniffle snuffle...mummy now hiding in a corner and weeping ever so slightly). I have decided a Peppa Pig one from Matalan will be perfect so we shall wander on up there tomorrow morning. Little girl will of course be delighted, I shall see it as another symbol of me having to relinquish my baby to the world, good lord you can see where my boys get their Drama Queen tendencies from can't you?

The boys are both suffering from sunday night-itis, Youngest quite cheerfully shouted at me from his room "I am sick, I think I still have this sore throat" (shouting mind you) I informed him that he was not ill and if he was then he should definitely be asleep, he didn't persist for too long, let's just see what the morning brings. Eldest was having a little trouble keeping his story straight, in a short ten minute period he went from not feeling well, to hungry, to not well and back to hungry again. When he was telling me he was ill, I was telling him he should have a lie down then (not the right answer) and when he was hungry I was telling him he shouldn't eat if he was ill (also not the right answer) he decided on the hungry story and had a slice of toast. this was swiftly followed by the not feeling well and he doesn't even have PE tomorrow (his words not mine). I am awaiting tomorrows performance of the boy who is ill and can't possibly go to school.

Now what have I accomplished today? Well, a roast dinner of course, lamb with all the usual. No pud today much to the disgust of my family (yeah even those very ill boys). Loads and loads of washing and drying, so much so that the dining table is starting to disappear under the piles of clean clothes (ooh yeah got to sort that out tomorrow too). Other Half has constructed the bunny hutch for Big girls birthday pressy and this inspired me to sort out the garden a bit more. I decided we needed more grass and sent Other Half out to get grass seed, now I have sown some seeds and hopefully the blackbirds will leave enough to cheer up our sad patch of lawn.

That's all I can think of for now...so it must be time to get off this thing and have a cup of hot choccy...I think maybe I am avoiding bedtime in the way I did as a child. The sooner you go to bed, the sooner it's the next day and the nearer you are to the thing you don't want to happen, used to be school though .

Aaah, maybe it's genetic!

Of Course!

2009-05-10T02:17:00.000-07:00

The obligatory "look at my best impression of a volcano" spot is rearing it's ugly head. I should think by return to work day (wednesday) it'll be a fully fledged pustule! Ah the joys of stress and my hormonal skin.

It's been a jolly quick weekend, after my outing on friday night, I also had a lunch to attend yesterday (social butterfly that I am) with friends from work, not even there yet and going out to lunch . It was nice to get together with old friends and it also gave me an opportunity to eye up people I don't yet know. They all encouragingly said "coming back? Wednesday!" and then pulled a you poor mad fool look at me. I keep telling myself "it's only sixteen hours, it's only sixteen hours". The lunch was good, but a bit late for me, half two is in fact an early dinner time in my book. It gave me a chance to catch up on office gossip (lots of it) and not have children clinging to my leg for an afternoon. It made a change having grown ups to talk to.

Last night though I then had to go home and cook dinner, I wasn't hungry, but sadly they were...inconsiderate lot! Steak and chips were on mums menu, I have spoilt them all and now only home made, blanched in salty water, twice fried chips will do with a slab of rib eye steak thrown on the char griddle it's like the bloomin' Harvester in my kitchen (no salad bar mind you). They all enjoyed it except Little Miss who prefers a tin of sausies and beans (good girl much easier... can opener... microwave... done).

We watched a dvd last night which I enjoyed, not sure it was Other Halfs cup of tea.... mind you don't think he has a thing for Hayden Christensen so it probably didn't hold quite the same appeal . It was called Jumper and was right up my street, sci-fi fantasy style film with a bit of action thrown in, the camera work did set off my motion sickness a bit at times, but I coped.

Today of course the washing and drying that I hadn't managed is creeping up to get me, uniforms to wash, uniforms to dry and of course it is roast dinner today, despite all the childrens entreaties for Pizza, Curry and "can we have steak and chips again?" a roast dinner it will be!

Best get on with the domesticated stuff, it'll only be there later if I don't .

Two Pints Of Lager...

2009-05-08T15:17:00.000-07:00

and the remnants of a curry... ooh and can I find any choccy in the cupboards? I'm a bit, um, merry.. that's the word.

I went out with my friend tonight (she's a non-drinker ) and I wasn't necessarily going to have any alcohol, but we were out, there was a band and there was Fosters, oh well. Two pints later and two hours out having a natter was most pleasant, although I appear to have lost all co-ordination in my typing fingers (that would just be my fingers then) and this is taking an awfully long time to type .

It was nice to go out and about without the kids and we managed a little moan about respective Other Halves (well what else do you do on a girls night out?) Now I am shattered and yet feel the need to search out goodies from a cupboard, so I shall be off to hunter gather chocolate .

Have a good weekend all, I am trying not to type too much drivvel (good lord is that a word?) so will be off now nite nite.... hic!

Practise Run

2009-05-06T12:17:00.000-07:00

Today was a trial run for Little Miss at nursery. It was only for half an hour or so, the plan was to take her round there and leave her for a short while. I did tell her she was going to play there this morning, so she knew what was going on. Youngest Boy was a bit perturbed that he wasn't going to nursery, but I explained that he would be going at some point next week, so that cheered him up. After dropping the two biggies at school I wandered round with the nursery manager (she drops littleuns off at my boys class in the morning) Baby Girl was quite excited at the prospect of somewhere new to play. When we got there the nursery staff where looking at me with sympathy, I suspect I had the frightened rabbit look going on. After a quick dither as to whether or not I should announce to little girl I was off, I did tell her I was going and I'd be back in a bit. Go and play for a bit I said "Yeh play" she said and wandered off. I headed towards the door, the apron strings stretching tighter and tighter (!) pushing my little empty pink buggy (sniff!!!) and headed off up the road for half an hour.

Actually the worst bit was pushing the little empty buggy, felt like important bits of my anatomy (as opposed to unimportant bits) had been cut off, very odd sensation... last baby getting bigger and (more) independent. On my return Little Miss was in the garden area of the nursery, not, I noted looking longingly around for Mummy and not looking in the slightest bit phased either. Humph I am dispensable it seems. I went back in to fetch her and she did deign to say "Mummy!" but she didn't run into my arms and she wasn't in any rush to go home either!

I am pleased that this is the way it is really, I much prefer an independent confident young Miss to be shoved into the world of childcare and not a sad and clingy girl, my heart would have been well and truly broken then.

She has another session tomorrow, for an hour and a half next time, so I might actually get as far as home and a cuppa tea tomorrow eh?

And Breathe...Phew!

2009-05-05T14:38:00.000-07:00

I have been a tad stressed lately, what with the going back to work thing and the sending baby girl to nursery thing that accompanies that. Oh and I had my driving theory test today, eeeeek, I hadn't mentioned it cos I just couldn't! However,

I Passed!!!

Thank the lord for that, I felt so sick this morning I just knew I couldn't go through that again. I spent the morning stressing and practising on the disc, my brother laughed at me yesterday when I revealed I'd passed the last fourteen times on the practise disc. You just can't be too careful in my opinion .

I got to the test centre and a very nice man behind a desk looked at my licence (both parts... oh god had to find both parts!) and pointed me in the direction of his colleague, a jolly little man further along the corridor. The jolly little man directed me to a booth (ooh there's posh) and asked if I minded that (there were lots of cubicles but I quite liked the booth) so off I went. I had to press the screen, not click a mouse (let me click a mouse I know what I'm doing with a mouse ). I went through the 50 questions, and had to flag seven of them (ooh no, not sure must check again) one question I just had no idea about the answer so it was multiple guess time for that one. When I'd done all 50 questions I went back and did them again (just to be sure).

Then onto the hazard perception videos, for those of you who haven't encountered these it's basically a series of fourteen film clips, and you have to click the mouse when you see a potential hazard and then again when it becomes an actual hazard. Now I suffer from a sensitivity to motion, and am prone to feeling sick whilst watching things moving about on the screen (Waterworld... never did see the whole thing!) So this bit of the test was not my favourite, however as I was coming to the end of it I just kept thinking "Oh god I'm nearly finished....I will know the result soon!"

I was sooo relieved when the nice man (man number one) handed me a slip of paper and said "Here's your pass certificate" Oh! I passed, I passed!

Phew now all I have to do is the practical.... aaaargh... I'm not ready for that yet . Sleep now, stress later... much later .

Losing Track

2009-05-04T14:57:00.000-07:00

The days are all kind of merging... I do know we are getting closer and closer to the day... the day of me returning to work.

It's been a busy weekend, there has been the visiting relatives portion of the weekend, there has been the DIY, portion of the weekend and there has been the gardening portion of the weekend. Oh and of course there was the stuffing our faces portion of the weekend on saturday, oh yeah and on sunday ooh and a little bit today .

Saturday we did a mercy dash to my mums house. Their front and back doors were giving them problems, they couldn't lock either without a tussle, so the services of Other Half were needed. It was nice cos whilst Other Half did his handyman stuff, the kids ran their nan and grandad ragged and I got a cup (or two) of tea .

Sunday we went and purchased a new-fangled brabantia clothes line I have high hopes for this one. High hopes as regards keeping it arachnid free and actually drying clothes on it, not leaving them as some sort of strange garden ornamentation (because of the arachnid residents), my neighbours must have thought I liked the sun bleached look for clothes. Once an item was left out overnight my ability to go and take it off the line was gone, I just knew there would be an eight legged friend lurking on the peg... ugh makes me shiver just thinking about it.

We also purchased a lawn mower, having killed off the last one. This new fella has wheels and is much more suited to the potholed terrain that is our "lawn". We have a digging dog and small boys with a current worm fascination... it looks like trench warfare out there. My new super duper wheeled mower is taking it all in it's stride and actually cutting grass as opposed to clubbing it into submission... do you know the only way I could get the incredibly inappropriately named "flymo" to cut the grass was to lift it up and plonk it directly onto a clump of vegetation. Not very energy efficient, good for the arm muscles I suppose, still prefer this new one .

After my new favourite pud on saturday, I decided on a simple strawberries and cream for sunday, also most yum I have to admit. Oh and the sunday roast wasn't bad either even if I do say so myself (which of course I do).

Today was another driving lesson day, it was the first since the slightly disastrous one two weeks ago, so of course the stress levels were up to maximum, nausea and snappiness all around (well just me but I let everyone know!) It amazes me just how physical my reactions are, even though I know it is all in my head I cannot calm myself down. Thankfully I managed to concentrate (and not be sick) and at the end of the lesson Dave the driving instructor turned to me and said "great, that was fine.. just a couple of times you forgot to check your mirrors" Hoorah, it was good! I was still shaking when I got home, but bloomin' elated I had managed a good lesson, maybe it is possible for me to drive.

Back to school tomorrow so a normal day, phew, this family time doesn't arf interfere with my blogging you know!

You Must Try This!

2009-05-02T12:22:00.000-07:00

Just had dinner... and a new favourite pud! You got to try it!

Very simple...

Yum Yums zap in the microwave for one and a half minutes (or until warmed through) then add vanilla ice cream, we used Haagen-Daz.

Wow! Sooo nice, feel a bit ill now though , nevermind it's saturday .

She's Back!!!

2009-05-02T01:16:00.000-07:00

Phew, my brood is complete, my biggest girl is home! I do feel better having everybody back under the same roof, even if the bickering commenced almost immediately.

I had a very full social calendar yesterday, in the morning Little Miss and I were invited to my friends sons 2nd birthday party, luckily as it was a little way away we got a lift there. We were going to the Model Village in southsea, now my friend is a much more social mummy than I and there were approximately 20 kids (!) plus mums and the occasional dad. I used to take eldest boy to this place when he was about eighteen months old and to be honest it hasn't changed much. The kids loved it, Little Miss was bending down to peer in all the little windows, she was fascinated by the miniature pots and pans and the tiny cakes and fruit. There was of course a railway complete with Thomas and Percy et al, my girl stood near the entrance of the tunnels shouting "Tommy!" whenever any of them appeared (she's not up on the names yet). My only worry was the little streams and bridges, I wasn't certain the littleuns would distinguish between path and water, they did though so no soggy feet (couple of soggy bottoms but for entirely different reasons).

My pal had organised a picnic of epic proportions, in fact she had called the night before to consult on what she was bringing, I looked at the spread and smiled saying to her "so you felt the need to check on how much to bring" there were two tables bursting with goodies! I was also reminded of how disorganised a mum I am when all of a sudden many and various picnic blankets appeared from nowhere, all of the mums seemed to own them, and not just tatty old tartan rugs (go on you know the ones I mean) these were super duper fleecy, plastic backed affairs. Oh the shame of not having one to produce out of my bag , I'm lucky if I'm carrying a spare nappy and a juice cup.

The kids sat and ate their grapes and sandwiches but of course cake was much more interesting, another phenomenon I encountered was Baby signing, I overheard a mum saying "do you know the sign for cake K***?" Beg pardon thinks I? Apparently it's very big round their way, I'm afraid I was slightly amused and thought "I wonder how many children you have?" because I suspect by baby number two they might not find it quite so interesting... who has the time? Maybe I'm just old fashioned and should be more open minded .

We returned home about one o clock and big girl was due back at two thirty, so time for a quick cuppa (dying for a cuppa at this point, no tea all morning!!!) and a tidy up (don't know what's up with all this tidying) then we set off to retrieve eldest girl. Little Miss thought it would be fun to walk the whole way, I thought it would be very, very slow, we were both right. A compromise was reached when we were nearly there and it was 29 minutes past two, she was placed in the buggy with a promise that mummy would run, yep you read right, run! So mummy ran (all of two hundred yards, not exactly the london marathon) and we got to the coach just as the kids were disembarking. They all looked shattered and bedraggled , my girl saw me before I saw her and another mum said "she's there Karen!" Ooh yeah there's my girl waving frantically, yay.

Us parents had to collect from the school hall and not the coach so we all followed the kids back to the school, then luggage and child were partnered up and we could have 'em back. It was a bit early for collecting Chay from school so me and my girls went back to another mums house and had a cuppa, this mum has a little girl four months younger than littleun and it was lovely to watch them. My girl was playing with a toy and her little friend was not pleased, she gave a look that could curdle milk,Little Miss being the sensitive soul she is completely ignored the disapproval and continued to hog the aforementioned toy all the while we were there. They did make friends though and ended up playing together, just before we had to leave of course, so getting back in the pushchair wasn't favourite.

My big girl had bought pressies for everybody (she is such a thoughtful child) and so when we got home the boys descended locust like to see what they had. There was no moaning and groaning (suprisingly) so I think the girl had made good choices (of course she had, she's her mothers daughter).

It was so nice to have her home and even the argument over whether her brother was in her way or not, didn't phase me, just good to be back to normal.

They all seem to be emerging from their rooms (at last, she must be knackered!) so best get on with breakfast duty. Wonder if I'll be smiling indulgently at them today...shouldn't think it'll be for long if I am .

Getting Organised

2009-04-29T05:47:00.000-07:00

There has to be something wrong with me... yesterday I did housework, and not just any old flicking a brush about housework, no it was real proper on your hands and knees, polish and duster kind of housework! I also cleared out behind the sofa (you can't even see behind the sofa unless you walk up and have a look so goodness knows what inspired that) and organised the desk. Woohoo space!

I have a horrible feeling that I am in preparation for my return to the world of (out of the house) work . I even managed to get packed lunches made last night, not a last minute rush this morning then, and I'm having strange and unusual thoughts about organising childrens clothes the night before . It's quite satisfying seeing clear spaces I have to admit, not sure I'll be making a habit of it mind you.

Oh and to prove that no matter how organised you may be there will always be something that comes along to slow you down, eldest lad decided to mess up my nice clear kitchen this morning. He was making himself some cereal, I was getting Little Miss dressed and youngest boy was eating breakfast (my biggest girl of course has abandoned ship and is on her school trip ). I suddenly heard a loud "Oh no! Oh god, god no!" exclaimation coming from the kitchen. What's up I ask with no particular urgency for I am well aware of my sons drama queen tendencies, "I've dropped my rice crispies and sugar everywhere" he shouts "it's gone in the sugar!" So I am making my way to the kitchen telling him to clear it up then. What my lovely son had failed to impart, was the fact that there was also milk in the mix! So. I was greeted by the sight of rice crispies and milk and sugar cascading (I can do drama queen to you know) down the front of my cupboards and making a fairly impressive lake of milky cereal on the floor. I was struck by the fact that he had been shouting and carrying on alarming for a good two/three minutes before I arrived. Directly in front of him on the side was a big roll of kitchen towel... why had there been no attempt to stem the tide?

Nope, shouting and screaming is oviously the way to go, and do you know what? It bloomin' works doesn't it, cos mum will appear and immediately leap into action, whilst lad runs off and gets away with it!

'Cept he didn't entirely get away with it as I requested back the money he had in order to buy more sugar, well there have to be some consequences don't there?

Soggy Socks, Stress and Sulks

2009-04-27T15:08:00.000-07:00

I'm smiling, I'm smiling! I am smiling before I go mad and murder small people. Well I have calmed down now but earlier... ooh twasn't pretty.

The day started with a torrential downpour, this brought to my attention that when there are the words "waterproof trousers" on your childs list of clothing for her trip away, maybe, just maybe you should buy them. This caused a dilemma for me, today was a driving lesson day, I had £20 in my purse and no more... waterproof trousers cost £10. Mmmm, oh dear, cancelled the lesson saying little one wasn't well (naughty but not entirely untrue... I am still watching for signs of the dreaded lurgy/chicken pox). I then braved yet more torrential rain and ventured out to the shop I went to on saturday (decided on saturday not to spend £10 as it seemed lovely and sunny) only to discover they had sold out. Aaargh, obviously every other mum ran out this morning and decided, yes we do need waterproof trousers. This meant the walk in the rain had to continue for a little longer as I traipsed,damply, into town to find waterproof bloomin' trousers (wish I had waterproof trousers, or even waterproof shoes, sans holes would have been good). I went to the Countryside Store (couldn't see much countryside on offer but plenty of multi-coloured wellies) and asked the lady if they had childrens trousers, of the waterproof variety. She pulled out every item on her rack and it was looking dodgy for a while there, but finally hoorah! So the mission was successful and I feel like a better mummy for providing the right equipment for my girl.

The rest of the afternoon passed in a slight haze as I was knackered, littlest girl however was not and no amount of "come and cuddle mummy" would entice her to sit still for five minutes.

When eldest boy came home he revealed to me that the cooking ingredients I had supplied last night, at the last minute, for chicken jambalaya (!) were not in fact needed until wednesday . So what happened to the ingredients, he had put them in the fridge obviously....alternatively he had carried fresh chicken, diced peppers (by mum), diced onion (by mum), rice, garlic, etc etc around in his back pack all day. All these ingredients that he had sprung on me last night, were wasted and now I have to supply more for wednesday. To top it off he had lost the pound coin I gave him yesterday, this is the first bit of money he has been entrusted with since the wallet escapade, and he hasn't exactly covered himself in glory with the "responsibility taking" today! I was so angry and when he declared he would go upstairs and find more money to go to the shops I informed him that this wasn't happening. Good lord, not only did the world end at this point, I was also told that he couldn't help it, it was an accident and how could I blame him. He went on to scream and shout at me and tell me that he was really "stressed" (ooh poor you) then he carried on with the hyperventilating stage of the performance and started to scream some more. Naturally I remained calm and quiet, and at no point did I threaten to slap him one if he talked to me like that . He let it be known that I was the most dreadful mother in the world, I let it be known he wasn't doing himself any favours...it would have escalated further except I had to go and fetch two small people from school, good job too.

I wasn't looking forward to coming back, but as running away wasn't on the cards, I did. We were met by a smiley slightly abashed boy, who told me almost before I got through the door, that he had remembered he had spent some of his pound today and infact hadn't lost it but had 80p left. I stood and stared at him, how could he forget this when WW2 had started? Didn't it jog his memory? Nope it didn't, but at least he was calm and sweet and a much nicer boy to come home to.

Little Miss on the other hand fell asleep on the way home (uh oh) and didn't wake until five o clock (uh oh) and was in a foul mood, looks like something may be brewing after all... see what happens when you say they're ill .

My biggest girl the organised one has double checked her list and ticked off all items needed, she is off tomorrow and a tad over-excited, at least she'll have dry legs .

So Much Telly, So Little Time

2009-04-26T14:33:00.000-07:00

I had intended an early night tonight, of course it had slipped my mind that I had an evening of viewing ahead. Supernatural, Fringe and I forgot Dexter on friday luckily it's repeated... tonight! So there we are midnight again I expect .

At one point today Other Half was about to paint radiators (for the plumbers to use) and it became apparent that something was amiss. Do you know how I guessed something was amiss? Well there were the usual subtle signs... door slamming, muttering, louder muttering accompanied by swearing and the grand finale of "blaming everyone else". Some things had gone missing. Other Half would not have moved said things so.... yep must be someone (me) elses fault. I took the usual umbridge at the assertion that I'd moved his stuff, and stomped off seething and generally mentally packing suitcases and wondering where the council would rehouse me and my four kidlets, how would I afford the driving lessons, well at least I'd have some income... you get the drift.

The general seething continued for a good fifteen minutes, all this time Other Half was still painting radiators in the garden. I went past him a couple of times in order to get clothes from the tumble dryer (and to show him how cross I was and give him a chance to apologise) but of course he was completely unaware of the seething/cross thing, and all he saw was me going to get stuff from the tumble dryer! In fact as soon as I had talked to him again and he had returned to normal reasonable type bloke, the seething and house packing stopped instantly, it is odd to feel so absolutely certain of your emotions one minute and just as certain of different ones five minutes later, most unsettling. Kind of like a roller coaster ride (which I also hate) how cliched of me .

Watching little Miss like a hawk for signs of the dreaded lurgy (chicken pox), nothing yet. She has crashed out about six-o-clock for the last two or three days, which is unsual. When I got her out of the bath this evening I thought I spotted a small spot (he he) (oh that's probably not funny) on her back, but nothing more. She was lively enough to play "boingy boingy" with me after her bath. Now it's not a complicated game, I shall explain the rules, first get one small personage (still of nappy wearing age) wrap them in a towel, at this point small person is fighting to get back into the bath.... shouting "baff baff" in your ear, take them and wrestle them onto your bed to start the drying process. Small person will at this point wriggle constantly to make the putting on of nappy almost impossible. You have to reassure small person that yes you will be playing "boingy boingy" as soon as nappy is on so please keep still! Nappy is finally velcroed up and then you can proceed to the fun stuff. Small person stands up and you grab them under the armpits and bounce them up and down on the mattress shouting... go on guess...boingy boingy boingy. This can continue for as long as small person requires (hours) or as long as your arms can stand it (seconds) lets hope it's good for bingo wings .

Biggest Girl has packed and unpacked and packed again for her school trip, I think we have the final suitcase combination sorted, she is just so organised that girl. I really, really have no idea where that comes from! The Boys have foregone the bath option this evening, both promising me that tomorrow would definitely be a bath night , and it will, despite their best efforts to avoid.

Off to watch the remainder of Fringe now and then my recording of Dexter (yay) after that I don't expect to be sleepy any time soon. Let's hope as soon as I get into this work routine I won't be so anxious, I have to get some sleep at some point, I think it's quite necessary.

The Weekend

2009-04-26T01:47:00.000-07:00

So far so good, I think I had sensory overload friday and yesterday evening I just kind of collapsed in a tired heap. The trip to the office was fine and as expected I am back to work in two weeks time, the 13th of May to be precise. Unfortunately they really need me to work a friday, so I am going to be working the end of the week which I really didn't want to . Nevermind wednesday, thursday, friday it is. It's only three days and not whole days either, just 9:30 - 2:30/3:30 so I can do school runs for two days and nursery will have the three youngest for me for one day.

It does look rather more factory like than when I left and ooh no talking, nope there is phone answering and that's it! The nature of the job has changed slightly too, there doesn't seem to be any room for actually being helpful to the public, more like answering phone and telling them you'll pass the message along. I personally don't see the point in this, why give people more room for frustration when they have to go through many and various people before they get an answer? Ah well I'm just going to work there, not my place to question the powers that be (they never listen anyway).

Yesterday I spent two hours with my daughters shopping for everything, and the kitchen sink, that is required for my eldest girls school trip this week, aaargh I am losing my little helper for four days. What am I going to do? More, that's what. She's going on an activity holiday but there is a disco on the last night, so we needed practical rolling around in mud clothes as well as dancing about with glittery nails clothes. It cost a bomb, I have two pounds twenty left in my purse. Eldest girl is happy anyway, that nail file was a necessity obviously.

Last night we watched a rather good dvd called Taken it was both action packed and a good story, this catered for both camps... I didn't even mind the car chases .

Well tis sunday morning and all kids are up and bouncing, I think they need my attention, youngest lad is perusing the Argos catalogue and there is a list of things we're "getting" according to himself, I may need to squash this idea swiftly .

Today...

2009-04-24T02:14:00.000-07:00

I will be mostly stressing!

I awoke refreshed from my five and a half hours sleep (?!) and went in to the teenager who had expressed an interest in having a shower this morning (what's that all about?!) I was greeted with a one eyed glare from under the duvet and a firm "NO!" when I asked if he was getting up for his shower. Oh fab I could have had an extra twenty minutes in my bed. At least order was restored to the universe I suppose.

The girls were up and bouncing though, especially Little Miss who squealed "Out! Out!" when she saw me. We had the usual discussion coming down the stairs "Where Milk? Where daddy?" Followed by very loud calling for all her siblings. She likes to know what's going on you know .

Youngest lad needed definite crowbar action to get him out of his pit this morning, as did his big brother, this was followed by lots of growling and snarling along the lines of "GoawayI'mup leave me alone!" (and yes it all does run together like that). I finally was satisfied that both lads were not just going to turn around and climb back into their beds and came back down to get the girls their brekkie.

I suspect this lack of sleep and stressing thing is having a physical effect on me, I took a look in the mirror and saw a lovely little crop of teenage acne spots on my chin. Oh goody, at the grand old age of, well forty something ish I have got teenage skin... and not the good, elastic, youthful, glowing teenage skin either .

I'm not due to pop into my old office til after one so I have plenty of time to get myself all worked up and anxious. I haven't got an appointment either so I will be just wandering in and asking for new soon to be Boss Lady (hope she is there) and as I don't even know what she looks like there will be some dithering in the direction of where I think she should be.

I am so looking forward to this being done and dusted, I am going to pop out with a friend of mine this evening and then I can rant to my hearts content about many and various traumas, hope she's ready poor girl!
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Outraged Of Hampshire

2009-04-23T14:44:00.000-07:00

I didn't get much sleep last night, this was down to stressing about the various things I am stressing about right now. In my head I know this is pointless and counter-productive; over analysing and over thinking everything does not help me sort it out. However the Off function doesn't appear to be working in my head at the minute.

This is not why I am outraged though. I received another e-mail from the cat breeder (for full story click here) she has yet again sidestepped any responsibility and is trying to tell me that she was not a commercial trader or dealer and as the sale was between a private individual and myself, Trading Standards do not apply. It is she says, a case of buyer beware. I cannot believe she is going down this path. She is trying to say they only bred cats in order to finance their hobby of showing and breeding cats! Now the law is a funny thing, and I am aware of this. I know things that may appear to be common sense are not necessarily correct from a legal standpoint (I used to be a trainee legal executive many moons ago) so I called the Trading Standards again, I just wanted a definition of a trader or dealer. I also wanted to be sure that there wasn't some sort of loophole concerning cat breeders if it was not the main source of income. I was told no, if she was selling kittens as a one off then she could be considered a private seller, but if not then she was bound by the trading standards. I have spent a lot of the afternoon collecting evidence to back up my side of the story. She is listed on many websites as a breeder of siamese, maine coone and burmese cats. Her own website although it states she has retired recently, does state she has retired from breeding and showing cats. I have printouts from a website dated 2000 that also mentions the fact they had been breeding cats for six years at that time. She also provided me with a breeders pedigree certificate and a lovely piece of paper congratulating me on being the proud owner of a "breeders name" cat (best not actually name and shame on here eh?) Aaaaaargh! I have now requested a small claims pack from the local county court, oh god I can't believe I'm going to have to take this woman to court! If she had made me a decent offer in the first place and admitted liability it would never have come to this, why does everything (OK not everything, maybe I'm exaggerating) become a battle?

To compound my stress, tomorrow is the day I go into the office and sort out start dates and working conditions. I may have mentioned this before but... I DON'T WANNA!!! I will go though and I will return to work and it will be alright, I know this, I just would rather not have to. Needs must, as someone once said.

Oh and I have been told today that the little girl that my friend looks after, my friend who looks after Little Miss for me, well this little girl came out in chicken pox today, hoorah that could be interesting timing. Second oh, today a neighbour came to tell me that Chaung, our only remaining cat, has become so aggressive and violent she had to take her cat to the vets recently after he had attacked it. Yay, I am in danger of "situations that need sorting" overload.

On a brighter note I have organised something a tad more productive today, I have phoned the plumbers to get more radiators fitted. Other Half has intended to do it himself for six months, there is no time.. he's always knackered and I want radiators by winter. We have a quote I find reasonable and I've made a tentative appointment for them to do it in the next few weeks. I suspect it might inspire Other Half to get on and attack the slightly less daunting jobs around the house. I could be wrong obviously but I am hopeful . See really I am an optimist...it's just all these bad things keep happening and getting in the way of my sunny outlook.

Fingers crossed for more sleep tonight, but there's a strong possibility that won't happen until after I have been into the office .

Sleep

2009-04-21T17:07:00.000-07:00

I am extremely tired. I fell asleep on the chair about elevenish (almost went all Lord Of The Rings there and typed elvenish!) I went on up to bed at about five to midnight... I came back down the stairs at twenty seven minutes past... I CAN'T SLEEP! My brain has decided to wake up and in the meantime keep me up too!

I was all lovely and snoozey sitting not watching CSI somewhere or other, remaining cat (ahhh poor lonely boy) curled up on my knee. I should have just stayed where I was, at least I was getting some kip .

There seems to be an awful lot of activity going on in my head, none of it on purpose, I don't need to think about every ramification of dropping off and picking up kids when I return to work, I don't need to try and remember where to look on the work system for certain information, I absolutely positively don't need to stress about where am I going to fit in my driving lessons. I need however to get some sleep, and if this is the way things are going to go until friday I could be in big trouble..."Hello new mrs boss lady, see how ill and tired I look, don't you just want me on your section?" not a good look.

Nope must calm down; of course stressing about calming down isn't helping much either, must not worry about calming down... must sleep!

Help!

Keep Paddling..

2009-04-21T13:47:00.000-07:00

I may be getting my influence from a Coronation Street scene today (Thanks Norris), but the point made was this, I may look all calm and serene on top but I'm like a little duck paddling away underneath. And I am! Paddling that is, actually not entirely sure I look that calm and serene but I am definitely paddling.

Lots got sorted yesterday, although I had an horrendous driving lesson, I suggested to good old Dave that I should probably go home but then he made me do a turn in the road, so I figured he wasn't letting me off. I was all over the show yesterday, wrong lane, going when I shouldn't have, stopping when I shouldn't have....ugh it can only get better.

I phoned up my place of work (as I am on a career break, I can call it that) to ask whether they could accomodate me with term time working. I actually spoke to the woman who is to be my boss (clue) and she was saying yes you can do term time and 16 hours a week and I was a bit flabberghasted actually. It all seemed organised and sorted and I didn't really have to do anything. I have to pop in on friday to discuss a start date and which of the school holidays I will be able to work if needed. OMG it's all getting a bit real now. I hope they bloomin' well retrain me cos it's been two years and I've forgotten everything.

So this morning I took Little Miss along to the nursery (and yes, no problem, they can have her and look after the others in the school hols... why is everyone being so helpful?) We arrived and she immediately shouted "Out" as she wanted to get out of her pushchair and play, she was off like a shot, excitedly playing with all the new stuff she hadn't seen before. I suspect she'll be fine without me, it'll be mum sobbing and clinging at the door, daughter will want to be free to run amok in her new domain (for it will be her domain).

I have also attacked the many and various piles of clean clothes, that were scattered around the house (no-one will put them away obviously) and allocated them to their correct drawers and cupboards. As a byproduct of this I then discovered surfaces I didn't know were there . I couldn't do any more washing cos there is no washing powder and no money.. arrrgh. Never mind, the nice Tesco man is coming tomorrow and I have hopefully ordered enough stuff to last a week this time, it's funny how when you're trying to be economical you end up not getting stuff you really do need!

Not sure how this going out to work thing is going to pan out, I somehow have to get things done (that I'm not getting done now) and be out of the house for three days. Oh well I am sure that everyone will pitch in and help eh? 'Scuse me I am just off to guffaw loudly at my own humorous remark .

Tagged!

2009-04-21T02:28:00.000-07:00

Ah! Now what do I do, bear with me while I work this out. I have been tagged by Hit 40 on Sane Without Drugs. So here goes
8 things I am looking forward to...

Friday... cos friday is payday and briefly there will be some money to spend.
Ooh this isn't easy, um thursday nights telly, Bones, Greys Anatomy and ER all in one night.
Going to see Take That in july (I know it's a long way off but I am excited already, a day away and a night in a hotel woo hoo)
Earning some money of my own, sadly this involves going back to work.
Getting a new kitten when we can afford one
Biggest Girls birthday next month
Being able to drive (goodness knows when that might be)
Saturday cos that's when I eat whatever I like!

8 things I did yesterday...

Had a really bad driving lesson
Visited my friend and had a cup of tea (or two)
Took the kids to school (school run Hit 40 lol)
Sorted out returning to work after a two year break (yuk yuk yuk!)
Sorted out sending baby girl to nursery (sob, sniffle)
Talked to my best friend on the phone for about half an hour
Made a really lazy dinner
Fell asleep whilst watching the programme I was waiting for!!! Luckily it's recorded

8 things I wish I could do

Fly! Not likely I know
Drive
Not go back to work
Be rich and a lady who lunches
Go to the gym
Swim properly
Go on holiday
Go to the pictures and watch a girly film, no cartoon or animation.

8 shows I watch

ER
Greys Anatomy
Bones (cor David Boreanaz)
Dexter (back on friday yay!)
QI (Stephen Fry is my hero.. brain the size of a planet that man)
Fringe
Heroes
Ashes to Ashes (when I can stay awake)

8 people I tag....

Laura atAre We Nearly There Yet Mummy? ,Leann at Look! A Baby Wolf!, Tara at Sticky Fingers, Madre at 2 is my LIMIT...I just happen to have 3 , Maternal Tales from the South Coast, Lisa at I Didn't Get The Message, Christine's Blog and Karen at The Scoop

Ok ladies apologies if this is not your thing but join in if you like

Don't Do It!

2009-04-19T16:07:00.000-07:00

No matter how good an idea it sounds at the time, and no matter how much they promise you they'll be reasonable, and no matter that you need the practise....DO NOT PRACTISE DRIVING WITH YOUR OTHER HALF!

Just thought I'd mention it . Twas nothing major, there was no screaming, there was however talking through gritted teeth and Other Half seeming to forget that I'm only learning!!! The actual driving was fine, we went to the park, and as before it was a lot colder than I thought it was, still the kids enjoyed running about. Littlest Miss particularly enjoyed the meandering about the play area, with mum in tow, and pointing at all the flowers (I do mean all, each individual one). She decided to sit down and get really close to them at one point "floyers!" (that's what it sounds like to me ) she says as she pokes at them.

The slight shall we say tension, started on the way home, Other Half couldn't get the back door of the car open. This resulted in snarling and growling, closely followed by kicking (the car) I suspect this is a well known technical procedure amongst blokes and I, as a mere observer could not possibly understand how this could help. I did try and mention to Other Half that as I was about to drive us home I needed him to be calm, he glared at me, calmly. Ah well, it'll be ok I shall ignore him thinks I. As we set off I did come across a couple of inconsiderate drivers, one guy pulled out of a side road in front of me (I was driving along the main road) and I had to slow down quite swiftly, Other Half decided to gesture at the bloke..... fairly distracting, and as that bothers me when he's driving it bothered me even more when I was driving. Then there was a taxi driver with his back end sticking out into the road, apparantly this also warranted artistic hand gestures! Ok so whilst you are gesticulating wildly out of car windows how are you keeping an eye on me?

The thing that really did it though was my attempt at parking, it wasn't good. Instead of laughing it off and saying "nevermind dear" there was a lot of tutting and "what are you doing, I don't know what you did there!" going on. I ascertained that it wasn't actually dangerous, stopped got out and let him park up!

It calmed down quite swiftly, but the aftermath hung about for a while, why can't he just make the effort!!! Try and be calm for goodness sake, his head wouldn't explode if he just kept his temper for two minutes! (Although if it did that would be quite surprising, was going to say entertaining then felt mean ).

I am up late again, I know what it is, there is a school run tomorrow and I'm a bit anxious about ringing up work. I must at least try and go to bed soon, after all it is now tomorrow and there is limited sleeping time available. I'll regret it when it comes to my driving lesson, at least Dave the driving instructor won't be tutting at me .

Naughty

2009-04-18T15:45:00.001-07:00

I've been a bit bad today, I went and had the haircut that I was going to cancel due to lack of funds. Still no funds but couldn't quite bring myself to cancel the hair appointment. I kind of justified it to myself by saying "well if I've got to go back to work I need to look presentable" how lame is that?

It's a good cut though and I like the colour so it's money well spent (?)

Shorter eh?

It's the end of the easter hols now, so all back to normal on monday, yay!!! I have already got uniforms ready (just so organised) except I forgot the festering PE kits , have to search for those tomorrow. I had intended to buy new lunch bags but somehow that hasn't materialised. I know for almost certain that there is homework eldest lad has not attempted, eldest girl on the other hand has done homework and sealed it in a nice presentation pack (well almost... she's put a lot of effort in anyway) the difference is just ridiculous.

I made two dinners today, which is actually an improvement on the norm, only two different meals! I made enchiladas and nachos (one meal) and steak and chips for Other Half, of course he looked at our food and said "Ooh that looks interesting I might have liked that" Yeah right, if I'd presented Other Half with mexican I suspect he'd have viewed it with great suspicion vis-a-vis onion, red pepper content! Little Miss was chomping away on nachos declaring "yummy!" every now and then, followed by "Crisps!!!" as she demanded more. Youngest boy took one look and in a very Tigger like fashion, after stating quite clearly "I like mexican, we're having mexican, it'll be the best mexican ever" all day, decided "I don't like that, that's not my favourite, I'll have chips" . Ah well he made an attempt at the nachos I suppose, the enchilada was one step too far for the little man.

I am still on chocolate overload, I promise not to bore you with the detail of my enormous chocolate hangover tomorrow , let's just say it'll be there.

I am avoiding my e-mail at the minute, I am expecting a nasty and possibly aggressive e-mail back from the cat breeder at some point. We have um, entered into discussions, she thinks I should have had the cat insured (I did) and then I wouldn't be out of pocket (I am). She is now asserting that if I had done this she would of course have immediately reimbursed me the excess of £55, strangely she hadn't mentioned this in her first e-mail response. Sadly I didn't carry on with the all singing all dancing insurance the kitten came with cos it was twice as expensive as the one I already had, so Coco went on my normal pet insurance. This covers accidental death but not death due to illness. I am now reminding her of her responsibilities as a seller and that whether she knew the cat was ill or not is not the issue. With the profit comes responsibilities, she still has profited and I have no cat! Trading Standards advised me to refuse her (generous) offer of £55 and ask for a full refund, she's not going to like it.

I am now off to try and find a missing episode of ER online, I seem to have missed sky plussing one, I'm not going to tell Other Half and hope he doesn't notice .

It's Back!

2009-04-17T10:57:00.000-07:00

Monday night, nine o clock (ooh bu**er clashes with Heroes ) the return of Ashes to Ashes and my favourite bad lad, copper, Gene genie is back... woo hoo. Wonder if my ever so slight obsession will resurface ?

Good possibility I'd say .

It's a sadness when the most exciting thing for the week is what's going to be on the telly, but there it is, my most exciting thing is set to be Ashes to Ashes.

I haven't eaten yet, actually a small lie there, I've eaten loads but none of it proper food. I think comfort eating is the term, no news from the old workplace yet, a shirty e-mail (yep I did mean to say shirty) from the cat breeder and no money on the horizon. I don't care this evening I am going to do what I want cos I am tired and narky... so there, stomp stomp etc you know the drill.

Have a good friday all, I am off to eat Montezuma choccy, I can highly recommend it.

Timing

2009-04-16T15:27:00.000-07:00

My childrens timing is faultless. They have an inbuilt radar or detector or sat nav or something that tells them when mum is sitting on the sofa, watching her program that is really really sad or really really touching/romantic/heartwarming (can you guess where I'm going with this?) They will appear when there is literally two minutes 'til the end, I am sitting with salty tears flowing freely down my face, and they will interrupt! They interrupt my lovely emotional escape into the world of Aaaaawwwwww and it's for juice or to say "I have a pain" Or "I need the loo" I want to scream, and very often I do, and it involves the words well get a bloomin drink, I don't care and go to the loo if you need the loo.... but for the love of mm-mmm...GO AWAY!

You just can't enjoy a good cry with small people standing there looking at you with a look of intense curiosity on their faces.

I do so enjoy a good cry, one where you get to be all emotional and thank whoever you thank for the good in your life, health, kids (yeah I am thankful even though I may ever so slightly complain) that sort of thing. It restores a sense of calm to me on occasions where I'm not.

It was such a good program too .

If It Sounds Too Good To Be True....

2009-04-16T03:57:00.000-07:00

then, well you know the rest, the girl at the electric company got it wrong. The girl who told me we were £850 in credit was incorrect, boo hiss. I should have trusted my instincts cos my first reaction was "how much???" Sadly I did believe the nice girl and have sort of spent some of the money , that'll teach me... eggs and chickens and hatched is running through my mind for some reason .

I am going to have to cancel the haircut on saturday, and need to find a way to start paying off a certain credit card, sharpish!

Work still haven't called me back, I could ring them but to be honest I don't wanna!!! Ah well I expect I shall be more grown up next week and find out what the deal is.

Other Half is off wandering around the museums today, I have two boys and a baby girl at home, we are currently watching the Simpsons on our new (oops, spent money) dvd player.

For some reason a small cloud of gloom has descended upon me this morning I must shake it off, maybe doing the washing will help, Hah!!!

Baileys... WooHoo!

2009-04-15T13:40:00.000-07:00

Cor, it's amazing what a little acofrolic beverage can do for you...ooh not that I'm recommending alcohol as a remedy for all that ails thee, but it's definitely given me a little boost this evening. Of course tomorrow morning will probably bring the arrival of ratty tired and vaguely dehydrated mum .

Other Half has a new toy this evening, we tried to watch a dvd at the weekend, the player was making some very strange noises. Reminiscent of my dads old hillman imp trying to get up a hill, it sounded extremely laboured anyway. The upshot is we now have a new shiny dvd player. So we also have Other Half fidgeting around pressing buttons and connecting wires, I was going to watch Grand Designs but it seems that The Perfect Storm is on the menu (George Clooney though can't be bad!) I am taping (no I'm not I'm sky plussing) Desperate Housewives, possibly a really late night for me then... aided by Baileys, and who knows what munchies will emerge from the goodies cupboard later on .

I have lost a child for the evening, my favourite little helper has gone to her best buddies for the night, it's so lovely she has a best friend to stay with... I feel sorry for the lads when those two are a bit older, gorgeous girls. Wicked, but gorgeous.

Youngest boy had a little friend from up the road to visit today, they played in the garden after lunch and Little Miss wasn't going to be left out. My little helper was already gone by this stage, so I got myself a chair and sat in the garden. It was a nice change to just sit and watch them play. Baby Girl was pushing her buggy around and around, Youngest son and friend were playing on scooters and the sun was shining. Eldest Lad of course was busy elsewhere, it may have involved Zombies I'm not sure.

Strangely I have had no reply from the cat breeder today I suspect a quick foray into the sale of goods act by her and her hubby may be going on. I'll give her a day or two and see what happens, if it's nothing I'm going to have to ring Trading Standards again... why can't people just accept that I am right and give me my money back!!!

Other Half is going to the O2 tomorrow to watch one of his all time favourites... AC/DC (yuk!) so he's going to be out all day and part of the night... tee hee I am in control all day and evening then (not that I'm not usually you understand).

The call of the Baileys is strong this evening I am off to the fridge, night all.

Destined To Be Stressed

2009-04-14T14:00:00.000-07:00

Ok I give in, I am obviously just meant to be constantly stressed! There have been a number of sources today, some of it revolves around waiting for things (ooh my favourite) and some of it revolves around someone not agreeing with me!!! They are of course wrong .

I decided to call the Trading Standards office today regarding the kitten. It seems we do have some comeback, and I was advised that I could approach the breeder and quote the sale of goods act at them. Poor Coco was not of "saleable" quality (ahhh poor boy) and I can request a partial refund (either that or a like for like exchange or a repair, mmm partial refund it is).

I also had a driving lesson today and my mum and dad where coming over to sit with the kids for me. Except I got a call at ten past eleven with my mum saying "I'm just taking my tablets..." Aaaargh... "You've only got about half an hour you know" replies I. OMG they got the time wrong! They thought it was half past twelve, not twelve . I spent the next fifty minutes on tenterhooks, well forty minutes cos Dave the driving instructor is always early. It ended up with me entrusting the littlies into the care of Big Brother, not my first choice but I knew the parents were on their way, still stress levels were high. Not the best start to a lesson .

Actually the lesson went fairly well and Dave informs me I'm getting better, hooray!

When I got home baby girl was pleased to see me, I got a lovely greeting "Mum, mum, mum" and arms raised to be picked up (aaaaah so sweet). The boys were being fed mini smarties and liquorice (cos of course we need more sugar after the weekend!) and eldest daughter was playing next door. So no-one was dead or injured and the house wasn't on fire.

Later on I decided to e-mail the breeder we'd bought Coco from and explain what had happened. I made it clear I wasn't out to blame anybody but would appreciate it if they could refund us some of the purchase price as the cat was ill from birth. Well the reply was not to my liking! She basically said it's not our fault, the cat was healthy when he was sold (unlikely as the condition is from birth) and she refuted the fact we had bought a siamese (!!!!) and went on to say we should have kept him insured (he was, it doesn't cover this sort of death sadly, only accidental death). I was a tad aggrieved, and have emailed her back bringing to her attention that the issue isn't whether they knew he was ill, but whether he was Of "saleable" quality... he didn't last four months... he wasn't! They have responsibilities as the seller!

So now I am waiting for a shirty reply and I will be contacting trading standards again I'm sure.

Ooh I am MOODY now, off to see what I can self medicate with... mmm, still lots of choccy about, maybe that'll do .

Easter

2009-04-12T15:30:00.000-07:00

I was going to write a blog about how much chocolate four small people can consume in one day (and that's with mum saying "no more!" every now and then). Sadly I have been overtaken by events and now feel just a little flat.

I came out into my hallway this evening to see poor Coco (our newest siamese boy) collapsed on the floor, stretched flat out and breathing hard. I went to pick him up and his head fell back, Oh god he's dead, was the first thing that came to mind. Not quite, he revived a little with some talking and stroking but he would not, could not, move. So a journey to the emergency vets, and on arrival I was a little surprised to see Coco still alive in the basket. The vet looked at him and I could see immediately that he wasn't hopeful. He chatted a little about what he thought might be wrong with the cat, and unlike the vet I saw in february, he didn't think Coco was suffering from some sort of dwarfism, but a condition that meant his body was not purifying his blood as it travelled around his system, something with the word shunt in it, can't remember exactly. He decided to keep him in tonight and get him on fluids to see if he improved, they were taking bloods also, he said he'd give me a call later on this evening.

Sadly he called me about nine o clock and said that the cat was very poorly and didn't have long left, I asked if it would be better to have him put down now rather than let him linger. They dont want to push you in one direction or another though do they? However the vet did think it would be kinder all round to end it tonight, so I made the decision and now we are yet again a one cat household.

Other Half is busy being angry that we spent so much on a cat that has died after only four months. I will approach the breeder but I don't think we'll get much joy moneywise there. So, I am sad the cat is dead, I am sad I had to make the decision and I'm sad that I have to contend with Other Halfs ire.

It's a funny time of year for me this easter period, three years ago on Good Friday I lost a baby (well, pregnancy), and two years ago on the 11th April I was blessed with a baby, it's a time of mixed emotions and things like this weigh heavy at the best of times.

So I am indeed a miserable so and so this evening, but the kids are fine (they didn't seem to bond with little Coco for some reason) and they have much chocolate to consume and tomorrow is still a holiday, silver linings, they are about if you look .

A Very Busy Birthday Day

2009-04-11T15:40:00.000-07:00

I was awoken by the dulcet tones of my cat (and yes I do know it was him) fighting with (I suspect) my friends cat from round the corner. The yowing and cat snarling was eminating from up the road a bit... so right outside my friends house probably. When I found my glasses and looked at the clock it was 6:14! I wasn't quite sure what to do to stop the noise as it wasn't in our back garden, I decided on the "shaking the cat biscuits" out of the back door tactic.

It worked, but only in as much as the cat came home and started yowing in the house. I leapt out of bed and chased the cat down the stairs, in a calm and placid manner. It was then I heard a loud and cheerful squeal from the girls room, ah, awake then. I decided to ignore it for a while and went back to bed.

I remained in bed until 8ish and then I could hear all kids up and about, milling in anticipation of the days frivolities.

Little Miss was a little surprised at my first thing rendition of Happy Birthday To You, but after the first chorus she decided to join in... and has spent most of the day singing "Appy birday oo oooo" to herself.

The first present was opened and it was a hit, once I'd removed the obligatory 150 little pieces of twisty plastic stuff that holds it to the flimsy cardboard, that is. The doll (oh yeah the first pressy was a doll) had another pressy that went with it, a buggy. Baby girl thought this was great, and was ramming furniture and siblings with it for a large part of the day .

My parents came to visit at lunchtime, more pressys and of course choccy came with them. So all children catered for eh? I made ham sandwiches before I brought out the cake. Now when I lit the candle and brought out my lovingly crafted cake I was surprised at little ladys reaction. She stared at the candle & looked a little concerned, we sang at her and I moved in with the cake.... she looked more concerned and rapidly backed away from the flaming confection. Nope not happy about this thing being on fire ta! I decided I would blow out the candle for her and then the cake became much more interesting.

She has had a lovely day and performed beautifully for all visitors, it was obviously all too much as she crashed on her Dora bean bag chair about half past five!

A Trip To The Shops

2009-04-09T07:42:00.000-07:00

with all four of the little darlings, and we walked the mile to the shops (well some of us got pushed in the pushchair ). Today was money day, yay!!! Money in the bank... that is until the shopping expedition of course. I had a list and I wasn't going to deviate from it, oh and I was going to read it for a change and not just take it as purse ornament. This decided I thought I may actually come home with stuff I need.

I had to run the gauntlett of McDonalds (no we're not having McDonalds) the bakers (no we're not getting anything from there, yes I know it smells nice) and various sweet shops (no it is Not a sweety day!!!) so I was sweetness and light personified before we'd even stepped into the required shops.

First stop Wilkinsons, I let the kids choose one egg for easter each, that took quite a long time. So long in fact the assistant kept throwing me pitying looks and saying things like "well it is a very important decision". We also managed to get some of the more practical items I had required.

Next on the list, cards, two birthdays to sort eldest daughters little best buddy has her birthday the day after baby girl. Then on to find a certain type of kids mouthwash that people seem to think they really must have, couldn't find it sadly.

Finally we went to Argos (with it's laminated book of dreams thanks Bill) to pick up the little girl pressies I had reserved yesterday. A small dolls buggy and a baby doll, these things weigh a lot more than you'd imagine for the journey home on a bus (I wasn't walking back too).

It was a fairly uneventful outing and I didn't have to raise my voice much at all what a pleasant change (I'm still knackered though).

The atmosphere changed as soon as I got into the living room, now I'm not sure but I may have mentioned Other Halfs obsession, sorry interest, in technology in general and his bleepin' speakers specifically. Suffice to say they are very very important in Other Halfs life (I do sometimes wonder which would come first out of a burning building... small child, mmmm, speakers, oooh difficult). I happened to notice that out of the front of one of the sacred objects, there appeared to be some sort of cloth foam packaging type stuff spewing forth. OMG the world will end at precisely the moment I tell him! I then recalled the cat had been hanging about in the vicinity of this speaker earlier and it all clicked into place, small mousey type person has obviously moved house and is now living in a speaker.

After some umming and ahhing, a quick consultation with a friend, and several pleas to the god of all reasonable things (you know, to try and get some sort of reasonable reaction from OH instead of small thermo nuclear explosion) I phoned him up. All aquiver I revealed that we did have a problem, it involved needing a mouse trap and ... his speakers . I removed phone from my ear and waited, he did start a small explosive remark and then said "Which speaker?" I told him it was the one he'd left on the floor which he was going to wall mount again.... "Oh no that's ok, I can replace that one easy enough" AAAAAARRGGH, all that pre-emptive stress for nothing. What am I going to do with all the spare adrenalin now?

Had to call back my friend to reveal the unexpected reaction, she laughed her head off as befitted the situation, and now tis time for a cuppa... ooh and a nappy change possibly (wrinkling nose as little girl wanders past) you do know I mean baby girl don't you?

Stair Diving

2009-04-08T15:56:00.000-07:00

a sport that I'm sure we've all indulged in at some point in our lives, today baby girl made her first attempt and I'm telling you we're talking olympic standard here!

We were visiting friends today and she was determined to be upstairs with everyone else. Now I wasn't too concerned about the ascent part of the journey, but the descent definitely troubled me. Luckily eldest girl was with us and I asked her if she could please keep an eye on her sister and not let her come down the stairs unaccompanied. I know, I know she's only nine it's not her responsibility... Anyway, the kids were upstairs playing and having a snack, youngest boy shouts down to me "I've finished!!!" I called up to him to bring the plate down, carefully. In the next instant I heard a very theatrical bump bump bump clattering down the stairs. I leapt up with a vision of a boy and plate, sliding down the stairs on his bottom. What I was met with was a little girl with a stricken face white as a sheet, feet up the stairs head on the floor! My friend let out a very non-mummy expletive and I dived at my baby girl, who was now doing the not crying crying (you know the one, where they can't get enough breath to actually make any noise) closely followed by the siren wailing crying (reaching a crescendo, tailing off and building up again). She wouldn't let me look at her, just kept clinging onto me burying her face in my neck.

Eventually she calmed herself down and I could see blood coming from her mouth, "Noooo, not teeth throught the lip" sprang to mind, as it always does with me. Nope just a small split I think, we were so lucky! A very shaken girl and mum and big sis, cos I'm afraid my next reaction after sorting Little Miss out was to turn on poor biggest girl and hiss at her "I told you to keep an eye on her!" My poor girl looked devestated and tried to explain herself to me, sadly I was so shaken I wasn't a nice mummy and just kept on about how she should have stood in front of her. I realise it was my own guilt and I did end up by saying it was just an accident and no-ones fault. I also asked that no-one let baby girl make the upstairs trip at home now as she wasn't quite ready, and if she did get up just to call me to help her down. We have wooden stairs and it could have been so much worse at home, no carpet, wooden stairs concrete floors.. makes me shudder.

Thank goodness I think I managed to cheer big girl up and she spent a lot of time helping me in the kitchen when we got home, not the most fun you wouldn't think but I suspect it made her feel more important and grown up.

Which leads me on to my next subject...as well as helping me clean surfaces and tidy up the kitchen work surface, big girl has decided that whilst the dishwasher is out of commision (until tuesday £75 to repair ) she is going to be the washer upper. I kept saying no it's ok, don't worry about it, but the girl is absolutely determined. I ended up feeling like I was depriving her if I didn't let her wash and dry up!

I was relating this story to Other Half "ahh" he said "she's getting so grown up, I suppose she just wants to do more womanly things" Womanly Things!!!! Oh you mean like housework says I through extremely gritted teeth, because of course men are incapable of such things, their skin might fall off if it touches hot dishwater eh? He could tell I wasn't best pleased by his, um, innocent remark! When I turned on him and said "Don't you dare say that to her" he just looked startled and nodded his head.

I had calmed by the time he went off to bed, so there will be no smacking him around the head whilst he's asleep .

There's money due in tomorrow so I shall be buying little Miss her birthday pressy (last minute again) and also there is probably some chocolate to be purchased , but where to go now, there's no Woolies anymore... Oh well I'm sure I'll find some somewhere, and it'll be nice just to be out and about with some cash in my purse for a change .

Enthusiasm Waning

2009-04-07T05:53:00.000-07:00

The enthusiasm to go back to the world of work that is...not like I was that enthusiastic anyway. I ended up staying wide awake until the antisocial hour of about half past late (quarter to two to you )with a rather disturbing sick feeling in the pit of my stomach. The conversation in my head went something like this "I don't want to leave my baby girl, I don't want to leave my baby girl, I don't want...." on and on and on. None of my usual well thought out and considered arguments were working on myself last night. I just felt ill at the idea of leaving my baby in the hands of others.

The truth is I know she would be fine, it is only three days out of the week and not full days either. She would get to go somewhere and play all day, she loves to meet people and socialise, I don't want to leave my baby (oops it keeps creeping back in).

This is all academic at the moment so I shall travel down that well known river (you know de nile!!!) and ignore all disturbing thoughts for now.

If only I could find a way to stay home and bring money in, oh and have you looked at those homeworking sites? Not one thing I've looked at strikes me as genuine.

I am off to wash plates now, by hand, not in a dishwasher, oh gloom oh woe is me... all this and my dishwasher is broken, snifff.

Head's about to fall off through lack of sleep now. Just going to look at childcare in the local area (me, I can look after them, pay me) cos I have said I don't necessarily need half terms (lie, but it might get me back in there) and although eldest lad is a teenager, when it comes to leaving him unattended what you have to remember is... he's a teenager.

Going to find my kettle and cup and construct something useful (cuppa tea ).

Everything At Once...

2009-04-06T14:40:00.000-07:00

It has been a very odd day, a real "mixed bag" so to speak. I shall start at the beginning .

I decided this morning to ring my old office and at least make an enquiry about returning to work. I got through to someone who took my name and said she'd get the appropriate person to call me back. Ah well, thinks I, that'll be a week or so then. I then decided to call our electricity supplier to see if we could change our direct debit payment, since we have gone to gas heating and water I was hoping for a reduction, the nice lady called Sally said would it be ok if she rang me straight back as it was a bit complicated. Yep, no probs.

I carried on getting myself and the kids ready, youngest boy had a date with a little girl up the road , there was to be painting and lunch (aaaah). The girls were off to my friends house whilst I had my driving lesson. Now that bloomin' phone rang about seven times... out of that seven times NO phone calls were for me! I was rather hoping to speak to the nice electricity lady before I went out but it wasn't to be.

We dropped young man off at his friends house, he was all dressed up in his Spiderman trousers and a blue t-shirt, hee hee cute. The friends mum was quiet happy to keep hold of little man for me whilst I was pootling about in the car (yeah right, stresssssed) so that was handy. Then on to my friends house, luckily there was time for a cuppa, or two (my friend has the same attitude to tea drinking as myself.... you can never have enough tea). Baby girl was very boisterous today and did not want to behave herself, she kept trying to go upstairs in my friends house, shouted no at all the other girls when they did something she didn't like and was a general bossy boots! Dave the driving instructor turned up and off we set, I do feel it went better today, not so panicky and at least I didn't appear to be on the wrong side of the road too often (nah not at all actually, yay an improvement). On the way back at the end of the lesson my phone rang... I just knew it was eldest lad (he had gone out with his friends) and even though I had said "I am going on a driving lesson" he rang and rang and rang! Got to learn how to change the number of times it rings before voicemail kicks in. It wasn't anything urgent either as when he did get through he was asking if he could stay out!!!! Had I called him and said "Come home" ? No I hadn't!

When I finally got back home I had messages on the answerphone, blimey they had both called me back, most odd. I phoned nice Sally from the electric company...we are £845 in credit (pardon?!!?) which is to be credited back to our account within the next five working days and now we have had our payment reduced from £110 a month to £50. I'm still slightly taken aback, but she reassured me it was correct, she'd double checked before she rang me (nice lady ). I thanked her for all her help and skipped around the kitchen a bit, got off the phone before I skipped of course. Next I called the lady from my office and declared that yes I do want to come back to work (lie) for 16 hours a week, and I want term time too. She didn't seem too sure about the term time aspect, but I did push the point that I have four kids ranging from 2 to 13 and childcare for that many isn't easy. We'll see, all I can do is wait now. Kind of excited about the idea, but also sad to be abandoning my baby girl for three days a week . I suspect she'll be fine mind you, independent young lady that she is.

This evening has been a little different, the kids have driven me batty(er) and all been sent to bed early (oh yeah that worked, how many times can three kids come downstairs to say "nite nite" without being strangled?) I went to put the dishwasher on and the power button has broken there is no way to turn the thing on!!! Oh well another call to Currys tomorrow then, gosh I wonder how helpful they're going to be ?

Finally, I have had it confirmed that small mouse person is still in residence, whilst I was muttering various expletives by the defunct dishwasher this evening, I heard him scrabbling about behind the (one and only in place) plinth. Aaargh, he cannot live in my kitchen!! Gonna get a humane trap when some money comes in (within five working days woo hoo ) and evict the little so and so.