NotSheep

Last night, with all the kids camped out on the floor in my bedroom, I looked around and thought “This is kind of nice, we should just do this occasionally anyway”. And it was. It seems that as children get older, you don’t get so many of those just-hanging-out-together moments, when everyone’s in the same place and there’s no need to hurry up because someone has to be somewhere in half an hour. I often think how lucky I am to be able to spend so much time with my children - much, much more than I’d ever get if they were in school - but it’s not often that we’re all just sitting around, nowhere to go, nothing better to do, in one room. So there’s Silver Lining Number One

This morning we just kept the bedroom door closed until everyone was dressed and ready to go, since it was the only warm room in the house. We went downstairs and let the cats out, threw some food I’d tray-frozen last night into freezer bags and back into the freezer, grabbed a few things to take with us, and left. We picked up a drive-through breakfast, then I swept through a local kitchen equipment shop for a few bits and pieces, and went into a healthfood place for “Dragons’ Eggs”.

We bought these the last time we were there, and the boys really liked them, and they’d asked me to get some more, so I went in and looked, leaving all but Toby in the car. I couldn’t see them, so I asked the assistant, but she had no idea what I was talking about. She suggested a few things, one or two of which looked vaguely familiar but weren’t called Dragons’ Eggs. Eventually I picked up two bags - one of some kind of peanutty thing and the other of seaweed-based snacks (doesn’t that sound delightful? they are good though LOL) and went back to the car. I told them I couldn’t find Dragons’ Eggs, but I’d found things that I thought were probably the same thing, just packaged under a different name. “Oh,” they said, “We just call them dragons’ eggs, that’s not really what they’re called!” Well thanks for making me look like a right dope in the shop guys!

After that we headed for S’s house. We’d a lovely time there, as we always do - Silver Lining Number Two S and I did lots of laughing and the kids all ran about and played, indoors and out. We had home-made pizza (catered by S) and homemade bread (catered by me) for lunch, and the tea was kept flowing. I won’t hold it against them that M, the same age as Jack, told me, with a very serious tone and a very serious expression, that my hair looked weird

Picked up Scratchy on the way home, and once we got here he went straight to the garage to get the oil flowing through the furnace again, while I did spag bol for dinner (quick and easy). Both of us accomplished our respective tasks quickly, and we sat down to pasta in a rapidly-warming-up house. I can’t believe how much the oil cost though - nearly twice what I’d expected The rates bill arrived today too, so I don’t think there’ll be any more money spent on dragons’ eggs (or anything else) for a few weeks!

Barney, George and Freddy have just arrived back from ju-jitsu, where they’d a games night since it was the last week before the Easter break, and they’re now gathering their pillows and distributing them to their own beds again. Back to normal then - whatever normal is!