Looking back at the Year!

Well the last day of 2007 is finally here and what a year it has been for us all ! I've always lived by my calendar and every year look back over to see what we have done.I have calendars going back years and love going back over them - I think that's why i like having a blog too even though I've only been going a short time with it.

I'm sure that if I opened it up for all to see - We'd probably get the men in the white coats knocking at the door ( again !)It would be nice in one way to open it up to share with others and make loads of new friends but I think I'm too guarded.Knowing my luck I'd probably attract the pyscho stalker or weirdo in the woods and Malc would get abducted - hey may be that's a thought !

I always feel a tiny bit apprehensive on New Years eve - hoping that the next year will be a happy one for every body with not too many bad or sad bits. Sometimes I wish that I could stop the clock and stand for a while at all the chaos around me and have time to sit back and appreciate everything I have ( which I do but perhaps not always as much as I could because I'm always looking at what else I have to do next!).Perhaps this is something I should concentrate on.

Any way - less of the gloom - a New Year ahead with new Challenges - Sam goes to secondary school , I'm 40 ! and things are either going to drop off or my life is going to begin !! Hurrah !

I thought I would record some of the things we have done in 2007 - courtesy of the calendar-

January -Booked holiday to USA and venice, Kids were on the Friday Night project and met Noel Edmonds.














February - Sam now 4ft 9" and Georgie 4ft 3 ", it snowed ! We went to Dorset - a bird jumped out of the kitchen cupboard and Malc - he screamed and tried to jump on top of me in the fridge ( apparantly trying to protect me !!)
















March -Auntie Mag 70 birthday party,flew to Venice - Sam in a film at shepperton film studios - "Journey to the Moon",Dad birthday

























April - I helped back stage for Flick's show,Went to Dorset with Malc's NZ family, Malc still having blood tests, caroline's wedding, went to Frinton.




May - Malc hospital , Dad Op in hospital, helped backstage for show, may fayre, Georgie hospital, Dorset.



June - see Gerry,ballet exams, trips to Southend with school, bowling parties, gas boiler blows up ( again!)Mum birthday





















July - Another school trip to Southend ,more teeth come out,took Mum to Kew gardens, theatre show, married 16 years, more hospital trips , Georgie rode her bike with no stabilisers, Sam went to St Marys for a week and played Elwood in the Blues Brothers, Ruby went to live with Liz and Tom.Passed my BSL exam.




August - Glazebox creations , Bertie the Bat got into the house and spent the night sleeping in Sam's room with him,Paid for our USA trip,went to the Tower of London for my 39th birthday, malc away, went to Frinton, weather naff, Sam shoes size 4 1/2 E georgie 13 1/2 F, Upgraded to Broadband, trip to Leeds castle, Bought Tracy the X trail






















September - Last year of Junior school for Sam - now the oldest in the school,Sam starts Cantate, last cubs,Malc away, school open evenings, bought new bedroom furniture, Georgie 8 yrs old,Malc birthday

















October - Georgina dance show, forms in for secondary school, concert for sam , Malc meets Ray Mears, looked after the neighbours fish and they all survived !Georgie starts Holy Communion lessons,more hospital appointments for all, go to Disney, Sam 11yrs old


















November - Back from Disney,British museum trip,flu jabs, school aptitude tests, surprise 40 birthday party, panto rehearsals start, start up Blog



December - you can read an in depth account here - if you haven't fallen asleep already ! Sam is now 5ft and Georgie is 4ft 5 "

I hope that 2008 brings us all health and happiness and good luck in whatever we want to do. If the premium bond or lottery numbers want to come up and earn us a fortune as well - then I think we can cope with that some how !!

Happy New Year !!! xxx

Boxing Injury

My shoulders and back are absolutely killing me !

Yesterday afternoon - in between shows we played our new Nintendo Wii - a present from Mum to all of us. We started off with bowling , followed by golf and a sedate game of tennis followed by a boxing match.

I fought against a boxer called "Oscar" and managed to knock out my opponent several times - but have been suffering really badly ever since!! I can't believe how a simple game has nearly killed me.

I helped out back stage again last night and it was very enjoyable-it was my last turn for helping.

Sam's last show is the matinee on New Years day. There is an afternoon / early evening party for the cast and crew after the show which he is really looking forward to. He has really enjoyed his first panto and has made some new friends who he hopes to keep in contact with.

We're having another lazy day today - watching DVD's and eating - so far - lunch, followed by Christmas cake , roses chocolates, shortbread biscuits , more Christmas cake and other tasty nibbles.I think we all need to spend a couple of hours on Georgie's trampoline !

Malc's had the holiday brochures out and we're looking at what to do for next year - this time last year we booked our holiday to Disney! We'll have to see how our budget is as to what destination we end up with - Southend? Frinton? - who knows- the world is our oyster!! ??

Nearly at the end

Well yesterday evening we went to actually see Sam in his show from the front ( as opposed to me watching from behind the wings back stage!)it was great and I really enjoyed it. There were 8 of us in total and we took up a whole row. One nice surprise for Sam was that one of his old teachers came to see him ( even though she has already seen the show with the school. This really meant a lot to him.

I managed to get a few photos of Sam before and after the show in his costume with his "Babe sister" and also with his teacher.This was until my digital camera decided that the memory was full !!! So other pictures I had to take on malc's mobile - not sure yet how these will come out.







We've had a look around some of the sales but haven't really bought anything yet. Georgie seemed to be the top shopper using some vouchers and doing quite well - she bought the High school musical CD for £4.98 and then the book and some others books for 99p.

When she got home we had a whole dance routine accompanied by the CD and with the help of a mini trampoline !! She had a HSM outfit for Christmas with her name on the back which she has been wearing ever since!! Malc has even been singing the odd " We're all in this together "" Bla Bla Bla.

The dishwasher has been going great but Malc has been tasked with washing saucepans when of course there is no room left in the machine (!!) Mum bought him a suitable penance for Christmas - photo attached as evidence - he really likes them!!

Whirlwind week !!!

I can't believe it's nearly all over !! The last week has been really busy. School and work didn't finish until the 21st Dec. I finished work at 10pm and then it took me an hour to get home after I had scraped the car of ice and navigated through the thick freezing fog - horrible.

Sam had two shows on 22nd Dec and one on Christmas eve. Mum took the kids to Mass this year at 6pm as by this time I was really behind with everything that I needed to do, which really helped.

Georgie decided to dress as Mary this year complete with baby. She got picked out to take up the Holy communion with a "Joseph" that just happened to be in the congregation but who also was a boy in her class. Sam got asked to take up the collection which he had never done before with his friend so was really chuffed ( He didn't dress up!). The church is quite large but even so it was standing room only and Mum having got there at 5.15pm was right at the back.




By the time I had finished icing my cake, made mince pies, quiches and prepared all the veg , set the table, tidied up, got the kids bathed and into bed it was just before midnight when I went to sleep. I had to set the alarm for 7.15 so as to get the oven on and turkey in !!

Sam and Georgie were not too far behind with shouts of "Has he been?".They were really excited and were so lucky to get some lovely presents.Malc thinks I'm mad but look at the "Orb" in the photo !








This year as the quietest Christmas we had had with only 6 people to lunch - in the past we have had up to 15- and had to resort to bringing in a garden table, which had to be rid of spiders and other creepy crawlies before covering in table cloths and made to look festive.

On Boxing day we had a lazy morning and went to Mum and dads for lunch which was nice and saw Liz, Moon and She She . In the evening we went to see "Dick Whittington" at the Harlow Playhouse ( you'd think we'd be all panto- ed out !!). We had a great time and Georgie got picked out on the stage to take part which she was really excited about. It must be some sort of record as for the past 4 years we have been going she gets picked out everytime !!!

Today Sam is back at being a "Babe " only another 5 shows to do!!. Cousin Richard and Alison are coming down today from manchester so we are all going to watch this evening in the front row. I am helping out this afternoon as a Chaperone.

This morning we are all still in our PJ's - the house is a tip with stuff every where so before we go we will have "Action stations" as I hate it when it is messy.

I managed to finish off the scrap books of our holiday photos - ended up with 3 books which took me ages for Malc.We've had a lovely week and are so lucky and thankful to have received so many nice things, a Nintendo Wii, theatre tickets, CD's, candle making kit, DVD, clothes and too much to mention.

The New Year is the next thing to think about - not quite sure what to do yet - we are both not working which is a result and don't go back until 2nd. Sam's last panto is on New Years day so will have a good think about it.

Any way - Malc has decided to set up a mini trampoline for Georgie in the hallway - which is not really the best idea so need to go and see what is happening before he subjects the neighbours to what ever will be flapping under his dressing gown !!

Sprout and Parsnip Mountain

Well as the days seem to be getting shorter before Christmas I decided to go to Tesco (again !).

As well as buying sprout and parsnip mountain just in case the kids decide to convert to sproutism over the next few days I bought Sam a new pair of tracksuit bottoms as they had been reduced in a sale.He seems to have shot up all of a sudden and a lot of his trousers are too short.

He has had one panto show this morning and then back to school and another one later tonight and had decided to wear the new trousers. When I got them out of the bag I noticed that the security tag was still attached ! So now I have to make a special trip out in the cold back to Tesco to get the tag removed - great ! Shame it wasn't a new colour TV that I just happened to wheel out of the shop in the front of my trolley , through the tag security system and past two security guards eh ! No alarm went off - luckily I still have my receipt. I haven't attempted to try to remove the tag as I'm sure that it will end up ripping a hole in the fabric.

Georgie came out of school today with a "Tiffany lamp" made entirely out of dairylea cheese triangle boxes and kitchen rolls which now has to have pride of place somewhere. We've had to make a couple of remedial repairs but other than that it's still in one bit !!






I've done a few pages on my scrap book for Malc but still have loads to do and am running out of time - I also need to get another book as this one does not have that many pages.

I still feel fairly laid back about it all , have work tomorrow but then I think I will get my act into gear and have action stations - I must remember to get the turkey out of the freezer at some point in time also ! Otherwise we will be eating from "Bird flu " cupboard or from the "Tuna mountain " contingency fund.

Never let an elephant sit on your head!

When will I become a lady of leisure - that's what I want to know ? Another day closer to Christmas and a long list of things still to do. I think I've finally managed to write most of my cards and tonight even started to wrap a few bits and pieces.

This afternoon I started to organise all of the holiday photos in to some sort of chronological order so that I can arrange them in the " scrap book kit" bought earlier in the month. It has been opened and closed more times than a tube train door waiting for me to work out what to do with it, so today I bit the bullet and started it.

I've only done about 4 pages so far - it took me ages. I've had glue up my arms and then got a rotten paper cut right under my thumb nail which is really sore.I'll try and do a bit more tomorrow but time is starting to run out!!

I've had to do the trick of being in two places at the same time again today - which I seem to be getting the hang of, then it was home for tea, "filling the dishwasher!!" and catching up on my e- mails.

This evening the kids and Malc were watching some weird programme on the telly.I heard screams of laughter and got called in - only to watch the replay of a video of a zoo keeper tending some elephants. He stupidly was standing behind the elephant when the creature decided to sit down - on the keepers head. Unfortunately for the keeper his head went right up it's derriere and he had to literally be extracted out !!! How horrible!! Still could have been worse - I suppose - but not quite sure how ???

The Lull before the storm

It's been a funny old day today! I dropped the kids off at school and walked down the town only to make the mistake of buying 5 bags of shopping and then having to carry it up the hill all the way home again - and it wasn't even food shopping !

Malc had to go to the dentist so had taken a day off - so we tried to get some bits and pieces done. This was a bad idea as he spent the rest of the morning eating the rest of an advent calendar and drinking copious amounts of tea !

We then had to go and do a food shop at Tesco as "Bird flu" cupboard needed to be re stocked. £130 later we got home and unpacked, had another cup of tea, ate half a packet of biscuits and then it was time to collect the kids and the neighbours kids in a large walking convoy! The weather was bitterly cold.

When we got in it was time to get tea ready , make some mince pies and get our stuff ready for tomorrow. Sam has 2 shows tomorrow and so won't be at school - he's really miffed as they've changed the day for the school Christmas lunch and he's going to miss it which is a real shame.

I can't believe that this time next week it will be Christmas Eve - despite running around like a headless chicken most of the past month I don't really feel very prepared and am sure that I will start to panic a bit in a few days time especially as I am having to work an extra day this week.

I actually feel quite calm at the moment - hence my title -the lull before the storm - I'm expecting full scale thunder before the end of the week!!!!

The good thing is that the dishwasher works !!

All in a week

This week has been even busier than normal with work and home life completely manic!
Sam has had rehearsals nearly every day which has meant getting home from school/ work eating and changing and out of the door within 15 minutes and straight down to the Arts complex.

Wednesday and Thursday saw Georgina doing her school play. Saturday morning was more rehearsals for the panto , Saturday afternoon was the Nativity play with real sheep , donkeys and an Alpaca with a false hump pretending to be a camel!
Not forgetting the normal routine of washing, ironing, cooking, cleaning and shopping.

The weather was bitterly cold but all of the kids looked great and performed really well. The setting was really nice- Pets corner with a proper stable and beautiful lighting and props - it looked wonderful.










After the Nativity we dashed back home for a quick tea and then the Big Night - Sam's first night of the panto. Malc and I had also bought a cheap real Christmas tree on the way back which we hid outside as a surprise for kids - so that they could decorate their own tree - this then involved hoovering out the car because of all the needles and muck that it left behind!

The panto went brilliantly - Sam remembered all of his lines and did really well with the other " Babe". There is one scene when they get abandoned in a dark forest by the Sheriff's evil hench men. The lighting and dry ice really adds to the atmosphere , as well as the music.Then the wolves come on ( group of dancing girls who are fabulous)and surround the Babes - only to be rescued by Robin Hood, his Merry men and Nurse Nora Courgette ( the Panto Dame ).

It was a really great evening - only another 12 to go !!

Today we have had quite a chilled out day - the kids really needed it - just to play and watch TV and early to bed.The dishwasher is finally plumbed in - only took 5 hours !!! Then I discovered that I did not have any dishwasher salt in the cupboard so can't use it until tomorrow - the burning ceremony of gloves is going to have to wait one more day!

This evening the kids decorated their tree for the hall - they made a great job of it and it looks better than the one I did with them earlier on in the month.The only complication we had as that Georgie wanted her Angel put on the top where as Sam wanted an alternative - "Patrick" the star fish from Sponge Bob square pants. The Angel won this time around but watch this space !

101 Uses for an old pair of rubber gloves !

Well the day has finally arrived and the dishwasher is at last here !!! And it appears on first inspection in one piece - however I haven't got it plumbed in yet !!

This morning started off fairly badly at 4.30 am - the toaster blew up twice and fused all the electrics down stairs, the car was covered in thick ice and it took me a while to find the scraper and then I spent the next 10 hours at work!Oh and it's only 250 days till I'm 40 !

This evening we went to see Georgie in her Christmas play - it was really good and covered the story of the nativity but in a very comical and non blasphmous way -bit like life of Brian crossed with the wizard of Oz but a tamer form !! It was very entertaining with singing sheep , surfboarding angels and more !! Sam was due to play "God " which he did in all of the rehearsals but because of all the panto rehearsals there was a clash and he couldn't do it tonight - luckily it has been videoed before at school so we should get to see him.It was a shame as he really wanted to be in it - but you can't have everything! I can't believe that it is his last Christmas at school - very scary !

The weather is freezing outside at the moment and the car , which I should have covered over is already icy.

I got thinking today about recycling my rubber gloves as now I no longer need them - well nearly any way. There are probably 101 uses for them - handlebar covers for motorbikes,a waterproof hat for a garden gnome, I could even blow then up and have them as car aerial mascots - so that i know where I have parked my car on a busy market day - the list is endless.

I could even sell them on Ebay!

I now need to work on the plumbing skills of Mr J, hopefully it will be a quick and easy job - maybe I should hold onto the gloves for a little while longer- just in case??!

The Delivery driver with no brain

Yesterday I answered the door to a delivery driver who said nothing but hand me a parcel, a very large heavy one at that ! I was in my dressing gown at the time having just had a shower and getting the kids ready for school.

He then jumped in his van and started to reverse down the driveway. When I looked the the address on the label it wasn't even for my house or me ! I then chased him down the road in my dressing gown , clutching the parcel in one hand and waving with my other - only to be ignored.

The instructions hand written on the front of the parcel were - if no one is in put it in the brown bin at the side of the house ! The parcel seemed to contain parts for a truck - hence the weight ! It was actually quicker to deliver the parcel myself than phone up the company and get "Nerd man" to collect it again and redeliver it. When I got to the house there was no one there so as the instructions said I deposited the said item in the labelled bin ! I'm sure that this is not what the recycling dept of the council had intended the bin to used for - but hey ho.

I had a busy night picking the kids up eating tea and getting out of the door in the space of 25 minutes as Sam had to be at rehearsals at 4.30 and I was helping out. He actually did really well as he knew all of his lines and was word perfect ( I don't know how he remembers so much !)

This week we are going to be to-ing and fro- ing quite a bit but especially on Saturday. I'll actually be relieved when we get to Sunday!

Tomorrow is the delivery day of the new dishwasher - I'm just hoping that it will all be ok and in working order.

Stoke up the fire - the pink rubber gloves are on their way out!!!

Organised but lacking a bit of Inspiration

Yesterday I wrote a "What's happening today list?" which covers up to the 1st January 2008. I wrote it in order to stop Malc asking me the very question , "What's happening today?".

Sometimes I feel like the social secretary & PA for the whole clan. I'm for ever saying phrases like - "Go and brush your teeth , get your room tidied, have you got your PE kit? , Where's your homework? , What the heck is your father doing? Who left that there? Do this, Do that - you get the picture!

The list details times where we all have to be , pick up times and venues - it's been a bit like an operational order - but hopefully it will help to organise Malc.

However today when he came out with - "Where's the list?" - I could have crowned him ! - I'm now going to have to issue him with his own personal copy - knowing that he'll lose it by tomorrow and won't have a clue what's happening.

My photographs from our holiday have now arrived and are waiting for me to organise them beautifully in a scrap book. I've got a lovely kit which has lots of bits and pieces in apart from any instruction on what to do and how to create a masterpiece. I've got it out once and had to put it away again as I'm not really sure how best to start it - I currently have an empty scrap book with plastic sleeves. I need some inspiration!!!!!!!!! I have several ideas but it probably won't turn out quite right - the first question is - to I stick the photos on the card with glue or proper photo corners? Do I lay the card out first or afterwards? It's a real dilemma !

Today I have conquered "Ironing mountain " cleaned out the guinea pigs in the kids absence as Georgie was at a party and Sam has been at rehearsals and have just finished washing up after tea ( Roll on the arrival of my new dishwasher on Wednesday !!!)

I'm working most of next week - so the "What's happening today list" will hopefully be well used ( if not lost!)

Soggy Bottoms

Well it's done nothing but rain, rain and more rain today! We did the normal weekend thing - dancing and theatre club traipsing around Harlow for 3 hours.

Sam and Georgina were due to take part in a nativity today ( outside!) but thankfully it has been postponed until next week - the only complication being that Sam has his first panto next week so we will be really busy.

He really wants to do the nativity as they have real sheep and donkeys etc which he is really excited about - the playhouse are also laying on food and drink for the kids which always goes down well with Sam. He is like the human dustbin and eats as much as Malc - he is always hungry - unlike Georgie who always is after a drink !

The topic of conversation today got around to cowboys and Indians - not quite sure how but Sam was trying to explain about, I quote "Wild West-Indians" to Georgie in the back of the car. We had to correct him as to the use of " Indians" as those who wear feathers and headresses and not "wild "West Indians" but he couldn't quite understand what he were getting at!!

The kids then reminded Malc how last year he bought a CD for £10 from a group of "Indians" dressed in their outfits with t-pee in the middle of " -Arlow town" as he had spent time listening to them playing and thought that they were really good in a moment of madness.

When he got the CD home it was not as he had hoped and had contained those well known hits of " Shamboo Wokatonka" and the old favourite " Ly- Olay -Ale Loya" not forgetting "Howling at the Moon". He was really cross and of course they weren't there the next week !!!

This afternoon I'm going to try to catch up on things to do on the " To do" list. Yesterday I managed to fix Mum's computer so at least she can continue on with her blogging. I can't quite finally sort out dad's lap top as think we need a new modem - but will get it done eventually. Computers can sometimes be the most annoying thing on the planet - well almost - apart from the Abbey bank - or possibly husbands!!

The "Olive" clone

After a busy day shopping , cleaning, washing and collecting kids from school I had to go to a meeting tonight at the local theatre for all the parents who have agreed to be chaperones at this years panto.

I actually thought that I had met some strange people in my time but tonight I met a clone of "Olive from the cult programme On the Buses!!". She was the spitting image of her and I couldn't stop staring. I started to drift off into a bit of a day dream and remembered the part of the film when Olive was expecting and "Arfur" put her in the side car to his motorbike enroute to the hospital! I also seem to remember that she had pickled onion craving.

She was a really miserable woman - God help the kids who get her!! Luckily on the rota I only get to "work" with her once.

I got home to find that Georgie had made some Angel decorations at Brownies - really lovely except one of the is minus her wings as they flew across the car park in the wind when Malc picked her up. She was a little bit upset but hopefully we can replace them fairly easily.The Brownie leaders are so creative- every week she brings home some really nice things and very inventive.

Any way another really busy day tomorrow and a hectic weekend to follow. This week is flying by and there's still so much to do !

Determined to get my dishwasher!

I've a stressful couple of days - I can't mention the word "bank" withour gritting my teeth and wanting to scream. The saga is continuing with Malc's missing credit card but what's more I have now had a problem with my card.

The story so far -Debbie decides that after 3 months of having a dishwasher that is broken , a husband who is never going to fix it and "washing up hands"( because he is too tight to buy fairy liquid - mild and gentle - so we have Tesco's own " Lets burn your skin off" as it's cheap variety) - she buys a dishwasher on line from Sainsburys.

She gets a message to contact Sainsbury's to arrange delivery of the new item only to find out that there is a problem with her bank card ( no further details)

Debbie contacts the bank by phone and gets through to a call centre somewhere on the planet other than the UK at £200 a minute to be put on hold and subjected to suicidal lift music for an eternity.

After she has given her date of birth , address, bank details, waist measurement and blood group she gets to speak to "Trevor" and tells her tale.

"Trevor" now knowing her life story tells her that there is no problem with the card and says to get back onto sainsburys.

Debbie gets back onto Sainsbury's - slightly cheaper call -to speak with a different call handler who tries the card again and say again there is a problem and the bank need to be contacted.

Debbie then phones the bank yet again - now getting slightly more than miffed, gives more details and speaks to "Brenda" who puts Debbie on hold to speak to a supervisor for 15 minutes subjecting her to another bout of annoying xylophone recitals.

"Brenda " then tells Debbie that she is going to transfer her to another department - "the Fraud department" but "Oh dear they've just closed" you'll have to phone tomorrow- I can't tell you anything you need to speak with them - Well thanks very much !!!

Bored yet ???

Debbie waits all night wondering if her bank card has been cloned or if the Child benefit agency has managed to sell her details on line for a quid so that some other **** can get a dishwasher at her expense!!

After a restless night Debbie phones the bank yet again and speaks to "Mr Unknown " who yells " Fraud!" on the phone from the oppsite side of the room to where his phone receiver was- other than that he was in trap 2 sorting out his daily constitution.

"Fraud" then says oh no we stopped your card just to wind you up knowing that you often buy stuff from Tesco and Sainsburys and as it's Christmas and that the stuff you had ordered was going to your address - thought it would be a laugh to embarrass you in front of everyone and cost you a fortune just to listen to a pile of old duff music - I'll take off the block and let you carry on spending your own hard earned money - your card is absolutely fine!"

Debbie then had to phone sainsburys again - and finally managed to pay for her dishwasher - sods law that it won't work !!

I understand entirely that the bank were trying to protect my hard earned savings from an unscrupulous character pretending to be a hard working woman with red raw hands and food encrusted plates to buy an item from a local store to be delivered to an address where she has lived for the past 9 years - other than that Mr J has put a spanner in the works to save a measly few quid !!

When it eventually arrives I will have a burning ceremony of my rubber gloves !

It's confession time

It's been a real funny old day today. I've actually achieved quite a lot and I've been rushing around like a mad thing - however when I look at my list of things to do I realise that actually I haven't really done that much at all!

The weekend has been and gone as quick as a flash and was hectic as per normal. I actually had to be in two places at once today both at 4 o clock - when all of the school traffic was on the road and at either ends of the town as you could possibly get.

Sam and Georgina got out of school a bit later than normal at 3.40 in the rain ( it always rains at pick up time!!) so I stood getting wet, got back to the car to find that some one had parked a car in a space that wasn't there near to me which caused a few choice words and some careful manoeuvring. Luckily "Tracy" ( our tank) has power steering which helps.

I then got stuck behind a learner driver who decided to stall at every set of traffic lights on the one way system making us wait at every set of lights "twice!"

Sam got ejected from the car at 3.51 into panto rehearsals which allowed me 9 minutes exactly to get back to the other end of town , find a car parking space and run to the church as today was Georgina's first Confession which started with a service dead on at 4pm.

I managed to make it through the town and over all the speed bumps and then had a brain wave that if I diverted up a side street I could park in the parish centre disused car park and run through a footpath which ends up outside the church - brilliant! So that's what we did with 2 minutes to spare !

Georgina had been really nervous about this ( we had a practice run last night as she was worrying about how much she was going to have to confess (!) and thought she was going to have to do it in front of everyone).

She was fine when we got in as she saw all of her friends but then got really anxious as one by one the children were led to the confessional room in alphabetical order. The longer we waited the more nervous she got. Unfortunately she got a little bit upset but managed to calm down to confess all.

When we got home she was fine and actually said that "It wasn't that bad after all "

Malc was on the phone to the bank when we got home and was very miffed as in September he had applied for a credit card before we went away and asked it to be delivered to the bank where he would pick it up in person when we got home.

They actually tried to deliver it once when we were away and then decided that we had obviously moved !! so put a stop on all of our bank cards!! He had to go down to the bank personally with 4 pieces of ID to prove who he was and where we lived to reactivate them before they decided to close the account !!!!.

He phoned up to complain again tonight as he still has no credit card and no bank statements. This was the 4th phone call and each time they have promised to sort it out and phone him back ( which they have never done !).It's very frustrating - I think the next thing will be another personal visit to the bank manager.

Good will to all - apart from flies!

Last night whilst feeling very festive and having already put up the tree I brought some bags of decorations down from the loft and left them in the sitting room.Picture the scene , decks boughed with holly, glowing coal fire, shining lights on the Christmas tree and Christmas carols being wafted around the room via the stereo.

To my amazement a massive blue bottle appeared from absolutely nowhere and started to buzz frantically around the room.
As quickly as the fly had appeared it's days were definitely numbered as the next thing I knew ( even before I could get my newspaper rolled and prepare myself for swatting action!) it flew around the top of the lamp and then "BANG!, FIZZLE FIZZLE CRACK POP" - instant death to the then tune of " Chestnuts roasting on an open fire!".

For a split second I thought "Poor old fly" and "What a way to go ". That was before I then found myself in the room of a funeral pire and instant cremation as a huge plume of stinking black acrid smoke started to billow out of the top of the lamp and suck all of the available oxygen out of the room. Absolutely horrible!

Right on cue Malc and the kids then appeared and gave me the look of " What the hell is that stink?

We spent the next half an hour waiting for the lamp to cool down so that we could scrape fly dibbits off the bulb.Was this a sign of impending doom ??

Today has been " Right get the house tidied" day and everyone has been given jobs to do and threatened with " That's it it's going in the bin !" Despite sounding harsh it does have the desired effect and slowly the house is returning to slightly tidier than "Pig sty status"

This afternoon it's " Finish your homework time for Sam " and Georgina is "serenading" us with recorder and violin recitals and has been banished to " the other room ".

Dare I say it " Roll on Monday!!!"

A Partridge in a Pear tree

It's the 1st December the tree is up ( well the imitation one any way)the kids have started on their advent calendars and it's time to get writing the Christmas cards.
This year Sam and Georgina have made cards at school which will raise funds. I'll post a copy of them when we have them.
It's been the normally hectic weekend so far in between acting as taxi driver, head cook, bottle washer ( as the dishwasher is still broken !)ironing duties, shopper,homework supervisor, guinea pig mucker outer and general dogsbody! Tomorrow doesn't really get any better and then it's Monday!

I don't really feel prepared for Christmas at the moment but I'm sure with the normal last minute panic everything will be alright.

Oh to be a snowman! or even a man ( Life would be so easy!)