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Archive : October 2008
Friday, October 31, 2008
Stoopid hoomans
Hemmy gets the lolcat treatment *grins* - I couldn't resist dressing him up
(Edited 10/10) Someone stole my bandwith AND my picture of Hemmy! So they get this instead!
The kids ....
Scooped the pumpkin
...here's the result
Made orange pumpkin jellies with me (they went a bit splatty but never mind)
....and dressed up.
They also hunted for sweeties with their treat buckets, played witches and stayed in their dress up costumes for most of the day. Nice day :)
Friday, October 31, 2008
Trick or Treat?!
Pumpkin carving efforts and stuff to follow later *smiles*
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Not famous
I got an email today from someone asking (quite seriously!) if I was Peter Sellers' daughter ... er... Sarah.
No, I'm not.
I actually laughed out loud when I read it because this person said they were a huge fan of Peter Sellers. Now, I don't know, but i'm guessing a "huge" fan would probably know a reasonable amount about their idol and, in this case, would know that his daughter, Sarah, was born in 1957.
There is a photo of me in the sidebar, if anyone tells me that I look 51 I shall go into hiding and start saving for the plastic surgery straight away!!
The second (and fairly obvious I would have thought) point, is that I got my surname from getting married to Tim Sellers (again, see sidebar) and that is fairly unlikely that my surname was Sellers before.
Finally, is it not likely that if I WAS "the" Sarah Sellers that I MIGHT have mentioned my famous father at some point over the course of this blog? Most probably definately I would think.
I'm not trying to insult my lovely emailer but HONESTLY!! *goes off giggling*.
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
It got better
Well, Tim took the car back and they said the smell was (although we found out since that it wasn't) "oil and stuff on the engine and exhaust from where we did the work". The noise was something to do with the plastic clip but is "ok and not a problem" and Tim will just have to learn to ignore it.
... or get driven batshit by it. One or the other.
Anyway, his dad (who used to be in the AA) said to bring the car over at lunchtime so he could look at it. The rotten stink turned out to be something to do with the drivers side front tyre and the brakes which may have happened while Tim was being towed.
Tony: Did they use a pole to tow you?
Tim: Er... yeah
Tony: Did you use the brakes?
Tim: Yep
Tony: Shouldn't have done.
We're not sure what he's done - it's gone all sticky and weird and every now and again you get a waft of hot rubber while sitting in the car. Yum ... nice.
After that we FINALLY got to Tesco and had the most lovely time buying Halloween gear. The kids and I spent an absolute age looking at costumes until Tim got the "puuurlease hurry up for gods sake" face on - although he did smirk at the rather sexy female devil outfit I showed him .. or should that be deviless? I didn't get it though ... bah humbug *grins*
In the end, Rosie chose a rather lovely witches dress and hat and April got a cat costume. We also brought treat buckets, broomsticks, Halloween soft toys and a manic, cackling skull. Oh, and a pumpkin, naturally.
So in the end it was fun *smiles* ..... we got home, ate tea and then I boiled myself in the shower to try and warm up (heaven's its cold!) Tim and I are going to make tacos for dinner, watch Heroes and bloody well chill out. It's been a frantic few days and poor old Tim says he feels like he hasn't had time off and he'll be glad to get back to work because it's less aggro!
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Best laid plans and all that
We clearly weren't meant to go to Lulworth *looks sad*.
Tim went and (finally!) picked up the car yesterday (after shelling out £105), got halfway home and the clutch pedal starting "clicking" every time he pushed it down. At about the same time, a very strong "plasticy, burning" smell started wafting around the car and by the time he got home he was virtually gassing the entire neighbourhood.
We've been told by a couple of people in-the-know that this is not normal (although I think we knew that!) and that there's a possibility the cable has been "routed" wrongly (whatever the heck that means) or that part of it is touching another part of the car and overheating.
Whatever, it's clearly not right and we clearly cannot go to Lulworth. It's very depressing and, in fact, I'm probably more upset than the kids and really feel quite miserable today.
What's more worrying though is the fact that Tim is going to have to take the car back to the garage and get them to check it. It's quite a drive ......... so I hope he gets there ok. What is EVEN MORE worrying than that though is, apparently, Citroen Xantia clutch cables go quite frequently on account of them being attached to a small, plastic clip (who the HELL thought it was a clever idea to attach a fairly major component of a car by means of a PLASTIC clip?!) Not only that, Xantia's with over 100,000 miles on the clock should have the complete clutch changed as they can get a bit duff and cause the cable to keep snapping. Ours has 94,970 ....... so getting a tad close. We can't afford that work to be done. On the other hand we also can't afford to buy another car.
Stuck. No way to go.
Damn.
On a slightly different note. A while ago I posted about how we'd had our boiler serviced and the man had tried to get April's radiator working with no success - he just couldn't figure out what was wrong with it. So, we've just got used to wrapping her up warm in there and forgetting about it.
This morning, I went in there and, rather mysteriously, it has started working. After about 2 years of not working. Huh?!
So, we have a car that's been repaired and SHOULD be working but isn't and we have a radiator which wasn't working and hasn't been repaired but suddenly IS working.
Right-oh.
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Ooooo! Cold!
Blimey! Winter hath arriveth early it would seem!
We had the first proper frost of the season last night with the rooves and fence absolutely thick with it this morning and even some on the grass. At the moment the temperatures are around 4C and not expected to get much above 8 today. Tonight we can expect -2C with snow or sleet forecast for much of the country tomorrow.
Wrap up warm and snuggle up everyone! :)
Monday, October 27, 2008
Tired
It's been a tiring sort of few days since the car decided to break - strange isn't it, how something so stupid can make you feel so drained?!
Tim has been off work but kind of car-sharing with James (who is now out of hospital) and this, of course, has meant a lot of tooing and froing (are those words spelt right?!) which, in itself, is a bit energy-sapping. All our plans for the weekend and early part of this week had to be postponed until after we get the car back (some time tomorrow) which is going to mean a lot of charging about then. We've got to go to Tesco to get Halloween stuff and some other bits and pieces because (fingers crossed!) we are off to Lulworth Castle on Wednesday (obviously couldn't go on Sunday as originally planned). The kids were going to wear their Halloween costumes but as the weather is supposed to be extremely chilly, they're going to wear normal clothes instead. Still, there's going to be face painting and witch hat making and so on, so I guess they'll come back pretty dressed up anyway!
We've been doing quite a lot homeschool-wise with April continuing to work on her pumpkin lapbook and Rosie doing her Middle Ages one. I've been engrossed in Cindy Rushton's glorious "Easy Homeschooling" books and audios again and putting some of her excellent advice to good use. I've also been setting up a webpage as a permanent home for all the little seasonal printable stuff I've been making and, thus far, been putting in the side bar of this blog. It's not ready yet and, obviously, there's not going to be much there to start with but watch it grow ...... ;)
The other thing I've been getting ready for is .... taa-daaa! Christmas cake baking! Yep, UNbeliveably, it's that time of the year again ALREADY, I keep sort of blinking at the calendar and thinking "ummmm ..... no waaay?!" (yes, way). I've been doing the same cake recipe for 3 years now and each time it's been perfection (just the yummiest thing EVER) - it's also very easy so if you fancy having a go, the recipe is on my home stuff page. I shall be doing mine just after bonfire night to give it plenty of time to get good and mature before Christmas.
Finally, on telly tonight is something I've been waiting for and longing for, for AGES. Autumnwatch! It's on Brownsea Island which is but a stone's throw from me and I can't wait to see all those cute red squirrels! I remember going there years ago on a school trip and got bitten by a red ant and nearly had my sandwich stolen by a peacock. Aaaah! happy memories!
Friday, October 24, 2008
Pheeeew!
.... it was the "less nightmarish" of the two potential car problems. However, it's still going to be a bit more expensive than it would have been because ....
James got admitted to hospital today with a haemorrhage in his eye (an very unfortunate side effect from the illness he has) and therefore won't be able to do the work.
The thoughtless git.
I'm joking, obviously. Thankfully (hugely relieved!) he is ok but going to be on some kind of drip thing over the weekend. Honestly, with the car business, I didn't think this week could get much worse but I was clearly wrong. Good grief!
The part for our car has to be ordered and so the work won't be done until Tuesday but we do, at least have a car as James has let us borrow his for the time being as he, obviously, can't drive.
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Bad, good, bad
Neither Tim nor I slept very well last night on account of both having slight colds. These are not "knock-us-dead" colds, just irritating colds. Anyway, Tim had to get up very early for work with his clogged up throat and head and I (lucky for me!) managed to get a little sleep after he left. I think we were both pretty knackered though so that was bad.
Eventually, the kids and I got on with some homeschool stuff and had a pretty good morning! You just have "those" sorts of days in homeschool were everything goes well and lots gets done and the kids are happy and involved with what they are doing and this was one of them. I even put together some little video clips of some of the things they did - here it is (the quality, thanks to You Tube, is rubbish - the original that I have is better)
Also took some pics.........
April tracing letters in a wipe clean book
The kids with their homemade, mini Medieval shields
... and something I REALLY love (for some reason!) and which, for me, just sums up home ed - a dining table covered in pencils, books and half finished (to be finished later!) projects.
So, that was all definately good.
Then I phoned Tim on his work mobile to ask if he was going to be back for lunch. I didn't get as far as asking him because he said "I've had a terrible day". Uh-oh. Turns out he'd been on his way home (with some boxes of stuff work wanted him to deliver on his way), got a short distance from work and ........ the clutch went on the car. He had to phone work, someone had to come and rescue him and he had to borrow a van from them to come home in. Tomorrow, one of his work's directors has (very kindly!) said that he will sort out getting the car towed back to the garage where my brother, James, works. It is then that we'll find out the damage.
Either, it will just be a snapped clutch cable which will cost around £20-30 to put right and James can do it on his own so no labour cost ........... no biggy (annoying but .... well) .. or
... it will be the clutch itself which will involve much more labour, James can't do it on his own becaue the gearbox has to come out and it's too heavy. So that will mean labour costs of around £150 PLUS the cost of a clutch kit which will be about £80. This will be ........ disaster.
We don't have that kind of money, it's that simple. No car - and if we have no car, Tim can't get to work.
So, we have to wait until tomorrow to find out and Tim looks very, very grim indeed.
Obviously all that was BAAAAAD.
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Hey, good call!
Why not pile even more pressure on our stressed-out teachers and (more importantly!) kids:
Primary Schools Face Sats Threat
...and then they wonder why this happens:
More Primary Pupils miss school
Honestly, the very SECOND I even so much as THINK about putting April in school, I go and read stuff like this. There is no way that I'm putting my child in such a stressful, target-orientated place. The goal is supposed to be education, learning, enlightenment not government target-meeting. Setting targets for the Sats tests and then shutting schools who don't meet those targets is not the way to achieve good results and encourage and inspire children to learn. They need to bloody back off a bit and give the teachers more freedom to plan their own lessons and kids more hands-on, project based, self-initiated learning.
They need to trust that these kids will learn and flourish in a more relaxed and pleasant setting because they can and would.
Thousands of home educating families have already proved that.
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Let the sort-out commence
Tim and I were both possessed by a crazy urge to get de-cluttering today. It started with me just clearing out a messy area under our kitchen worktop. Then I proceeded to start on our dining area/homeschool area and that's when Tim got involved and decided he was going to dismantle the tv/dvd player/Nintendo area. This involved VAST amounts of wires to detangle during which he kept saying "HOW do they get like this when they're tucked away behind the cabinet?!"
No idea. Mystery to me.
Here is what our living room looked like during the sort out (with poor April having to find a tiny clear space to read her book!) Sorry about the poor photo quality today - I think I was overcome at the sight of my room!
It was hard work and I had to rush through my bit in the end so that I could also get on and make a Victoria Sandwich for tea (busy day!) We're really motivated to get on with the rest of the house now though.
Saturday, October 18, 2008
"I can see the moon in the day"
..... said April.
I heard her calling me this morning and when I went to look, she was staring, fascinated out of her bedroom window. I can't believe she's never seen this before, but clearly not - she seemed really confused!
It was very beautiful in a clear, blue sky.
Of course, while I was cropping and resizing this in Photoshop, I couldn't resist messing about *smiles*. First, I zoomed in on the moon and then used the Auto-adjust levels tool - normally, this removes any glare and brightens the colour and stuff like that. Look what it did to my moon!
It took all the daytime-ness away and you can see the patterns on the surface really clearly!
Next, I zoomed in again and this time, I played around with different textures and colours. In the end, I settled on a charcoal and chalk version:
Very cool!
Friday, October 17, 2008
I promise ..........
- To not mention, on this blog, any decisions about April going to school until I've really, definately made them (as opposed to THINKING I've made them). Honest.
- To try and bake something (bread, cookies, cake whatever) at least every other day. It's good for my family and it's good for my mental health.
- To declutter my house one room at a time and not keep putting it off. I clean, but clean isn't enough - I need ORDER!
- To make a list of ALL the things I want to do locally (for example, to go ringo-ing here .... heck! maybe even skiing!) and all the places I want to go - then do them and go there! We live in a fantastic area and don't nearly see enough of it.
- To get back into the habit of really making the most of each season (the Waldorf is helping here). Right now I'm loving the colours of the leaves out the back of our place and I'm having huge amounts of fun with the kids planning Halloween stuff.
- To carry on using the Little Garden Flower curriculum for Rosie (and possibly even April - who knows?!) because it is by FAR the best and loveliest curriculum we've ever used.
- To sew more things - especially beanbags for the kids, I've made a couple and they seem to have endless amounts of fun with them!
- To do my yoga DAILY. Yes I will. Honest. Really.
- To take more candlelit showers like I did this evening. Romantic, dreamy and mentally soothing. Oh, and it saves electric. Beautiful.
Thursday, October 16, 2008
School, homeschool and pumpkin thingys
Got to mention something REALLY daft (but it just about shows how excited I get about silly things *laughs*). Today, we went to Tesco for the usual food shop and I picked up the cutest jelly mould. It was bright orange and had 4 pumpkin shaped spaces in it - I SO cannot wait to make little orange jelly pumpkins with the kids at Halloween. How silly am I?!
Anyway, have been umming and aaahing about April's school application for EVER and have finally (taa-daa!) decided to fill it in and send it off. However:
- She's obviously due to start next September so I may decide to withdraw her place if I feel it necessary.
- Her going is seen very much as being on a trial basis to see if she's happy and I'm happy.
- I'm fairly relaxed with it because we're very lucky to have very good schools round here (in fact both our local catchment area schools are excellent)
So, that's that. I have to be brutal and say that it would be lovely to have some spare time to myself but, being extremely pro-home education, I can't help but worry about whether she'll be happy.
Now, for homeschool. I'm continuing with Rosie (who only has just over 5 years left anyway before she has to go to 6th form or college). Today, I got the letter from the Education Authority asking for the yearly home ed report. This is SUCH a bind and, to be honest, I have been tempted to tell them that I'm not doing it this year (I'm under no obligation to do so). However, on the other hand, I actually do find it fairly reassuring myself that we're doing a good job so I might well drag out her work from last year and start photocopying some stuff to send them.
Problem is, she did some projects on quite large paper that I would REALLY like to send them because they are excellent. Unfortunately, for those, I'd need access to a big photocopier (our little scanner/copier only does up to A4 size) so I'm not sure what to do. Hmmm.
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Me 'n' my cat
Since Mo died, Hemmy has been the sole beneficiary of my cat-cuddles ;) Luckily, he enjoys lots of cuddles because he definately gets a lot! Today, I crashed out on the sofa, headphones on and listened to music. Hemmy curled up on my belly for a snooze but then got hassled by Tim wanting to take photos (he's so black you can hardly see him in this pic!) I didn't realise Tim was snapping away to start with - once I did it was game over because I HATE having my photo taken!
Here's a close-up of Hem, on my tummy, looking moody *smiles*
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
A WHOLE post dedicated to homeschool
As mentioned in this post, I've recently had to do some serious re-thinking with homeschool. It just wasn't working on so many levels - mostly, Rosie's love of art wasn't being catered for. This is being taken care of in 2 ways - firstly, the art class which I mentioned a while back (somewhere!) which is she due to be starting soon (although that depends on how we get on in the run up to Christmas - may have to wait until new year). Secondly, we switched curriculum and started using a more Waldorf based one from Little Garden Flower
I cannot tell you the difference this has made to us (and more importantly Rosie) - we are, literally, revived. The clear day-by-day plans, which are perfect to follow "as is" but easily adapted if you want to, the focus on art and drawing ... everything is perfect. I was, actually, half tempted not to blog about it for fear of jinxing it but things really have been flowing beautifully over the last couple weeks. We have been following the curriculum fairly loosely as this is our first year and we are just getting used to it but I'm hoping to follow it more closely once we get to grade 6.
We are using the Grade 5 book but incorporating bits of grade 4 maths because Rosie tends to struggle with that. We will do a main maths block on decimals a bit later on but in the meantime, I've been giving Rosie some very basic, simple review just to ensure that she's "got" certain concepts before we move on. I write problems in her book and she fills them in - here are a couple of examples:
If there is any spare space on the paper, Rosie likes to draw - usually dragons!
We started the Grade 5 year by reviewing some map skills from Grade 4 - mostly latitude/longitude, plotting grid references and map keys:
For the map key work, I had Rosie create an imaginary town.
Then we moved on to Africa, starting by looking at the landscape of Africa today - the sort of animals and plants you'd find (notice we've made use of the Montessori world map puzzle by tracing round it *smiles*)
After that we covered ancient African folktales and looked at writing dialogue:
We finished up by comparing maps of modern Africa and ancient Africa - Rosie painted a freehand map of ancient Africa and labelled it with some of the main regions:
In the book, Atlantis is covered next but we skipped it because we started late and I wanted to get on to Australia (which is what we are studying right now) and catch up a bit. Again, we started by looking the landscape of Australia:
Which brings us right up to date with our lesson today - Aboriginal art. Rosie painted the most fantastic lizard in Aboriginal style and using colours as close to original as possible. We cut it out and she drew a background in her book to glue it on to.
Just to prove I get roped into doing this stuff to, here's my rather lame attempt at a koala! Looks more like a golden retriever puppy!
That's it for now, I'll do another homeschool round-up post again soon!
Monday, October 13, 2008
I did....
....write a blogpost here to explain about my new music gadget and then thought "blaaah!" and decided to re-write it. So here's take 2 - with added extras *smile*
So, the music gadget. Well, I got rid of Voki (predictably!) and decided to have some tunes instead - you can play them if you like, just click on it. It doesn't play continuously because I HATE going to a website and being forced to listen to music that I don't want to - it's VERY annoying. There's a wide range of music on there - a lot of stuff that is "deep and meaningful" to me in some way and also some other things that I just like. I've got quite varied taste in music so it's quite entertaining!
So, other ... general stuff. After yesterday's glorious weather and lovely walk, today we were housebound and chilly. The boiler man came and gave our boiler it's yearly service and tried (and failed) to get the radiator in April's bedroom working - still we can sleep safely in the knowledge that we're not going to die of poisonous fumes.
I made shortbread (very nice too), Tim mucked about with some photo page he's making for his website and declared himself "a genius" for managing to do something clever with it. Don't ask me what, I wasn't really sure what he was talking about, but he clearly does and that's all that matters. Hmmm.
So that's that. Hope you enjoy the tunes! *smiles*
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Sunday = Family Walk Day
Once the mist lifted this morning it was absolutely gorgeous so, off we went to Hengistbury Head. If you think we go there a lot, well, I guess we do - quite a bit. It's just the most wonderful place with a bit of everything - brilliant views, wildlife, beach and long shady walks through the woods. Apart from anything, it gives a big, wide open space for the kids to run (or in Rosie's case, scoot) and burn off some energy.
It was weird up there today - it was soooo hot and with clear blue skies you could have easily thought it was a summer day. Only the colours of the leaves and bracken and the long shadows gave away the fact that it's autumn. Today, we diverted from our usual path up and over the head and this time walked round the bottom up to Mudeford beach - the kids played for a bit on the rocks and then we turned round and walked back.
Anyway, here are some pictures.
Look at the kids in short sleeves. Look at the tree with hardly any leaves. Weird!
This one is definately autumnal!
Tim wandering off giving April a piggy-back. "Daddeeeee! my legs hurt!"
The beach huts at Mudeford
Clambering over the rocks on the beach. See those people in the background? We didn't notice them at the time and have NO idea what they're doing - we're guessing there's someone hidden behind me who's throwing them a ball. That, or they're..... umm....worshipping the sun.
The last time we came up here, it was all green!
Cute!
This was after half four in the afternoon and you can really tell it's NOT summer just by the mist that's starting to set in and the long shadows. I included this to show just how many other people had the same idea as us today - it was like this all the way there and back! Rosie's off in the distance, weaving in and out of everyone on her scooter ;)
Must try and get there again before the real winter kicks in. Unfortunately, it's one of those places that gets extremely windy and it totally makes your ears ache!
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Early morning on a beautiful autumn day
"It was a morning of ground mist, yellow sunshine, and high rifts of blue, white-cloud-dappled sky. The leaves were still thick on the trees, but de-spangled gossamer threads hung on the bushes and the shrill little cries of unrest of the swallows skimming the green open park spaces of the park told of autumn and change."
~ Flora Thompson ~
Pictures by me ... early this morning.
Wednesday, October 08, 2008
Many flashy things
It's Halloween for such a short time that I'm going the whole hog and having a spooky blog theme for virtually the whole month. So there.
I appear to have many flashing, silly blog gimmicks as Tim calls them. Well, I like them ... actually, I get bored of them pretty quick and have to change them for new flashing, silly gimmicks!
I've also updated the pic of me and April - the one that was there before was pretty old so Tim managed to (finally!) get a half decent pic of me today so it's gone up.
Gorgeous day today, weather-wise, lovely and sunny! Rosie had trampoline so we went to the park and it was absolutely packed - I don't think I've ever seen so many people in there! Apparently this nice weather is due to continue for the next few days which is good because my sister-in-law is having an outdoor birthday party on Saturday (i.e barbecue). We're only going for the early part because of the kids but I'm hoping it will be dry and not too chilly!
Tuesday, October 07, 2008
A jumble of pictures
Have been dreadfully slack with the "blogging about interesting stuff" lately (shame on me!) We HAVE been doing things (particularly homeschool-wise which has really taken off again thanks to some serious re-thinking by me - more on that in another post though). I'm just in a bit of a planning/thinking/sorting mood at the moment though. We received the school application forms for April and I'm not keen on even bothering to fill them in now. Tim said "well don't then" but I'm going to think about it some more. I've also been digging out some extra things for Rosie to do and, as from November, she'll be starting a once a month, 2-hour long art session at a local craft centre. I think this will be fun for her as art is one of the things she enjoys most.
Anyway, here is a random collection of pictures from the last few days ....
"Don't play with your food!" Oh, ok do then. April mucked about making faces with her carrots at snack time (please ignore the fact that the carrots actually look slightly mouldy in this pic - they certainly weren't!)
She also snuggled up on the sofa with Hemmy and watched telly - cute!
Rosie did some map work in her lessons
April play-doughed
I made apple muffins today
...and took a (rather blurred!) photo of the dear little robin and a blackbird together on the back lawn in amongst the fallen leaves. I took this about 10 minutes ago when Tim spotted them.
Tim and I have been planning half term week when Rosie is off trampolining. There's loads of activities going on locally that we want to go to with the kids. Two at the top of our list are making ladybird hibernation boxes at Moors Valley and (oh god this will be fun!) spooky Halloween going's on at Lulworth Castle (face painting, fancy dress, creepy treasure trails and so on). Problem is, we're having to fit this all in around him doing a load of overtime at work because people are off - most of all I don't want to miss the castle malarkies so we're going there on the 26th (the first day!) and (hopefully) squeezing in the ladybird boxes on the following Wednesday.
Right, better go - kids going to bed soon!
Tuesday, October 07, 2008
Addicted to blog gadgets
Heehee! Look what I've got in the sidebar - just click on the little play button at the bottom to hear my very own welcome message - complete with odd robotic voice! Cool *laughs out loud* I've even got a Hemmy-a-like cat in there!
Honestly, I love these silly things!
Didn't get out for our walk yesterday - it rained all day - if we'd had some decent wet weather gear we would have gone anyway. However, we haven't so I've set about rectifiying that situation so that we've got NO excuse in future. In the end I did some baking (honey flapjacks), Tim made some broccoli soup for lunch (very yummy) and we .. kinda... flopped.
Still, flopping never does anyone any harm sometimes. In fact, I can think of a few people that would definately benefit from some flopping occasionally.
Monday, October 06, 2008
Feeling .....
stagnant and a bit cobwebby if you see what I mean?!
Have an overwhelming urge to go up Hengistbury Head and blow those cobwebs away (and I do, literally, mean blow - it gets pretty breezy up there!)
Unfortunately it's forecast heavy rain today ......... do we take the risk?
I wish there wasn't going to be rain .... I could really do with a brisk walk *looks glum*
Saturday, October 04, 2008
Yuck!
Did you see The Tudors last night?
It was the episode where Anne Boleyn gets to meet the French executioner face to face, leaving Henry free to marry Jane Seymour.
It was really nasty......
It made me feel a bit ill.....
Really horrible in fact .....
Yep, the bit at the end where Henry was shovelling handfuls of swan pie into his face was REALLY gross.
Heehee 
Friday, October 03, 2008
.....bliss
Tim got back home from work and I (very quietly!) asked him if he'd take the kids over his mums. He had to take some currants to her (for her Xmas puds!) so he did. Ooo! bless him!
So I'm alone for the first time in AAAGES. Peaceful. *Big sigh!*
Friday, October 03, 2008
Praise be!
Our car had it's MOT yesterday and only failed on one thing which was something to do with the handbrake and resulted in needing a new set of breakpads. Since my brother works at the garage, he did the work which saved us the labour cost and only set us back £25.00 in the end. Pheweeee! Tim admitted later that he'd been terribly worried it would fail on a LOT and cost us money that we just don't have at the moment.
Relieved. Hugely.
Homeschool is still plodding. I said in the previous post that I was going through old blog posts looking for inspiration. I've come to the conclusion that we've got 2 choices. Either go back to Montessori BUT on a smaller scale this time and just have a few materials out at a time so that neither the kids or me are overwhelmed. The other choice is that we change direction completely and do Waldorf type work - perhaps not following the Waldorf curriculum strictly but doing the work in the Waldorf way.
It's a tough choice. I'm far more experienced with Montessori and have a vast amount of materials stashed away so it would seem logical to go down that route. Also, I prefer the way that Montessori encourages much more independance, something which I feel is more important than anything.
One decision that I have come to regarding homeschooling - or, more specifically, the kids in general is that Tim is going to have to start taking them out regularly. On his own. Without me. At the moment, if we go out, it's altogether and obviously we'll still do that however, I need time on my own which I haven't been getting since April stopped nursery. I NEED at least once a week to take a breather and have some peace and whether he takes them over his mums or to the park or whatever I don't care as long as I get that time.
Wednesday, October 01, 2008
The other side of the fog
So, we all ended up with a cold (all apart from Tim who generally never gets a cold, although he DID come down with the same ghastly flu-type lurgy that I did a couple years ago). April is still leaking snot everywhere, Rosie is slightly sniffy and I'm just a bit head-achey still. Head-achey and drained.
Today, I've been attempting to clear out a spare cupboard in Rosie's room so that I can store some not-used-very-often homeschool stuff away. This is so that I can free up a cupboard in the kitchen that can be used to house the Christmas goodies (tins of biscuits, bottles of drink etc) that I'm going to soon start purchasing. We do try to start early and buy a little at a time - actually, it's the only way we can manage it. Anyway, the result of this clearing out is that I've realised just how many books we have. It was like a tardis in there - I started pulling out a couple of books and then they all just spilled out and I've NO idea whatsoever how I got them all in there in the first place *looks baffled*. I have .....
.. books in the wardrobe
....books in the kitchen cupboard
......books in the garage in boxes
........books in the garage in an old fridge/freezer (I kid you not)
..........books in the lounge
............books piled up on the kitchen worktop
We are being buried alive BUT, BUUUUUT, I cannot part with them. I love my books. Sigh.
I'm trying to clear some space (physically and mentally) by sticking some un-needed homeschool things on Ebay. Going through a definate rut again with homeschool, it's the same-old really - work is getting done but none of it enthusiastically (oh for the early days of homeschool when I seemed awash with good ideas for fun projects!) As I'm clearing the cupboards I'm considering all the stuff that's being pulled out and trying to get some fresh ideas. I'm also being brutally honest about whether we'll actually use some of the things again. The other bit of searching I'm doing is on my old blog - I'm going through some really ancient posts to look for the times when homeschool worked best and aiming to get back for something like that.
Right, I'm off. Tim's about to take Rosie to trampolining and I'm going to let the telly babysit April (shame on me!) while I carry on with the cupboard clearout.
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