I just made this, and then this

It's a mat\coaster thing (I found it here)
The main purpose of this post is to show HP what they looks like :-)
And below is the second, smaller version. They're by no means as perfect as the ones I saw originally, but still cute. I'll work on it, maybe...
(Oh, and I know a beaker isn't really the sort of drink you'd put on a coaster, but I don't drink tea or coffee, and it happened to be nearby when I took the photos!)

Prayer Request

I'm trying to make a few decisions jobwise at the moment and would appreciate your prayers. I just wrote a whole post over at OWOA so I'm not going to write it all out here too, but if you'd go over there and take a look that'd be fantastic.
It's here
Thanks muchly :-)

Good Morning, Good Morning, you've slept the whole night through.

Well I did (see title), but it's still dark so it doesn't quite feel like morning yet. And I just left a comment over on One Weigh or Another and that showed up as before midnight, so some of them may not even have gone to bed yet.

However, I have got this song in my head, and it seemed only fair that I should share it with you all, so that you too could go round singing 'Good morning, good morning..'

Back with more later (maybe!)

Evening All

You give a little love and it all comes back to you, da da da.. lyrics

For the benefit of the many people who find my sight by googling the above phrase here are the lyrics: (for everyone else you can skip this post if you want to!)

You Give A Little Love And It All Comes Back To You
(from the film Bugsy Malone)

We could've been anything
That we wanted to be
And it's not too late to change
I'd be delighted to give it some thought
May-be you'll agree that we really ought
Two, three, four)

We could've been anything
That we wanted to be)

Yes, that decision was ours
It's been decided we're weaker divided)

Let friendship double up our powers)

We could've been anything
That we wanted to be
And I'm not saying that we should
But if we try it, we'd learn to abide it
We could be the best at bein' good guys)

Flowers of the earth
Who can even guess how much
A real friend is worth?
Good guys, shake an open hand)

May-be trusting
If we try to understand
No doubt about it
It must be worthwhile
Good friends do tend to make you smile)

We could've been anything
That we wanted to be
Yes, that decision is ours
It's been decided we're weaker divided
Let friendship double our powers)

You give a little love
And it all comes back to you
(Da da da ra da da da)
You know you gonna be remembered
For the things you say and do
(Da da da ra da da da)

You give a little love
Andit all comes back to you
(Da da da ra da da da)
You know you gonna be remembered
For the things you say and do
(Da da da ra da da da)
(Repeat and fade)
I hope thst helps :-)

(nearly) Wordless Wednesday

Last week I showed the world a purple pepper. I posted on how it tasted here. This week I discovered Purple Carrots. And here they are to prove it..
Did you know that carrots were originally purple? (click on the picture to get it bigger to read the writing)

Edited to add: They taste just like normal carrots, just stain things a bit more when you cut them up! Oh, and they're definitely not sausages!

Check out some more Wordless Wednesdays here

If you're looking after one child you might as well look after five, right?

(The fifth didn't want to stand nicely in the line so I'm holding him in one hand and trying to take the photo with the other - it came out ok on the third attempt. Thank goodness for digital cameras!)

Tower

Life is full of trips to the pharmacy if you're a Debbie Monster...
And it turns out that she can't take pictures not at an angle. [Or maybe she's just clever at making her tower stand up even when the rest of the room is on a slant.]

HP is at home, she is at home, she's here

Hp's coming home, she's coming home, she's coming

I'm currently out babysitting four delightful children (two of whom are still not asleep - I think they've been talking to each other and keeping themselves awake). When I get home, or soon after (depending which train they did get in the end - the one they were planning to get was cancelled) HP and her boyfriend Steve will be home from university for the weekend. Sorry, that sentence got long.

One of our cousins who lives in Reading is getting baptised (the full dunking type of baptism) on Sunday and we are all going to be there with her. We'll also be celebrating various birthdays, a wedding anniversary and an engagement - well if you're going to get together you might as well celebrate it all, after all we don't all get together that often!

I'm looking forward to seeing HP - it seems like ages since we last saw her.
Hurrah for HP :-)
BTW Apologies for any major typos, I did try to correct them as I went along, but the eczema on my fingers is really sore so typing is a bit trickier than normal. I saw the doctor today and got some stronger steriod cream for them, that also contains an antibiotic, so hopefully that will do the trick.

Beaucoup de Chilli con Carne

Today my Mum made Chilli con Carne for Alpha - My church is running an Alpha course and each week different members of the church take it in turn to cook. It was our turn this week, and here's what she made. Two big pans of chilli to take, and the third pan (with the lid on) for us to have for our dinner. Yummy, but with a definite 'kick' to it :-)

All you need is love

Any one who has scrolled down to the bottom of my site recently may have noticed that I now have a site meter. It tells me how many people have visited my site and things like where they came from (eg which site they followed a link from, or what search they did and found me).

One of the things the site meter has told me is that an awful lot of people seem to come to my site by google-ing the phrase 'you give a little love and it all comes back to you'. In fact, I just googled that very phrase and the post I titled that came up as the third site. Not bad for a little unknown blog like mine.

This has taught me several things.
Firstly, that it is good to title your posts with words from songs (I've also used I get by with a little help from my friends) because people will find my blog by searching for them.
Secondly, that there must be an awful lot of people out there who want to know the lyrics to that song and are really frustrated because all I put on that post was that line.
Thirdly, never try to come up with more that 2 points because you fingers can't type as quick as you think and you will have forgotten the third point by the time you get to try to type it.
Oh, and finally, it begs the question what shall I call this post? I'm not really feeling inspired. Oh, I know - the people at least coming to, if not reading my blog makes me feel loved so I shall call it... (well you don't need me to type it again do you? Just look at the top of the post - in fact, in a way you knew before I did)

Busy Busy Busy

I don't really feel that I've put anything proper on here for a while. So tonight I was determined to actually write something, and not just fob my readers (if I have any) off with another picture, even if it is something like a purple pepper!

Hmmm, life seems very busy at the moment, and has the prospect of becomming even more so. I'm not sure why, I'm just convinced it will.

I've added a couple of new links to my side bar so maybe I ought to say a bit more about them. 'The King and I' in a fairly new blog and belongs to the lovely Angela who goes to my church. Go over and say hello to her, and it might even encourage her to blog a bit more often (the words pot and kettle come to mind, but hey!)

The other site is One Weigh or Another. It's basically a group of ladies (none of whom I have ever met, but whose blogs I read) who are blogging together and encouraging each other in their weight loss journeys. I commented my way to becomming a member (meaning I commented so much and joined in the weekly weigh-ins and stuff and after a while they invited me to become a memeber), and now I can post on that site too. I was sure whether or not to link to OWOA from this blog as it's a kind of personal thing, but decided to go for it as several people that read my blog already know about it anyway.

Other stuff in my life - pretty much work, work, work at the moment. I'm facing a few issues in the school I work in. I don't want to be more specific than that, but would value prayers for me to work through those, and in making decisions about whether I do change to 5 days a week at school after Christmas and stuff like that.
The other other thing I've been doing is still slowly slowly selling books and a few other bits and bobs on amazon and e-bay. And I would recommend amazon marketplace as a fairly easy way to make a bit of money and get rid of unwanted books (and jiffy bags ;-) )

Red, Green, Yellow, even Brown, but I've never seen Purple ones before

I have to admit I've kind of cheated on Wordless Wednesday this week - I've put the link to go to this post i put up on Saturday, however I thought my purple pepper was worth sharing with the world at large and not just the few people that read my blog all week ;-)

Check out some more Wordless Wednesdays over at Chaotic Home and here

Wordless Wedneday

I think I posted this before, but a long time ago, so I thought I'd share it again!
I've jut got a bit of a thing about electricity pylons and the sky behind them, and Chaotic Mum inspired me :-) Head over and check out some more Wordless Wednesdays...

Beautiful Sky

Our weekend visitor

For several weekends now, and never during the week, we've had a (slightly unwanted) visitor to our garden. This cheeky squirrel. At least we're assuming that it's the same one every time. This morning I managed to rush out and capture him on the fence between our garden and next door (yes, it is falling apart slightly at that point), so I'm afraid it is a bit blurred. Maybe next weekend I'll get a better picture!

Works for me Wednesday - organising your shopping list

This is my first ever Works for me Wednesday, so let's see how it goes!

I want to share how we organise the food shopping list in our house. A while back we sat down and came up with a list of the things we buy most weeks. Once we had that list we thought about the layout of the store we go to and arranged the items in roghly that order. We always go round the shop in the same way so we had a farily good mental picture of what comes where. (If you don't have a regular route it might be an idea to come up with one as it saves time because you're not rushing here there and everywhere to find stuff)

I created a simple spreadsheet with three columns. (I'd put up a pictue of it, but I'm not on the right computer to access it!) We start at the fresh fruit and vegetables so that's what's at the top of the first column. Each item we buy regularly has the name of the item and then next to it there's a little box to tick (very important, I'll explain in a minute). The whole list fits onto an A5 sheet, and has three columns, each with a list of items and then the boxes next to them.

We have two copies of the list on the spreadsheet so that whenever we're started using one list we can print off another sheet and have 2 more ready. (Cut the A4 sheet in half and the same list is on both sheets).

Whenever we realise we need to buy something, for example we've used the last tin of baked beans, we tick the box next to baked beans. Then just before we go shopping we have another quick whizz round the kitchen and tick anything else that we need. Because we've been ticking as we go we generally don't miss off something important. And beause the list is arranged in the order we come to things in the shop it's easy to follow where we've got to and not forget to pick anything up.

I think at all makes sense. If it doesn't or you just want to see our list leave me a comment and your email address and I'll be having to send you a copy of our spreadsheet. I'm going to try to set up a 'contact me' button for people to email me, so have a look and see if I've managed that if you don't want to leave your email :-)

Ordered shopping list - It works for us.
Now go and see Shannon for some more works for me wednesday ideas.

Picnics no more

The poor picnic bench sits alone. No more the beautifully hot sunny days when hour upon hour people lazed upon it. That time is gone, and now the Autumn comes creeping in. So long to sun and warmth, hello to frost and chill and rain. There will be picnics no more until the Spring.

Autumn's Arrival

Friday

As I said in my post earlier in the week we visited my Dad's Parents in Melton Mowbray on Friday. In the afternoon we went to the Melton Country Park and I took control of the camera. This is my Mum, Grandad and Dad as we walked along the top path.

Nothing much about anything

I'm enjoying my half term holiday. On Monday my Mum and I did lots of sorting and tidying out of kitchen cupboards. Just generally wiping everything out and throwing away things that were past their use-by dates. It was good fun and we had a great sense of achievement when it was done.

Yesterday I was looking after 16 month old S and in the afternoon I took him and 3 other children to one of the Lea Valley Park sites near Waltham Abbey. It has rained in the morning but in the afternoon the sun came out and it was beautiful. All four kids had great fun running about, playing football and frisbee. We were only there for about three quarters of an hour as we had to get back to take S home, but it was long enough for them to get a bit of fresh air and have a great time.

Today I am looking after S again, and at the moment he's napping, hence being able to get on the computer ;-). Tomorrow I'm having lunch with a couple of friends from university. They both live in London, but since London is a big place and we all live in different parts we don't get to see each other as often as we would like.

On Friday I'm going with my parents to visit my Dad's parents in Melton Mowbray (origin of pork pies and stilton cheese). I've got no idea what I'm doing at the weekend. I'll just have to wait and see

Things to do, people to see

Ok, so the title of the post possibly made it more exciting than it actually is. I'm going out babysitting tonight = people to see. I want to take something with me to do = things to do. I may take some more pegs with me to decorate as that's fairly gentle on the brain in terms of thinking.

My excuse for not wanting to think is that I'm now on my half term holiday and want to take a proper break so that I can be all refreshed and ready to go for the next half term at school. So I've only had a week at my new job, but I didn't get early nights last weekend, becasue of seeing Bekki, so I was tired at the start of the week. I'm going to try to have lots of early nights and get myself onto a proper schedule so that when I do go back to school it's not too much of a shock. I'll let you know if it works!

Pegs Pegs Pegs

These are some of the pegs that HP and I made Bekki for her birthday. By make, I mean decorated and varnished, rather than cutting down the tree...
We made some for HP to take back to uni (the project I mentioned, but never featured a few weeks ago - cos we didn't want Bekki to see them!)
(It took me about 15 attempts to upload the photos, so hopefully it really has worked this time!)(In fact, this is probably time 16....)

Update: Ok I never want to look at this post again, but I'm determined to get this picture on if it takes all night...

Update 2: see here for a picture of all the pegs before they were put back together.

All of a sudden it's Wednesday. Where does the week go?

Well I started my new job on Monday at 9am (and then was formally interviewed on Monday afternoon - it's a strange world!). It was a lovely way to start to get to know the two boys I'll be working with. I think after we've done a few sessions and they're both comfortable about working with me we (the class teachers and I) will start looking at how I can best help them, and what would work best. In the meantime we'll generally be sticking to what the rest of the class are doing and I will be helping them to access the work (assisting with reading and writing). I think that all made sense!

Today I am child-minding and S is down for a nap, so i thought I'd better stick something on my blog having not had the time for a while :-)
Yesterday I took S and another boy, J, to the park. S is 16 months and J is 2 1\2. They had great fun playing football, at least J is good at kicking the ball, S just wants to pick the ball up and hold it most of the time! We also went in the play area and went on the swings, slide, roundabout and seesaw. I say we, but actually I was the one doing the pushing, lifting, turning, and bouncing rather than actually going on the equipment.

That's about all I can think of at the moment. I could quite happily lie down for a nap as well, but there are several things I want to get on with, so I had better go and do them.

Happy Birthday to my Big Sister

I've been thinking about putting this photo up for quite a while, so what better opportunity than on Bekki's birthday :-)

Proof that I don't find jobs, they find me

I've been child-minding two days a weeks for a while now and that came about through a chance conversation with a lady at church.

Previously I worked as a teaching assistant in a primary school and that was through being in the right place at the right time (I was on a PGCE (teacher training) placement and decided that wasn't the right thing for me. They (the school), however, decided they liked me and offered me a job. Initially for a few weeks, and turned out to be for the whole year).

Through my TA job I got a chance to tutor a girl, M, from that school, and I'm still doing it. I suppose the one job I did do something about myself was working with N the autistic girl and her homeschool program. But even then all I did was reply to an advert in the local paper that was titled "We need you", so even then I'm not going to take full responsibility for getting the job!

And now, starting Monday I'm going to be working the other 3 days a week (weekdays I mean, so no funny comments about that) in the school that my Mum already works in. My Mum has obviously talked to the headteacher there about my current job-less-ness and She knows when she's onto a good thing (sorry, couldn't think how to phrase that sentence without sounding a bit arogant). Today I had a chat with the Head and she wants me to start on Monday. I think she also wants me to up it to 5 days a week in January.

I'm going to be a special needs assistant and support two boys one-to-one. One in the morning and the other in the afternoon in case anyone wondered how that was possible ;-)
Hurrah, a real job with real money (Not that I haven't loved all the babysitting etc that I've been doing, but it would be nice to be able to contribute to things like household costs etc even if I am living back at home.)

And most of all a big Thank-You to God who I know is the real brains behind me getting all these jobs :-)

Music Meme

Here’s how you play - Choose a band/artist and answer only in song TITLES by that band. I picked the Beatles, but freely admit I completed it with the help of the internet and good old google. I've included the album in brackets afterwards.

Are you male or female: Another Girl (Help!)

Describe yourself: I Am The Walrus (Magical Mystery Tour) [Not quite sure what i mean by that, but it just made me smile] Maybe this would be better: Long Tall Sally (Past Masters Volume 1)

How do some people feel about you: Good Day Sunshine (Revolver)

How do you feel about yourself: [right now] I'm So Tired (The Beatles - The White Album)

Describe your significant other: Got To Get You Into My Life (Revolver /Anthology 2)[as in don't have one at the moment!]

Describe where you want to be: Getting Better (Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band)

Describe how you live: Helter Skelter (The Beatles -The White Album)

Describe how you love: I Want To Hold Your Hand (1962-1966/Past Masters Volume 1)

Share a few words of wisdom: Mailman, Bring Me No More Blues(Anthology 3) or maybe Everybody's Got Something To Hide Except Me And My Monkey (The Beatles - White Album)

I tag anyone that wants to do this. Hmmm, Bekki and Kathleen especially, if they've got time!

Oh, and this was the first meme I've ever done, and the first time I've used bold in a post!

Time for a picture...

... we haven't had one for a while. Proof that HP fits in the boot of my mum's car. Hmmm, after trawling through the photos on this computer I think it's time to get the camera out and take some more.

I get by with a little help from my friends

My diary has suddenly filled up. A few weeks ago I wasn't really doing much apart from housework and helping HP get packed for university. During the last week in particular I've suddenly found lots of things to do, and even better some of them will be earning me some well appreciated cash. I'm child-minding the delightful one year old two days a week, and this week I'll be babysitting him one evening as well.
I'm tutoring M again (I was working with her last school year and had stopped over the summer). Today I agreed to babysit for a friend of a lady at chuch so that she can go on the alpha course that our church is running starting this Thursday. That'll be a long term commitment for the next ten(?) weeks - for as long as the course lasts.

On Saturday morning at our church prayer meeting a lady came up to me and said "I've heard you like looking after children" and asked me if I would be able to look after her two children some Saturdays (she works shifts and will sometimes have to work on a Saturday). I agreed that I would.I haven't got any firm dates from her as yet, but I'm sure I will soon.

Finally, and perhaps most importantly the Headteacher of the school my mum works at has asked if I would like to work with a couple of her pupils. She's willing to let me work around the child-minding that I do already, so I'm going to ring her tomorrow to say yes and find out when I can go in for a chat about hours and a contract (the magic word!).

I'm sure there's a couple of other things I'm meant to be doing as well. Oh, this Friday it's Bekki's birthday and I'm hopefully going up to Cambridge to see her and go to her party. I think so long as I remember to write everything in my diary I'll be ok, and next year's tax return shouldn't be too hard [My Dad helped me to fill one in for the last financial year - I'm lucky to have my own accountant on hand :-)]

Home

I'm home, but not awake [it was tiring, but also a certain 2 year old seemed to be doing his best to keep me awake last night]
Will post more soon.

Away

I may not be around on my blog till Saturday. (Away from home and limited access to computer) Enjoy yourselves while I'm gone :-)

You give a little love and it all comes back to you, da da da....

UPDATED TO ADD: Find the lyrics to this song here

I've realised I've become one of those bloggers who does spend a fair bit of their computer time reading other people's blogs, but that I've failed to share many of them with you, dear readers [all two of you, or so it seems sometimes, but hey :-)]
So here goes...

Blogs I like reading

Girl Talk - a blog written by a mother and her three grown up daughters. A great place to go if you're looking for some encouragement, sound Christian advice, or just some 'Friday Funnies'.

Blest with Sons - Blest is just really good at making her readers feel welcome. She's a Christian home-schooling mum of 4 boys, and I just love looking t osee what she's gonna post next!

Random Acts of Reality - This is a blog written by a guy working at an EMT for the Lndon Ambulance service. Can't remember what EMT stands for, but go check out his blog. And he's just had a book published of his blog. He works in London fairly near to where I live and his blog reflects what it can be like round here (but don't let it put you off coming to London ever again!).

I may put up a couple of other links as well, so just go explore.

(Bonus points to anyone who can spot where my title comes from)

Feeling Uninspired

I feel like I ought to and want to post something inspiring and fresh and anyone who reads it would say "wow" and "I've never read anything like that before". Instead I feel unispired to write any much at all apart from sentences that go on and on and have at least 3 uses of the word 'and' and, oh I've forgotten what the end of that sentence was going to be.

So rather than continuing to write rubbish I will ask can anyone guess what\where this was taken?

[BTW I expect most people either knew or guessed that I was doing stuff on miracles in sunday school today, including the feeding of the four thousand (which is similar to, but less well known than, the feeding of the five thousand).]

When the boat comes in.

I've spent some of my evening cutting out many pictures of fish and loaves of bread. Any guesses why? I'll answer that tomorrow. In the meantime I shall leave you with a musical interlude :-)

Dance to your Daddy,
My little babby,
Dance to your Daddy,
My little lamb.
You shall have a fishy
In a little dishy,
You shall have a fishy
When the boat comes in.

A get things done day

I enjoyed child-minding on Tuesday and Wednesday, but that made this need to be a get things done day. This morning I went swimming with my mum (and the plumber came and fixed our kitchen tap), this afternoon I need to go out and do things like go the bank, post office, library, job centre, Argos... I'm sure there are other places, but how's that for a start? This evening I plan to finish getting my sunday school stuff planned so that I can speak to the lovely ladies who are helping me to let them know what we're doing.

blowing raspberries

I'm looking after a delightful 1 year old today (who is currently napping else I wouldn't be on the computer!). He's at the walking and wanting to climb on everything stage so you can't take your eye off him for more than a few seconds. Luckily his parents are very clued up about what he can do and have made this a pretty child-friendly house. Although he apparently does still manage drop things like his dad's phone down the toilet given half a chance.

It's been an action packed morning what with climbing in and out of his fisher price car - through the window (him,not me). I can't wait to see if he still gets into his car like that when he's 17! We've also had a great time getting pretty much all of his toys out of their boxes, and best of all blowing raspberries on each others tummies. He's very good at it actually :-)

It's raining, It's pouring...

Today has been wet. That pretty much sums it up. Especially my drive up to near Stansted and again on the way home. It's a bit scary how little you can actually see when it rains on the motorway. Luckily me and my car have got to know each other and that stretch of road fairly well during the last year, so I was ok. But I was glad when I drove out of the heavier rain and back into the more traditional British drizzle.

Cleaning

There's something quite therapeutic about cleaning I think. The satisfaction when something is achieved, whether it's tidying up a shelf or de-cluttering a whole room, you can look at what you've done and feel happy.

Since I moved back to London I've been gradually going through all the stuff in my room, working out if I needed it or not, and if I did want to keep it where it ought to go. I love being able to pick up an object and think 'that goes there', and when something does have a place to go it seems to make tidying easier. Please don't mistake me, I'm not trying to lecture people with messy houses, anyone seeing ours at certain times would realise that, I'm just expresssing how good it is when things are tidy and you can think 'I did that' and have a big smile on your face.

I've experimented with selling some of the things I wanted to get rid of on ebay. It's been fun, and some things have sold and made me a bit of money (when I say a bit that's really quite true, once you take costs into account it doesn't add up to much, but at least I'm not out of pocket). I find it quite hard to predict what will and what won't do well on ebay though. At the moment I'm waiting for some embossing powder to end it's listing. Embossing powder is used, I think, with rubber stamps and ink, and it gives a 3D effect to the print. - I got these for my birthday years ago (my choice - we got them at a craft sale at school) and have barely looked at them since, hence my decison to try selling them. However the listing currently has 7 people watching it, but no bids yet. It's got just less than 2 hours left, so I'm hoping that some of those watchers (or at least one!) will turn into a bidder.

I seem to have got off the subject of cleaning somewhat. But I guess what I'm trying to say is that I'm enjoying de-cluttering and sorting things out, and I expecially like it when it's finished and you can look at it and say "hey, doesn't that look nice".

Saturday, What a day, Groovin' all week with you

Ok, so now that song's in my head for the rest of the week, but I've had worse ones! HP has officially arrived at her new house, and hopefully the unpacking is well under way. I would have liked to go with them to help with all the fetching and carrying at the other end, and be company for my mum on the way home tomorrow, but there wasn't enough room in the car for HP's beanbag, let alone me as well!

Instead I've been up the M11 to my old house to visit Imogen and to pass my bed onto someone else. That sounds a bit strange, so I'll explain. When I moved into the house I didn't have a bed because Imogen had rented the house unfurnished. So we bought a bed from homebase online and had it delivered. It served me well for a year, but when I moved back to London it was too bit to fit in our car and I didn't really need it anyway, so it stayed.

Imogen unfortunately has to move out of the house because the owners are selling the property, and consequently she wanted me to do something with my bed. Bekki's friend Tim is wanting to acquire furniture for the house he is moving to, so it seemed a great plan to let him have the bed. This morning I met Tim at the house in GC and handed over the allen key and the instructions for how to assemble, and then we took it all apart and loaded all the bits into his van. Sorted

This afternoon I've been doing some tidying of the house and reading blogs. Now I'm off to see what I can find to do next.

A novel way to put on a duvet cover

Beautiful Skye

There's a project HP and I have been working on that I want to post a photo of, but
a) It's not quite finished yet
and
b) Daddy's taken the camera to work, so I couldn't actually take a photo if I wanted to!
So insted here's another beautiful picture from our holiday to Scotland. It's on the Isle of Skye looking from Kyleakin (where we stayed) towards the bridge from the mainland to Skye. In fact I have a feeling it was taken the evening some of us climbed up to the war memorial.

Not the most productive day

We haven't achieved an awful lot today, in part due to the two hours we spent at the town hall giving blood, and I didn't even give any blood. HP did though, and she likes to have someone with her cos she's only done it a few times and the time before last she went really faint. I didn't really mind - I got to sit and read a book for a couple of hours, and we started writing a big list of all the stuff she needs to take back to uni with her. We had to wait so long because it was just really really busy, but that can't bea bad thing given how we're always hearing about blood shortages. I would have given blood but I've still got a nasty cough that I'd had for a while now and decided I was a bit too under the weather than they'd like.

When we got home from the town hall we did sort out the washing, and then made lasagne and apple & blackberry crumble for tea, so I suppose that is actually quite productive. And it made my mum happy because it used up a little of the vast quantities of fruit that are lurking in our freezer. They both tasted good too, although it was more like lasagne soup than anything - it was very runny!

Now, once the Archers (radio soap on radio 4) has finished we can see what else we can be productive with. Oh, and talking of which, cue theme music. Time to go.

The big sort out has begun

Next weekend HP goes back to uni. Today we started getting ready for her to go by unpacking the last few bits that were still packed from before the summer when she came home, and began making lists (one of my favourite things :-).
Her room still looks a bit like a bomb has hit it (no offence intended HP, we know you've got the smallest room in the house), but at least by working gently at it all week we might avoid those very late nights as next weekend draws nearer.
We've also started putting together a recipe book for her to take with her, full of all the essentials for living a self-catered (in a house with her friends) rather than fully-catered (in halls in uni)life. I'm sure she'll be fine, she just wants everything written down so she doesn't forget.

Last Friday

Reading Kathleen's blog just now (the bit about the indoor playground place rather than the bit about her husband's hair) reminded me of the fantastic time I had last week with Joel, and how I'd threatened to post about it. However, HP is shouting at me to come and do some drying up, so it will have to be a short one. Best just put on the photos and leave it at that. Um, this is me at the top of the very high and steep slide that I made Joel go down with me (it was too scary to go on my own) and also Joel in the ball pool at the bottom of the slide. It was a fantastic day. To any of my friends with kids reading this I will happily volunteer to take your kids there for you.

reaching the big 3 0

No, I haven't aged 6 years in a few days, I've just sold my 30th book on amazon marketplace. It started as a way to get rid of some of my teacher training books that I no longer needed (having decided I didn't want to be a teacher and leaving the course), but I've somehow managed to find a lot more books around the house to list as well. (Over 200 in total!)

Hmmm, anyway. It's quite exciting checking email to see if any more have sold (yes, it's a sad life I lead, I know), and today we've actually sold 3, but that's not been the norm. Right, well that's about all I can say about that without boring you all to tears.

Oh, just one more thing, I've now got two 5 star ratings on amazon (hurrah) and three positive ratings on e-bay including, and I quote, "nice one -spot on! fast & wrapped well enuff 2 keep da monkees@RoyalMail at bay". It takes all sorts don't you think?!

Update: make that 4 books today. Definitely the first time that's happened :-)

It's my (quieter) life

Last week I spent lots of time visiting\looking after various children, this week I'm back at home and attempting to do some cleaning and sorting of all those bits that don't get done when life is really busy. Unfortunately it's also got really hot again here in London, and when it's like this my first thought in the day isn't exactly "now lets get out the vacuum cleaner and whiz round the whole house".

So I've kind of pottered slowly at things, in the meantime am keeping an eye on e-bay and the items I'm selling that end today. It does seem to be slightly more interesting than last time around - this time there were actually some bids made before we got to the last day. It's strange though, some things that you'd think would sell really well have had no interest, and others have had lots of people 'watching' (who will hopefully keep bidding as well!)

Right, I need to stop sitting in front of the computer and actually do something useful. I'll probably be back later though...

A picture to amuse...

...so you don't realise I haven't really written anything on here for a couple for days. I did something exciting on Friday and when I'm not too tired to write coherently I'll tell you about it.Oh, and in case you wondered, we made sure that the cat moved before we did.

Cinderella revealed

A fairy tale re-written

The fairy godmother was faced with a difficult situation - However had Cinderella's feet shrunk so much?(and when did she lose the ability to tell left from right?)

Artist at work

Yesterday's hard work revealed

Front
Back

Yesterday HP and I spent much of the afternoon (and some of the evening) turning a pair of her jeans which were very worn out in places (read lots of holes and rips) into two cushion covers. One of these was slightly more conventional than the other - it was made from the majority of the material from both legs. The second was made by sewing together all the useable left over bits into what vaguely resembled a long rectangle and then sewing it up into the finished cover (both are made with an overlapped part rather than using zips). These are the finished articles.

NEWS FLASH

HP is caught eating vegetables.

Monkey

We saw a couple of funny road signs while in Scotland. There was one which was meant to be a warning about sheep, but which someone had added humps to, leaving you wondering if you were really in Scotland, or had somehow sideslipped to be in the Sahara Desert (you know those camels can be dangerous!)
However, this one was my favourite.

The difference between boys and girls

I was at a barbeque last night with HP and lots of people from my church. I spent part of the evening chatting to a lovely young man (and when I say young I mean it - he's the youngest son of Adrian Warnock, and is 3 (I think)).

We were sat on crossed legged on the floor and I had his plate of crisps ("I want blue crisps" - salt and vinegar pringles) on my lap while he drank his juice. He suddenly said "that's your lap" (pointing to my lap), I agreed that this was the case, and he went on to say "you're a girl, you've got a lap. I don't have a lap. Boy's don't have laps and I'm a boy".

I couldn't stop laughing after that, just why he should think that boys don't have laps is beyond me! Still, it made my evening that extra bit funnier, so I was willing to say "oh I see, that's interesting" and continue to listen - after all, what other things might I learn about the differences between boys and girls?!?!

Basil - still alive, but not kicking much

I feels it's time to own up to those of you who may be still mourning dear Basil's loss. In truth he is still alive (although, as this very bad and taken in a hurry photo shows, not very healthy).

He was left sat in the kitchen sink in a bowl full of water, and it was just about enough to last the two weeks we were away. However, I'm not entirely sure that that much water was actually good for him.

He may never return to his former glory, but as long as his is with us he will be loved.

Scotland in a nutshell

This picture sums up the weather we've had over the last two weeks - both rain and sun, but Scotland somehow managed to look beautiful whatever the weather (even if some days we had to wear a lot more clothes and stay in the car to admire to views).

I'm back

but very tired. I'll be back properly tomorrow, hopefully with pictures.

A lament for Basil

Basil is dying. He sits on the kitchen windowsil, a shaddow of his former self. His leaves are bleached by the sun, and some have even begun to shrivel. Through the long weeks I have remembered him, tended his every need. Given him water to drink and removed any withered leaves. Many times I thought the end had come - during my absences in Cambridge he was much neglected, but I was able to visit enough to keep him going. I was his sustainer, without me he would be nothing.

But now, though he is alive still, there is no room for him to travel with us to far off lands, and I fear he will not survive my absence from his life. Though we have loved him, and used his leaves in many dishes (lasagne sauce is being made with him as we speak) I know this must be the end coming for him.

Some might dare to suggest a replacement could be obtained for him, but it would not be the same. Basil, my basil will be gone. At least his memeory will live on in my heart, and on my blog. Basil we loved you dearly.

pre-holiday blues

We go on holiday on holiday and we've got to that point in the packing where the outlook doesn't look good. Mummy is stressing that we won't be ready in time and that there are too many things to do and noone else will do them. HP has gone to sleep in my parent's bed and is grumpy if anyone tries to talk to her. Daddy has just got home from work and still seems to be in an ok mood, so it can only go downhill from here. I can't really breathe (horrid hot weather and asthma not making a good combination) but otherwise I guess I'm doing ok.

We still need to pack, wash and hoover both cars, go down the market to get a few bits of shopping\bank some cheques etc, some more washing\ironing and pick the blackberries (obviously top priority!).
I expect we'll get most of it done, it may just take a few of us to step up and take action rather than leaving it all to someone else (Mummy). Ok, we'll try...

little us

We were sorting through some drawers and my Mum came across this photo of HP and me aged 6 and 10. I thought it was so cute I had to share it with you. Whatever went wrong? Also, earlier I set fire to some beefburgers in a pan. I was just thinking "hmmm, it seems a waste to use the fire blanket for such a small fire" when it died down a bit and I was able to blow it out.

home grown yummyness

Hurrah for summer and home-grown blackberries.

Debs at Leigh Delamere

Debs at Leigh Delamere
Originally uploaded by the pig wot flies.

The picture says it all really. It just had to be taken. Some people will know why. Others may just think I'm odd, but I don't care. It was taken by Bekki on our way back from taking HP to Exeter after the Easter holidays.

You say goodbye, but I say hello.

This week HP has gone off to Newday, but meanwhile we've got Bekki here for a night and a day. This morning we went to Ikea and Bekki got various things she's discovered her new house needs. Ikea is great fun, and today I managed to enjoy looking at all the gadets and bits and pieces and not buy any of them. An real achievement I would say! I've got to head off to the post office now to post the thing I sold on ebay yesterday (it was a bodyshop gift set that I didn't want cos we seem to have loads in our house and it was all getting a bit much). I think I will try and put some more things on, but probably not till after we get back from holiday. We're going to Scotland for two weeks next weekend, so blogging may be a bit light for a while (if fact, given that we're going to a fairly remote place it may well stop for two weeks. But do check back every so often, and I'll say goodbye before we go!)

white elephants

Of the four things I put on ebay this time last week, one of them will actually sell. In fact, it's had 2 bids so far, and it's still got another hour and a half to go. Now that may not sound so exciting to you, but I had these visions of using ebay as a way to get rid of some of my unwanted stuff and maybe make a little bit of money at the same time. This time last week to test the water I put on four things, and for most of the week they've been just that - four things with no interest and certainly no bids. My hopes of getting rid of all that junk were dashed.
But wait, at the eleventh hour (or should that strictly speaking be the 166th hour (out of 168 hours)) someone actually seemed to want my item. And then, no wait it couldn't be.... a second bid... wonders will never cease. Who knows where it might end. Faith in humanity is restored. Although I'm not sure I'll bother putting anything else on, Amazon is a much better place to sell....

Weddings galore

My wedding outfit has come in useful this year. I've already been to two weddings this summer. A few weeks ago Paul and Rebecca tied the knot, and last Saturday Zoe and David were married. (That last sentence sounds a bit odd, but I was trying to say pretty much the same thing twice without actually putting the same thing twice!) I'm planning to post some more wedding photos at some point, but I've got earache at the moment which is a bit distracting. This one of me and HP was taken in the church just after Rebecca and Paul's wedding.

These are the seats where we sat

This post is in memory of the armchairs at my house in GC. To begin with we only had one of these chairs, but after Imogen's parents dropped off the second one (along with some other bits and bobs) Imogen and I were able to have one each. Mine was the one on the left, and Imogen's the one on the right. They were good chairs. I shall miss them greatly.

Loving being back in London

The one thing that I didn''t really like about living in GC was the fact that it was so quiet. Having grown up living just off a main road and not far from both the police and fire stations I'm used to going to sleep to the sound of sirens! Ok, so sometimes they can get annoying, but mostly it's actually quite soothing. And it was quite helpful when the house opposite was on fire (the nearness of the fire station). This was quite a while ago, so it's not quite so dramatic as it sounds, well it was at the time, but the memory is fading now.

the photos are on the other computer

so I can't post any pictures, and I'm really too tired to write anything, so I'm not entirely sure what the purpose of this post is. And since that has been found out Ihad best end it right away. Goodnight. More tomorrow, but hopefully less drivel.

Doing the tourist thing

HP's boyfriend is staying for a week and he came with her and my mum to help move my stuff home from GC yesterday. He comes from (well lives on at the moment, I'm not sure if he's always lived there, but that's not the point I'm really trying to make) the Isle of Wight (think that's spelt correctly). He'd never been to Cambrige so we all drove into the city, parked along the backs and had a bit of a wander round. Here's Steve and HP and the inevitable tourist picture of Kings College chapel as seen from the backs.

HOME

It's funny how when you're a student, or a 'not long since you were a student' how many places you can call home. I've lived in several different places during the last few years, but I am now officially HOME. That's right, I'm in London and so is ALL my stuff. Which is why I can't actually move in my bedroom, and the reason my blogging will either be very light (as I'm too busy tidying and sorting it all) or very frequent (as I'm trying to escape from the tidying and sorting).

It's also very HOT here in London. I know it's a bit of a, hmmm not sure what the right word is - cliche, myth, whatever; but it really is hotter in London that everywhere else, and I don't think I like it.

I have got several photos that I want to put up at some point, but it may take a while. Also, some of them were taken by Imogen and I need her to email them to me (Imogen, if you're reading this please can I have one of the hedgehogs to put on my blog, and one of us outside the house for me to keep?!)

Looking back to look forward

Having been accused of forgetting how to write on my blog (or something like that anyway) I decided it was time I actually posted something I'd written, and not just pictures.

I'm in a "looking back over my last year" sort of mood now that I've started filling up boxes with stuff ready to move back to London (once term finishes). It's my very last day at school (well this school anyway) on Tuesday the 25th July (everyone else I know breaks up on the 21st, but hey!) and it'll be really sad to leave all those fantastic people I've got to know so well over the last year. Especially the boy I work one-to-one with - he may drive me insane sometimes, but overall I wouldn't want to change it - watching him change and improve at so many things over the time I've been working with him.

This time last year I had no idea what I would be doing, and I'd have probably laughed if you'd have suggested I could do some of the stuff I've done this year - I've worked in the school, home tutored two girls, and worked on a home program for an autistic girl. I've learnt so many skills this year. God's got the plan for my life, and he's certainly been keeping me guessing! Whatever I find myself doing this time next year, I know that God knows already what it is, and He's preparing me so I'll have the right skills and connections at the right time.

It's scary and sad saying goodbye to the familiar, but it's downright exciting looking to the future and working out what to do next. I may not ber in this house to see these beautiful autumn leaves in the garden of our house in GC again, but there's be something just as amazing right round the corner. All I want now is a peek at what it is.

This post had kind of turned out sounding a bit cheesy, but I'm gonna post it anyway. I know that God has a plan for my life, even if that sounds corny to some people, to me it's perhaps the only thing keeping me sane through all the decisions I'll be making over the next weeks and months.

Purpleness outside my door

Goodnight all :-)

Happy Birthday to my Mummy

on my way home

These are the friendly pylons that mean I'm nearly home (to GC) when I'm driving along the M11. Photo one is the first view you get of them, and the second photo is just round the corner when the cables actually cross over the top of the road. At least I think that's the right way round - blogger is being strange and only letting me see the html(? is that what it is?) rather than the actual pictures.

I don't know quite what it is, but ever since we started driving up towards Cambridge to take me to uni I've liked them. To me they look like friendly giants coming over the hill. Back then they were a sign it was nearly time to turn off the motorway, now it's even better cos it means at the top of the next hill I'm really very nearly home. Please excuse the spots of dirt on my windscreen (yes, these were taken as I was on the motorway, but I was being careful, I promise) but I just wanted to share them with you as i won't be commuting on that route for much longer. Of course I'll still be going on the motorway, but not everyday. At least, who knows quite what I'll be doing after the summer. Still not me.

Update: ok, so blogger put them the other way round, and they are really a bit small to see the pylons, but look closely. Cos I'm not gonna take any more pictures of them.

I find that I can't breathe and I can't sleep...

... when the weather's like this. Which is so not good. Thank goodness I've got a day off work today - It's a no pupil, teacher training day, but I don't need to go in cos I can use my hours better when the child I work with is actually there!

Right, this better be about Kentwell cos although unfortunately I don't have any more photos that also means I can write this post where I am without having to turn on the other computer (all the photo software is on the other computer, something to do with not having enough USB ports on this computer, but that's ok).

Kentwell was fantastic. Each school is given a time to arrive, so that each group has a slightly different time to go through the getting in process. We were lucky enough to be the first school in, so we go a bit of a chance to see some stuff before it got really busy. All of our kids did really well at getting into the spirit of the day, and some of the costumes were just outstanding. Compared to some other school we saw later in the day I felt we had done ourselves proud.

The first thing we got to do was to change our 'now' money into (replica) tudor money, at a rate of 60 pence now equals one tudor penny. We were told that one tudor penny would buy us a cake\snack\piece of fruit as we went round, and then that we could visit the tudor shop on our way out. We were also told we had a time that we had to leave. They give you three and a half hours which you would think would be loads of time, but we didn't see have of the grounds or people.

We went into the house first, as we were told it gets really bust later on. The children were amazed by everything they saw and heard, and in fact almost seemed struck dumb when given chance to ask questions. Basically the whole place, house and grounds, is full of people acting out particular roles as tudor people. So we got to see rich people and poor people, we saw how they would make bread, ale, butter, cheese, dye skeins of wool, chop wood, make paint from roots and earth, people training as soldiers, and much much more.

One particular thing that fascinated my group was the camera obscura. I've put a link there cos I probably wouldn't explain it very well. They were amazed to see what was going on outside projected onto the wall, and the fact that it appeared upside down was even weirder!

We had the chance to lose a couple of our boys as woodcutter's apprentices, and were very tempted by the offer! It was great to have lots of hands on experiences as well - I was given a tudor cure for itchy eyes (cos I said I had hayfever) which was some sort of watery paste rubbed onto my eyes with a leaf. Not entirely sure if it helped, but it was a fun thing to experience. (I sneezed the whole way home on the bus, but then we were surrounded by grass all day!).

Overall I would say we had a great day and I would recommed it to anyone. I may write more about it at some point, but I've gotta go now to put another parking permit in my car, and this post is long enough already.

room 101

I was going to name this post 'hot hot hot slow slow slow' refering to the weather & therefore me being hot, and the computer being really slow. But then I realised I couldn't waste my 101st post. And after all this is going to be a post about all the post I've wanted to write, and instead managed to write none.

I will blog about Kentwell, and the hen party (including pictures) and also a few other things, but not just this second cos I've gotta go again now. Just wanted to show that I am still alive really.

It's been boiling hot and just horrible really, but they're predicting thunder storms either tonight or tomorrow. In fact I may have just heard some thunder. Gotta go now cos i'm picking up Adrian's kids from school.