NotSheep

It’s been nearly a week since I posted anything here. The reasons? We haven’t been doing anything much, never mind anything interesting (because I’m sick). I haven’t been spending much time upright (because I’m sick). I didn’t want to turn the blog into a whinge-fest (about being sick). I haven’t been in the mood (because I’m sick). Are you noticing a theme here?

All right, a very quick whinge and then I’ll move on: I’ve barely been out of bed for the past week or so, and I’ve not been well since about October 27th, if this blog is to be believed. That’s way too long to be laid up without going out of your mind. I hope that I’m now on the road to recovery: the barking cough which shook my entire body has mutated into a loose (and very productive) cough which only hurts above the waist, and I’ve been fever-free for about 36 hours now, I think. And I’m sitting up for long enough to write this - all I’ve done in the last few days is read lying down and write a few brief comments and responses to emails when I’ve been able to sit up for five minutes.

Right, that’s enough.

So, let me think whether there’s been anything worth blogging. Mostly the boys have been entertaining themselves, with the older ones taking responsibility for doing lunches etc. Having older kids is very useful at times like this, although I do wonder about their priorities sometimes. They taught Toby a new line. His speech is gradually improving and his brothers have been delighted to hear actual words, so at lunchtime yesterday, they set about teaching him more. And what did they teach him to say? “How you doin’?” - à la Joey Tribbiani. Like he needed coaching in how to flirt

We hope we’ve found a place where Barney can sit a couple of GCSEs next year - French in June and probably Maths in November. It’s a private school; I’ll have to call them and talk to them once I get my voice back.

I’ve been cruising around teh internets for Christmas presents, and have managed to find most of what my children have asked for. Jack has just told me what he wants, so I’ll have to start on his list soon - though one item’s already purchased and the rest of it includes “my very own hairbrush” and “loads of rulers and new pencils” so I don’t think I’ll be up at 1.30 a.m. bidding on ebay items from Canada, as I was with some of George’s items. (I won the auction, and I hope my brother-in-law is going to collect the items for me today. Much relief, since we weren’t able to source these anywhere else but ebay, and even on the US site, they were going for two to three times what we were willing to pay. And no, it wasn’t good for a sick person to be doing that in the middle of the night. And yes, I do have a snipe program, but I woke about the time the auction was due to close and I’d only have been lying awake wondering if I hadn’t looked. And since I was up, it made sense to ping my sister-in-law on instant-messenger to see if they’d collect it for me.)

We’re back at Beavers tonight; I would skip it for myself but one of the other leaders “booked off” for tonight months ago, and the other one hasn’t got her warrant yet. It would be more effort to ring all the parents and cancel than it is to show up and hide in the corner for an hour. We’ve got a professional soccer coach coming in to do soccer skills with the boys, so once we’ve done the opening ceremony and collected subs, I can sit back and watch for the next fifty minutes, until it’s time to close and send them all home.

And that is enough of me being upright for now, so I will see you when I emerge from under the covers again - soon, I hope.

Yes, that’s me. Missing. Missing in action. Well, more missing from action really. I’ve been sick for nearly a month - I’ve looked back in this blog and discovered that I started getting sick on October 20th. That’s way too long. I’m tired of being sick, and sick of being tired. The flu has just wiped me out - left me in bed, shivering and shaking and then too weak to even do that. Yes, I’m whiny. Get over it. Somebody has to, and I’m not doing any kind of job of it.

The boys have been generally fantastic. They’ve kept things ticking over, made breakfasts and lunches, fed and walked the dogs (who have otherwise been sadly neglected), looked after me and each other. Oh, I’m not saying they’re perfect - George and Barney are currently grounded with no computer games or DVDs after sending numerous horrible text messages to one another - more of an exercise in how-rude-can-we-get than anything else, but nasty enough that they haven’t even complained about the severity of the consequent restrictions on their lives. They should count themselves lucky: if I wasn’t so knackered I’d probably have said no tv at all, but since I’m using it as a babysitter when I just can’t do anything but lie down, I figured I’d be punishing myself more than them. Otherwise they’ve all been helpful, notwithstanding the grumpy noises emanating from their room right now (they’re tidying up - in theory). Toby has been getting raised not by a village, but by his siblings, and he’s learned some interesting new skills. As well as impressions of stroppy teenagers and Joey Trebiani, he’s also now been taught the hand-sign for “Live long and prosper” - he can’t keep his ring-finger and little finger together though, so he goes and borrows Barney’s mood-ring and puts it over the top of the two fingers so that he can do it right

I think I’m over the flu now, apart from the odd bout of coughing, but I’m still very low on energy - I do tend to take a bit longer to get over things sometimes, ever since my bout of CFS, and it’s often frustrating, but this has been beyond reasonable. I dragged myself to Beavers last week because the only other option was to cancel it and spend hours on the phone trying to get hold of all the parents, but I missed this week’s meeting, which is really annoying since it was not only Investiture and Swimming Up, but Jack’s Investiture and Freddy’s Swimming Up. Freddy wouldn’t have been going anyway, being grounded, and Jack can be invested next week. I’d have liked to see all the rest doing it though; there were three others Swimming Up, all of whom I’m going to miss, and about seven new boys and one girl being invested.

I have to get out of bed and the house tomorrow though, because Toby has an assessment with the speech therapist. I’m supposed to be going out tomorrow night too, to a Pampered Chef thing, but whether I make it remains to be seen. Next week sees dental appointments for all of us, a review for Toby with the paediatric cardiologist, and Barney’s 13th birthday, so I really need to be much more energetic before then.

I’d never have been able to do school-runs for the last few weeks; at least with home-ed, we’ve been able to do some bits and pieces when I’ve been able (that is, when I’ve been able to sit up rather than lying in bed or curled in a ball). Barney was looking at literal and figurative language, and described figurative language as being used in fiction, to which I replied that although it often was, it certainly wasn’t exclusively used for that. That led to a look at the poem “Dulce et Decorum Est”, and how Wilfred Owen used figurative language to describe his experiences, which then led into some talking about war. By fortunate timing, there was a documentary on about Owen, so we watched a recording of that, which gave us all plenty of food for thought. We’ve just received a shipment from The Book People (five boxes! - I only order once a year now that they charge more to deliver to us than to any other part of the British Isles) which included the Usborne Internet-Linked Histories for both the First and Second World Wars, and I think those are subjects which will make for some interesting learning over the next few months. I daresay I’ll learn just as much as the boys will: I wasn’t keen on History as a school subject and it took more than a decade after I left school before I realised that actually I was quite interested in the lives of everyday people through the years (rather than the politics and plans and dates of battles, which was what school history lessons always seemed to focus on). Over the last few weeks, we’ve read Carrie’s War together, and worked through a nice little literature study of it that I found on-line somewhere, and we’ve plans to “do” Anne Frank’s Diary shortly, so it will all tie in quite nicely. Funny how that works.

Right. I’m going to lie down again now, in the hope that I might have gathered enough energy to get up by Christmas.

• Youngest has had all-clear from paediatric cardiologist #

Barney wants to try to squeeze in another exchange before he turns 14 and is too old for one. George isn’t going anywhere; he’s not ready for six months anywhere else, and he knows it - but he wants to be matched for a one-way exchange. Freddy is counting the days to his ninth birthday so that he’s old enough too.

Seems my children are fairly unanimous in their feelings about the whole experience.

I’m glad we did it too, and am more than willing to do it again; I hope we get the chance. 2008 is looking like being a busy year for us. Anyone got a decent minibus they’d like to donate?

Applications for exchanges starting next September (2008/09 exchanges) should be going in soon. Do you have a child who’s interested, or do you want to learn more? If you want to chat with me about it, you can use the Contact Form or leave a comment.

• @MerrilyMe - she could try it in France… #