Weekend one-to-ones......

Thought we were having a 'just us' weekend as Daughter and children were off to Kentwell Hall to be Tudors from Friday afternoon till next Wednesday, however as with all best plans there are hiccups. Poor R was unwell on Thursday and even after a really good night's sleep she was too wobbly to join in their busy morning on Friday or head to Kentwell and set up camp with the rest, so she came here.

It's always special to have a child on their own for a while and thankfully R was well enough to want to do something. When she arrived she noticed near the front door a grasshopper/cricket so I passed her my camera and she selected macro setting and got a great photograph despite the sun being on the screen so she had no idea what was exactly in front of the lens.

We printed it and put it into her folder then googled (and giggled) and discovered it was a grasshopper, because crickets are nocturnal and have very long antenna. We found out lots about the grasshopper and R wrote some bits onto our fact-finding / things-to-think-about sheet.

She spent some time upstairs with granddad, each on a computer and then she came outside with me to harvest some of our grapes. When I was sitting preparing the grapes for the freezer R had an urge to test out smells by gathering flowers and herbs and crushing them in the pessle and morter and regularly sticking it up my nose for my opinion. Really interesting to discover that cow parsley flowers really sweetened the mix and both sage and mint will overpower quite easily.

I often think some of her wobblyness is due to not eating, drinking or sleeping enough. She loves lots of foods but finds eating any quantity difficult, so because lunch was healthy but small with a lack of carbs we decided to make a honey cake and had that just before taking her home to have dinner with M and D.

As she now felt so much better the plan was to collect her at 8:45am Saturday and take her to her drama group while Hubby stayed to drastically cut back their front garden hedge. We were all done by 11:30am so left M to give Rand D lunch and dinner and afternoon entertainment and Hubby and I went home promising to come back at 5pm to take R to Kentwell.

About 4:30pm Daughter rang to say don't come here as we are coming home because O has been sick twice! Hardest thing for Daughter was E didn't want to come home and was more than happy to sleep in the camper on her own, at least there were friends camping very near that were glad to look out for E overnight.

Sunday and thankfully O is fine. Daughter said they have changed the water at Kentwell to coming out of a bore hole and O drank a little before they found the bottled water saved specially for the children. So Daughter needed to get straight back but O had been sick on his tudor coat which she had washed and was now soaking wet and M can manage D and R and still get some work done but can't do the same with O so we have him for the day and if we can get his coat dry take him to Kentwell after 5:30pm or home if it's still wet. The coat is made of pure wool with a linen lining so really holds the wet but we dare not tumble dry in case it shrinks! So while it hangs off the curtain rail by the sunny open window and then moved to the bathroom radiator once the heating came on, we played.

Seems to have become a bit of a habit here that O wants to wear my makeup, well today he decided to do his own.

Lots of different games were brought out and played with and a game of pool with granddad, balloon playing a bit of tv and making his own marble run. Somehow we managed to fit in breakfast, lunch, cake and dinner.

Took him home at 6pm and hopefully his coat, now taking prime spread out space in the airing cupboard, will be dry so we can return him to 1556 tomorrow evening.

Our monthly coffee morning tomorrow so this evening I'm not getting off the sofa, need to get my energy back :)
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Tudor hats...

As I've mentioned before Daughter and her children have time travelled back to 1556 for Tudor reenactment in the summer and they are going back again for Michealmas (sp?). She has been sewing for ever creating authentic outfits for them all. And now of course the weather is so much cooler than the summer so Daughter is sewing yet more layers for them.

Recently she discovered that as wool would have been readily available with spinners and knitters it was a known method of making hats to knit them then felt them with hot washing, soap and lots of agitation.  Daughter doesn't like knitting so I helped. We created 4 hats of various sizes and the slightly different wools felted to different degrees.

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Ouch ouch ouch.....

I've got toothache :-(
Had it since Saturday but not bad enough then to bother doing anything about it. Got worse Sunday but of course the dentist doesn't open on Sundays and not severe enough to warrant A&E. Monday I had a day of events I couldn't really change but rang the dentist to make an appointment for Tuesday, however, they will only give out emergency appointments on the day so had to ring 8:30am Tuesday and eventually got an appointment for 3:30pm with a different dentist (my one was off sick).

I told him there was a hole in a bottom tooth but I was getting pain both top and bottom gum/jaw line with it being most painful at the top, he said that was normal for nerve pain. He put a temporary filling in the hole and said he would leave a note for my dentist to sort it all out at my next appointment (already booked for about 6 weeks time).

All well and good I thought but the pain never eased up and even now, a full 24 hours later and it still hurts enough to need regular paracetamol. :-(

So do I ignore it for a day or two, hoping it will go because it now has a filling in?
Or do I make another appointment for the stand-in dentist to take another look?
Or do I wait until my dentist is back then get her to see me as an emergency appointment?
Or should I bulk buy paracetamol and wait till my next booked appointment?
I suppose it will depend on the level of pain, because as much as I really hate dental treatment I hate pain more!
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Did I miss you.......

Hubby left on Wednesday 5th for a weeks holiday with a friend, in Spain.
There are four friends from school days that lost touch and now meet up regularly again. They all used to be into aircraft spotting in a big way, yes real anoraks (giggle if you want I always did). Not so unusual in fact as they were West London boys living right near Heathrow airport.

This holiday was planned for the four of them mainly to give the one that had been unemployed for a very long time a holiday. Hubby had rented the villa we went to last year as it's quite near Murcia airport which is both military and civilian. Although he did say he wasn't planning on spending much time playing with planes!

By the time of booking one friend dropped out as he said he couldn't get the time off work, but we really think his wife wouldn't let him go. All booked and flights paid for the three of them when the job-seekers guy finally gets a job and they won't honour his holiday! So just the two of them went!

Thursday  - He didn't leave home till 2pm and I'd already had offers from friends to join them in this that and the other so I won't get lonely but I was really looking forward to having the house to myself and doing as I pleased. Fed the fish (big responsibility as he loves his pond). Out that evening anyway at our regular art group followed by a late night with live music at the truck stop.

Friday - Fed the fish. Daughter came over with the children. They should have gone to a HomeEd group but when R said she didn't want to go could she come to grandma's it sort of snowballed till none of them wanted to go. The theme at the group had been storytelling so we did that here instead. We made four little books and we each drew the front cover then passed it round so the next person wrote something to go with the picture then draw the next picture and pass it on. About 12 pages to each book. We then had great fun reading the books out loud. Later the children set up a nightime camping scene in the bedroom complete with moon and stars. We had a dinner of pasta with a chicken and bacon sauce I'd previously made and frozen for just this sort of  'I need a dinner quick' occasion. Fed the fish.  In the evening I was on taxi duty to collect E from percussion class and take her to trampoline training.

Saturday - Got a call from hubby on Skype which was lovely. Bit of housework, bit of gardening, feeding the fish twice, daughter with two children stopped by for lunch then left to collect third child, made and covered a box to keep CDs in, and an evening with O while the others went out for dinner with friends (too late to expect a three year old to wait for his dinner). Also had an offer from next door that if I get scared or lonely to knock anytime :-)

Sunday - Fed the fish and stood for ages watching them splash about chasing the food, lots of baby fish in there too. Had a Skype chat with hubby. Enjoyed a really long shower. Had a nostalgic read through some old diaries. Sat outside in the sun (think it's about 25C). Then just to break the rhythm a bit I popped down to Asda and spent far too long just mooching round the clothes and household stuff then bought the few bits I needed along with a few extras then home....seems I only have my pace set to slow today.  However I'd just pulled into my garage when daughter rang my mobile to say E had fallen off her bike and couldn't ride home so they were stuck at the station with two bikes and could I come rescue them please, lucky I hadn't turned the engine off eh? Round trip then home again, much to the confusion of my neighbour, and thankfully my frozen shopping still felt frozen! Car temperature gauge read 31C. No other dramas so a quiet night in with the tele.

Monday - An exhausting day with daughter and children, there was some happy play but mostly it was a lot of throwing stuff around especially a full mug of hot chocolate, then a lot of running through the dinning room while I'm trying to mop it all up, then a slip on wet floor making both adults think that a child may need A&E fortunately it seemed better really quickly. Poor daughter was doing so much cooking as O had bought green bananas and cooking apples but wanted to cook them separately (he actually wanted mummy to cook and provided very little help. She'd bought bacon and rolls for lunch but one girl is veggy and the other insisted on having tuna and cheese instead. Dinner was a bit hotch-potch too as it wasn't planned for and my freezer was limited and uninspiring and made doubly difficult by a child's full on sobbing tantrum because daughter had said she was not getting a dog! Hope daughter can get over her tired and grumpy to enjoy her evening out.

Tuesday - A much quieter day all round, fish feeding, talking to hubby on Skype, emptying the bins around the house and putting the wheelie bins down the road and lots of ironing but quite a bit of tea drinking and reading too :o) Out in the evening with the Tuesday Girls.

Wednesday - A cold and rainy day here, while hubby on Skype gloated that they went out to an old airfield in the morning and to the beach to see the mud bathers but it was far too hot for sightseeing so they were just lazing by the pool at the villa! Meanwhile I fed fish ad cleared the ironing and cleaned some windows. Nice evening out with friends too.

Thursday - Last night of having the bed to myself, I was getting quite used to sprawling :o)
But also have a little list of jobs waiting for hubby's return :o)
Fish feeding and there are two hugely pregnant fish that must be about ready to fill the pond with more babies. Didn't do much this morning then popped over to Daughter's for lunch. Made a nice change going over there and spending  the afternoon playing with the children. Hubby has just text to say he's landed and waiting for their luggage so should be home about 10pm-ish.

....so yes I was busy and also enjoyed lots of pleasing myself but I did miss you!
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My way (#9)...

Over the years I seem to have developed some very definite ways of doing things and usually it's for a very good reason, so I thought I'd share. 

I've just finished a huge pile of ironing and was left with a blouse that always falls off clothes hangers and of course I didn't have a spare hanger that has the not slip ends so I wrapped a rubber band around each end and that did the trick. I've done it this way for years and the only thing to watch out for is after quite some time the rubber bands perish and need replacing, but even then they have never left a mark on my clothes.

What's your way?
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It takes two.....

Yes it takes two grandparents to keep a three year old amused and entertained for the day. Sunday O was here with us from 8:30am to 4:30pm. We did another breakfast while playing on the floor with the 7in1 pool table/basketball /golf/football /etc set so little balls flying everywhere.  We did some gardening and watering which came to an abrupt end when he remembered that he really needed to make a banana cake then thoroughly lick every bowl and spoon and whisk clean (they were clean he wasn't) which was immediately followed by another session in the garden so all manor of garden dirt could embed itself onto his bakers sticky limbs.

So that’s when we moved swiftly into the bathroom and into the bath. He found a disposable plastic glove (used to keep them handy for hair dyes) and played with that for ages, getting me to hold it open while he filled it up then squeezed it out. I managed to put a whole or two in it without him noticing and the subsequent leakage caused great amusement.  Eventually it was scrubbing, hairwashing, out, drying and dressing. O wanted to dry his own hair in my room with my hairdryer that has the rotating brush then ended his beauty treatment with needing my makeup on!

All this and it was only lunchtime :-)

The afternoon continued after sandwiches and the freshly baked banana cake (good but it had forgotten to rise so a bit heavy). He then wanted a creative interlude with gluing pictures to decorate a box, followed by painting, but only in yellow, and potato printing and folding and squelching......well he'd been clean for a little while! Then enough creativity and granddad was dragged outside to play tennis then inside for a game of pool, then outside again for more tennis!

And of course we had the continuous stream of 'why' questions which I just love about little ones punctuated by lots of cuddles which I love even more. Thanks O come again soon!  <3
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New Costly Plot.....

Last night I headed into our town centre to meet friends and have a meal in a lovely restaurant.  Parking in town is expensive at the best of times, however there is a small car park near the restaurant that is free after 8pm so that's where I was heading.

Totally scuppered by gas main repairs which had closed some roads, reduced others to access only or made others part of a one way diversion! So having driven around all manor of routes and now being a bit late I was forced to use the NCP which has to be paid for 'At all times'.

So in a massive car park I left my car with only about half a dozen others. Alongside the ticket machine were notices of how to pay with your phone your credit card or even online but I wanted a ticket and the machine wouldn't take my money! There were two women chatting nearby so I called across to ask them if they knew how the machine worked and one of them came over to help. She said I had to put my registration number in before it would take money but as she didn't have her glasses on I would have to read the instructions.

It said - no need to display ticket as machine has all details
I believed it
It said - press orange button then key in last three letters of your registration number
I did
It said - insert coins to the value of parking time required
I inserted £3.40 for 2 hours from 20:06 as that was all the change I had
It said - press green button for ticket
I did and it didn't!!!
Read through it all again and kept pressing green button but no bit of paper was ejected and the helpful woman had already left me, so I just headed off to meet my friends assuming the car park attendant who may or may not come round will be electronically connected to the ticket machine and all my details.

Some time later (ok more than 2 hours) I was escorted back to my car where my friends and I discovered the dreaded plastic bag stuck to my windscreen. I made light of it to my friends and sent them on their way. I was convinced I'd have to pay a fine as the attendant must have been round after my fee had run out, however,  when I got home I read it and was first shocked to read it was £100 or £50 if paid within 14 days but then really pleased to read that my car was first sighted at 21:33 and the NCP Contravention Charge was issued at 21:44 so I was well within my paid for time!

Today I filled in their online appeal form.......fingers crossed eh?
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Reflections with a chicken....

I have a little chicken
That sits up on the shelf
And everytime I look at it
I think about myself

It isn't old, it's very new
But somehow it reflects
The who I was and now am
And what may happen next

I have a little chicken
My sister has its twin
Our Portugal reminder
When sharing our sadness within

The Algarve symbol was chosen
Just something to hold in the palm
Precious much more than its value
As it links our hearts with its charm

I hope our eldest sister
Looks down on us to see
Three sisters staying close
When four there really should be

Life goes on of course
Our path not always our picking
But my now is a bit better cos
I have a little chicken!


...actually it sits on the microwave but that is so hard to rhyme to!
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Not quite right....

Think I've mentioned before that Hubby and I often have very different opinions on what we need or how to furnish our home, well today was another example.

For the last five or six years I've put up with a very large silver and glass spaceage tv stand in the lounge. I'd have preferred a piece of furniture, pine to match what we already have.  Well Hubby has recently bought a new TV without any discussion,  when in fact there didn't really appear to be any obvious need for a new one and of course finding a good place to put the discarded one wasn't easy and they certainly are not worth trying to sell secondhand. So I'm putting it down to him feeling guilty when he suddenly announced he was measuring up to have a pine unit made.

My specific requests were...
The shelving must be adjustable "as you are always replacing the equipment."
The width and depth must be bigger than the largest bit of kit we already have "as you are always replacing the equipment."
The colour must match the unit that is behind it as that's what it will sit nearest to.
I would like it big enough to hide most of the cables and wires that spaghetti behind tv/sky box/dvd/wii/etc.

Well Hubby did lots of measurements and scribbles on sketches and took photos of existing furniture and even took a drawer in for them to match to. However,  it arrived today (and it wasn't cheap) and to me it's the wrong shape, too shallow, too narrow and too dark!!!!!!! No part of it is wide enough to take the wii fit plate so that is shoved underneath and one of the dvd players is hanging over the front edge and Hubby has had to drill a whole in it as he'd designed a gap in the centre back for plugs to go through but didn't allow a gap for the things at the side.

Well it's lucky for him I'm not cross, it's only a lump of wood after all and to me it still looks better than what was there before!
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Sympathies and celebrations.....

8th August 2012 - Was my sisterM's funeral. So very sad, however, so very calm at the same time. She had organised it all herself. As we are Jewish our funerals need to happen as soon as possible so we were relieved that it could happen just 60 hours after she died. The retired Rabbi that she'd already asked was available and her plot was booked in the very newly consecrated woodland area. SisterM had even written her own eulogy outlining how grateful and honoured she had felt for the life she had lived and she had included thank-yous and humour!  Love you sis, really miss you!
BilA had said there would only be the one night shiver (mourning and prayers) and he insisted that hubby and I together with sisterS and bilK were to go on holiday as booked and not cancel or even postpone flights. With heavy hearts we said our goodbyes and got home just before 11pm :o(

9th - 16th August 2012 - Portugal holiday
2am the alarm went off and although hubby and I got up, ready and out I'm sure it was all done in my sleep!  We met sisterS and bilK at the Gatwick check-in desk at 4am and our holiday started.

At the end of the holiday we all agreed it had been brilliant and we must holiday together again......Sorry I jumped right to the end without saying that transport wise it was easy getting there, a bit of a delay on the flight home, we used the local tourist train

and hired a car for three days (phew so grateful for the air-con). Temperatures were around 30-36C and reached 38C a few times so all air-con gratefully received!

Our spacious self catering apartments were in the Vila Petra hotel in Albufeira and we took full advantage of the facilities and restaurants and bars there as well as finding great places to eat on The Strip including the very traditional Cataplana, twice in fact, I shared a chicken one with sisterS and a seafood one with bilK, on different days of course as they are very filling and very yummy! BilK with his assistant sisterS on toast and tea, cooked us breakfast twice too in their apartment and afternoon tea and cake was usually in ours. Actually this started because I had a birthday and was totally surprised by a fabulous celebration cake being presented to me courtesy of the hotel,  how lovely eh? So started our tea and cake break :o)

We got out and about every day bar lazy Sunday. We did a lot of walking and the route to the nearest beach was known locally as "cardiac hill" which thankfully we all managed (slowly). We visited Portimao and ate grilled sardines on the harbour overlooking the marina. We had a very long walk round the fort at Segras which was really interesting but would have been better for me if there had been a few shady places. Within the fort there seemed to be a special art exhibition and dotted around were a collection of very large sculptures of very curvy and very colourfully shiny nude women reclining on plinths, no we didn't believe what we were seeing either!

Other places included Lagos (pronounced Lahgosh apparently) and Vilamoura and we all really liked the Old Town Albufeira.

We found a lot to laugh about. Not totally sure how it started but the main joke was ice-cream being called "licky-licky" and our requests for licky-licky were frequent then it progressed to a difficulty becoming "tricky-tricky", fingers "sticky-sticky", cameras "clicky-clicky" ......you get the gist?

So we all had a great time but most importantly of all was having plenty of time to talk about sisterM and how we're feeling without having to put on a brave face for anyone. It was a good place to heal a little and return stronger to help each other heal too.
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