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Category : Telly
Sunday, August 16, 2009
Back to the shop with you!
Tim is off to church this morning and then, on the way back is going into Tesco with the utterly rubbish printer to attempt to get a refund. I shall be glad to get the old one back!
Last night I was a bit headachey (weird weather I think) but we had a nice meal, a glass of wine and enjoyed the Proms on telly. It was Handel's 250th anniversary so we had the rather lovely Arrival of the Queen of Sheba - which Tim says a lot of people have at weddings and I can't understand that because it's sooo fast! Surely the bride has to sprint up the aisle to that *laughs*. There was also Zadok the Priest (or rather "Zaaaaaaaaadooooooooook the Priiiiiiiieeeeesssst" - they REALLY drag that out!). I love the build up to that one with the choir suddenly exploding into the afore mentioned "Zaaaaaadoo........."
It was a really good prom (in my opinion!) - if you'd like to listen to it, you can catch it here.
Having a quiet morning while Tim is at the church - done some tidying (can't stand it getting messy in here!), hoovering, stuck some washing in the machine, cleaned the cooker top, done some washing up .......... ok, quiet but BUSY!
Friday, May 29, 2009
Sun, sun, sun
Absolutely gorgeous day and, it would seem, more of it to come :) I'm a happy bunny.
Today was a kind of quietly productive day - everything just ambled along nicely and we all went about our business sort of ... happily :)
Tim worked this morning and then went to the shops 3 or 4 times after he got home. Yes, really - shocking waste of petrol, I know.
April played with water inside at the kitchen sink:
... and outside with a bowl:
Rosie did an edition of her family nature newspaper:
We put some flowers in the press - I think the kids are going to make bookmarks with these:
Finally, I made a raspberry jam and fresh cream sponge (just too delicious for words!):
Tonight, Tim and I are having tuna steaks in a sort of lime marinade and salad for dinner. This is one of our regular summer meals and it's the first time we've had it since last year - the weather is just so definately summery though, that it called for it. :)
Edited later: I've just realised I put "telly" down as one of the categories for this post and then forgot to write anything telly related *rolls eyes*. I was going to mention that I'm thoroughly enjoying springwatch this year and Chris Packham (who replaced Bill Oddie) has turned out to be utterly lovely :) I was always worried he might be a bit dull but far from it - brilliant telly!
Categories: Cooking, Seasonal, Telly, Things
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Friday, May 15, 2009
What's on?
Check out the ratty hair! Rosie, not long out the shower and hence a trifle damp looking, doing a science experiment on hydrophobic and hydrophilic materials:
Today, I made her up a whole bunch of reducing fraction sum cards which I want her to do tomorrow. I'm hoping to finish up this topic soon and these are harder than any she's done so far - she's going to love me for it. Not.
April has been mucking about on the kitchen draining board with various plastic cups filled with water and food colouring. She's been using an eyedropper to mix colours ... "look! I made green!"
I've started a Montessori training course. I was going to do this last year but never got round to it so I decided the time was now :) This is not a full teacher training course but will be brilliant for helping me to teach, Montessori-style, those topics which I'm a bit stuck on. It lasts a year!
Oh! and it's Eurovision tomorrow! WOO-HOO!! We HAVE to watch this complete feast of naffness every year despite the fact that it's crap simply because it makes us laugh our arses off *laughs at the thought* ..... hehehehe!
Got to go ... dinner beckons :)
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!
Categories: Books, Cooking, Homeschooling, Life, Seasonal, Telly
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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 
Saturday, September 13, 2008
Watching the flag waving idiots I am
Yep, it's Last Night of the Proms on telly and we're currently building up to the point where we get to the silly songs and bopping about and flag waving. Now, maybe I'm a bit bah-humbug about this but I cannot stand them - I want to enjoy the music not listen to/watch the idiotic, guffawing crowd. Oh well, one night a year and all that and I'm making it bearable with a glass (or few) of the red stuff.
Actually, I'm in less mood than usual to deal with this particular televisual feast as I'm feeling a bit tired due to waking up several times last night during an "almost" nightmare. I'm not going to blog details but it was truly horrible and each time I woke up I went back to sleep and it started again *shudders*.
One gorgeous thing today though ... woke up to the first proper autumn day of the year. Heavy mist, cold, autumn smell. LOVELY.
Tuesday, September 09, 2008
Aaaaah! Some beans!
Today we got the dried beans out and did various maths stuff with them - Rosie weighed them and made multiplication tables and April practiced counting to 10. It all made me giggle a bit because it brought back to mind the hilarious scene from Blackadder II where Lord Blackadder was attempting to teach Baldrick to add up using (you've guessed it!) dried beans. If you've never seen it (or would like to see it again) here it is:
So, here are some pics of Rosie weighing and April counting:
Also, very much in keeping with our autumn theme that we have going on, we've been doing some apple maths. April has been sorting them by size and colour and Rosie has been doing various weighing and measuring activities. First she estimated height, circumference and weight and then did the actual measurements. This, of course, then led on to weighing all the apples to compare them and then on to weighing whatever she could get her hands on (including the beans *smiles*)
After we'd finished maths with the apples (!) I then chopped some up and made a Dorset Apple Cake which we are thoroughly looking forward to scoffing at teatime:
Sunday, August 31, 2008
The table is set
Here is our newly created autumn nature table :) Again, maybe I'm a tad ahead of myself here but never mind - the kids were just as keen to get on and do it as I was so we did!
I finally got round today to removing our bird chart from the front of the fridge. Readers who came to my temporary home ed blog (Activity Homeschool) a while ago, may remember this but I thought I'd share it for the benefit of those who haven't. It's a really lovely, all year-round addition to your homeschool nature study.
Basically, we've been keeping this since September last year - we've kept track of the birds that we've seen (mostly in our garden but also a couple from other places). We just drew round a dinner plate on a piece of A3 paper, divided into quarters and coloured the outlines to represent the different seasons. Then Rosie just added the birds to the chart as we went through the year - it was rather fun and a couple of times she had to come back and consult her bird spotting book to find out the name of one :) She's been a bit lax over the last couple of months but with everything that's been going on (holidays and whatnot) it's been hard to remember to do it. I'm thinking of doing it again this year to compare bird sightings BUT am also wary of ruining the fun by doing it every year so I'm thinking about it.
Very excited at the moment because today I found out when BBC Autumnwatch starts - 27th October! It runs for 2 weeks and it should be even more interesting this year because part of it is being filmed from Brownsea Island which is in my neck of the woods :) Can't wait - Springwatch and Autumnwatch have become such a lovely part of my year!
Actually feeling nice and relaxed and ready for the new school year :) You simply wouldn't believe that only a couple weeks ago I was totally stressed and not at ALL happy or feeling ready for it. Not sure what was wrong really other than I had a couple of things on my mind - one of which being April and nursery which she is NOT going back to and which has taken a huge weight off my shoulders. I can't honestly say going to nursery changed her that much but it DID change her - she had considerably more flunkies than usual and she did definately get a bit "tired" of it towards the end of last term. There were also issues I personally had with the school which I won't go into here but frankly just served to remind me how, once you enroll your child, they almost cease to BE your child anymore. Ho-hum. She's been a happy, happy little girl over the last few weeks and I see no reason to change that. Of course, all this does mean a possible return to Tumbletots .... groan.
Next Wednesday Rosie goes back to trampoline class to start work on her Level 10 award! I think this one will take her a while as it's going to involve quite a leap in the sort of things she'll have to do. Tim and I are taking April into the cafe and then out to the playpark while Rosie's in there, something we've not done for ...ooooo!... ages. I'm looking forward to it hugely :)
Categories: Homeschooling, News, Seasonal, Telly
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Saturday, August 23, 2008
Days that follow
A round-up of sorts.
So, we're getting back into the swing of things here following our holiday. I've been tackling the laundry we brought back with us (so much of it ... starting to feel like a bloody washer woman!), clearing the mess left by the builders and generally trying to get back into a routine. Kind of.
Tim ended up doing a days overtime this week so went back to work a day earlier than he should of done. No biggy - he wasn't there very long anyway which prompted me to think that they didn't really actually need him that much anyway *shrugs*. He's working this bank holiday coming which will be interesting to see if it's busy or whether everyone has sodded off to escape the rain.
My new bathroom is divine and I'm thoroughly enjoying it. Yes, I can get excited about a bathroom - if you'd seen it before you'd know why. It was crap. Now it's white and shiney and modern - a joy to clean! We've got a bit of a leak under the toilet and another under the sink which the workmen have to come back out and look at but other than that it's gorgeous.
We finally (I hope!) have cured our computer of it's power supply problem. My brother had it while we were away and put in a new graphics card for me (back to Sims yay!) but was baffled by the power problem. Anyway, in the end, some guy came out yesterday evening and sorted it for us (and only charged £35 - bargain!)
Evenings are drawing in aren't they? I kind of like it - I look forward to Halloween and Guy Fawkes night and stuff (I'm such a kid!) I've also been snuggling down on a Friday night and watching The Tudors which, whilst not being entirely historically accurate, is jolly entertaining. Poor old Anne Boleyn *laughs* y'know she's headed for the block - it's like watching a car crash in slow motion. I had to laugh at Henry though - utterly devoted until she gave birth to Elizabeth and then it's like "oh right!! you've had a girl, well that's that then - I'm off with other ladies!" And off he went - getting the Duke of Suffolk (the utterly yummy Henry Cavill) to chat up other women for him (can't even do his own dirty work pah!!)
Tim and I have been planning some places to go with the kids to enjoy the remaining summer weather. Definately going up Hengistbury Head again, it's one of my most favourite walking spots and also hoping to go to "the fossil beach" (the name of which temporarily eludes me) further up the coast. Must do Corfe Castle too - haven't been there for YEARS. Oh, and more berry picking soon *smiles*.
Categories: Homemaking, Life, Places, Telly
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Monday, July 28, 2008
Dramatic
After a couple of days of blinding sunshine and intense heat, we've just been plummeted into darkness (not totally dark you understand!) It's that sort of darkness that says a storm is coming. Don't you just love that sort of dramatic change in the weather? I find it quite exciting and sexy *smiles* What I'm enjoying is the coolness after the (almost) unbearable heat we've been experiencing.
Not having a big, cooked dinner tonight - just cold chicken (left over from last nights dinner), salad and warm bread. It's so nice to have something like that during this weather. Also going to relax and eat it watching the Proms on tv - Beethoven tonight.
Been making another short video today - this time of my dear old cat Mo. He barely moves these days and is refusing catfood, the only things he seems to like are cold chicken and ham. He still purrs and will rub his head on you (you'll see him do this to me at the end of the film *smiles*) so we're letting him be. He's so doddery and feeble though that if he stops eating altogether and seems terribly unhappy then I think it might be time to say goodbye. He's a funny old thing though, he's been at a point where I thought "this is it" so many times that he seems like he'll go on forever. I know he won't, it just seems that way sometimes. Anyway, I made the video so I got something to remember him by (along with the hundreds of photos!) - in this I'm feeding him with ham.
Sunday, July 20, 2008
Proms
Wow! I've gone blog-post-bloody-mad today! What can I say?..... it's Sunday.
I'm not much of a telly addict, there are a few things which I adore and will ALWAYS watch (sometimes much to Tim's distress ... I'm thinking, Are You Being Served here) such as Spring/Autumnwatch, the Blackadder series, Goodnight Sweetheart, history documentaries and so on. The Proms is one such thing.
Obviously, I got into this because Tim was into it and we've watched it every year since we got together. Some years it's been brilliant and other years it's been a bit forgetable (or annoying, in the case of the jolly uplifting 9th Symphony by Beethoven getting cancelled last year!)
I haven't really had chance to study what is going to be on this year but Tim tells me that there is going to be the Miraculous Mandarin (Bartók). Oh! I was overjoyed - this was last on years ago (when I was pregnant with Rosie in fact) and I didn't take much notice of the music (shame on me!) but I adored the shadow puppets that went with it *big grin*
Alas! This year, no puppets!! NO PUPPETS! What's the point of the Miraculous Mandarin with no puppets?! Pah! The odd shadow puppets acting out the rather sordid story just soooo make it! *grumble, grumble*
Anyway, opening night of the Proms was ok (although there have been better years). Presenters are now stuck in a slightly bland "News at 10" style room which I don't think is quite right because they seem a bit separated from the action. Most of the music was nice but spoiled a bit by the rather long and noisy organ solo piece ... the title of which eludes me.
Looking forward to the rest of the season thought ... odd to think that by the time it finishes we'll be into early autumn.
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