NotSheep

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.

For the first time this week, I was actually awake and functional all day long - certainly moreso than yesterday, which was largely spent almost-horizontal. George and Barney did go to Cubs and Scouts respectively in the evening, though George’s friend R didn’t make it, since he had too much homework. He’s in his last year of primary school, and his mum (a nursery teacher) spoke to his teacher, who told her that two hours a night is about right for that age. Astonishing.

Cubs and Scouts went well, apparently, and nobody brought any badges home to be sewn on, which is just as well since most of the last lot aren’t sewn on yet.

This morning George cleaned up the kitchen after breakfast (muttering all the time - he mutters a lot) while the others did their jobs around the house. Barney seemed particularly helpful this morning; the reason for that became clear later

By lunchtime George and Freddy had done some maths and Barney had worked through quite a bit of his French textbook; it’s mostly just refresher for him right now, but he’ll soon be at the same point as George (who’d gone ahead while Barney was away). I’m not sure how it’s going to work - maybe they’ll work together, or maybe Barney, not needing to absorb the vocabulary and structure, will forge ahead - but we’ll work it out when we get there. When Freddy went off to investigate what we could have for lunch, he reported back that there was nothing to eat. I was a bit disbelieving, and sure enough, investigation revealed a wide variety of options in the Big New Fridge alone, before even opening the cupboards. Lunch was more or less a fend-for-yourself affair; Barney was the last to eat and I had to laugh as he walked into the kitchen and announced, “Right, hand over the bread and nobody gets hurt!”

Scratchy did some errands for me at lunchtime - a shower and shower-rail that I hope will work in the boys’ bathroom (it’s too long for a standard curtain-pole) and a copy of Anne Frank’s Diary, since Barney and George are going to do a project on it. We’re reading Carrie’s War at the minute, then we’ll have a brief look at life in Europe during WWII, then read Anne Frank together.

Lunch over, I checked the post and discovered the renewal forms for the car insurance - for the car that went up in flames about a month ago. I rang the broker and reminded them that the vehicle wasn’t really in an insurable state any more…

After that I did some German with Barney while George finished his maths before we read some more of Carrie’s War. During the rest of the afternoon I realised that it’s almost a year since Henry arrived with us - this time last year we were moving furniture in preparation for his family coming. I also had most of my Christmas shopping done - it didn’t quite work out in the end, of course, due to Henry’s arrival, but it was still a sight more than I’ve done this year. I must speak to Scratchy and see when he can take a day off so that I can disappear to the shops - I don’t shop on weekends if I can possibly help it.

I noticed this morning that George was scratching his head in a sort of manic fashion, so thought a nit-check might be in order. On entering the kids’ bathroom, however, I was confronted by a huge spider - in the bath, so no immediate panic, but too big to wash down the plughole, so not leaving the bath usable - at least not if you’re me. I checked George’s head in the master bathroom instead, and the result of that was that everybody else got checked too. Trust me, sometimes negative is better than positive. And I’d certainly have preferred five negatives in a row to the five positives I got

While I was checking Barney, I realised how grown-up he’s becoming. He’s taller, his shoulders are broadening and becoming more muscular…and he told me he’s starting to get a bit interested in girls. Not that any girl will ever be good enough for him, of course He also asked if he could go to the youth-club tonight - aha! that explains the excessive helpfulness all day! Unfortunately when he went to walk C this evening and swung by his friend N’s house, he discovered that the youth-club isn’t on tonight. Why, he doesn’t know, because he didn’t think to ask. Is it just too early in the term? Is it cancelled for evermore? Is it running every night except Thusdays now? The mystery remains… and Barney’s had a shower for nothing

To explain some of the previous post: 2007 sees not just the Centenary of Scouting, but also the 21st World Jamboree, which will be held in Essex. It has long been tradition that Scouts attending a Jamboree in a country which is not their own travel via another country which is more local to it, staying a few days in that country beforehand, and they are hosted by volunteer families during that time. This is called Home Hospitality, or HoHo.

Swedish and Japanese Scouts will be arriving here this week; our District is one of those selected to host Scouts from Japan. Each participating family usually hosts two Scouts (or two Leaders), and we were going to be hosting two boys, aged 15 and 17 - until this week, when a parent in one of the other host families broke her leg. Since we have room and so many children that we no longer notice a few extras ;-), we offered to host a second pair. And so we have two 15-year-olds, and two 17-year-olds, coming to us from Tuesday to Friday.

(Asking if we could help, the District Commissioner said to me, “I’ve got a little problem.” “Are you sure,” I asked, “that it’s the kind of thing you want to discuss with me?” “Oh,” he replied, “I didn’t think anybody had noticed that.” LOL)

Barney will just miss them; he’s probably going to be returning next Sunday. We asked him yesterday if he wanted someone to go to collect him from France, or if he was happy to take the flight alone, and initially he very definitely said he didn’t want to fly alone, but this morning he told us he had thought about it some more, and that he just wanted to do whatever was easiest for his French family, and that would be for him to fly on his own. I know it’s not really what he wants, and I hope it’s not too difficult for him. I offered to send him a copy of HP7 so he could read it during the flight and make the time go faster, and he eagerly accepted the offer, so I’ll have to get one packaged and posted first thing on Monday.

I’ve now read most of it twice, having finished my first reading in the early hours of Wednesday George is nearly at the end too, he started at about 9 o’clock this morning. He didn’t even read all day - he, Freddy and Jack were off at a birthday party for the boy next door for most of the afternoon. It was very weird to be in the house with Toby fast asleep and the others all gone

Speaking of Toby, he had a hearing test yesterday; he doesn’t use any words consistently yet and the paediatrician wanted it done because it’s what they’d usually do for a child his age who wasn’t talking. I thought it was a waste of time; I knew his hearing was fine, and we already knew why his speech is delayed - but in the interests of appearing cooperative I agreed. He passed the test with flying colours; at least the paed had the grace to say “Well, Mum was right and I was wrong - as I knew she would be!” I do feel his speech needs some encouragement though, so I phoned the speech therapist this week and asked her to see him again soon (she was going to re-assess him next April); she’s sending out an appointment. She offered us a cancellation for next Wednesday, but I think I might be slightly busy then

After the test we went to visit the local butcher, as we do every Friday. My dogs are on a prey-model diet and he provides the food. He keeps a great big bucket with a lid in his walk-in refrigerator, and he puts anything he can’t sell into it: ststuff thatuff that didn’t sell, stuff that he’d never sell, stuff where the cutting went wrong, etc. We get everything from whole chickens to beef heart, and the dogs love it. Once a week I go in with another great big bucket with a lid, and he dumps everything from his into mine. Most weeks it’s about what the dogs eat in a week; sometimes it’s a bit more, sometimes a bit less, but it seems to balance out well, and if we’re ever short (which doesn’t happen often), I throw in whatever happens to be on sale at the supermarket. I take my bucket home and freeze the contents in portions of approximately what the dogs will eat in a day, then every evening I take out one container to thaw overnight. It’s a great diet for the dogs, with loads of benefits for them and us - not least of which is that it costs us nothing. I do usually buy something from the butcher when I go in to collect it, but everything he sells is so good that it’s not exactly a hardship

Yesterday Freddy asked if he could go in with me when I collected the dogs’ food “just to see what it’s like”. (Freddy and Scratchy are the reasons I’m not a vegetarian.) He had a look around and said, “Can I buy something? I’ve got my money with me.” I agreed, and eventually he settled on pork-and-chili sausages. The butcher says he doesn’t get many eight-year-old boys in asking for pork-and-chili sausages. He also gave Freddy lollipops for him and his brothers, so we got about nine days’ worth of food for the dogs, four lollipops and about ten prize-winning sausages, all for the low cost of £1.90, which Freddy paid anyway

Picked up on dillo towers; I had to do this one because it includes my all-time favourite book. It includes some rubbish too, but any list with Robertson Davies, Margaret Atwood and more than one John Irving is okay by me

Look at the list of (100) books below.
Bold the ones you’ve read.
Italicise the ones you want to read.
Leave blank the ones that you aren’t interested in.
Movies don’t count.

1. The Da Vinci Code (Dan Brown)
2. Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen)
3. To Kill A Mockingbird (Harper Lee)
4. Gone With The Wind (Margaret Mitchell)
5. The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (Tolkien)
6. The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring (Tolkien)
7. The Lord of the Rings: Two Towers (Tolkien)
8. Anne of Green Gables (L.M. Montgomery)
9. Outlander (Diana Gabaldon)
10. A Fine Balance (Rohinton Mistry)
11. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Rowling)
12. Angels and Demons (Dan Brown)
13. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Rowling)
14. A Prayer for Owen Meany (John Irving)
15. Memoirs of a Geisha (Arthur Golden)
16. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (Rowling)
17. Fall on Your Knees (Ann-Marie MacDonald)
18. The Stand (Stephen King)
19. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban(Rowling)
20. Jane Eyre (Charlotte Bronte)
21. The Hobbit (Tolkien)
22. The Catcher in the Rye (J.D. Salinger)
23. Little Women (Louisa May Alcott)
24. The Lovely Bones (Alice Sebold)
25 . Life of Pi (Yann Martel)
26. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (Douglas Adams)
27. Wuthering Heights (Emily Bronte)
28. The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe (C. S. Lewis)
29. East of Eden (John Steinbeck)
30. Tuesdays with Morrie(Mitch Albom)
31. Dune (Frank Herbert)
32. The Notebook (Nicholas Sparks)
33. Atlas Shrugged (Ayn Rand)
34. 1984 (Orwell)
35. The Mists of Avalon (Marion Zimmer Bradley)
36. The Pillars of the Earth (Ken Follett)
37. The Power of One (Bryce Courtenay)
38. I Know This Much is True (Wally Lamb)
39. The Red Tent (Anita Diamant)
40. The Alchemist (Paulo Coelho)
41. The Clan of the Cave Bear (Jean M. Auel)
42. The Kite Runner (Khaled Hosseini)
43. Confessions of a Shopaholic (Sophie Kinsella)
44. The Five People You Meet In Heaven (Mitch Albom)
45. Bible
46. Anna Karenina (Tolstoy)
47. The Count of Monte Cristo (Alexandre Dumas)
48. Angela’s Ashes (Frank McCourt)
49. The Grapes of Wrath (John Steinbeck)
50. She’s Come Undone (Wally Lamb)
51. The Poisonwood Bible (Barbara Kingsolver)
52. A Tale of Two Cities (Dickens)
53. Ender’s Game (Orson Scott Card)
54. Great Expectations (Dickens)
55. The Great Gatsby (Fitzgerald)
56. The Stone Angel (Margaret Laurence)
57. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Rowling)
58. The Thorn Birds (Colleen McCullough)
59. The Handmaid’s Tale (Margaret Atwood)
60. The Time Traveller’s Wife (Audrey Niffenegger)
61. Crime and Punishment (Fyodor Dostoyevsky)
62. The Fountainhead (Ayn Rand)
63. War and Peace (Tolstoy)
64. Interview With The Vampire (Anne Rice)
65. Fifth Business (Robertson Davies)
66. One Hundred Years Of Solitude (Gabriel Garcia Marquez)
67. The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants (Ann Brashares)
68. Catch-22 (Joseph Heller)
69. Les Miserables (Hugo)
70. The Little Prince (Antoine de Saint-Exupery)
71. Bridget Jones’ Diary (Fielding)
72. Love in the Time of Cholera (Marquez)
73. Shogun (James Clavell)
74. The English Patient (Michael Ondaatje)
75. The Secret Garden (Frances Hodgson Burnett)
76. The Summer Tree (Guy Gavriel Kay)
77. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (Betty Smith)
78. The World According To Garp (John Irving)
79. The Diviners (Margaret Laurence)
80. Charlotte’s Web (E.B. White)
81. Not Wanted On The Voyage (Timothy Findley)
82. Of Mice And Men (Steinbeck)
83. Rebecca (Daphne DuMaurier)
84. Wizard’s First Rule (Terry Goodkind)
85. Emma (Jane Austen)
86. Watership Down(Richard Adams)
87. Brave New World (Aldous Huxley)
88. The Stone Diaries (Carol Shields)
89. Blindness (Jose Saramago)
90. Kane and Abel (Jeffrey Archer)
91. In The Skin Of A Lion (Ondaatje)
92. Lord of the Flies (Golding)
93. The Good Earth (Pearl S. Buck)
94. The Secret Life of Bees (Sue Monk Kidd)
95. The Bourne Identity (Robert Ludlum)
96. The Outsiders (S.E. Hinton)
97. White Oleander (Janet Fitch)
98. A Woman of Substance (Barbara Taylor Bradford)
99. The Celestine Prophecy (James Redfield)
100. Ulysses (James Joyce)

Only five Harry Potters in there though; there oughta be seven