A question?

How do you pronounce 'meme'?

I thought it was 'mem-may' but Mary P looked it up and its 'meem' to rhyme with theme

Short ramblings...

ok according to google analytics, only people in the USA and Canada are reading me, where did my UK, Europe and the rest of the world go, they were there as little yellow balls a few days ago? And what is Bloglines and why are a big percentage coming to me via them? Still learning...
*************************************************************
Jon texted last night asking again what I would like to do on Saturday night so I told him he can take me out for dinner and then drinks, he agreed and said he was looking forward to seeing me! I guess this is one of those times that I have to be disinterested to keep him interested!
*************************************************************
Lolly threw a fit this morning, trying to convince me that he knee was hurting so much that she couldn't possibly put any weight on it and simply must stay home from school, nothing to do with falling out with my sister and having a french oral exam this morning then...? Tough love I'm afraid, put her on the next bus and rang the school to expect her in 10 minutes late, she'll thank me one day.
*************************************************************
Opened a letter from the home insurance people this morning to find I missed a payment, ok fine, I have 10 days to pay it, ok fine, except that the letter was sent 10 days ago and its only just arrived so the deadline is today! Rang them and told them I'll pay it first thing in the morning when I go to the post office, no problem they said, whenever, whenever? don't send me a threatening letter if you don't mind when it has to be paid by, oh I'm not in the mood for these people....
*************************************************************
Had a glorious afternoon at the park yesterday
but headache from squinting in the sun started by late afternoon and turned into a migraine by early evening, took all the painkillers I could and slept so deeply that I was confused when I woke this morning, still have a residual headache and my shoulders hurt but I never get through a period without a migraine.

guess who has been in touch? and guess who isnt as bothered now he wants to see me..! What am I like, I only want what I think I cant have!

Too many painkillers....

I'd forgotton what taking strong painkillers does to my insides...
I'm off to buy some prune juice...

Feeling happy, relaxed and alls good with the world, wait, that may be the painkillers talking....

Decided to sort of end it with Jon but left it open to interpretation, texted him 'If nothing else, good luck with the football this afternoon (big match of the team he supports) take care' and he replied something like 'sorry, been busy with work all week and am working all weekend, hope u r ok x' so now I dont know if he agrees with my letting it go text or plans to see me again? Got to say, although its nice to have sex again, I dont want a relationship with this guy, but I do want him to want to have one with me!

Had a pleasant morning, went into town to sort out some banking and found a perfect little pair of pumps to go with all my summer clothes! Had a good sort out of my wardrobe and cupboards the other day and found loads of things I had forgotton about, all washed and ironed now and just waiting for the sunshine! Operation gut-suck-in 2007 is doing ok, makes me look a darn sight thinner, but if I sit down all my good work comes undone! I really havnt been bothered about my tum all winter as its covered up but all my pretty summer clothes need a toned tummy! I really should take up swimming again but its such a pain with my contacts and it fries my hair!

Showers working well but the landlord will be charged for the repair as its limescale and thats not covered, great! And if we dont spend £500 on a water softener for the mains water supply its just going to happen over and over again. But its nice to have the shower back on again, so much quicker, less to clean up after and uses far less water than baths so eases my enviromental conscience!
************************************************************
Still no word from Jon, I'm not going to get in contact with him, I'd rather this just faded out that directly be turned down. Still going to turn him down if he wants to come round, if anyone asks I'm out all weekend on a whirlwind of parties and late nights ok?
************************************************************
I've been really fed up with my tummy recently, the rest of me is slimmish and although I'm no where near the weight I used to be before Dumpling, I am happy with everything apart the paunch! I read that the best way to get a trim tum is too just hold it in constantly, not only does it look slim while you're doing this, it also works the muscles! So far so good, been 3 days now, have had to learn how to breathe while doing it but it does improve your posture as well and I need all the help I can get there, have 'buggy pushing' posture!
***********************************************************
The pain between my shoulder blades just got too much today so rang the doc and he prescribed some strong painkillers, feeling very happppppy now, but my pupils look like little black dots, not sure I'm safe to drive a pushchair...!

I've reading Mary p's old posts looking for something else to link to but got lost in re-reading them all...but found this one reminded me so much of a little boy I used to care for who adored Thomas the tank engine but couldnt quite pronounce one of the characters, came out as 'fa-king-troller', wasnt too bad till we we took him to a thomas open day with an actor dressed as the fat controller and he shouted his particular pronounciation so, so loudly...

Have woken up tired, thirsty, with a headache and a craving for carbs and sugar and its taken me till 10am to realise why, my period is due today. I'm very much ruled by my hormones, I always get the desire to throw out lots of things when I'm due, bit like the nesting instinct you get when pregnant, the local charity shop knows my cycle and fully expects a few bags of clothes and bric-a-brac around this time of the month!

*********************************************************

Havnt heard from Jon, well I have, if I text him he will reply, and its friendly and polite but thats just what it is, friendly and polite, I'm not contacting him again until he contacts me first. Self respect means that I'm not going to be needy and desperate, even if he does get in touch and want to see me this week I'm going to turn him down on principle, I've arranged to go out on friday with a girlfriend and I'm going to make sure he finds out and doesnt think I'm staying in waiting for his call!

*********************************************************

Am waiting for the shower man, the plumbing company refused to deal with it even though by law they should have but they did get the manufacturers involved quickly and he should be here this morning, I hope they just replace it and I can get back to quick hot showers, so much easier than running the bath, having the bath and then cleaning the bath, showers are so much easier to clean! I did give the bath a really good scrub last night, and the sink and loo, I know they guy will have to stand in and on the edge of the bath to fix the shower and it will be filthy from his boots and bits of plastic etc but pride makes you do these things, I even tied away the pile of magazines that I claim I read when dumpling is in the bath but you know when I really read them...

*********************************************************

Not retiring yet....

Was feeling quite good this morning till I opened my mail, a letter from BUPA (private medical people in the uk)addressed correctly to me, inviting me to inquire about their pensioner care homes! The leaflet might be 'useful in helping you begin to consider the possibility of needing care'

I'm 32!!!

Monday Morning

Our nice weather has ended, the sky is that kind of grey brightness that gives me a headache from squinting and I woke up with the muscles between my shoulder blades in spasm, it doesn't stop me doing anything as it doesn't affect the movement of my head or arms but it really hurts! So I've done the ironing and mopped the floors, they were so dirty after the nice weather yesterday had the kids traipsing in and out all day, passing the sandpit and the chalks each time. The water I poured away was incredible! Although if you want dirty water satisfaction, use one of those carpet cleaners you can get these days, my mum has one and its incredible the sludge you pour away from what looks like a relatively clean carpet! Kind of bored today, plenty of things I could do, none I want to. Lolly woke with a hormonal migraine in the night and is off school today, an alarm of some sort went off twice in the street over night, Lolly and Dumpling slept through it but it woke me with annoyance, so tired today, plus we get lots of bird song here at dawn, most of it soft and beautiful but one bird just squawked and squawked, I lay there dreaming how satisfying it would be to shoot it!

Dumpling asked if we could do some baking this evening, I bought some chiiled cookie dough, havnt used this before, I was going to say how difficult could it be but you should have seen what happened to the last set of cup cakes we made! They were rock hard and we couldnt get the paper cases off, I blamed the manufacturers and emailed them, they were very good about it and posted me a new box but I think it was my cooking...! I never have been great at cooking, my kids dont starve and we eat a variety of foods and lots of fruit and veg but I dont have a signature dish, whats your favourite recipe that I could make?

Like Redneck Mommy, I thought I'd post a good joke, the rule is if my kids like it then its a good one!

There was once a snail who was sick and tired of his reputation for being so slow. He decided to get some fast wheels to make up the difference. After shopping around a while, he decided that the Datson 240-Z was the car to get. So the snail goes to the nearest Datsun dealer and says he wants to buy the 240-Z, but he wants it repainted "240-S".

The dealer asks, "Why 'S'?"

The snail replies, "'S' stands for snail. I want everybody who sees me roaring past to know who's driving."

Well, the dealer doesn't want to lose the unique opportunity to sell a car to a snail, so he agrees to have the car repainted for a small fee.

The snail gets his new car and spent the rest of his days roaring happily down the highway at top speed. And whenever anyone would see him zooming by, they'd say "Wow! Look at that S-car go!"

Childhood

My dad came over this afternoon (Sunday) with a huge amount of thick rope to make a new swing for the apple tree, Dumpling was over the moon, but I wasn't overly happy about my dad climbing around the tree like a monkey! I kept telling dumpling to come out from under the canopy while he was up there, thinking that he he fell at least he would only hurt himself and not dumpling too, it was too nice an afternoon to spend it in A&E! Of course he was fine, and I trust his tying of knots from his sea and army training and before long dumpling was swinging high across the patio, with me wondering where is scooter crash helmet was and knowing the pfft! response that would get from my dad...! Dumpling got off after a few minutes and knowing how my dad doesn't like slang words and is a religious man when I asked him what the matter was he replied "I just need to rest my underneath!" What a polite way to say it! But sadly happiness didn't last long when dumpling lost his grip and narrowly missed hitting the ground, dad and caught him as we saw him start to slip but the fright was enough to end the fun, it always makes me want to cry when I hold dumpling close when he has been scared and I can feel how tight he is holding for reassurance and how fast his heart is beating!

LOL LOL LOL

Can I just point out that it was Jon who came here for dinner, a dvd and stayed the night not the plumber or the phone engineer!!! Theres a photo of him further down, remember...x

Tired today......

sigh...giggle...smirk...blush...oh you lot can figure it out! x

I know I've said it before, I'm happy have a clean house but I doubt it will ever be tidy, I have alot of things 'out' because if I put them away, I forget I have them and they dont get used. I am a dreadful horder, I always keep things just in case, although occasionally I go mad and throw everything out, but sentimentality always keeps me from going completely minimalist!

Anyway, the plumber had to come out today to fix a number of things, the shower in the lodgers flat leaked again, the damn thing has been resealed so many times but everyfew weeks I hear a trickle of water as I sit watching tv..., my shower wasnt working at all, a tap was dripping, you get the idea. BTW, what do you do when a workman turns up at your house at 9.30am and smells of that sweet smell of spirits? Actually he didnt appear drunk at all and did a good job from what I can see, I guess it was a hangover, but I couldnt quite bring myself to ask if he was drunk and capable of fixing my shower...?

The telephone engineer was booked for this morning too, my phone has been giving one ring and then cutting out, it did it just before he arrived when my mum rang and you just know what happened when he tried it? It rang and rang and rang, drove me crazy, it wouldnt do the fault, in the end he checked all the wiring and figured what was wrong and fixed it but I still wish it would have given him half a ring! He did tell me a funny story though, the cable company in our area is always trying to get anyone to sign up even a 92 year old man who was deaf and blind, they conned him into signing the contract and a few days later the team turn up to install it all, the company had recently been bought out by another company and were in the process of changing the signage on the vans and on their uniform, so in the interim they were driving plain white vans and wearing polo shirts and cargos. Anyway they turn up at this 92 year old mans house and before they could even start, they are wrestled to the ground by the police and police dogs, police helicopter overhead! The lady opposite thought they had come to rob the old guy and had rung the police! They had to lay handcuffed on the driveway until their boss could arrive on the scene and assure the police that they were bonafide engineers and were booked to do the job! (the old guy had been conned into the contract but the engineers didnt know this at the time)

Anyway my point was that you think your home is ok on the cleanliness front until someone starts poking around it, I was so embarrassed by how much stuff I had to keep moving to let him get to various telephone points and the dust that flew up was just mortifying!

Proud Mama!

Lolly got an award for science!

Isn't it funny the things you take for granted, you only realise how wonderful they are when they stop working! I rent this house so luckily its the landlord who has to sort the boiler when it grinds to a halt yet again and bless him, he is a very good and responsible landlord and gets to it straight away. trouble is the plumbers seem to think that even thought the shower became stone cold the same time as the hot water stopped, the two might not be connected...? Yes its an electric shower, I told them, you fitted it, brand new a few months ago, so it should be under warranty? They saw I will have to take it up with the manufacturers, no I say, you fitted it, the contract is with you, (I will ring trading standards in a moment and double check this!)So they are coming out tomorrow morning as may or may the telephone engineer as my phone only rings half a ring and then cuts out at the moment, the guy came out on Good Friday (he didn't even know it was Good Friday?) and declared that a new line would have to be put in and that it would be on Friday 21st? Friday isn't the 21st, so I've put him on the calendar as Friday 20th and Saturday 21st, lets wait and see shall we?

Weather is still amazing here, don't know whats going on, have never walked kids to school in April wearing t-shirt, shorts and sandals! Everything is blooming in the garden, next door has a lovely blossom tree in their front garden from which the smell drifts through my open bedroom window every morning. I love having the windows open although it does have its draw backs in the spring, we have lots of foxes and hedgehogs in the area and they make one hell of a racket when mating, I lay awake long past midnight the night before last just wishing one of them would fake it....

Googly-woogly!

I have google analytics thank you Mary p, weird isn't it, someone in Rome, Singapore, Edinburgh and 3 in the USA, Richmond, Toledo and Omaha! If that's you and you are lurking, peep out and say hello! The funny thing was, I've had analytics going for a few days and the only person it was picking up on was me!

Ok, complete change of subject but a sign I may need to adjust the prescription on my contact lenses! It was very warm yesterday so I thought I would treat myself to an ice cream, bought one of those minty chocolate magnum things, more expensive than a 2 litre tub of ice cream but what the heck! Anyway, as I'm walking along enjoying it, I spot a drop of chocolate that has dripped onto my hand, don't want to waste it I think and stick my tongue out to lick it off, as I'm just about to slurp it I realise its a ladybird, I'm so shocked that I nearly ate it that I forget to put my tongue back in my mouth, I start to shake my hand to get rid of the ladybird and lose half the ice cream off the stick, if anyone saw me they would think I had lost the plot...!

I then have a dentist appointment for Dumpling and I, I go first, smiling and making happy noises even though I know those horrible latex gloves will leave my lips numb for hours (mild allergy) Dumpling is still a little unsure, but will happily attend if lots of smiles and stickers are handed out. Anyway as I'm lying there pretending it tickles as he scrapes something from between my tooth and tells me I should floss more, Dumpling starts going through my bag, he only wants his toy train but he's is getting everything else out to find it, I'm thanking my lucky stars that there are no tampons, condoms anything like that in there but what does he find...? The ice cream wrapper from a few hours ago, how bad does it look in the dentist that I have chocolate ice cream wrappers just spilling from my hand bag!

Jon and I Friday nite.....

My friend has just started emailing the photos from Friday night...Jon looks like the rock star he thinks he is and I just look stupid!

3 things

Maria tagged me for this a few days ago and just remembered! ok...

3 things that scare me
Spiders, the really big house spiders, bleaghhhh!
Deep water or fast flowing water
My kids being any where near anything at all dangerous (Just call me helicopter mum)

3 people who make me laugh
My son when he is laughing, we took him to see 'Bill and Ben' at the theatre once and he laughed so hard that the audience turned round to look at him!
Alan Davies, a british comedian who I may or may not have a slight crush on...
Billy Conelly when he talks about kids, the sketch about how kids sleep make me cry with laughter


3 Things I have
Have? A bikini line that needs doing? All my bedding freshly washed on the line (see previous post re;friday night, ahem)backache from sitting at the pc for too long?

3 things I love
My kids
Sleeping in the afternoon
waking up saturday thinking its a school day and its not!

3 things I hate
Only 3? umm, people who let their dog poo on the pavement, makes me mad, when I had a dog, even if I ran out of bags, I would drag him to the gutter so at least it wasn't where children walked
People who spit
People who make judgement or gossip just to be nasty

3 things I don't understand
Why kids behave the way they do sometimes!
Why 'dint' is the first option on blogger spellcheck when I spell don't without punctuation?
Why I have so many odd socks, where are the others?

3 things on my desk
Rescue remedy(empty)
A lipstick that doesn't suit me but was expensive so wont throw way
My camera

3 things to do before I die
Fluently speak another language
Have a passionate affair with someone whose language i cant speak
Marry Daniel Craig

3 things I can do
Roller skate really well! i love it, I take the kids to the park where they have a big cycle track, every looks at me like I'm another mum who will wobble round after their kids and then elbow each other when they see me wizz off, do a few tricks and then skate really fast - backwards!
Help 130 people run up a £3000 bar bill ( again see friday...)
Do lots of internet things that impress other people, I embedded 3 vidoes from friday night in a website just for them. (you do not want the url, it was karaoke, your ears will bleed)

3 things I cant do
Bake cakes, it just never works
stop biting my nails
Keep up an exercise plan for more than 2 days

3 things to listen to
Your babys heartbeat before birth, I loved that
Your kids when they are quiet, they are either upset or do something they shouldnt
That teacher you hated, he/she may have been right and thats why you hated it!

3 things not to listen to
Anyone who begins the sentence with "I'm not being funny but"
Anything my son says that begins with "My friend Lewis says..."
Anything David Gest utters, why is that prat over here?

3 things to learn
to swim
to cook
to be happy of your own accord and not think anyone else is responsible

3 favourite foods
KFC
Chocolate
Tirimisu

3 regrets
None, I refuse to regret anything, theres no point

that was fun I enjoyed that! I wont tag anyone unless they want to be, apply within

Couldnt decide what to write about, still waiting for the hangover from friday to finally wear off, actually no, its more the embarrasment I think needs to wear off, do not let me near a free bar, a kareoke machine and my friends boyfriends twin brother...ahem, lets leave that there for now shall we?

Went to the beach yesterday, very busy, but eased off late afternoon, am worried about Lolly, the body issues are kicking in already, not that she has anything to worry about but we had hormonal tears yesterday as she 'didnt like the shape of her eyes'! Part of me is sypathetic as a woman who is bombarded with images of perfection and has had to learn to accept what you get but another part of me feels cross that she should be grateful for the beautiful fully functioning body I gave her! I realised recently that she hasnt been swimming for a few months, turns out she doesnt want to be seen in a bikini or swimming costume, now personally I dont want every teenage boy at the pool learing at her figure, but she shouldnt feel like this at nearly 13, she kept her shorts and strappy top on at the beach yesterday, and wouldnt do much apart from lay on her towel, I'm frustrated that she feels like this so young and its affecting her so life, but I dont know what to say to her, I tell her how beautiful she is but she just bursts into tears. I really wasnt ready for all this so early.

Dumpling is good, fell asleep wrapped in a towel after he got out of the shower after the beach, lifted him straight into bed! Bless him, considering what a dreadful toddler he was, he is so easy now, very funny and afectionate. He wandered around for 10 mins after getting out of bed this morning, watching me rush around finding his school uniform, lunch box and book bag, before looking at me wide eyed "Is it a school day today?" little behind on the uptake on this early morning!

Right a have so much housework to catch up on, I let it slip during the Easter break, didnt seem much point as the kids were undoing it as I went along, just think if I vacuum now, it will stay that way till after 3pm!

Ah-ah-ah-at last......

Wont be needing that paypal button....

Is anyone lurking?

I forgot about my new counter, checked it today and it read 107! Now discounting when I log on myself to link my other fave blogs to read and discounting those bloggers who log on to read my blog (thankyou! (blush) I'm so flattered that anyone actually reads my posts!) may mean that there are people who read this, maybe be linking from my comments on other blogs? If you are reading this, please leave me a comment, whether you have a blog or not, I was a reader for years before I ever even thought of writing my own and even then it took me six months to actually pluck up the courage to do it!

Anyone got a hat...?

Well its shiny and manageable but its so dark, honey brown my a***! I will need to wear a lot of make up tomorrow night so I don't look washed out! I think it will look better when its washed out a little but I'm tempted to put a red colour over the top to bring some warm tones back into it! In fact looking closely at the ends up to the light, it has that slightly green tone you get with a brown colour, I have some shampoo for red hair somewhere, will rub large amounts of that into it tomorrow and see what superdrug has to offer tomorrow, don't want to colour it again but there must be something to wash into it!

Could have been worse i guess....

Red to Brown

My hair colour has always been something to be questioned, my mum has brown hair, my dads is a dark red, his dads hair was black and his mums very red, so I'm something in the middle, a photo of me as a toddler shows be with really copper hair but as a child in was more brown with strange fake looking but real blonde highlights in the fringe after we lived abroad for a year.

Like Anne Glamore over at My Tiny Kingdom I love to colour my hair! I systematically ruined every bathroom of every house I lived in, the stuff gives great shine to your hair but ruins grouting! Its been dark brown, bright red, strawberry blond, that was my favourite but the upkeep was hard and my eyebrows gave the game away. I prefer the red shades, I think it suits my colouring but I get more compliments when it is brown, even though I think it makes me look pale.

But more than the actual colour I love the way my hair feels and behaves when it has been coloured, its shinier and does what I intend when I blow dry it. So I sit here with a head full of chemicals, dumpling has gone downstairs in disgust, he hates the smell, I have a pair of old plastic glasses on as my current ones are metal framed. I'm going out tomorrow night, friends have invited me to a works do, buffet, quiz and karaoke apparently, she works for a fitness company and they are very big on socialising, lots of hunky fitness instructors I hope! So I need shiny, bouncy 'I'm worth it hair'! It had better be worth the plastic gloves, the dirty sink and the aching neck I will have after the 20 minutes it will take to wash this out! Will let you know the results...

Ah-ah-ah-choo!

Having seven rabbits and a guinea pig requires daily work, water bottles filled, fresh and dry food, taking them out to the runs in the garden, and cleaning them out, most rabbits will only 'go' in one place so if you put a little tray in that place its easy to clean them out everyday, you just tip it into a bag and dispose of! But once every month or so we clean them out completely, pull the cages out and clean underneath, really go to town on it, especialy when the weather turns warmer and they can be a little smelly! Trouble is that I can tolerate rabbits and sawdust with my allergies as long as I take my tablet and wear a dust mask but today was something else, everyone is cutting their grass too, even the park near us so I can barely see or breathe for allergens! I have taken the stronger drowsy type of antihistameine and am now having trouble staying awake, I would pay good money to just be allowed to lie on my garden chair and snooze till dinner time...!

Snip, snip, snooze......

Having your hair cut is apparently very relaxing...

He is fast asleep bless him! It was a long lovely day, shopping, swimming all in this amazing heatwave we are having and by 5pm when we popped into our friendly barbers, the comfy chair and having someone run their fingers through your hair was just too much!

Friends like these...

Do you have friends who you are not sure why they keep in contact with you or why you reply when they do? A girl I've known for since school and is also the sister of a friends best friend, rings and texts me often, we arrange a get together, I find her exhausting and arguementative and vow to tell her I'm busy next time she calls. She has recently had her first baby, I'm not going to even go there on how much she is making a rod for her own back, but anyway she texts me and asks if I would like to come to the babys christening in June, what the heck I think, a chance to buy baby a nice present, wear pretty clothes and see a few people I havnt seen in a while,

"Great" I text back "What date in June?"

"Why?" she texts back "Are you busy or something?"

Umm yeh actually, I have 3 family birthdays that month and my friends baby is due!

I text this back to her, sure its a busy month but we'd love to come, sure we can work around the dates? text comes back

"Well dont feel you have to come"

Why exactly did she text me in the first place? She always reacts like this, like she is doing me a favour by requesting my presense but is always deeply offended when I have plans or cant make it!

Sibling Rivalry

I thought when I had dumpling that the seven year age gap would mean they wouldn't squabble, got that one wrong, they were great for the first 3-4 years but now I cant bear them in the same room, I have a tv in my room with over 50 children's videos just so that i can separate us us all at times, the niggling between them is unbearable especially in the holidays, we don't go back to to school till a week today (sigh)

I also have the bonus of having a younger sister by 17 years who is only 18 months older than Lolly! They go to the same school and we even live in the same road, so Lollys best friend is actually her aunt! But they too squabble and bicker. Part of says its natural, has always happened and is a necessary part of growing up and they practice communication skills on each other, I find myself intervening and trying to explain that its OK to go to the other with a valid point and try and start a dialogue that ends with both parties happy, not to go in all guns blazing and blaming, screaming and accusing and not wanting to change things but just to let the world know how slighted they are by the other! But most of the time I dont want to hear it, I find myself shouting, "Just stop it!" I dont care what they are fighting about, I just dont want to have a peaceful afternoon in the garden spoilt by whining and yelling. The one-up-man-ship arounds here reaches incredible heights, lolly and dumpling will fight over who rings the doorbell when they return from grandmas, lolly doesnt really care about doorbells, she's a teenager but if she thinks dumpling will get more than her then scraps break out in the driveway!

Chores also mean high blood pressure for me, I will happily do the cleaning washing etc but I'm not going to spend everyday picking up the general chaos lazy children leave around, I like to think I'm very fair in that I will wait till the end of a favourite programme or the adverts and happily chirp "lets see how much we can get done before the end of the commercials!" what then happens is each child will shuffle around watching the other out of the corner of their eye so that they dont do an iota more than the other "If you put as much effort into tidying as you do trying to get out of it, this house would be immaculate!" I tend to scream before locking myself in the bathroom!

I havnt seen the whole film but theres a scene in 'The Breakup' with Jennifer Aniston and whats-his-name? She says to him, "I want you to want to do the dishes" and he replies "Why would I want to want to do the dishes?" I laughed so hard when I saw this in the trailer, thats my children all over. I want them to want to do their chores, I want them to feel a sense of satisfaction afterwards, I want them to not want to fight with each other, I want them to recognise they are two completely different people with different needs and that squabbling over minor unimportant things is wasting their lives!

Most of the things that annoy lolly about dumpling are things he learned from her, sing song voices to wind him up etc, I tried to explain to her that she wouldnt make him stop being annoying to her by repeating his behaviour back at him, it only reinforces it, I told her you couldnt fight fire with fire and you dont stop a dog barking by barking at it, it was at this point that dumpling went and cried on his bed as "Its not fair! Why is lolly getting a dog?"

Our day in pictures (too damn tired to write...zzzz)

Us at the bus station

Woodland walk

Little tractors!

"Mum, can I take this one home?"

I want one of these to take dumpling to school on!

Ice cream!

Tractor ride with Nana


Dumpling and a pony

Packing!

The kids have discovered I talk about them in my blog and don't like being known as J and C, they would like to hereby be known as Dumpling(J, 5 year old) and Lolly(12 year old)

Now I'm not one of those mums who can just grab the keys and purse and leave the house, especially if it's an official 'Day Out', a bank holiday one too, so we need supplies, now we will buy some food there but we still need snacks for the journey and maybe some for the way home, trust me, you don't want dumpling to be tired and have low blood sugar level on a two stage bus ride home! So, I've packed sandwiches, feel bad that I forgot to buy anything to put in them, so they are just bread and butter, I cut the crusts off too, sounds silly but they never eat their crusts and I don't make them so they eat more of the sandwich if its just the soft stuff rather than taking one bite out of the sandwich and leaving the rest! Have also packed juice, coke, apples, these will need peeling too, have wrapped a small sharp knife in a tea towel and secured it in the velcro drinks section of one of the lunch boxes, does that count as carrying a concealed weapon?!?!? Anyway suffice to say we shall keep blood sugar levels up all day, but that's only half what I have packed, spare clothes for dumpling, he will need them without fail, if theres something dirty to fall in, he'll be there, and then of course the first aid kit, plasters, cream, wipey things of different variety, a spray thing for bites, painkillers and antihistamines, anything we've forgotten?

We're going to farmer palmers tomorrow! Cant wait, will post photos if not shattered when we get back!

Bleauughhhhh!

My mum kept our toilet very clean when I was a child and my dad and then my stepdad were well trained and put the seat down after them, so it wasnt till I moved out and had a place of my own that I ever needed to clean a toilet. In my first flat, I dutifully bleached around the bowl and gave it a good scrub but still felt it was a little wiffy, couldnt figure out why till I lifted the seat, arrgghhh! How does that get there? considering the position of umm each person, how can the underside of the seat get so dirty?

Have just cleaned both toilets from top to bottom, scrubbed my hands with antibac soap and given up bitng my nails....

so very old.....

Cleaning out under my bed I found all my old vinyl records, C comes in, picks one up, takes it out of its sleeve, turns it over in her hands a few times,

"whats this?" she asks,

"A record" I reply, my head still under the bed,

"What does it do?"

"It plays music"

"How?"

"On a record player"

"Whats a record player?".....

I feel so old.

Blame it on the painkillers...

Just looking at my blog and thinking I really should use papagraphs, I write like i talk! And any spelling mistakes can be blamed on the fact that both arms dont seem to reach the keyboard equally with a back muscle in spasm...fjkjgdfgjgj;kkj x

Back ache is back

hello people, wont be a long post as my back is giving me grief and stretching my arms out to the keyboard is not helping! Its a difficult balance with my back, it needs a little exercise or it seizes up but over do it and it weally weally hurts! Been enjoying the warm weather we are having and gardening and am now living to regret it, I even restrung the wooden swing on the apple tree but am not convinced of the strength of the rope I bought, it was fine till I went to trim off the ends and the scissors cut straight through them! So I'm not trusting this 'rope' which seems to just be beefed up string to swing my children back and forth above a stone floor! I need to go food shopping this morning and my back wont cope with more than one bag of shopping and the kids are hopeless, J will drag it along the ground and C will leave it somewhere, probably when she stops to do her hair in a shop window reflection (we had strong words yesterday about appearance but that's another post!)So I'm going to look like a loon and take the big pushchair, I can fill up the seats, the bit underneath and tie stuff to the handles, how many years do you think I am from pushing a shopping trolley round with wild hair old clothes and snarling? What am I saying, that's me to a t!

Wednesday

It was a lovely day yesterday, mums not the type for big flashy occasions, we went shopping all day, all the kids behaved and didn't nag, even J who is still tired from his illness, he dragged his tired self round all the shops clutching his new toy boat and car I bought him from the pound shop, got to love that shop for quick cheap bribery! But he was so tired he fell asleep across C and my sisters laps on the bus on the way home! We then dropped the shopping home and went to mums in the evening for a roast dinner and large chocolate cake for dessert! Yum! Now I know we should have offered to cook as it was mums birthday but there were eight of us and we would have messed it up big time, mum is amazing at a roast dinner and knows her kitchen and oven better than anyone so we let her do it! C decided to test how far the teenage angst could go and refuse to eat any veg but some stern murmurs from me had them eaten, she made be laugh though, she actually tried to hide some under the fatty bit of her pork chop, does she think that hasn't been done before??? I had to laugh, I did the same thing almost 30 years ago! She did apologise for her attitude afterwards, I think that's a good thing that at least she knows when she has played up, more difficult to deal with someone who denies they have done anything wrong.
So I had a reflexology session from a friend who is training, its lovely but it makes the rest of my body want a massage too, my feet feel soft and airy and it only reminds me how much my shoulders ache! C went to the cinema with friends and J stayed at my mums and planted over 200 bulbs in her garden and pulled up a similar number of dandelions which our rabbits enjoyed this evening! J was supposed to go to his swimming lesson at 5.30, I was already umming and haaing about sending him so soon after being ill, but when I went to get him from the lounge to go and found him fast asleep! So he slept while I hoovered around him, ironed a pile of clothes with my squeaky ironing board and on and on he slept, he so needed that sleep, he still went to bed later with no problems, he is just like me, ill? sleep it off!

It's my Mum's 50th Birthday today

Trouble is, do you think my mum has any idea who 50 cent is? (It was him who sang this wasnt it?)

Feeling very satisfied (nothing to do with batteries!) Been in the garden all day, have swept leaves, trimmed bushes, thrown away so much rubbish and put together and set in to the ground the swing that was left by the garage doors two and a half years ago when we moved here and hasn't been touched since! I cleaned out J's sandpit and filled it with fresh sand and cleaned off the slide, J is so happy, he has a fully functioning park in his back garden and with the rabbits out in their runs too a petting zoo! It made me think about the way we live through our children, I wouldn't want to be 5 again, too frustrating but I so enjoy seeing the world through his eyes, watching him react to different experiences and the joy he gets from simple things like watering plants, a chore to many adults but one of the highlights of his day, its 7.34pm here and he is just outside the back doors, on the decking playing with the sand, so involved he doesn't want to stop, he briefly came in to get a coat as the temp. dropped but will carry on playing till he gets tired or it gets dark!

But I also see the world through C's eyes and I wouldn't ever want to be a teenager again, even if I could take the knowledge and experience I have with me. The peer pressure and bitchiness seems so extreme, the language and behaviour I hear from teenage girls in the shops on on the bus scares me, these young women, still children legally, with make clothes and attitudes that they cant really carry off but try so hard. I know a girl who failed her exams on purpose because it was more important to her to be seen as cool and not a 'swot' and told her mother that 'no boy would fancy her if he thought she was smarter than him'!!! What a horrible world to grow up in, I'm accused by many of my friends with similar aged daughters that I'm too protective and that sex, smoking and drugs are just phases that all teenagers have to go through! One mum said her daughter could do what she liked as long as she told her about it and most of all, not get pregnant!
How did I get from this to this?
So I'll continue to keep her under lock and key, until I figure she can make the right decisions for herself, what do you think 23, 24?

Dry spell....

Just realised I've been celibate for two years today! Thinking of adding a paypal button for the battery fund......

Spring days!

Oh, the sun on my face does make me feel good, its a beautiful spring day here, a little windy but my garden has high trees and shrubs so its a nice little sun trap. Haven't done much gardening as such but pottered around and enjoyed it a lot, J loves to garden, he has a little raspberry bush growing, a lavender plant and a mint plant, he gets such a kick out of rubbing the mint plant and smelling fresh mint! I've promised to buy him more seeds when we go into town on Tuesday, hopefully they will do better than last years carrots, if I can find the photo I'll show you how pathetic they were!

J didnt wake with a temp in the night or this morning, seemed strange to not reach for him, feel his burning forehead and nip downstairs for meds and juice! Still has another day of antibiotics but is so much better in himself, think I may have the sinus infection too though, my headache is more in my sinus's today and my eyes feel like someone is pushing down on them! and still so thirsty, my blood sugar levels play up so much when I have my period?