itchy

Just got back from seeing Carl, the practice nurse. I think he's gay; very nice in any case. Apparently the unbearable itchiness of the torso is excema. Not scabies or ringworm, excema. In a way I was hoping it was some nasty little bug thing that I could zap with chemicals or otherwise, and it would all be over with. Instead I have now got an enourmous tub of emollient cream, AKA paraffin-for-babies. I'm sorry, I just cannot see the theraputic value of smothering oneself in paraffin. There must be something else I can do.... I have already changed my washing liquid to Ecover, which I know is fine, and it's non-bio. And de-clogged the washing machine filter of pipe-cleaners and large bits of fluff, which was eventually causing it to not work at all, but it hadnt been rinsing properly. This was months ago and did co-inside with the beginnings of itchings inside the elbow. I haven't been wearing so much wool, but I did reallise I was in my lambswool tank-top (which covers the main area of itch almost precisely) as well as my new, afore-mentioned jumper-jackety thing, also 100% wool. But I have never been allergic to wool before. The only other obvious thing I can think of is diet, and cutting out dairy, which I have done on may occasions before, in fact I have a very low- dairy diet. But, as Carl said, now is not the time to go on a diet, it's too cold!
Which reminds me of last night when Freddie would not eat his pasta-with-broccoli-and-pesto-and-cheese. He said it tasted sour and I thought it might have been the cream cheese that I had added. Fortunately I had a taste and reallised he had smothered it in salt! Ah! The temptation of the toucan-salt-cellar! Must remember to remove that from table before he ruins another perfectly good meal. There was some left in pan and he did eat it- phew! More hearty stew and dumplings tonight. I found some leeks in the garden when the snow melted!

winter: enough already

Well the big melt came on Saturday, about flippin time as I know it looked pretty but it was making life very difficult. I don't mind the odd day or so of being holed up by the fire, but this was over two weeks. We were running out of coal! And when the schools opened I felt obliged to walk there and back twice a day, in snow and ice, which was seriously interfering with my dysfunctional symphysis pubis, thankyou very much. It's ok now, and I quite enjoyed the walking, especially when I reallised that it was way too slippy to go the ungritted back roads, in fact the only way to go was to walk down the middle of two A-roads, which can be accessed out the back. However my children are far too sensible (brainwashed) to walk on a road, but preferred to risk the pavements, which I think would actually have resulted in hospitallisation had I fallen as many times as they did.

And it was really cold! The sort of cold that makes you want to eat a cooked breakfast, followed by a really hearty stew and dumplings. (See pic, although I think you can tell it has gone cold and had been attacked by a hungry mob). The sort of cold that makes you fantasize about hooded jumper-jacket type things that look really warm and actually contemplate spending 60 quid on one, because it's a justifiable necessity. (...and yes i did). The sort of cold that hurts, especially when it the snow pricks your eyes when you're walking along, and the buses aren't running, so you get a taxi.
So, by Friday I was a bit of a run-down wreck. The boys went to their dad's for the weekend and I just sat in a torpor knitting a sock. I did find a hidden depth in the coal bunker and got the fire really hot on Friday night. I barely moved from the sofa till Sunday afternoon, apart from finally digging the car out on Saturday (no digging it just melted!), and taking huge amonts of uncollected rubbish to the tip, and stocking up on essentials in LIDL (Leedle, dahling). I knitted round an entire perfect heel of a sock before I reallised I had used the wrong size needles.

So here I am, back on the sofa. I am still taking it easy on myself, not giving myself a hard time for driving the school run. I think I was so wiped out over the weekend because I hadn't had time to recover from the nasty cold and the whole snow-thing was pretty hard work really. The ME clinic called to cancel yesterday's appointment, which is probably just as well, as I was let down over childcare at the last minute, in a snow- related change of plan.

So we seem to be back to normal, finally, after a month of extended holiday, and a bit of a slow start to the week due to Freddie having an awful sounding cough and not going to school Monday, so I missed yoga :( Course he was fine by lunchtime. Also Meg has flown over to the west coast of Ireland to bury her grandma today. I hope she's ok- I know she's a big girl now, but it is a long way to go by yourself.

Right. That's an hour's worth of faffing, I only have another before I have to go out again. It's supposed to snow again, and it's looking very grey...

yes it is a textile constructed of food

Ok here are a few of the things we made today. I'm not sure where the pictures are going as I just upgraded my blog template and it's doing strange things I'm not used to. Well I'll just keep calm and carry on and see what happens. There's some spanners and stuff appeared too, presumable indication that things need fixing... hmmm, not sure I like this way of doing things. Anyway, this is Fergus's plasticine thing...

Anyway, we seemed to have quite a procuctive Sunday at home, considering how ill I've been feeling. i finally had a bath and got dressed and took down the rest of the decorations and the tree outside- phew! Well, mainly spent the morning cleaning the kitchen, and then it was nearly teatime really.

Well, we did spend quite a bit of time finishing off Freddie's model pirate ship before tea could be started . I just wanted it to be out of the way as all the bits were getting lost, especially when they started boucing the inflatable mega-globe around the room! The boys were having a no-computer day, as I had said something before they went to bed and they remembered. I did have to send them upstairs to play a couple of times as they were a bit lively.

And as tea was a bit boring I decided I had to make some puddling, and still running on emergency rations and Chrstmas leftovers, I plumped for a mince tart and custard. Yes, I have loads of homemade mincemeat left! I just remembered it was something my mum used to make. I quite enjoyed making this, as you can see... you can take the girl out of the textile design but you can't......... Add the barely listenable-to pop music, AKA the Radio One chart show, blasting its way across the kitchen table, and you might get a flavour of the true delights of the experience.... My kids are funny about pop music- they seem to have discovered it all at one and are to be heard humming all sorts of tunes, and when I ask them where they heard them, "O that's in Shrek 2" or it's on the radio. I overhear conversations such as "I don't like this kind of music it's like a radio that's gone wrong" and .... "there's nothing in that pie and you're putting it in the oven! That's called baking it blind"..and"what's that song by? what's the name of that thing you get in a desert with trees and water? ...oasis? yeah, is it by Oasis?"

What?!!! O I hate this editor!

i give up

drinking hot water- too lazy to add a teabag

I'm blogging now because I'm bored. bored of facebook, which is what I do when I'm ill or tired, which I am both. Nothing much going on, well it is Friday night and people have more interesting things to do. I could go to bed and read Margaret Atwood's The Tent, but I had been looking forward to Falling Through Clouds at the book launch this evening. I didn't have the energy but Rach said she would get me a signed copy- huzzah! (But why didn't I just get it from Amazon?)

So we had a lazy week at home. When I felt like I could do something other than lie in bed napping and lapping (laptopping, but lapping rhymed) I decided to mend a badly in need of repair blanket. Something I can never really be bothered to do, and leave it till a rainy day when I've not much energy. Well it was a snowy day. Look you can't see it! haha, well, at least its not all raggedy.
The boys finally went back to school on Thursday, though Joy's school was closed all week because of the snow. So I finally got out and about to college, and out in the evening, which was nice, but now I'm paying for it as the cold has gone to my chest and making me feel really drained.
I am running low on supplies of food and fuel. Surprising how good I am at stocking up on food though; after going through all the leftover mince pies, funny cheese and stollen I have found plenty of soup ingredients and frozen pizzas. I've only just had to make some bread, as I did recieve a food parcel earlier in the week from Sean, who can't work because of the weather. Juice seems to be an issue, and although the children are quite capable of drinking water I had to persuade Freddie to have some, which involved spilling some down his pj's, which he was not very impressed with, but I was worried about him getting dehydrated. Me, I'm just drinking gallons of ginger tea, aka hot water with a few bits of ginger floating in it, which I only change about once a day and don't even bother adding honey now. I can't really be bothered to change the tea bag- can't really taste it anyway.
It's not as though I'm totally cut off in drifts of snow and shops are only 10 minute walk away, but I can't get the car out, and when I have been out I have been too tired and cold to actually go and buy anything (apart from cat food and a battery for my guitar tuner- those little essential things!). I'm sure there's a few veggies in the garden, but they are still under a foot of snow, and I've not been desperate enough to dig for them yet, (like sheep do in the snow to find grass).
I just did some washing, finally, but only hung up the urgent things: my favourite t-shirt and cardigan and the school jumpers. Watched way too much TV today- didnt reallise the Johnny Depp Charlie and the Chocolate factory was on, and The Simpsons movie. I think I'm going to give the TV back after Slumdog Millionnaire on Wednesday. It was good for Christmas, and it does keep me company and stop me feeling all sad and lonely, but I do have other things to do, and the adverts are starting to bug me- the kid's ones that is... they have been really good at not watching it, even when I was ill in bed, but now remember when the Simpsons is on... thin edge of the wedge? Anyway it takes up space and i want to clear the decks a bit. Can't wait to get all the Xmas decs and stuff tidied away. Joy took down the tree decorations, but it is still here with us, getting all hot and dry... somebody help me get it outside and watered!
Spent way too long helping Freddie make a model pirate ship today which was way too fiddly and is now gaffer taped up, in the hope that it will stay together when the glue is dry... Didn't make it to Fergus's piano lesson, unfortunately, so it will be 6 weeks in between lessons, but he has been doin a bit of practice, which is the main thing.
Now I really must get some horizontal rest. Amazing how much I need sometimes. Ah sure it will do me good.

bacefook

rosie is bleurhh
... is in bed with a hot water bottle
has put the washing on
had leek and potato soup and jammy biscuits
has no energy today
had a good weekend, without drinking
spent 2 weeks laid up with a bad back and wants to get on with it now
has rather a lot of apples
has a house strewn with books, bits of Kingspan, discarded clothes, random stuff
is achy and tired and fuzzy
is drinking ginger tea
has spent too much time on Facefook and needs to remember how to string sentences together
...but not today

barking up the wrong trees

It's been a lovely day today and I've been out hacking down bushes in the garden and burning them all. This is to make way for the new washing line position, and make the lawn bigger. Can't believe how much stuff got burnt on that fire. I also sorted out some more raspberry canes at the top of the garden and pruned the hedge and picked up a binbag full of cans that had been lobbed over the wall. I seemed to achieve loads once I got down to it, despite getting up late, due to Meg having friends round till after 4am, which wouldn't have bothered me too much if one of them hadn't woke me up by singing drunkenly in the bathroom.

The kids were out for most of the day, too, helping with the bonfire, trampling on rhubarb, etc.

Joy mucked out the rabbits and left them out in the chicken run for a few hours (no chickens yet, apparently they would not stay in that chicken run but would jump out and eat the raspberries.) Still have dog. She played with us in garden also.

I made tea really late (shepherds pie and yorkshire pudding..."can I have some more of that spongey stuff, it tastes like blueberry muffins...") as a result of being outside all day. Now I can't believe it's after 11. I should just change my clocks and have done with it, but can't seem to quite get my head round that... So I've put the bath on. I now have the loan of the Mac powerbook again, which is great and much better than my rusty old laptop (which I thought was ace). I still haven't quite worked out how to do the photo thing on it, but I might have managed it if the camera battery hadn't run out on me.

Now there's the other lot of washing up to do... I did wash clothes and line dry them, or line-damp, anyway. There is wood on the fire, not coal.

Do I seem a bit scattered? you should've heard me this morning: barely coherent. But I did get stuff done, so that's good.

Photo's later, maybe

Easter Week

So... I've been having computer problems, ok? This week we lost both laptops. My work one and has gone back and Freddies is broken: needs soldering apparently. Joy's and Fergus's have been having a major overhaul due to lack of hard drive space on Joy's, and, I suspect, the downloading of World of Warcraft had something to do with it too. I have just realised that I could try my laptop out using the old monitor I was given, as it's only the screen that's broken, I think. But I haven't done that yet. Meg's new one still doesnt have Office, which makes it a bit difficult for her applying for jobs, etc, so she has to use one of the two that work.

Also I have to move these two as they are really in the way up to the attic, which is Meg's room, with no door in between. I have thought for 4 months how to make this space, which used to be a bedroom, and now is a stair-room, work as a computer room, but I haven't managed it and I think the only option is to move them, but where to? Well Joy's can go in her room. I will have to get them wirlessed up, which I am working on getting the bits for.

And to top it all I seem to have lost my camera. Last seen at Callis on Saturday, where I took some lovely photo's of Easter egg hunting and egg pinata bashing. I have asked Dawn to look for it. We all slept on her boat on Friday night, much to the delight of the boys and the disgust of Joy. I sat out round the fire in the snow after the kids had gone to bed, celebrating the Spring Equinox full moon, etc. Hopefully I will find my camera with these pics on. Well, I was thinking of getting a new phone to take photo's on, so maybe the universe has taken my old camera away and given it to someone else.

Easter was a long weekend, as we didn't get that much sleep on Friday night, due to the cold, and Saturday felt like Sunday, and Sunday felt like Sunday, and Monday felt like another Sunday. (Well, actually I did get a head start by going out Wednesday and Thursday night!). I didn't get any Easter Eggs, until I buckled on Saturday afternoon, when I had to get petrol and there were some in the garage, so cheap... I just had to get four. And we made crispy cakes out of choco-rice and green and blacks- yum- will have to make more, I think, maybe today... It's still Easter, isn't it?

This week seems to have gone by really fast without doing a right lot, apart from changing the table round in the kitchen, which has made it much much better.

We just went out for a walk with Clare's dog, who we are looking after as Clare has to rush over to Ireland for funeral. We went to the enchanted allotment and I stole some willow. Hopefully it it has some magic in it. It's a bit late for it as it has buds on some of it, but there's still some growing higher up that is not too late to cut. It's actually quite sunny and spring-like, and I want to get out and do stuff in the garden, or should I go to the market first?

why don't you just send them to school?

*Disclaimer: there's not much about the above question written here, unless you read between the lines, which I'm not sure is possible, but it's something that's been on my mind a lot recently as it's been said to me too many times.
Well, I did start out with good intentions this week. I looked out of my bedroom window and resolved to have a go at tidying up the garden. I never got as far as getting my garden tools out as I seemed to spend hours tidying up the back patio, which involved carrying bucket loads of rabbit muckings-out up the garden to the compost heap and speeping, and cleaning out the rabbit hutches. Joy is usually on top of this but we have had a lot of wet weather lately and she was up at the stables six days last week.
Anyway, as a result I ended up with four rabbits in the kitchen and utility room. Yes my lovely bit of space got immediately commandeered by rodents, which I have only just got all outside again. And I can't find the long-handled brush! grrrr!

Later on Monday I asssembled the trampoline which Meg got for the kids at Christmas, and which she had been promising to do all day but never seemed to quite get round to it. It is still in the living room.


I also laid some of the decking slabs down at the back in an attempt to solve the tricky runnning water situation. Basically I have a watercourse running past my back door, hence the watercress gowing there. It's only a bit of a trickle by the time it gets past the door, but it is a constant film of water, which very quickly turns to mud, which, in turn, becomes muddy footprints on the green kitchen lino. I brought the decking slabs from the old house as I noticed the new people had taken them up. They clean up quite nicely and if I lay the other 2/3 of them I think it will be a lot more pleasant out there. It was putting me off going out of the back door and I felt a bit trapped!


O, yes, and I've had a birthday this week. The boys made me this cake. (I helped wit the baking) It seems to have been going on for a long time, the birthday. I went out on Monday night on a joint birthday celebration, (after a few nights out the weekend also!) and spent most of yesterday, and today, for that matter, recovering. I didn't get any pressies till today, apart from the bottle of wine and choc from Meg, still untouched. (She still hasn't grown out of waking me up at 8am with the card she has made me! 'cept she was still up from the night before! Groan, thanks a bunch, Meg). You can see in one of the pics the food mixer she got me and was intending to take back and swap for a blender when she went to Bolton yesterday, but forgot it. (it's in red bag on chair). I got a copy of The Idler from Mel and a lovely little velvet dress from Dawn. I copied her a Gillian Welch CD, (well, actually, Nick did it)- these are both things we have been meaning to give to each other for quite some time but never seemed to get round to it.

The children have now gone to their dad's for the night. This is a regular thing, plus every other weekend. I have been struggling at times with the whole kids thing and been talking to the wrong people about it, who of course tell me well, why don't you just send them to school? Argh!!! Thing is it wouldn't really help in the short or long term I don't think. I just need to get my act together a bit and start getting into a bit more of a routine with things. Joy seems fine, educationally. I mean she is doing lots of blogging and stuff and loads of horse stuff, but she has been extremely trying at times with her constant moaning and inane questions. The boys seem happy enough, but I do worry about them spending so much time on the computers- now they have one each and have got into vitual reality games!!!
OMG I suppose I, and, inevitably, they are spending quite a lot of time with a man who spends lots of time on a computer. I find WoW mildy irritating at best, but I get to watch quite a lot of films, and have a handy IT manager, which is what I need as there is always at least one computer in this house that needs fixing (Meg's PC currently has new hard drive; needs windows re-installing; She has a Mac, but her CV and basically everything she needs to find a new JOB are on the PC so I'm keen to get that sorted); my laptop's still not mended!).

No, well, the boys did do about 15 minutes of Jolly Phonics before they went to their dad's this evening, plus bouncing on the trampoline, of course...

ps: don't any of you go on Facebook any more? if you did you would know it was my birthday!

that monday afternoon feeling

I woke up on Friday morning to the boys really enjoying themselves making some sort of gloop that was supposed to be pastry. Fortunately we had to go to forest school so I got out of resolving that one.

This is how I have a civillised waking on a Friday morning, usually.

That was the Friday before last- the last week or so have been a bit of a blur as I seem to have been burning the candle at both ends, but we have been doing the odd bit of work from the Jolly Phonics workbooks that came last week.

Joy is spending an increasing amount of time at the riding stables, which is now 2 miles away, but she is well into ponies and all that stuff.

All the children are still not all that settled with the new house and parenting arrangements and Freddie, and, consequently, I, are not sleeping well. My mum's coming the weekend before Christmas and I still feel to be in absolute chaos and have just spent the weekend trying, (and doing pretty well), to forget all about it.

O, don't you just love Mondays? I just remembered actually saying casually to my mother the other day that, you know, the darkest hour is just before bedtime. Well I can't find my watch and it must be nearly teatime by now?

O just listen to me moaning, I just need a good slap, no sleep, I just need a good sleep...

ps- I've been on Facebook again, trying to work out what to do with it- what happened to you lot and Facebook, anyway?

O, and HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ELAINE!!!!!!

(and just how many sententces can you start with O?)

birthday party

A *very* considerate neighbour decided to have a load of stone delivered and used our access road, without warning, at precisely 4pm, just as people were arriving at Freddie's birthday party . Well, I suppose it provided a bit of free entertainment.

They all played happily, ate healthy food(!),

played pass the parcel.

They're all boys except Bella, dressed as green dragon, who dissappeared upstairs with Freddie and played for ages- Freddie calls her his other sister now.

had a little bonfire.

Happy birthday to you!

For he's a jolly good fellow! [Freddie has fingers in ears]

Freddie tucks into birthday cake. The bits round the edge with no topping were vegan- (Dawn's Crazy Cake)

Freddie's birthday

Spent a lovely morning last Saturday with the boys while Joy was up at the stables. My little baby boy is 4!

This amazing slug came to see us; I found it on the rug in the white room.

We had most of the day to get ready for the birthday party, making cakes, blowing up balloons, etc.

apple tarts

On Wednesday at the group Sarah did apple tarts, which was great fun and were surprisingly tasty.






We also did some leaf rubbing with beeswax crayons, which some people washed over with watercolour for extra wax-relief effect.
It was a lovely session, with four families. And I kept it together even though I was really tired.
I've had a long chat on the phone with the person I had had problems with, who couldn't come this week, and I managed to say all the stuff I should have said a year ago, when I got so fed up I stopped going. Basically I just explained that I started it off as an arts and crafts session, and I wasn't happy for it to be turned into a non-specific free-for-all home-ed group by people who, as soon as they walk through the door think they have the right to turn it into what they want it to be and put half the other people off coming in the process. I didn't think I had the right to say this a year ago as me and Sarah seemed to be outnumbered, but I think there are enough people who agree with me and are happy for it to be how it is, without committee meetings, or being turned into a workers co-op. Not that I have anything against co-ops, and I'm not telling people how to home-educate teir kids. I just think this just works best if I run it like this, as I have this to offer. It doesn't work in that space to try to do other things (ie running round noisily) while other children are trying to do more focussed stuff. And there is always the park next door.

baking

We did a spot of baking on Monday, too: Dawn's crazy cake, a vegan chocolate cake. very yummy- must get round to posting the recipe.
They were full of energy after eating it and went on an adventure on the moors!