Continental Style

The continental market came to town. It was a lovely sunny day today so we decided to go and check it out. I only took Toni, Seb and Sol with me, we left the pup at home with my oldest child who is currently studying like a mad man for his exams. When we arrived in town and got out the car I just took one look at Sol. Well, it was funny but not funny at the same time ... Sol was wearing a wrinkly old coat that I save for the garden for her. I made her take it off and go put it in the car, but of course then she was cold. We ended up going to the clothes store in search of something warm for her to wear. I started rummaging through the sale rails and found a cute little coat for her for only £7, so the pain was lessened.

We spent the next couple of hours just wandering about then I took the kids for lunch at the KFC. I cheated and bought them snack boxes instead of kids meals, they didn't notice lucky for me.

 

Sol showing off her new jacket on the beach this afternoon.

 

Posted with Blogsy

Tree Today Gone Tomorrow

I love our front garden.  Its not very big, certainly very small in comparison to the back garden.  However the little garden is pretty and has a cosy feel to it, if you could describe a garden in that way. When we moved in to our house there were two little trees in one of the borders, they were fine and didn't cause any trouble at all.  Over the years the trees have gotten larger and have at times been in the way.  They block the light and  I cant see the children playing from the dining room window.  They had to go.
Our neighbour who is a keen chainsaw-er very kindly offered to do the deed for us.  So on Saturday we decided that while the rain stayed away we would go ahead with the job. Sol got very upset at the prospect of losing her trees.  She hid from the sound of the chainsaw and wanted to make a tree grave for our two trees.  She came round however at the promise that I plant something new and pretty, something that will attract butterflies in the summer. 

The rest of the week was uneventful.  We had another day up in the city of Belfast shopping.  Seb needed new shoes for his Boy's Brigade club so we made that an excuse to go shopping again.  He did well him and his sisters got chatting to the shop assistants in the Geox shop and ended up with three Geox watches to go along with Seb's new shoes.
Later on in the Castle Court Centre Seb was watching the Pretzel makers at Auntie Annes pretzel stall, he watched intently how they stretched and rolled the dough.  After a few minutes the pretzel guys came over and gave him this huge pretzel for free.  Seb was delighted of course and they were more than happy to give him further demonstrations in pretzel making.  I thought that was really nice.

Another Birthday and A Sticky Patch

Here we are two days past Toni's birthday, she is now ten years old.  True to form the birthdays in our family always have a little run of bad luck.  Toni shares her birthday with the anniversary of the death of my mother. It is sometimes hard to not forget about how my mum died on my daughters 5th birthday, I try my best to put it aside for Toni's sake.

The day was boringly uneventful.  Other half had an idea inspired by the latest series of The Apprentice, so in a bid to get some inspiration we visited a neighbouring town and its market.  In the years gone by my memories of the market are a buzzing lively event, but sadly on Saturday it was dull, small and lacking in pizazz.  Anyway we had a good morning looking around, Mag bought himself a winter hoody and the kids were more than happy looking at the toys on offer.

Toni had raised the point that she didn't like the icing on shop bought birthday cakes and requested that I would make her cake for her.  Better still she later asked for big swirly cupcakes which to me are easier to make than baking and icing a birthday cake.  I have done the kids cakes before but they are usually a two day event and I am never 100% happy with their outcome.

Earlier in the week I had taken the girls shopping to Belfast and got all of the kids pretty much kitted out for the winter.  We had a great day and are planning another trip later on this week to get some shoes for the boys as that was about the only thing I couldn't get.

The girls enjoying their shopping spree.

Oh, and something funny to add.   Sol has a huge sense of humour, she just makes everyone smile everywhere she goes.  As you will know from the blog posts I write she has to wear a patch on her eye for a number of hours every day.  These patches are sticky and pretty, Sol likes to stick them in memorable places as she hates to throw them away.  It is now a standing joke that everywhere we go she leaves a patch behind on a pillar or a fence.  At the shopping precinct in a nearby town she has a few patches dotted around.  She sticks them on the rear sides of the parking pillars usually and checks them each time we visit.  One particular patch was stuck on the pillar near a bank, it was stuck there for a couple of weeks and it looks as though someone found it. It was unpeeled and stuck onto the window of the bank much to our amusement.  Three weeks later the patch was still stuck onto the bank window!  This shows that the bank people do not clean their windows.  You can just about see in the photo, it is worn but still there. 

What Is It About Birthdays?

What is it about birthdays lately? We don't seem to have the luck that we need to have a complete birthday without some sort of incident. Last night other half was taking Mag to his club and the car went 'pop'.  Out of the exhaust billowed thick black smoke and after a few minutes it settled down.  This morning was a different matter, other half left early to go to his secret handshake meeting and I could hear him kangaroo jumping the car down the road.  After a few minutes the car was fine, or so it seemed.  I  had planned on taking the children out for the day, after all it was Mag's birthday and I at least wanted to do something a little different for him.  However, I waited for the call from other half ... it never came.  I had a feeling there was something wrong with the turbo on the car so I eventually tracked him down to explain.  He said that the car was fine, but unconvinced I held on at home for him.  Next thing I knew I got a call explaining he was kangaroo jumping down the road again with black smoke pouring out the back.

Fast forward a couple of hours and the car was at the garage up on the ramp getting checked out. I met other at the repair shop there so he could get home if the car had to stay.  Just as I suspected it was to do with the turbo, lucky for us the pipe had just popped off and was easy enough to fix.  The guy didn't even charge us which was a huge relief as we just didn't have spare cash for an unexpected car bill.

We didn't get our day out to the city in the end but we did go to a local shopping area to do some birthday shopping.  Mag, birthday boy, got a tee shirt, some game cards, a book, and he ordered a pair of boots which should be in his possession on Monday.  He is very happy as he also received a gaming wheel and a stand for his favoured game Gran Turismo.  He is as happy as a pig in muck today.

One Door closes ...

One door closes and another opens ...

This is not the case for Seb, my poor little boy who has a sore head now thanks to a well known supermarket's front doors. The supermarket is on Main Street, Bangor, otherwise known as ASDA!

I will start by saying I have no issues with ASDA and I am very happy with the way in which this was taken care of.

We went into the town yesterday morning, mainly with a bank errand - needed money, had to pay money in to the bank accounts. The funny thing is you cant live without money in the bank to buy food and pay the mortgage! Anyway I also needed to get some of Roy's natural alternative cholesterol tablets, those are the ones with plant esterols in instead prescribed statins which give him some undesirable symptoms along with helping his cholesterol levels.

Anyway enough of the rambling, we needed to get a birthday present for on of the neighbours children so decided to pop into ASDA to see if they had anything nice. As we were about to walk in the door we were approached by a charity box shaker man and I felt obligated to stop and go rummaging in my pockets for change. As I did Seb skipped on towards the doors, they are the automatic doors that open and close when they 'know' you are there. A lady went on ahead of Seb and triggered the doors, he stopped as he went through and turned to see if I was behind him - as he did the doors closed on his head. Once they hit him they bounced back open but the damage was already done. Within seconds a nasty looking red bump appeared and Seb was very upset. I marched straight over to the customer services desk to complain. They brought the store manager down who took all our details and arranged to look at the security camera footage. Don't get me wrong here, this was not about getting somebody into trouble, Seb will live but the worry would be that it could happen again with more serious injury to another child. They took photographs of Seb's head and then took us up to view the footage from the camera. Initially the camera guy said Seb walked into the doors, but on watching the footage you can see this was not the case. Turns out when he stopped in the middle the sensor did not detect he was there, it skimmed just over the top of his head so the doors automatically started closing. The footage showed him turning around and the door closing against his head, them him bouncing back in fright as the doors opened again.

The manager is reporting this to their head office and they have also called the door service engineers out to look at how this could happen. I suspect I will hear from them soon of their findings. Meanwhile Seb has an egg on his head.

Mag in Uniform

Do you think Mag is handsome? Well I do, this is him in his Boys Brigade uniform yesterday (Sunday 5th April). He was marching in the Battalion Parade through Belfast - we are proud of him.

While we were in Belfast watching him we checked out the town centre, have not been there for ages either so it was a welcome visit.

We could not go to Belfast without visiting the Dome at Victoria square. Last time we went up into the dome it was dark and the city was all lit up so today was the first time in daylight.


Outside Victoria square we saw a strange man climbing through a tennis racquet with no strings. He also juggled fire batons, I could not help laugh when he was loading them up with fuel whilst he had a cigarette in his mouth - DER!

12th March - Entertainment at Ikea

We found ourselves child free last Thursday - its not what you think actually we hadn't escaped and left the kids with a sitter or anything. Roy finished work early and asked us if we fancied a trip out. Roy suggested going to B&Q but I protested a little after the last trip we had to that store, well not really for that reason. Actually I have decided what I want to do in my hallway, I don't need to see yet another tin of paint.

We plumped for Ikea in the end, I love Ikea! You can get lost easily in the Ikea store and spending money is almost compulsory too! Ashley stayed at home because he was not feeling so well. We took the other children with us but had not reckoned on the creche being empty or buck shee. So the children got booked into the creche and we strolled around looking at this bedroom fitment and that. I enjoyed our 45 minutes that the children were booked into the creche for, then even nicer was the additional half hour the girl in the creche let us have because they were not busy. We managed to get a cup of tea and a funny looking bun from the cafe too. When we finally picked up the children it felt like the trip was over, I mean we walked the whole way round Ikea and managed to keep our wallets in our pockets (well Roy's wallet in his pocket). I saw a dining table which would be perfect for us, price was nice too .... maybe I will get it one day.

After creche out we took the children up to the seating area in the cafe, this area over looks the end of the George Best Airport runway. It was fun to see the planes taxing down and then taking off, we saw a couple of planes land also. Then down below the windows you could see onto the loading bays - we watched people going about their business and the trolley guys playing with the trolleys in flower beds.

On the way out of the store we stopped at the clearance section where they have the ex-display stuff or things that have got damaged. Never being able to resist a bargain we had a rummage in there - BIG MISTAKE. I mean we did get the whole wall covered in Toni's bedroom .... perfect for storing all her crates and things (which is an issue). It is a pale pine wood approx 6 foot tall by 6 wide. The price was less than £85 previously marked at £185 so we felt we got a bargain, it was all Roy's idea! The unit itself had a tiny little chip on one of the brackets so that's £100 off just for someone being bit careless when they were building it. It looks a bit like this one, its a nice pale wood which are like strips laminated together.


Getting the unit in the car was another concern. The unit in the store was already erected so we asked if we could dismantle it ... the girl said we could but not until it had been paid for. DUMB STUPID STORE RULES. Okay - trolley - large unit - 3 toddler size children - yeah yeah I hear ya its only stupid people who do stuff like that.
Navigating the unit through the check out was an experience. Waiting in the queue for customer services to get the tools to dismantle the unit was another experience. The people in front were so slow, I mean how long does it actually take to get a price for a vase? "Use your flipping legs and walk into the store to find out" DOH!
Eventually we got a couple of allen keys so we can dismantle the unit. We divided it into two initially because it was precarious stood up on a trolley. Then I parked myself and the two trolleys at the door while Roy and the kids went to bring the car round to the pick up bays. Whilst they were gone I was people watching. I always find it amusing to see people come out of DIY shops and like places with huge 8x4 sheets or something or other then struggle to get them into their little cars. I always giggle at those people and now the watcher was about to become watched and that thought was even more comical. I noticed a lively family struggle their way to their van. The family's 5 foot palm tree blew over in the wind, it spilled compost on the ground and they just left it laying there! The woman held a packet of what looked liked chocolate hobnobs and she just continued to munch away on them whilst the two men wrestled two trolleys worth of flat pack boxes into their van. Oh they did go back and retrieve the tree but not before it blew over again leaving another pile of compost on the path.

Roy and the children arrived back too soon spoiling my entertainment, and then it was our turn to entertain the world. It wasn't that hard really, dismantling the unit - we had to re arrange the seat configuration in the galaxy (minivan to my USA friends) but still after plenty of discussions we got it in and the children seated safely though not without complaint. I turned around when we were finished and I noticed the car behind us, the nice man in there watching - he was smiling at our achievement (at least that's how I would like to put it) ... we almost took a bow there and then.

The unit is in situ now - its still empty because I have not had time to put Toni's toy boxes on it yet. Maybe tomorrow ....

This One Went Wrong

I am sitting here listening to my eldest three children fighting over the placement of the sofa cushions! You would think it would be a pointless thing to fight over but according to them its not. The talk we had earlier about being nice to each other appears to have fallen on deaf ears.

We have had a week off from school this week, well everyone is pretty much up to speed on everything they need to so we came to a family decision to loaf around.

Monday was pretty much uneventful - we took a trip to the library which was cut short for various reasons. One of the cars was in for an MOT test, which it failed on a brake light being out. That meant another £17 for a retest. The evening was spent pretty much doing running about for the children's various clubs.

We have been stripping the wallpaper of our hall so the house was in real need of dusting, and tidying so I must admit I have been really good this week and managed to keep everything at a tolerable level of containment.

Tuesday we had to go to the supermarket I had not planned that trip but little did I realise that we had no night time nappies. Discovered that at 11pm Monday night when we lifted Seb to put him on the loo, the moment after his old pants were ripped off and placed in the bin! We had to improvise ... just lucky we had got a free sample of lady incontinence pants in the post - I never got round to wearing them! I covered them up with two layers of towelling pants. Seb's Pyjamas ware surprisingly dry in the morning which was a first. The rest of the day was taken up by mundane stuff like washing curtains and things you know how it goes. Oh and the car - we got it retested and it passed! The Rainbow's drop off on Tuesday evening was not significant except I couldn't help but notice in the twilight the people hurrying into the village with their beloved daughters, the cars pulling in fighting for parking spaces - and our local shop lit up like a beacon on the dull street. If was a funny moment I had, sort of people watching, maybe I am a little crazy after all.

This morning was nothing more than an exploratory run to the DIY store. I must say I was disappointed by the lack of variety of styles of paper they had for our hallway. Seems there is a fashion just now for big whirly leaf like designs which I just don't want in my hallway - I don't want brown or silver wallpaper either nor do I want a teal blue. HUMPH. The paint - well I decided to go for paint after the lack of inspiration in the paper department. I haven't settled on a colour or shad yet, nor have I decided whether I will have light reflective paint by dulux, durable stuff, dead flat matt by crown, silk, vinyl, suede effect, washable or something else I cannot remember to mention. The colour charts only confuse the issue further - so it looks like I am going to go for cream!

I want to share these videos of the children, we were just mucking around!




And this one went wrong!

POST-IT NOTES and starfish

Nothing much to report today, well I am sure there is loads but quite frankly I am too tired this evening to write about it all. We went to W5 today, well three of the children went one stayed at home with daddy. My three year old wasn't too hot so I thought it best she stick close to home, I was so tied between her and going to W5 but I guess I did not want to spoil the day for everyone else.

We watched a couple of the demonstrations as well as looking at all the exhibits. Here is Toni enjoying part of the show.


I do have to share something else funny...
On our way back we stopped at Tesco, we found this car in the car park which had the windows covered in post-it notes. I wonder why they were put there, I wonder how long they took to stick on, and I wonder what will happen when the owner finds the car decorated like this.

Ebay

If you are like me and a little 'Web Wise@ thwn you will have done some of your Christmas shopping on Ebay!

I have heard this song before but I still think it is funny!


EBAY by WEIRD AL

Belfast Wheel And Continental Market

With Roy going away in the morning for a few days (work related) we decided to have a family day out. We had failed to visit the continental market in Belfast a few weeks ago when we were in the city so we decided to have another go. The day was pleasant and there were no crowds to speak of, remembering last year's visit I am only too glad. We set off around lunch time, well after lunch by the time we got all the children in the car. You think we had 100 kids the length of time it takes us to get out the door. The melee caused by three mini children and one full size child is plenty for anyone, one of those children was the same child that managed to knock over a kitchen roll display in our local shop yesterday. I think we might be barred now - perhaps you might see us on one of those cop shows next month. Oh and my husband just happened to point out to us that we weren't going to Belfast to go into any shops DOH I thought that was the whole point, stupid!

I have a few photographs of the day, I wont apologise for the quality of the photos - it is me the photo taker who has failed today. I failed to operate my son's shirt pocket size mini point and shoot camera - it is so simple to use I couldn't work it DUH.

The children in the car


The wheel from afar



and close (yes I did this shot before, and yes I do like the wheel)



Belfast from the top of the wheel - it was raining and the photos were took from inside the pod obviously so the views are through glass





The Continental market was quite expensive, well it was not the usual stuff you get in Tesco I guess. We bought a pick and mix with 12 sweets in it and that came to £3.65!




Oh yes ..... I almost forgot

Us up high!



Sol is the cutest little girl I know ( I am biased I know but find me a cuter girl?)

Visit To Santa

Saturday was a bit different from usual. Started off we were dead lazy and had a lie in. We should be working on some painting but there you go.

The afternoon was spent running the children to chess club, and going to Harveys to get some shelves for Ashley's wardrobes. The shelves - which I eventually got (only through powers of persuasion) for a more respectable price of £28 wen they were marked at £71 - yes £71 for three pieces of covered chipboard!
On the way back I drove through the town which was relatively busy, but I did notice Woolworths wasn't so bad. I decided to take the kids on an impromptu shopping trip. This attempt at having a look at the Woolworths sale was definitely more fruitful than the last. The other day we went and the people were queued down the whole length of the shop and there were 'bouncers' on the door. This time I managed to get a few bargains including some smart new everyday cutlery which we were in desperate need of, glasses, socks, Christmas decorations, glittery things, a couple of watches and some clothes for the children.





We also stopped off to see Santa Claus in the Flagship Centre, Bangor.


He was a nice Santa and spent quite a few minutes with the children.























These are photos of the photos so they are not high quality, I think they came out okay all the same.

In the evening Roy and I managed to sneak off to the cinema. We were owed quite a number of babysitting hours from our neighbours so we took advantage of that and went to see Quantom Of Solace. It was good but I much preferred Casino Royale. Oh and Bangor Multiplex has been done out it is worth a visit, we much enjoyed the very comfortable VIP seats which were leather reclining sofas.

Trip round Belfast

SUNDAY
We collected Mag from his friend's house in Carrickfergus this morning. He had a blast -movie which was Ghost Town, a pizza hut feast and sleep over.
We had decided to kill two birds with one stone so to speak and head into Belfast to see the Christmas lights and head to the continental market. We didn't make the market in the end but we still saw plenty.

The tree at the Victoria Square Shopping Centre. This tree was impressive, apparently the tallest in Belfast. I had to stitch the photos together as I couldn't get it taken in one go.

This is the Belfast Wheel, we didn't go on it this time as we just ran out of hours in the day, the children were tired and hungry by the time we made our way round. We had gone on it last year and it boasts an impressive view of the city.

Belfast City Hall Christmas tree.

Toni ended up with her hair done! There was stall in the Castle Court shopping centre promoting Babycurls curlers. One of the staff took a shine to Toni, he offered to do her hair, after a few minute of shyness she agreed! The result was beautiful, she sat so good while she was having her hair done and although it took a couple of hours it was well worth the wait. The hair designer (apparantly different to a hair dresser) said her hair was astoundingly good and in the last year and a half had never done such lovely hair. Well of course what made Toni grow to ten feet tall.

Busy day

I want to get my kitchen painted this weekend. Well painted, papered, I don’t really care which right now. We, finally after 5 and a half months, got plans passed for the building of a fair sized extension to our house and that will include a whole new kitchen. So for now I just want my kitchen fresh and tidy again (which it isn’t very tidy just now). I started emptying my cupboards this morning for a good clean and so far I have managed to do three hours lessons for the kids, been to the butcher shop, chemist, blogged a little and been on freecycle too … not much cleaning going on.


Organize Your Kitchen

The kitchen is often the centre of a family home, with people gathering there to do many activities in addition to cooking and eating. The more organized your kitchen is, the more inviting it will be. I love having my kitchen organised, if things are not in tubs with snap tight lids then I think the cupboards look messy and things get spilled easy. I don’t want to have to go wiping everything down all the time.

Its always a good idea to take a quick inventory when you are sorting things out, its perfect way to check what you might need for Christmas which is almost upon us. Are there items that you have unnecessary duplicates of that you don't really need? If so, get rid of them, do you really need 6 boxes of lasagne? Pass them on to your friends or neighbours, checking the dates as you go of course. Passing extra food on not only makes you feel good but clutters up their cupboards instead - this in turn makes your kitchen look good.

There are a few simple changes that you can make to your kitchen to help with storage. Many items once opened have a habit of spilling out and not stacking neatly. in the cupboards. This is where the snap shut containers come in – tee hee. Pots and pans are a pain, I find they start off neatly stacked but through time you gather more and it seems that no body in the house knows how to stack them apart from you. You could hang your pots with butcher hooks from a rail, this makes them more accessible. There are many nice designs you can buy that will fit with most any décor.

The way your kitchen is laid out will have an impact in how you organize your tools and cooking supplies. An island offers a wonderful workspace that also provides a good deal of storage - my new kitchen is going to have an island. Storing your bakewear near the oven is a logical thing to do. Sometimes the oven itself will have a storage drawer in the base where you can keep baking sheets and less bulky items. Your other baking supplies like spatulas, wooden spoons, and ladles, can be stored in drawers near the oven too.

It is also a good idea to store your dishes, glassware and cutlery near the dishwasher or sink. This reduces the amount of time it takes to put things away after washing. There are many cupboard and drawer organizers that can help maximize your space for storing your dishes as well, many are able to be bought from pound shops and the like.

There are many organization and storage units that can help increase your storage space. Even an extra set of shelves on top of the cabinet can increase your space. Open canisters also make a great place to store larger utensils that don't always fit well in the drawers.

Every kitchen is laid out a bit differently, so it may take some experimenting to see what sort of system works best for you. But once you establish a system, you might be surprised at how much more organized your kitchen is and how much time you'll save in preparing meals for your family.

I always find when my kitchen is tidy and organised I am more inspired to go in there and cook or bake!

Under the table!

Yesterday, the 11th November 2008 was a 'funny' day.

I had to do a few errands early on in the day, off to the chemist, newsagent for birthday cards and wrapping paper, and the like. I called in at the Co-Op for the usual food supplies with Seb our 5yo, he was looking at everything as usual. I left him playing at one of the promotional baskets, he was happy and occupied and I continued to stroll along that aisle. I heard him crying and turned to see him talking to a lady. She asked him what the matter was, Seb replied "I have lost my mummy", Well dear what does she look like?", much to my amazement he said "You will recognise her because she has hair extensions".

The woman came up to me and said "ARE you his mummy?" while she scrutinised my hair.

Later in the day we went off to a friend's house for a birthday party. Her son just turned 12, we did the usual birthday greetings, presents, food etc.

Afterwards Seb was rather quiet, this is where I found him...

Oh and he was eating Sol's piece of birthday cake.

Five minutes of Fame For Mag

Yesterday the 19th July was Roy's Birthday. I had been out shopping on Thursday twice, that's was another story, and got him some gifts and a card or two. One of those cards was a radio ...

Cool isn't it?

The next night, which was Friday, Mag, Toni and myself were hidden away upstairs in my craft room wrapping presents when I came across the card in a bag. I had forgotten about it, so hadn't tried it by this stage. We opened it up and realised it actually worked, we tuned in to our favourite station Cool FM . We often listen to Cool, especially in the mornings and have entered many competitions and won a couple too ... so knowing that there was a good chance Roy would get a birthday mention we decided to text a birthday mention in. We Said "Hi, Conner (it was Conner Phillips) we are listening to your show on a radio which is actually a birthday card. From Mag PS the birthday card is for my dad whose birthday it is tomorrow". We sent Toni down stairs to tell Roy to switch the radio on and listen in, hoping Roy would get a happy birthday. There was nothing at the end of the song that was playing then out of the blue my phone rang! It was a private number but I answered it anyway, a voice said "Hi, is that Mag?" I stuttered knowing who it was and said "no, hold on" handed the phone to Mag saying "oh my, its Connor Phillips". Connor Phillips was live from the Odyssey Cool Pod.

Connor spoke to Mag for several minutes while he played two songs back to back, he chatted and made Mag feel at ease. He said Mag sounded nervous and gave him a few 'radio' tips. He then asked if he would like to go live! Mag said yes! He gave a 20 second countdown for him then ....

Mag was live on the radio and Connor was chatting about the fact that not only do you listen to the show on the radio but now on birthday cards. He asked Mag who was there with him. He asked his dad's name, and his mums name gave us a cheer. He asked Mag what his plans were for the weekend and other chatty things. Then he said "just for your dad and your mum I am going to play the new Cold Play single"

Roy had tears in his eyes as he listened to Mag on the radio, so impromptu and unrehearsed he was touched that we did such a thing for him.

After the 'live' interview Connor said the live good bye and played the song, he stayed on the line then Connor came back and told Mag how great he was and said good bye to him properly.

We sent a message of thanks over to Connor later on, telling him how touched Roy was and that we really DID enjoy his show.

Thursday 10th July

It was a busy time the last few days.
Last Thursday found me 'popping' out to get some new dinner plates. I mean every day dinner plates not the sort you put out for guests, the sort the kids can drop and you wont cry too much. I actually liked the cheap earthenware ones in a catalogue shop so I ended up getting two sets.
Here they are ...


Whilst we were in the shopping centre Toni noticed a girl getting her ears pierced in the jewellery shop, she stood and watched with a mixture of envy and curiosity as the girl cuddled a bear during the procedure. The last few months she has been asking what pierced ears felt like, asking about different ear rings you can get. One of her little friends had her ears done too which added to the curiosity. So we had a few minutes and went in to look at the set up. The girl in the shop was lovely, Grace explained everything to Toni and made her feel at ease. We went for a walk round the other shops to talk and ponder over the fact it was fairly simple to get her ears done, Toni decided to go for it. Back in the jewellery shop, she found her self perched on the chair clutching that same teddy bear and me filling out consent forms. GULP. Then she backed out, and that was fine by me.

That evening at home the conversations about the ears came up again, so a brave Toni with new found confidence wanted to go back tot he shop. With a promise that it wont be a wasted journey we went off to get her ears done. Another girl was in same the chair when we arrived and she too managed to survive the procedure, Toni was reassured by this. Meanwhile the mum to the girl just stood with tears in her eyes and her hands clasped tightly over her mouth. Smiling, not knowing what lay ahead I reassured her.
Toni being brave hopped on up and gave the bear a big hug, Grace and another lady pierced both ears at the same time so there was no backing out for her. For a few moments I was thinking "Oh my God, my little girl, I let them put holes in her ears!" Now I realise it was Toni's choice to get her ears pierced and that I am not such a bad mum after all. We chose a little gold stud with a fuchsia colour stone, small and dainty.
You can just about see them in this photo...

From bad to good

The week did not start off well! A friend passed away - in our old house just up the road from where we live now we grew to love the couple next door. I will never forget the support they offered us when our baby Molly was lost, those days shortly afterwards were pretty dark - and our neighbours were there for us. Good times and bad, and despite the age difference we had a laugh many an afternoon spent chatting. Robert Alexander Martin passed suddenly on the 15th May, the funeral was Tuesday, it was a sad day.



Monday - we got a visit from a friend. Not sure if the friend was visiting us or just wanted a run out in her new car teehee. It was a pleasant afternoon just sitting in the garden watching our nine children run round crazy. Those children are a hungry bunch too - you want to have seen the plate of sandwiches they polished off in ten seconds.



Tuesday was the funeral as I already mentioned, it put a damper on the rest of the day.



Thursday saw us head off to a neighbouring village with the children. Roy had left early that day to go to Manchester, so we had use of the big car. I had left the children's glasses prescriptions in at our optician so the plan was to collect three of the four pairs. I met with some friends and we had a very pleasant afternoon chatting and walking, while the kids munched away on crisps and ice lollies. I also picked up a couple presents for our friend whose birthday was Friday 23rd. We got her a ginger bread smelly candle, it was gorgeous and i could have easily kept it for myself. Far nicer than any of the yankee candles I have mmmm. We also got her a tiny glass perfume bottle for her dressing table, she loved it and I have to agree it was so pretty.



After getting the kids into bed I made our friend a birthday card. I used some pressed lavender flowers that another friend had given me and put it in a little vase on the front of some co ordinating lavender card. I also made two little sachets and put some dried lavender in them and popped them inside the card. Its been a long time since I made a card for someone - done plenty of scrap booking but no cards. I love spending time in my little craft room, its upstairs away from the rest of the house so I can just leave stuff laid out as I like.



here is the card






Friday - we visited the friend whose birthday it was and had the best morning sitting in her sun room while the children played out side. The friend was delighted to see us and it restored some spirit in us, we are not so bad after all. That was a nice ending to the week that started off rubbish. In the evening Roy took the children fishing, leaving Sol and I at home for some nice quiet 'sit down' time, I did a little scrapbooking and some laundry!

Saturday - the children did not wake early for a change so Roy and I had a nice cup of tea in bed and a read at our books. When we did make the effort to get up Roy cut the grass and I headed off into the town with two of the children to drop them at chess club. Instead of coming home I took a walk round the shops, picking up a few bargains from Boots and Asda. When we got home it was time to make tea, then time rolled on to the children's bedtime. Come 11pm we were sat laughing at how boring our lives were, Saturday night with a Muller chocolate corner yoghurt thing and a cup of tea with endless episodes of CSI and Criminal Minds.

Saturday 12th January

I am so tired today, was up too late last night doing stuff in the house and on the net. My own fault really, I did brighten up this evening once the children went to bed. It has been a busy few days with DH being away, he left on Wednesday morning at 5.30am and will returning at some point during the night tonight.
He called me today whilst standing in Old Trafford at the beginning of the Manchester united v Newcastle Utd match. You could hear the crowds and the noise was tremendous, I guess to be there would have been a real experience. Manchester United went on to have a 6-0 win (thank goodness) which has pleased all the men in our house. I am only sorry now that we didn't find a way to get Mag to go over to see the match.

NEWS!! Manchester United moved back to the top of the Premier League with a 6-0 thrashing of crisis-club Newcastle at Old Trafford....
WE LOVE MANU!





The children had fun today playing with the dolls today. I was fortunate enough to get Toni a baby alive for £15, and Sol a baby Annabel for £10 in the sales this week - I love the January sales! The children all had Christmas money, and we always ask for money or vouchers it just makes more sense to spend in the sales than just a few days previous. Sol took to her 'baby' like a duck takes to water. I was taken aback to see her using the bottle to feed her baby, she kissed it and played with it just like it was real.


The funny things that children do - Sol loves the washing basket, first off the baby went in and was being rocked but then she decided that she should pop in too.






My neighbours (and friends) treated me to a Chinese meal take away tonight and we watched a movie. It was I Am Legend with Will Smith - it was kind of freaky. Enjoyable in a Will Smith sort of way but a real thought provoking film. I came home to discover my no1 son had left the back door unlocked. So I stealed myself to step into the back garden to see how clear the sky was as last night the stars were so bright, but then I had second thoughts and quickly closed the door.