NotSheep

Literally. Half of us are still sick, and we’re tired of it. Scratchy was loaded with cold last night; I didn’t see him this morning so I don’t know how he was. Barney, though healthy, insists that he’s got a cough (it must be a silent, invisible one). George isn’t coughing much now, but he’s grumpy this morning anyway. Freddy is still coughing, so is Jack. Toby isn’t coughing, but does sound a bit hoarse, poor thing. So the older four are playing Dreamcast and I’m lying on my bed nursing Toby so he can sleep as much as possible, and reaching over him to my laptop so I don’t die of boredom.

On the one hand, it’s a real pain that this happened on half-term week, because we usually spend half-terms getting together with the friends who do school. On the other hand, if it hadn’t been half-term week, they’d have missed Ju-Jitsu, Circus, Beavers/Cubs/Scouts, Cadets, Dance and all the rest. And I’d have been knackered from the running about.

On the subject of half-term, I forgot to complain about it on Tuesday after we had our day of appointments. (I know “day of appointments” sounds like a slight exaggeration when it was only the dentist and the optometrist, but when you bear in mind that there were five sets of teeth and four pairs of eyes to be checked, you can see why it took up most of the day.) Remind me not to make those appointments during school holidays again. One of the pros of home-ed is that you can schedule things for the best times, because you don’t have to fit in around school hours, but having been free of school schedules for 4.5 years now, I tend not to think about them any more. And when I made these appointments, I didn’t realise it would be half-term. It wasn’t the appointments that were the problem, it was that the town was heaving with people When we went for lunch, there was a huge queue of people waiting to be served, and we had to struggle down a ramp with three hairpin bends on it, with a stroller and two trays of food, to find seating, and even then the table wasn’t big enough. The same place on a non-half-term weekday is only a quarter-full - and much less stressful.

Okay, so enough of the complaining. We had a lying-about day yesterday, and it looks very much like today will be more of the same, as it’s now 10.45 and that’s all we’ve done so far. The boys did go out to play with their friends for a while yesterday, but neither Barney nor Jack stayed out long, and I made George come back in after he’d rung the doorbell and run away about eight times. His excuse was that Freddy told him to do it. He didn’t get far with that one, I can tell you.

So another day of leisure here . Until 4.30ish, anyway, as there’s archery this afternoon (at least I think there is, I’d better ring and make sure before they go, hadn’t I?)