There clearly hasn't been much in the way of blogging over here at the moment, and I know it's becoming long overdue when Michael comments on the same old entry popping up as his homepage everyday. But that's not to say there hasn't been a lot going on in our lives. Au contraire, in fact. I think the easiest way to get caught up is a list - I haven't had a good list going on for ages!
1. School has been fairly frantic in the run up to coursework deadlines - lots of rushing around with pieces of important paper in hand, lots of faffing about, filling out paperwork, panicking about pupils who still have a few things to do, lots of phonecalls and texts to my jobshare partner since we only actually see each other on Wednesdays. No real need to elaborate I don't think! Hoping that when I go in tomorrow it's all done and dusted!
2. There has been much sorting around the house and in the garage. When we moved we left lots of boxes for a car boot sale in the garage along with some things that had nowhere to go as our roofspace is converted into our bedroom. So we finally got stuck in and admitted that we were never going to want to get up early enough to do a car boot sale, dumped a lot of stuff, gave some to charity and finally moved the rest into the small space that is indeed our roofspace. This all culminated with the long term donation of my parents' treadmill which now has pride of place in Boydo's Gym! I will likely never use it, but Michael has been dedicated in his treading this past week or so.
3. Despite not using the treadmill, I have amazed myself and many others in my committment to run the streets of Ballyholme twice a week! I admit, I am often spurred on by my competitive spirit (it only comes out occasionally, but it's fair to say I don't like to be beaten!) wanting to keep up with my running chum, Debbie, who I suspect could run much further than me but hasn't let on yet! Time will tell. I can proudly tell you that I am able to run 2 1/2 miles with no walking in the cracking time of 28 mins! I know, marathon teams around the country are probably going to be head hunting me any day now! But I am proud of myself because I generally don't like doing it, but my calves are definitely wobbling less!
4. There's been more sickness. I'm fully expecting a visit from the Education Welfare Officer for the amount of absence poor Patrick has had in P1. This past week was the dreaded ear infection. Obviously, in true motherly fashion, I presumed he just had a cold, dosed him regularly with Calpol and Nurofen and ignored his complaints of a popping and sore ear. Bad mummy! Until he was howling in agony last Sunday and the out of hours surgery asked me to take him over. Ahem! I did feel very bad about the whole thing, given that I had for a few days thought that his tonsils had a rather golf ball-like appearance. Thankfully the kindly doctor gave us an antibiotic straightaway, and so we bribed him with Haribo to take the yucky yellow Amoxicillan once again. He made it back to school in good time for the Snow White party on Friday, which he attended as a dwarf, dressed in jogging bottoms a Santa hat and my $100 Abercrombie and Fitch jacket! He spied that the day before, tried it on and before I could say "Not on your life are you wearing that!" he excitedly proclaimed that it was the perfect dwarf jacket! Having been such a bad mummy earlier in the week I had no option but to say ok, sneakily check that it was machine washable and beg his teacher not to let him paint in it! And all was well.
5. I finally got round to scanning the layouts I did at our little Crop circle over Easter with Sheila, Jo and Lesley. Voila!
Loving both of these but especially the superhero one. It is just so typical of Patrick right now.
6. I have been trying to be super organised for Patrick's birthday party which is next Saturday. There is potential for a bit of a rant here but I shall try to hold myself back. In a nutshell, birthday parties are one part of my own childhood that I can recall clearly and very happily. They were simple, a few friends, a bit of pass the parcel, some dancing and the cake that we got to choose from mum's special cake recipe book. I remember that bit so clearly, down to some of the actual cakes I had for my parties. Now, though, I suspect as a product of our hectic lives and lack of time, all the parties Patrick goes to are in play centres or other places where entertainment is laid on and food is provided. And they are good parties. Patrick always wants to have his party wherever the last one he went to was! But I am holding out for as long as possible (probably until no one wants to come to his parties because his mum is a weirdo and pass the parcel is for babies!) So our party is at Crawfordsburn Country Park. A bit of a gamble with our weather, I know, and all prayers for sun will be much appreciated as the contingency plan is our lounge! But Patrick is excited about it and that's what counts! And I'm paving the way for Debbie to follow suit - which she better or there'll be words! So I've been planning games, cakes (caved in a bit here and am going for the Dr Who cake, but promise to make one myself for his actual birthday the week after!) and making invitations. Behold, the final result - a combination of Patrick's drawing, some googling of the Dr Who logo and my photoshop skills.
I am pretty darn pleased with it if I do say so myself! Is it wrong of me to be disappointed that mums have not been flocking to me in the playground to congratulate me on such a piece of workmanship? I could have a whole other rant about the complete minefield party invitations are too, but I shall save you from that.
7. I have also read from cover to cover Soule Mama's book, The Creative Family. It rocks. Seriously. It's had me doing most of the thinking referred to in the title of this post. Which I fully intended to write more about tonight, but may put off until tomorrow (the word 'tomorrow' used loosely here I think you'll find.) I am buzzing with ideas for things I want to try with the kids, for myself and for us all. I suspect I may have to sneak some of it past Michael without him noticing, but he'll thank me for it later. Never mind the shocking amount of time I've spent trawling through the archives on her blog and googling fancy Japanese import fabric! I seriously do have a lot of thoughts about the ideas in her book and a whole lot else that it has brought to my mind, but I think it needs a post of its own.
8. Michael went back to work this past week as well, after the operation on his back at Easter. A bit of a shock to his system I think, but he seems to be coping! We'll see how he fares with 4 nights in a row this week. Feel pretty sorry for him on that one!
And that about wraps this post up. Well done if you've stuck it out to the end! I didn't intend for it to be so long but I suppose that's what I get for neglecting the little world of blog for so long. I must go and prepare myself for the next few days of school - usually done by drinking a glass of wine and watching something mindless to help me pretend work doesn't really exist. And a fairly successful method most weeks! I hope to be back soon, but as ever, who can tell? I'll post sooner if Julie Warke leaves a comment!!
