As busy as a busy thing

What a week its been, K has had Kidney stones so has been poorly, D is really tired from hard work at school and C has been doing all manners of things at school.

K = he didn't drink enough water for a couple of days and that results in Kidney Stones - they were bad this time, very bad and he was in a lot of pain, they went, eventually and it took him a couple of days to get over it but he's ok now.

D = D has been working very hard at school, the school sets work that is above National Curriculum Levels and its showing, poor lad, he's in the top set for Maths, Reading, English and Spelling, he has to work very hard, half term is a week late this year so instead of finishing school today and having a week off he's still got another week to go!

C = We are busy looking at other schools for C as she finishes her current school in July and has to move on somewhere else for year 9. The schools we have looked at [with 2 exceptions] have been out of this world but and its a big but we won't get in as there are waiting lists 2 years long and she will be bottom of the list as we are out of catchment area so we are looking at the local Secondary School on Monday morning. Its not the best school but as its the only one she will get into it'll have to do. The other schools were newish and it shows in comparison to the local one, they all have lovely white, spacious rooms, up to date technology, fantastic libraries etc and the local one doesn't really compete with them. Its so unfair that a good school for your children comes down to where you live and not about who you are or what you could achieve given the chance.

I've bought myself a new book - Stitch by Stitch as recommended by Jo on her blog http://jo-throughthekeyhole.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/stitch-by-stitch.html [hope that link works] I bought it from the Book People for £3.99 [free delivery code XMAS262 - runs out soon] Brilliant book for people like me who want to do crafty things but need step by step instructions because I'm a late starter to all this crafting malarkey lol. Its my favourite book at the moment and I'm loving reading it again and again, I'll try several projects from it :]]

Tomorrow is Saturday and the day will be spent with D at home as he's too tired to go to his Dads where C will be, K is working on a late shift, my days plan is to do some housework, washing and ironing as on Sunday we have to go to a Football Match - C has homework that involves her watching a match and writing a report on it, oh the things we have to do for our children lol

1st Day of Hols, Docs visit, Boiler

1st day of the school hols is now over and done with and here's what happened - Avon was delivered at 8am, I'm a Rep don't you know, by 9.30 it was all bagged and ready to be delivered tomorrow, at 10.30 the Boiler Man came to service the boiler, what a nice man he was, he told me that the fitters from 18mths ago had done an excellent job in fitting the Boiler and the relevant pipework was in 1st class shape, he showed me how to bleed the boiler [must be done every 6 months] and then he left. Next C was taken by my Mum to stay for the night at her other Nana at WS where she lives, C likes to go there for a Tuesday as they have a crafting day at the OAP place where Nana 2 lives and C helps out with it, she gets a free lunch and all the old dears love her, then came a visit with D to the Docs, he has had a little cough for 4 weeks now but over the weekend it turned chesty, no tablets were prescribed, instead the Doc told him to have a hot shower, get out but leave the hot water tap running and soak up the steamy air, sorry but does the Doc think we have money!! We can't afford to pay for extra water to keep doing this a few times a day so D will have to steam over a bowl like the rest of us have to, he did prescribe Paracetamol though - 2 bottles, we already have 2 bottles at home so now we are well stocked up! Adults can use it too! Its taken me a year to get the water DD reduced by £8 a month, steaming over a bowl of hot water will do the job just as well as a shower and cost less too. If his cough doesn't clear up by the end of the week we'll go back and see another Doc! I wasn't overly happy with the outcome as I think he has a Chest Infection and the Doc didn't even listen to his chest!!!

At tea-time I spent an hour in a neighbours garden chopping and weeding for them.

Tonight I have cut out some of the overhanging branches from trees out the back, these trees grow to a huge size if they aren't held back [we are already in the shade from some further along but its too late to do anything about them and they aren't in or next to our garden - makes sense to me lol]

The house is looking decidedly disgusting so tomorrow I'll be delivering Avon and doing some housework - the bathroom should be condemned as a Health and Safety hazard.

C will need picking up at some point tomorrow but I don't think it will be till between 4 and 5

We have had glorious sunshine all day, in fact, it got too hot lol

Helen x

Fed Up, weather, migraine

I am completely fed up. I had a migraine yesterday that lasted all day and then this morning I woke up feeling ok but by 10.30 I had another headache and now I've tummy pains, the apcking up for the hols isn't happening, I have ironing and washing to do and if its not raining its overcast and cold.

I can't even describe how fed up I am

Helen :[

Cold and colder

Cold - K has kindly passed on his cold to me, aches and pains and feeling very tired along with a blocked nose and a headache, thanks K.

Colder - the weather has changed and the boiling hot, muggy weather has turned into winds, rain and cold, cold, cold!!

Toby is still poorly, bad tummy isn't letting up

Not a good weekend so far

Helen x

Cold, Hot, Red Hot

Cold - K has been poorly now for 3 days, he's in bed as I type this, he has a cold and a cough but its really dragging him down and he's fed up, this is his long weekend off and he's spent the majority of it in bed!

Hot - boy its hot here, even in the shade its too hot for me to sit out in

Red Hot - C has gone to a friends birthday party, talk about a pressie on the cheap - bath set from Boots 75% off sale and a make up set from the same sale, wrapped in reduced paper from MrT and put into a gift bag I was given for my birthday, card was reduced to. Value should of been £29 actual price was £8! They are going bowling and then out for a meal at "Red Hot" - the cost of this party must be [way too much for me to think about] C doesn't have a party anymore as I think that they should stop when they are 10, at least that's what I've told my 2. The cost of entertaining out is out of our league and the children are at the age when they don't want "home" parties anymore - shame as I loved doing them, oh well :{

Helen x

Birthday, Lottie, Coughs and Colds

Morning

On Wednesday it was my 47th birthday - yeah!!

I was given lots of lovely presents. K and I spent the morning and some of the afternoon at the Lottie, planting things, weeding and generally tidying up. We took the camping stove and K made bacon butties whilst we were there - a lovely way to spend a day. We then went to my Mums for Tea. K stayed at home because by this time he was suffering badly from a cold which has now turned into a chest "thing". Poor man is really suffering now - and that's what happens when you give up smoking.

The weather here has turned very hot, I shouldn't complain but its a tad too hot for me - I like Spring and Autumn days and the snow, this heat makes me tired, it zaps my energy.

Today is another Lottie day if K is up for it, we'll see. He's currently snoring on the sofa lol.

I hope that you are all planning something nice to do this weekend and that you are enjoying the sunshine

Helen x 

My 1st follower, weather, ironing and coughing

Hello Hart - thank you for following me :] Hart has a lovely blog about the lovely items she makes, inspiring and creative, lovely, lovely sewing!

Its so cold here, barely rising above freezing. The heating is on all day and most of the evening, snow is forecast for tonight, hopefully there won't be too much although C and D would like lots - they want to go sledging, that'll be K's job if we get enough!

I've just spent hours catching up with the ironing, each time I let it build up I swear to myself that I'll do a bit each day - never happens and then I have to spend so much time catching up with it, its a boring thankless task. I know some people don't iron anything but I can't do that, the obsessive side of me likes to see us wearing flattened clothes! I can never get clothes to dry flat even if I shake the life out of them! Still at least it keeps me warm in the winter.

C is having her second day off school and will be off tomorrow too, she has a chesty, hacking cough and is prone to Seasonal Asthma so it means that when she gets a cough or cold we have to keep her off for a day or two if it looks like a nasty one so that is doesn't develop into an infection that will bring on the Asthma. I tried to get her into the Docs today but her Doctor was off so I'll be phoning at 8 tomorrow to get her in and a new inhaler prescribed - hopefully.

D had his 9th birthday party on Tuesday night, his birthday was in November!! We couldn't afford a party then so he's patiently waited till now. I took him and 7 friends to MacD's and then to Quasar [Laser gun thingy place] They all thoroughly enjoyed themselves and had a great time. He's already planning his next and final party lol.

H x