Well, our car is fixed and we’ve been making the most of it. Scratchy picked it up on Friday, then took ages to get home because of an accident on the motorway link road. Yesterday he had an all-day tutorial, so I:
- took Barney, George and Freddy to swimming class for 9.30, and waited for them
- showed Barney and George where to wait for their trampoline class to start, then took Scratchy to his tutorial (and rescued a little dog at the end of the street, it was wandering about in the middle of the main road and its demise was inevitable - I went and got it, noticed an open door on a nearby house which had been converted to flats, pulled the dog by the collar towards that and the dog took off indoors - hope it belongs to someone in one of the flats, but at least it wasn’t wandering about the main road anymore!)
- drove back to where the Scouts were meeting for their weekend camp, and left Barney’s night-bag (with sleeping bag etc in it) with the rest of them
- went to Tesco and bought groceries and also got some sweatpants for Barney
- went back to pick up Barney and George
- took the boys for fast food for lunch (no time for anything else)
- drove out to where the Scouts are camping to drop off Barney (and had a wander around the very impressive Scouting Centre)
- went and spent an hour visiting friends who’ve just bought a house close to the campsite
- picked up C from his tutorial
- came home and cooked dinner

I think we’ve all had enough of being in the car for now!

The kids who are left at home are now watching a Spiderman DVD. M was hoarse and coughing slightly at the beginning of the week and has kindly passed his germs on to the rest of us. Jack is the worst-affected - poor kid is so snotty it’s barely credible, and his breathing is so rattly that at one point I thought it was Toby crying. It was a rough night with him. Freddy is coughing very slightly, think I started dosing him with vitamin C just in time. George seems better but says he still feels “slightly ill”. Toby seems to have all but escaped (fingers crossed). I’m slightly congested but more bothered by what appears to be a pulled muscle in my chest.

Toby is changing fast. Up until now, it’s been mum-and-nobody-else-will-do, but this morning he was sitting in my arms and watching Scratchy, and when Scratchy left the room, Toby started to wail. He stopped immediately when Scratchy walked back in. It was nice for Scratchy, who I think was starting to feel a bit like a spare part, and it’s nice for me, as it means I can go off and do something for a little while and know that Toby is happy

Have to go pick up Barney at 1 o’clock, hope he wasn’t too cold in a tent overnight! Mollycat didn’t come home again last night - hope she shows up before I have to go for Barney

I’ve said before that I love getting comments. Perhaps I should have been more specific.

If your comment is an attempt to sell mortgage insurance - don’t bother. And if the text of your comment contains one letter and one letter only - don’t bother (and why do you bother anyway?). And definitely don’t bother posting the same thing (albeit with different letters and different fictitious email addresses each time) sixteen times!

Dear santa I would like a spy set full of cool Gadgets, a Green goblin suit anew baseball set 10 chocolate bars a (real) cool magnet watch that can Do anything. for christmas please

Freddy wrote that letter to Santa this week - that’s exactly how it is, apart from all the upper-case G’s being backwards (and the handwriting, of course). He’s a bit iffy on the use of punctuation, but I thought it was a pretty good letter

Not sure where to find a (real) cool magnet watch that can Do anything!

Haven’t blogged properly since last weekend, and since this weekend is almost upon us, I think it’s time I got on with it!

Barney came home from Scout Camp very cheery, having had a lot of fun and plenty of physical activity. We stopped on the way home and picked up more fish - which turned out to be a bad move, as I thought our tank was ready, and it turned out not to be…hence we spent the next three days doing lots of water changes and fishing several dead fish out of the aquarium :-\ We seem to be over that now though, we’ve lost no more fish since Tuesday lunchtime. I also discovered that someone I see every week (when the boys do archery) is something of an expert, as she makes her living setting up and maintaining aquariums (aquaria?) for businesses, leisure centres etc.

The boys have all done lots of “work” this week - Scratchy is off most of next week revising for his exams, so we’re going to take off out of the house each day, so they’re trying to get ahead of themselves. They’ve also had the usual rounds of Ju-jitsu, Circus Skills, Beavers/Cubs/Scouts, archery, dance and - finally found the right place! - St John Cadets - which Barney enjoyed very much. And we solved our Tuesday-night-driving-everywhere dilemma; we discovered that the library across the road from the Scout Hall is open until 8pm on Tuesdays, so Scratchy left Toby, Jack, Freddy and me there and took Barney and George to Circus Skills, and we hung out there until it was time for Beavers. Scratchy stayed until he’d picked up Barney and George again, and then came back for us. So that was a much more peaceful and pleasant system than driving-back-and-forth-with-crying-baby

Have been unimpressed by the response I’ve had from people who I had hoped might be willing to work on a project which will affect all of us…will make another post about that (and if you don’t see it, it will be because you’re not signed in!)

The kids wrote letters to Santa (example already posted), and Toby got a bit more grown-up

I’m sure there’s loads I don’t remember now, which is why it’s such a bad idea not to blog more frequently!

Haymaker

You are one of life’s enjoyers, determined to get the most you can out of your brief spell on Earth. Probably what first attracted you to atheism was the prospect of liberation from the Ten Commandments, few of which are compatible with a life of pleasure. You play hard and work quite hard, have a strong sense of loyalty and a relaxed but consistent approach to your philosophy.

You can’t see the point of abstract principles and probably wouldn’t lay down your life for a concept though you might for a friend. Something of a champagne humanist, you admire George Bernard Shaw for his cheerful agnosticism and pursuit of sensual rewards and your Hollywood hero is Marlon Brando, who was beautiful, irascible and aimed for goodness in his own tortured way.

Sometimes you might be tempted to allow your own pleasures to take precedence over your ethics. But everyone is striving for that elusive balance between the good and the happy life. You’d probably open another bottle and say there’s no contest.

What kind of humanist are you? Click here to find out.

A cheerful agnostic and pursuer of sensual rewards who wouldn?t lay down my life for a concept though I might for a friend…yep, that sounds about right.

…and another week has gone by without me blogging. I think I need to establish a regular time to blog each day. The problem is that my life is never that regular!

This week has been especially irregular: Scratchy had exams on Wednesday and today, and was off work most of the week to revise, so we were staying clear of the house to give him peace to do it. He went into work on Monday morning, but finished at lunchtime, and I took off with the boys to buy groceries, socks and trainers. We came home for dinner, followed by ju-jitsu.

On Tuesday we spent the day at the house of some friends; they’re schoolies, so weren’t around until after 3pm, but were kind enough to leave us a key We left just after 5 pm to take Barney and George to Community Circus, but in the car en route, a grumpy George decided to punch Freddy in the eye, so I decided I wasn’t willing to inflict him on anyone else and only left Barney there. The traffic was bad crossing the city, and by the time I got Freddy to Beavers, I’d arranged for Barney to be picked up by someone else, and then made further arrangements so that Barney didn’t actually come home! Instead, he stayed over with the friends whose house we’d spent the day at (and I know that should read “at whose house…” but it sounds awkward LOL) He missed out on St John Cadets because of it, but he wasn’t too bothered, as the sleepover made up for it. I went to pick him up on Wednesday morning, and left Scratchy there instead, to study for a couple of hours. Then we did some shopping - bought belts for Barney and George since their trousers are always falling down - and went back for Scratchy, and dropped him off at his exam. Then it was time to pick up the boys’ friend J, and off we headed to Archery. Toby has decided he doesn’t like the car, and cried most of the way there and most of the way back - we have to do something about this, at least for the next little while, as it’s just not fair on him. It’s okay if I can time things carefully so that he’s been fed just before we get into the car and he’s just ready to fall asleep, but the rest of the world won’t stand still for me to do that Ideally we’d use a later archery class, so that Scratchy could be home from work in time to take them and Toby wouldn’t have to go along, but the only later class conflicts with Cub Scouts We finally made it back after what seemed like an age in the car, dropped George at Cubs, went home for dinner, then Scratchy took Barney to Scouts and picked up George, then back a while later to pick up Barney. The usual late-Wednesday-switcheroo thing. We tried Jack in a booster seat with an attached back on Wednesday too, but he can (and does) get out of it too easily, so it was back to his big convertible carseat. Jack is really, really challenging right now - I know it’s his age, but I’m quite sure that the older three weren’t quite this…um…challenging. Yep, it’s a challenge.

On Thursday we took advantage of a different bunch of friends, and hung out at their house until about 2ish, then I met Freddy’s dance teacher, and she took him to dance and we went to her house and looked after it until she got back with Freddy. And we didn’t make the Scouts parents’ meeting last night, because I was too knackered and Scratchy was too grumpy/busy revising. He was especially grumpy because our half-cat scratched his hand yesterday. He’s been stressed all week, with his exams and he’s also been fighting flu, I think - and he’s been taking it out on the cats. (Before anyone rings the RSPCA, he mostly swears at them, and about them. Mostly.) But I can’t really find it in myself to be too sympathetic, because he did something very daft: the hungry, half-feral cat was sitting outside the kitchen window while Scratchy was making dinner, and Scratchy was daft enough to stick his hand out with some food for the cat in it. Surprise surprise - the cat pounced. Cue one extremely annoyed husband…especially when his wife didn’t go “aw, sweetums, did the nasty pussy-cat scratch poor diddum’s hand?”

Today we got to stay home - yay! The boys did some work this morning, then we caught up with all the household chores that had been missed during the week. I was very organised and prepared the bulk of three different dinners in one go, so there should be minimal cooking this weekend. We even got the bedrooms cleared up enough to be able to put laundry away. I do have a question, however. How is it that I bought Jack six new pairs of socks on Monday, and already we can’t find a single matching pair?!

Scratchy got home about 2.30 and I promptly put him to work - now his exams are over, he can do all the things I’ve been saving up for him He reckons he’s going to have to re-sit one and possibly two of them in April, but a) he’s a pessimist, he’s probably done just fine; and b) April is a long way away and I can keep him busy around here for a while until he knows for sure We have a second dining-table that we shipped from Canada with us nearly two years ago; it has been in the shipping packaging since then. Today we finally unwrapped it. Set it up in the dining-room, where it will serve a dual purpose - we’ll use it when the kids study, and it will be where we eat when there are too many of us to fit around the breakfast-bar in the kitchen. We ate in the conservatory (where our other dining-table lives) all summer, and that was lovely, but it’s a bit chilly in there in the evenings now! I counted how many dining-chairs we have, and it comes to an astounding 18. There are six at the table in the conservatory, four at the breakfast-bar in the kitchen, and another eight for the table we put up today. Four of those had never even been taken from the boxes they came from the shop in! Anyway, there’s no shortage of seating here now

Tomorrow morning starts with swimming lessons at 8.30 - and that’s another thing we’ve got to figure out, because Barney and George are to move up a class for the next session, which begins at the end of this month. That means their class will start at 9am and finish at 9.30 - and their trampoline class starts at 9.45. Both activities are in the same building, so it wouldn’t be a problem for people who didn’t take 40 minutes getting dried and dressed after swimming…maybe they’ll learn *looks hopeful*. We’ll still need to be there for 8.30 am though, as Freddy is staying in the same class *sigh*

Apart from all that, I spent the week (unsuccessfully) fighting off flu, Toby has a stuffy nose and Jack has a runny nose (which he constantly wipes across his cheek with the back of his hand - lovely!) The fish are doing well, and Mollycat hasn’t stayed out all night in over a week (though I don’t think she’s come in yet this evening, so maybe I shouldn’t count my chickens, if you see what I mean). And I think I’ve figured out why my camera sometimes doesn’t take a picture - well, I haven’t figured out why but I think I’ve worked out when it does it - it’s not random, it’s when we use the zoom. Bummer. We have another camera, but it’s not nearly so easy to use, especially one-handed (which I nearly always am).

Barney, Freddy and Jack are now watching a DVD, Scratchy is putting together the last two dining-room chairs, George (who was miserable at dinner) is reading in bed, and I’m nursing Toby to sleep (propping him on my him and my forearm so I can type). Note to self: under “special skills” on my CV, add “multi-tasking”…

You are Lucy!

Which Peanuts Character are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

That much, I’d say is probably pretty accurate

What I found interesting though, is that when I went back to the last question - “In your spare time, one might find you…” - and changed my answer from “Spare time? You’re too busy to have spare time!” to “Writing in your journal/weblog” - because I couldn’t decide which to choose, you see - it changed my character to:

You are Linus!

Which Peanuts Character are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

…which is waaaaay off the mark, frankly. Humble? Easily taken advantage of? I don’t think so

(I am a self-confessed pedant, however, and so it’s bugging the heck out me that it says “taken advange of” :lol:)

I’m sitting on the bed with Toby asleep on my lap. I don’t want to get up yet because I don’t want to wake him yet, and also because I feel crap, since I’ve been dealing with a hacking cough since mid-week (that’s what the flu turned into - I used to get this every winter for months on end, hoping it doesn’t do that this year). Hence I’ve been doing some blog-reading catch-up (which is how I came by the Peanuts thingy below).

We’re off to see friends later today - it’s a good two-hour drive normally, but I imagine today we’ll add - oh, at least an hour, given Toby’s current feelings about travelling by car. We’re staying overnight, going to see a movie through National Schools Film Week in their town tomorrow morning. To be honest, I probably wouldn’t have planned this if I’d realised that Toby was going to start hating the car and/or I’d known I was going to get sick, but it’s arranged and the kids will be disappointed if we don’t go, so we’ll go. Scratchy has tomorrow off so at least we don’t have to rush back.

Not sure Barney deserves to go really though. He spent two hours at trampoline club yesterday winding up George, chewing gum, throwing things at people and generally being a little ^*(#W$. He took against trampoline club the first week, when he found it hard to climb onto the trampoline, and has determined to dislike it ever since. I convinced him to keep going until the end of the session, to give it a chance - or at least I thought I had, but he’s been acting as though he’s trying to get thrown out of it (I don’t think he consciously is doing that though). Anyway, he’s said he doesn’t want to go back, and I’ve said fine, but then you can pay for the course because you asked to go in the first place and I don’t want to have wasted my money, and he’s said “fine” in that not-fine-but-huh voice (you all know the one). I suppose at least it eliminates the need for him to get dressed fast after swimming lessons. Oh heck. Just realised the swimming registration forms were supposed to be in by yesterday. Will have to drop them off today on our way out - I’m sure they’re not organised enough to have given away the places already *hopes*

(Barney spent last Monday’s ju-jitsu class fighting with George too, and they weren’t even supposed to be working together. At this rate, he could end up with very little of his bank balance left.)

We spent yesterday afternoon tidying up the back bedroom, which was full of toys (mostly in bits) and clothes (too small for one kid, too big for the next) as well as being the spare bedroom. I also spent an hour sorting through things in the dining-room-cum-study, now that we’ve a table in there. Put some games and things that can be called educational up on the shelves, set aside a box of stuff for Jack to do when the others are working (hoping this will keep him busy and out of their hair). Decided that the huge box of papers that need filing was too much to cope with, and stashed it all in a hard-to-get-to cupboard instead. If I need anything from it, I know where it is, and anything that’s still there in a year obviously isn’t important and can be binned. Isn’t that the essence of a good filing system anyway?

Scratchy is currently trying to download all the stuff from my mobile phone onto a computer, since I’m changing mobiles (haven’t got a new one or anything, I’m taking his and giving mine to the friend we’re staying with tonight since she lost hers and doesn’t like her replacement, and Scratchy’s going back to an old one which isn’t as fancy but does have better reception). Not sure how I managed to accumulate 53 photos on my mobile - I’m sure I don’t remember taking more than half a dozen! Then there are the ringtones - was there ever a better way to waste time and energy than searching for and installing ringtones? Must admit I’m very fond of the Roobarb-and-Custard theme-tune that goes off when a certain person calls though, and the reaction I get when that plays in public pretty good (people look startled, then confused, then go “oh! it’s Roobarb and Custard!” :lol:). I’ve also got it set up to play “Like A Virgin” when a particular friend phones. ‘Nuff said, I think

Mollycat stayed out again all night, I was a bit concerned in case she didn’t come back in time for us to leave her in the house before we go today, but she arrived back home at about 9am. Ginnycat was here all night and is a bit miffed at not being allowed out now. Tough.

Toby is now stirring, so I suppose I’d better get showered and dressed and start packing overnight bags. Conversation earlier - Scratchy: “Is there anything else we need to do before we go?” - Me: “Nope, just pack for overnight, that’s easy.” - Scratchy: “Easy? For seven people?!” It’s a matter of perception, innit?

That blog-post title is completely irrelevant. It’s just that we saw the HHGG movie this week and I think that line makes a great title so I’m using it anyway. It was a toss-up between that and”thanks for all the fish”

It’s been another pretty busy week. On Sunday we drove to our friends’ house, as mentioned in the last post. Toby was surprisingly cooperative and fell asleep almost immediately in the car, and didn’t wake up until we arrived. The boys piled out of car, took off to play with their friends, and we saw very little of them for the rest of the day.

While there, I was amused to discover that Freddy didn’t know what an iron was. Honestly, no idea. My friend K’s ironing board was set up next to the kitchen table, and the kids were all grabbing their plates and carrying them into the next room. Each of them had to be told about four times “not that way! the iron’s on there and it’s hot!” - and Freddy’s reaction was: huh? the iron? what’s that then? I didn’t actually realise just how completely thorough this hole in his education was until Wednesday, when I dealt with some new fabric I’d bought for a tablecloth. As I was summing up what I’d done, I said “I’ve hemmed the tablecloth and ironed it…” and Freddy said “why did you have to iron it?”. Me: “Because it was creased.” Freddy (slightly baffled): “So what does the iron do?” Me: “Takes out the creases.” Freddy (now looking incredulous): “How?” He’s still not convinced I’m not winding him up A child who’s nearly six-and-a-half and doesn’t know of the existence of the household iron - now I think that’s an accomplishment to be proud of

On Monday morning we all headed off to the first of our National Schools Film Week bookings - Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. Jack was slightly scared at one point, but otherwise all enjoyed it, Barney particularly. He’s growing up, and “getting” surreality…

After a stop for lunch, we headed back home, and again Toby was cooperative, not quite all the way this time, but most of it. Barney and George were supposed to have ju-jitsu on Monday evening, but both were tired and grumpy and said they didn’t want to go, so got packed off to bed instead.

On Tuesday morning, we had our second movie: Robots. We went with friends, also home-educators (obviously, since they weren’t at school). There were about 70 primary-age children there too, accompanied by four adults who talked loudly throughout the movie. “Settle down now, children, be quiet, hush there…if you talk through the movie we won’t be able to hear our own conversation!” Right.

The boys enjoyed Robots, I thought it was…well, let’s put it this way: I was glad I hadn’t paid for the tickets.

Afterwards, I went off to buy the previously-mentioned tablecloth fabric (since the movie theatre was near the best local place to get fabric), then to the garage to get the dashboard lights fixed. We had something done to the clutch a couple of weeks ago, and ever since there have been no…um…those lights that go on when you put on the headlights, the ones that let you see the speedo etc…I’m obviously very technically-minded when it comes to cars, aren’t I? Anyway, after a bit of hm-ing and ha-ing and muttering about “two or three hours to strip down the dash” and “need an auto-spark”, they finally decided to have a go, and presented it to me, fixed, ten minutes later.

Then we drove back across the city to pick up Scratchy from work, and he dropped us (that’s Freddy, Jack, Toby and me) at the library and took Barney and George to community circus. After an hour or so in the library, I walked Freddy over to Beavers and hung out there with Jack and Toby. Scratchy picked us up later, having collected Barney and George from circus and left Barney at St John Cadets, we went home for dinner, then later Scratchy went back for Barney. It is nice now that Scratchy’s exams are over; I don’t have to feel guilty about getting him to do more of the running about

While at the library we discovered that one of the librarians helps out with St John Cadets after her Tuesday-night shift: we’d a chat with her two weeks ago about home-ed, then she went off and met Barney, who announced he was home-educated - she thought it was an astonishing coincidence until she realised we were all part of the same family

Wednesday: no archery! Yay! I spoke to the guy who runs the archery club, because Wednesdays at 4.30 just wasn’t working for us - not fair on Toby when he hates being in the car so much. It turns out there’s a class at 5.30 on Thursdays, which works much better for us - Scratchy can take the boys at that time and I can stay home with Toby, plus we’ve nothing else scheduled on Thursday evenings. Since he’s taking them, I suggested Scratchy might as well participate too. The kids were keen on that idea, especially Barney. Even Freddy, who’d decided to drop archery for a while, changed his mind when he realised his dad was going to join in - this complicates the timing slightly but it might be do-able. So yesterday we had a quiet day at home, doing domestic-y stuff like making a tablecloth - admittedly in five-minute segments as Toby would allow. And Cubs and Scouts was cancelled this week, so we’d a nice peaceful evening with no taxi-duties too

Today we’d another NSFW movie booked: Madagascar this time, which was better than I’d expected. A different family of home-ed friends came with us today. Since the movie was at a theatre in the same complex as W5 science centre, we went there afterwards. Freddy’s dance teacher met us there and collected him, and an hour or so later we went for Scratchy, who left Jack, Toby and me at home and went to Archery as arranged, picking up Freddy on his way back.

We’re all home now, and tomorrow should be low-key - no activities except for swimming, possibly, in the evening. Thank goodness!

Today all seems to have happened early, if you see what I mean. Breakfast didn’t really happen at all, because the boys were too busy screeching at each other, so I sent them upstairs to get dressed. We cleaned up a bit after that, then I tried to print something and still couldn’t (network printer not doing exactly what it’s supposed to…for about six months), phoned Scratchy and shouted at him about that, made an early lunch, got the boys to settle down to some work (mostly just practising the relevant musical instruments), got the printer working … Barney and George both posted on their blogs, and Barney and I sat together for a while getting a new theme for his, which prompted me to put a new theme on this one, which more or less took up the rest of the day (and I’m still working on it, in case you’re wondering why it doesn’t look any different - I need to figure out how to make the whole theme wider so that the main column can be wider too). Scratchy finishes early on Fridays so he got here shortly after 4, and we got on with making dinner etc - as a result of all of that, it’s now 7.35 pm and everyone’s in bed

Friday is pet-day here too - we do all the “routine maintenance” - the cats’ bowls get washed, the kitty-litter changed, the aquarium gets a water-change, and tonight it got cleaned on the inside as well as the outside - a bit of creative thinking resulted in half a dishcloth wound around a pair of kitchen tongs, and that wiped the algae off the inside of the glass very well :-). The cats don’t seem to pay any attention to the fish - I’d wondered what their reaction would be, but they each seem to have showed interest for about a minute-and-a-half and then forgotten all about it. The fish are doing well now - we’ve not lost any more since that disastrous few days a couple of weeks back, and they’re all displaying their colours intensely, which is apparently a sign of contentment. We’ve got three babies too! And I’ve even been brave enough to hand-feed them - I’m working on getting over the girliness that stops me from sticking my hand into the tank

Tomorrow’s another early start, with swimming lessons followed by trampoline. Barney’s definitely giving up the trampoline class, though I’ve told him he’s still expected to speak to the instructor and apologise for how he behaved last week. We have to do a quick library visit tomorrow too, as some books have to be returned - maybe Barney can do that while George is at trampoline.

I’m just thinking out loud now, so I’ll stop here

I’m not keeping up, so I’ve just done a mass mark-it-as-read in my rss feed-reader. Sorry. I’m weeks behind on most of them. I’ve tried to keep up/catch up, but now I’ve given it up as a bad job and am starting afresh. I’m having enough trouble keeping up with this blog. Will be trying to post about the weekend, sometime today I hope. Right now I’m typing this with one hand (and it’s not even my good hand) on the kids’ computer (and it has a keyboard that’s bigger than mine), so please overlook typos.

Finally got two hands and five minutes to blog!

Right, so what have we done since Friday…hm…I have trouble remembering what happened ten minutes ago, much three days ago

The three oldest have swimming on Saturday mornings, and Barney and George have been going to trampoline, but Barney has decided to drop it. I’d forgotten, however, that trampoline was cancelled on Saturday, so everyone arrived home earlier than expected. Never mind. Instead, we drew pictures on the windows - we decorated the sliding doors between the kitchen and conservatory for Halloween. Must take some pics. I drew ghosts and wrote “Happy Halloween”, but the boys were much more creative and drew Scooby-Doo and skeletons and various other weird and wonderful things.

That five minutes to blog turned out to be closer to one-and-a-half…back later!

Right, I’m going to catch up on this if it’s the last thing I do (and it might well be, I can imagine the deathbed scene, with me going “no, not yet … I haven’t finished blogging what happened last August yet!” :lol:)

So where were we? Saturday, I believe. Let me dredge the depths of my memory and try to figure out what we did with the rest of the weekend.

Made scones and ate them. Went to the library. We also made clay badges and magnets - well, we started to, we got the moulds poured and set, we haven’t painted them or stuck on the pins and magnets yet. Now I think of it, I’d planned to get the kids to do that this afternoon. Oh well. Blogging instead.

We started to make a robot crawly-bot thing, but discovered half the pieces we needed were missing, so that didn’t get very far.

Oh, and laundry. Lots and lots of laundry. Almost caught up on that now. I’m about one load behind, plus the putting-away bit remains to be done. I’m not sure how laundry started to be difficult - I used to keep up with it without any problem. And it’s not like Toby produces a great deal, so there can’t have been that much of an increase in the quantity. Still, Barney does his part. He’ll cheerfully wear the same trousers for a week, the same pair of socks for a month. I’ve been known to go in and steal socks from his feet when he’s asleep

Yesterday - the day didn’t start very well, because I discovered a small puddle on the floor of the powder-room. No, not that kind of puddle. This was a puddle which was caused by the heavy overnight rain. The problem is that we don’t know how the puddle got there. There’s a drain on the driveway right outside where the puddle was found, but there’s also a pipe that runs through that approximate area from the sink, so we’ll have to do some detective work - and we’ve no idea where to start. That corner has been showing a bit of minor mould for a while, but obviously we need to do something about it soon.

Otherwise yesterday, the kids did lots of schoolywork. Jack has been demanding more and more attention when the others do schoolywork, so I’d printed off some bits and pieces for him - nothing very onerous, some pages with things to count and the like. He was thrilled to bits The computer network is finally working (touch wood, fingers crossed and all that), so Barney and George got to update their blogs. I find it really interesting how their styles of writing in their blogs are so different from their styles of writing when they put actual pen to actual paper. Their blogs are much more casual, and much more entertaining! Overall it was a good day - there was a bit of a nasty bit when I discovered quite a few things in the bedrooms that shouldn’t have been there (don’t ask, you don’t want to know) … and there was a shaky bit in the morning when I was stressed and achy (still battling flu *sigh*) and couldn’t put Toby down to go to the loo and simultaneously couldn’t find stuff for Jack … but overall, it was a good day. Scratchy will probably go “huh?” when (if) he reads this, because he managed to only be here for the rough bits. I’ve something else to post on the rough bits, but that will be in a private post and only visible to people who are registered and logged in.

Barney and George went off to ju-jitsu in the evening, and both apologised to the Sensei for their behaviour two weeks ago (they didn’t go last week), and both did well during the class. Next week’s class is cancelled due to Hallowe’en, and the week after is grading. I really hope they pass the grading - I don’t fancy dealing with the fallout if they don’t!

Anyone know where I can pick up two ju-jitsu suits cheap?

… I’m still working on it. Well, no, I’m not, actually. I gave up on the theme I was going to use, because I couldn’t get it to do what I wanted it to do. But I do want to change to a three-column theme. I just don’t have enough to do with my time, you see

When I was blogging about the weekend … I knew there was something else we’d done. We made Hallowe’en costumes! How could I forget?!

After gathering together the makings for a Batman costume on Saturday (grey sweats, black t-shirt with bat on the chest, silver belt, black bat-shaped cloak with eyemask coming down from the hood), Freddy decided to go to the Beavers party tonight dressed as a parrot. Don’t ask - I didn’t.

Jack (who hangs out with me in the “lounge” at the Beavers hall) also had to dress up, of course - so he was a crocodile.

Will post pics tomorrow after I get them on my laptop and onto Flickr.

Barney and George need their costumes for Scouts and Cubs tomorrow night; they’re both planning on being Ghostbusters. Not bad costumes, if I say so myself. Barney’s is based on a set of blue coveralls, George’s on a shiny silver astronaut costume. They have backpacks scrunched up and stuffed inside boxes (well, actually plastic drawers :lol:) covered in tinfoil, so the backpack shoulder-straps hold the boxes on, and Ghostbuster logos on the back, as well as Ghostbuster logos covering the appropriate bits of their costumes. They also have belts made from card and tinfoil, and bits of bright yellow plastic hose, with one end attached to the backpacks and one end attached to a smallish super-soaker. Very naff, just like in the movie

The usual Tuesday-evening juggle tonight: Scratchy left Freddy, Jack, Toby and me at the library, then took Barney and George to Circus, and when it was time for Beavers we walked over to the hall. Scratchy brought Barney and George back afterwards, dropped Barney at St John Cadets and came and picked up the rest of us. Toby hardly cried at all in the car; I think we need a few weeks when he only has very short car journeys, to convince him it’s really not that bad. Scratchy has now gone to pick up Barney and I’m about to settle down to my dinner - tea and toast with marmalade.

- and it’s only 10 am

Have just finished vacuuming - very carefully vacuuming - the kitchen. Because of the glass. From the vase that used to be on the windowsill. The very expensive lead crystal vase, the one I’ve had for years.

Barney was trying to get the blind in the kitchen window pulled up, and knocked the vase into the sink. I’m surprised it broke - it was very thick crystal. But it broke. Oh boy did it break. Shattered in fact. Bits everywhere. Big bits, little bits, probably miniscule invisible-to-the-naked-eye bits.

I was in the living-room, just down the hall, and initially thought a plate or something had been dropped, as George and Freddy were supposed to be emptying the dishwasher. Very loud crash for a plate, I thought.

Barney was very upset, and expected me to be furious. I explained (over and over) that I wasn’t angry, that I knew it was an accident, that I was sorry the vase was broken but that it had happened and there was no point in wringing our hands over it. I handed Toby to Barney and got on with cleaning it up. Barney was still upset. I pointed out that it was me who put it on the windowsill in the first place, and I knew when I did it that it could possibly be knocked down. He was still upset. I told him that when he gets his first job, he can buy me a replacement. That seemed to make him feel slightly better, but he’s obviously still annoyed at himself.

In an odd sort of way, though, it was a good thing. We weren’t having a very good day before it happened - the kids were being uncooperative and shouty, I was having trouble getting going - and it changed the mood entirely. Now they’re all busy doing productive things and I’m - well, okay, I’m blogging, but I’ve vacuumed all of downstairs (had the vacuum cleaner out, thought I might as well spend the extra five minutes and do the whole lot!)

Funny old business, this family stuff, innit?

Some days are like that, y’know? Things can only get better.

Today was pretty good, once we got the grumpies and crashies out of the way this morning. The boys did some educational stuff, we had lunch, Freddy went off to his dance class with my friend and his teacher (one and the same), and she left one of her kids here. They all played - mostly computer games, it seemed, though somehow in the middle of all that they did manage to leave one of the bedrooms covered in K’nex and Monopoly bits. Scratchy was only home for half an hour or so before he had to go again, with Barney and George, to Archery, where they’re having a Hallowe’en shoot tonight. He went to pick up Freddy on the way, though would probably have been there earlier had he not forgotten to take Freddy’s costume and had to come back, and had there not been a motorcyclist come off his bike at the top of the road.

So now I’m here with Jack and Toby. Jack is sick (still, or again, I can’t decide which). He’s mostly fine during the day, just a bit tired towards the evening, but he’s crashed out already, at 6.30 pm, and I’m hoping he doesn’t wake up in a couple of hours refreshed and ready to go until midnight! Toby is asleep in my arms, though in a position which conveniently allows me to use two hands to type ;-), so I’m blogging. Oh, and playing with that new theme for the blog. Nearly there - I’ve learned a lot about css and php etc in the last couple of days. Just one or two points I’m still stuck on - hoping to get a bit of help later this evening

Yes, I know about the oddities in my blog’s current appearance. I’m working on them. Bear with me

Or should that be “Blah”? Either way, it’s appropriate.

We’re nearly all sick. George is coughing and says his nose is blocked. Freddy is coughing and spluttering. I’ve got nearly no voice left and my lungs feel like they have more fluid in them than air. Toby has a runny nose (though is much better this morning than he was yesterday evening, when it was getting in the way of nursing).

Scratchy complained yesterday of feeling a bit flu-y, but I have no idea how he feels today since he was asked to work today. Jack is worse than any of us - he’s been feverish at night and coughing during the day, and is not a happy camper. Very unlike his usual cheery self.

Barney is the only healthy one left. I’ve been giving everyone mega-doses of vitamin c, and hadn’t planned on giving Barney any, but he insisted. Probably a wise move, given that he has to live here with the rest of us.

So we’re going to have a movie-day. Very soon, we’ll all be heading for the living-room, where we will snuggle up under big soft blankets and watch as many dvds as it takes to make our eyes fall out of our heads. See you tomorrow.

This is one of the most sensible things I’ve seen written about the MMR vaccine in a long time. The only thing I’ll take issue with is the first sentence, which, while strictly true (in that the Wakefield research triggered a furore), suggests that Wakefield was the first to suggest such issues with MMR (he wasn’t) and that parents were not rejecting MMR prior to his research (many were - including us).

We’re all still sick, though I think most of us are over the worst of it, iyswim. I know I went to bed very feverish and woke up still hacking and slightly achy, but no longer feverish and falling-over-dizzy. Barney is still well. George (who felt rotten enough to miss trampoline class on Saturday) and Freddy are still coughing, but not so much. Jack seems to have worked his way through the feverish achy bit too. Toby is a lot cheerier today; in fact he’s lovely. He’s such a smiley, delightful baby. He seems to have changed in the past couple of weeks - he’s not a tiny newborn any more, but a more mature baby, somehow. His “thing” now is talking - he’ll babble away if you give him half a chance, and is using his voice to get people’s attention (and grin like mad when it works). And he’ll have “conversations”, where he’ll take it in turn with you to say things. I love it

The boys’ costumes are still sitting around, but I don’t know if there’ll be any Trick-or-Treating tonight. First, I don’t know if it’s what they do around here. Second, I don’t know if the kids will be well enough. Third, it poured with rain all morning, and although it’s stopped now, it’s still pretty grey out there. Happy Halloween to everyone anyway

… and not the usual “stupid doctors” one either

A few weeks ago I posted about how we could no longer stay registered with the same GP, because we’d moved. And I mentioned that one of the GPs in the old practice had recommended another practice, near to where we live now, that she felt would be a good fit.

Well, there is an issue that I’d quite like to discuss with a professional - not necessarily a GP, but I’d need a GP referral to get to the appropriate professional. So I decided to get registered and make an appointment, and phoned the practice near where we live now.

Except it isn’t near enough, it seems. We are just outside their catchment area, so they won’t/can’t take us (I don’t know which, and the result’s the same). There are two practices which are closer to us (by about … oh, it must be a whole mile), but I’ve asked around and they don’t seem to be the kind of practice that is very keen on patients who don’t swallow whole everything the doctor says. Apparently one of them is “okay about breastfeeding” - not sure exactly what that means, but it doesn’t tell me much about how they’d feel about nursing toddlers. No idea where they stand on things like no vaccines, home-education, etc. (Yes, I know home-ed is not a medical issue, but I’ve heard about enough GPs who’ve made it their business, so would really rather avoid having to justify it to them.) And I’ve irritated enough GPs in my life by asking questions, researching stuff myself etc; it’s not that I mind irritating GPs, but it’s nicer to have a GP who just accepts that that’s how you are, and understands that it’s nothing personal.

What kind of system decides it’s not okay to be registered with a doctor 30 miles away, but it’s just fine not to have a GP at all, even when you want one?

So what do I do? Do I register with one of the local practices and hope for the best? Do I walk into Children’s Casualty and say “I know this can’t, however stretchy your imagination, be considered an emergency, but I’d like to speak to someone” (and then wait until all the other, more urgent, cases - that is, everyone else there - has been seen)? Do I just give up, consult the library and the internet and hope I’m not missing anything?

Bloody stupid system.