Kids away so a nice long lie-in? No chance

Nope! No lie-in, instead we were up at 5.30 am and off to a car boot sale with the car full, the roof box full, and the trailer well and truly (over)loaded!

My first promise was that everything we have cleared out will go,  one way or another 😕

It was supposed to be nice and sunny so I dressed accordingly, including flip flops, which I realised was a big mistake as I stepped out of the car onto the heavily dewed grass!! Naturally I was cold within minutes! I even looked at the baby socks I was selling and considered wearing them, one on each toe like little foot gloves!  Then someone bought them, so that was the end of that idea!

When I went to 'look' around myself a couple of hours later, I saw a very tempting pair of fluffy boot slippers, if only they were in my size! 

My second promise was that I wouldn't buy more stuff than we sold.

Well it should have been obvious that such a promise was completely unrealistic! By the end of the second row I had to sneak back to the car to unload my purchases before going off again to continue from where I left off.  Another 2 rows later I had to go back to the car again and felt it would be safer if I just didn't look anymore so I stayed put. Nearly. The lady next to us had some great fancy dress outfits for Billy to grow into........

By the end, the trailer was definitely a lot lighter and we dropped some "leftovers" off at a charity shop on the way to pick Billy up.  So at least my first promise is looking more likely to be kept.

Tired now but, on a positive note, after the 5.30am start this morning, 6.30am tomorrow morning to get my swimming back on schedule WILL seem like a lie-in!!😂😂😂 

Slipping schedule

Well I think I said my swimming schedule was likely to slip after a few days.....

In reality I've only managed it once so far! There are legitimate reasons,  obviously! With the exception of this morning, when I had every intention of going, but when the alarm went off at 6.30 I snoozed it, or at least I thought I had. I had actually turned it off so when I next looked at the clock it was nearly 7am, definitely too late to go! With a secret smile I cuddled back down into the duvet and went back to sleep 😴

There's always tomorrow.... 😉

A bit of retail therapy

Now, most of you might see a trip to B & Q as more of a chore than an exciting trip, but then again I'm not exactly normal!!!

With the help of my dad, his roof bars and ladders, we went on a spree to B & Q to get all (or at least most) of the necessary stuff needed for us to build our trailer.  I was, possibly, overexcited about all my little pots of paint, and particularly my nice 'rounded' paint brushes!

After much browsing of the paints for the two main colours I needed  (making us late back for lunch) we left without my getting either of those!  Never mind, that just means more fun shopping to come!

I was very enthusiastic to show my poor partner all our goodies when he got home from work, he seemed more pensive by the amount of work involved than all my products though!  I have also been warned (several times - slightly unneccesary!)  that there's a lot of prepping and stuff to do, blah blah blah, before I can get any of my paint pots open though.

Maybe if I 'help' with the all prepping etc. it will speed things up to the painting bit......!

Early to bed and early to rise makes a (wo)man healthy, wealthy and wise.....

Or maybe it could change to late to bed and early to rise just isn't a good idea.....


Hmmm..... well i wasn't exactly early to bed but I was early to rise (for me at least!) but I don't feel healthier, wealthier or wiser!!  In fact most of the first hour I was out of bed was spent talking to myself, I must be mad....I should still be in bed......what am I doing?

I was actually up late because I was googling trailer lid locks - exciting stuff huh?! (although I did find just the thing we want so that was nice!)

I got up at 6.30 am because of my new swimming plan.  Although in reality I was half out of bed anyway due to Billy coming in at 4.00 am and practically kicking me out!  Now the kids are on holiday I've decided to get to swimming for 7.00, swim 1/2 km, then get back home for 8.30 in time for the other half to go to work.  I did my 40 lengths in about 50 minutes and it was actually very successful - for me anyway!  Apparently Billy wasn't so pleased to wake up and find me missing!  Bless him, I'm sure he'll get used to it!  How long this early morning swimming regime will last for though is anyone's guess.  Yes I'm feeling all smug and pleased with myself now but, in a couple of weeks time (who am I kidding?!  more like a couple of days time!!), I will probably have had enough of it and will be looking for night-time swimming sessions instead!

I never was a morning person!

Project Camping Trailer is a Go Go Go!!!

After our long weekend camping, it became painfully obvious that there was no way we had room for everything we need to take for a two week camping trip - hence the birth of Project Camping Trailer!

We have a trailer chassis which we can use to build a new trailer so we started today by piling all of our camping gear in the lounge to work out how big we need to build it (judging by the amount of stuff we have, the next thing we'll need is a bigger car, or preferably a large van, to pull the damn thing!!)

My personal opinion is the bigger the better but apparently there are some limits to size and weight......... (must have been made up by a man!)

However, after a lot of measuring, planning, changing our minds, re-measuring, re-planning, changing our minds back - you get the picture - we finally have a plan!

Tonight I've had lots of fun being creative, designing a lovely paint job for our new trailer, which I'm very excited about - if I can actually do it!  Art isn't my strong point!  If it all goes to plan you will see photos - if it doesn't then obviously you won't!!!

It's Summer!!! Time for camping and playing and enjoying the sunshine - whilst it lasts!!!

Yaaaaayyyy!!! The kids have broken up from school so it's 6 1/2 weeks of sun, fun and playing - or arguing, fighting, shouting and crying...........

We started well with a camping trip to Scratby Hall (www.scratbyhall.co.uk) near Great Yarmouth for the first weekend of the hols and we picked a great weekend! The weather was great, lovely and sunny and hot.  Our schools generally break up about a week before the rest of the country so everywhere was reasonably quiet, which was great.  We had our new tent to try out so we were grateful for the weather in order for us to work out how to put it up. There is a lovely play are which kept the kids amused whilst we were sorting out and, although it's our 4th visit to this campsite, for the first time we found out there is a swimming pool too (although unfortunately this wasn't open when we were there - a drawback for finishing a week earlier than everyone else!. Typically, after much deliberation and changing of our minds (although surprisingly no arguments!!) we finally got the thing up and, on moving something else at the bottom of the bag, found the instructions! The porch took us a little longer to work out, even with the instructions, but we were finally set up and ready to go!  And the tent is HUGE!!!  The gazebo was put up and became our kitchen diner for the weekend and we had loads of space around us for the kids to play.  

Twiggle Village

Boggle Village

On Saturday we went to Bewilderwood (www.bewilderwood.co.uk).  Faye had picked a leaflet up from the Cambridge Services when we went to collect the tent and has been going on about how great it looked ever since - the main reason we ended up going to Yarmouth and not somewhere nice and local like Derby to test the tent out!  In fact, the place was great!  We spent the day looking for Twiggles (live in the trees) and Boggles (live in the swamps) and got a surprise from Mildred, the Crocklebog who lives in the Scaaaaaaaaary Lake!  There were tree houses, sky walks, zip wires, and slides.  It was great fun and, again, thankfully not too busy.  Each area had something for all ages so the kids both loved it and could play on the same things - full size for older kids and adults and a smaller version for toddlers, although to be fair Billy was on the normal stuff with Faye most of the time, with the exception of the zip wire - but he loved the toddler version!  There was even a play area for children with special needs.  I would highly recommend it to anyone in that area, it wasn't cheap but wasn't too bad and you get discount vouchers in the Great Yarmouth 'what's on' leaflets (helpfully Faye had collected these too!)

Errrr........ Twiggly Boggly Village??? 

A pair of little Crocklebogs!

Mildred the Crocklebog

Sky Walk

Toddleville

Back on the campsite we watched the black clouds rolling in and had a couple of light showers.  It was still warm so the kids kicked their shoes off and ran around on the wet grass with bare feet and loved it!  It was actually quite cooling and refreshing!  We had a barbecue and, just as we'd finished cooking (yes, that is the royal 'we', I didn't cook a thing!), the heavens opened and the rain came pouring down.  We watched it from the gazebo whilst we ate and waited for it to slow down a bit before making a run for it into the tent!

Sunday was seaside day!  We went to the beach by the Britannia Pier in Yarmouth, paddled in the sea, the kids went on donkey rides and we played on the amusements.







Monday was so lovely again we were tempted to stay for another night but resisted and packed everything back up.  Went into Yarmouth again in the afternoon, looked around some shops, got a bite to eat and played on the crazy golf (www.pirates-cove.co.uk), which was really good, although Billy looked like he was playing hockey rather than golf!  Then it was ice creams and back in the car to come home.

Tuesday was spent moving a greenhouse over from our late next door neighbour's garden to our garden (his family had very kindly said we could have it, we didn't just nip over and pinch it!) and the kids barely moved off the sofa or away from the telly
all day!

Wednesday was shopping and separating the kids, who by then had started arguing and falling out.

Yesterday we had friends come round for the kids to play and we all went to the park in the afternoon, it was slightly cooler and more bearable so was really lovely to be out in.

Today the kids are fed up because we're sorting out wardrobes and clothes etc.  I know, I know, not the most exciting thing for them to do but, as I told them, if we get all the boring stuff out of the way now we can have the rest of the holidays for fun things!  They weren't convinced either but one down and one to go!!!

Sorting clothes is sooooo tiring!!

In fact it is that boring that I've taken pity on them and let them loose in the garden whilst I write this and book our next camping holiday for the end of the hols!


Everything seems better already!!!

School, kids, tears and laughter

Well it's been an eventful few days, so I thought I'd share the events with you all.  Aren't you lucky!!!

First there was the shopping trip, we didn't need much to I went on my own.  I managed to avoid trolley rage, although only just as it was packed!  To add to my distress the shop had decided to move everything around so it took me ages to find half the stuff I would normally just go and pick up straight away.  Why do they do that???  Anyway, after eventually finding everything and queueing at the till for what seemed like forever, I finally got to unload my trolley and, in a state of elation, I managed to drop the eggs between the trolley and the conveyor belt (obviously dodgy packaging!!), getting smashed eggs and all over the floor and the belt.  I could sense everyone in the queue behind me glaring at me for being so stupid,  Of course the lady at the till then had to call someone (to get me some more eggs) and proceed to clean up, which I helped with hoping to get the ordeal over as quickly as possible.  By this time people had started moving away in despair and frustration, to joining the back of another mile long queue...... I was mortified!

Next we had the school fete, which was very good!  The team that had organised it all had done a really good job and there was loads of stuff for the kids to do.  Once they were all glitter tattooed up and faces painted it was time for throwing sponges at the Deputy Head, tombolas and all the other stalls.  Even Spiderman turned up, which Billy loved until he got a bit too close and then he legged it to Daddy to save him!

Yesterday we got the dreaded school report and found out which classes out little bundles of joy are going to be in next year.  This turned out to be a very stressful time due to the group of girls all being put in the same class bar one.  I still don't understand how they decided who goes where but it did seem very unfair to leave one girl out of the group separated from all her friends.  She was devastated and Faye sobbed all the way home and more.  It obviously seemed like the end of the world to them, even though I did try to tell her that they would still each other at playtimes and lunch, it's not as if she was moving to another country!  It didn't help.  Thankfully the school have managed to sort things so that they all stay together - and the school report was excellent so something positive came out of it!!

This morning I had a hospital appointment and pleased to be coming off Warfarin, woop woop!!!! . The new drug doesn't have to be monitored so no more blood tests and stabbing from the nurse and no more bleeding on the floor!!!  Yaaaaaayyyy!!!

Swimming was a real effort today though, I blame the four vials of blood I was drained of earlier......  I still managed to do my 40 lengths, just.  It was also possibly partly due to having a real laugh with one of the other swimmers, mainly at the expense of the new life guard.  Honestly, think of a twiglet and that was him!  I prayed none of us got into difficulties as there is no way he would have been able to drag anyone out!!  Bless him!  I swear he was leaning on the hoist post most of the time because he was struggling with the weight of the life buoy thing on his back!!  We have now affectionately nicknamed him 'Cotton Bud' :)  I was laughing that much I think I must have swallowed half of the pool.  Another lesson learnt - swimming and laughter, although enjoyable, aren't a good mix if you don't want to drown!!

Well, off now to meet the new teacher - hopefully the school run will be a little less dramatic and traumatic today!!

Barking Mad - 150 word story for Writerly Corner

Flash fiction prompt provided by http://www.writerlycorner.com/writerly-prompts

Barking Mad

The excitement was palpable as I raced around the house.  Food being prepared, decorations going up ready for the party tonight. I love parties.  I wandered into the kitchen, looking for spare food but I was shooed way.  I went to help with the decorations instead. I started rifling through a box, finding some stars and stripes glasses.  As I was playing with them on the floor one of the children picked them up and put them on my face. I pretended I couldn’t see and started running into things and barking madly, making the children roar with laughter.  I could see perfectly well, but I liked making the children laugh.  It usually meant I got extra treats and I wasn’t disappointed.  I sat in my basket contentedly watching all the guests arrive and knew I wasn’t going to be short of food or fuss for the next few hours.

FIZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

**** BATH BOMB UPDATE ****

It worked!  The thing actually fizzed away!  Although it did sink to the bottom of the bath like a lead balloon!  Apparently the cornstarch (which I didn't use as I didn't know what it was) is what helps the bombs to float.  It was so big and heavy though that I doubt anything short of an industrial buoy would have kept it on top of the water!!

The kids liked it though, and were suitably impressed that I'd made it myself.  Needless to say that want to have a go now so it looks like another shopping trip is in order!

BOOOOOOOM!!!!!!

Get me!!! My first bath bomb has been made, I'm still in one piece and so is the house!!

Admit it, you thought it would all go horribly wrong!

Now, although it's made, it was a bit tricky getting the water quantity right and, if I'm honest, I thought I'd messed it up.

I don't have any proper moulds so I used a small hollow Easter egg. The instructions tell you to slightly overfill each half of the mould then clip it together. Tap the mould to release the bomb and leave it to dry.  Easy huh? Hmmmmmm maybe not......

I compacted my mixture in well (got a bit creative at this point and put a different colour in the middle of each half so that it, hopefully, changes as it fizzes away).  There was no way may halves were going to clip together or even stay together, and as for tapping them to release anything, forget it!! 

I wedged one half on top of the other and squashed it together as much as I could, then balanced it in a cup, said a little prayer and left it to go swimming (me not the bath bomb).

Swimming was very busy today and I managed to swallow half the pool 😱, but I did my 1 km and the little voice in my head kept its mouth shut!

On my return home I was pleased, and surprised, to find my 'egg' halves had in fact stuck together!!   Unfortunately  they also appeared to have stuck really well to my make-shift mould! Several minutes of squeezing and bashing the thing on the work top, my egg bath bomb gave up and came out! It looks a bit rough around the edges but it's ok and smells lovely. The kids are generally easily pleased so I'm really looking forward to proudly presenting them with my homemade bath bomb - I just hope the damn thing whizzes around the bath fizzing!! I'll let you know how that one goes!!!

In the meantime, if you fancy giving it a go yourself, I followed the recipe given on the following link, which also gives instructions for loads of other stuff too so worth checking it out!!

http://www.homemade-gifts-made-easy.com/how-to-make-bath-bombs.html

If I get a chance, and work out how to do it, I'll start a new page for recipes/instructions and put the details on there.

To ouch or not to ouch

Well it seems the nurse was in a reasonable mood today, considering she's back off holiday AND it's raining!

As she went to select the same finger to stab, I subtly asked if she could use a different finger as that one bruised and hurt for a while afterwards last time.  She did ask if that normally happened and I told her no, I've had it done on all different fingers previously and never had a problem before, suggesting that finger obviously just took an objection to it on that occasion.... (see, I can be subtle and nice sometimes!)

So we went through the same bleeding-on-the-floor process as before but, I have to admit, the needle didn't hurt today!  Maybe my subtlety was taken on board and she was more gentle this time.  Unfortunately my reading was too high so, whilst she went to see the Dr, I took the opportunity of nabbing some tape and taping the cotton wool to my finger myself!  Turns out it is much easier to drive like this as opposed to trying to hold the cotton wool on or bleeding all over the steering wheel!

For my sins though, I now have to go back and go through it all again on Friday, 2 days' reprieve!!  As Billy would have put it, "Not fair!!", although I did manage to restrain from stamping my feet in protest.

Ah well, I'm now back in the comfort of my own home, Billy has been taken to safety by Nanna and Grandad, so it's bath bomb time!  I've got all my ingredients out in the kitchen, the instructions on the lap top, worryingly there seem to be lots of steps I have to take to stop the ingredients 'reacting' with each other - what could possible go wrong?!!!

If you never see me again, it's been nice to chat and bore you all!!!

Bleeding INR check

Since leaving hospital I had been having to go to hospital once or twice every week for an INR check.  I have never had a  problem with injections or needles so I was never bothered by this.  It never took very long and was always a quick and efficient process. Sit down, small needle prick to a finger, drop of blood on the reader, and a bit of cotton wool taped on my finger. Quick and painless.

However, once I'd had a couple of readings within range, the hospital discharged me to my GP surgery for this pleasure.

The process here is completely different, quite bizarre, and to be completely honest, bloody painful!!

Here I sat down and had a couple of paper towels thrown down on the floor at my feet. Next my finger was stabbed with what felt like a knitting needle, one of those really thick ones, and I was instructed to hold my finger down over the paper towels.  Once 2 or 3 drops of blood had dropped and splattered on the towels, the nurse then caught a drop of blood on the reader, instructing me to return thavingding on the paper towels until she was sure the reader was working. Once satisfied she then gave me a bit of cotton wool to hold on my finger, which was already bruising..... 

Whilst watching my finger turn blue I distracted myself by working out if she was just in a bad mood, but no. She was going on holiday and seemed very cheerful and happy.

Typically I smiled and thanked her as I left, wondering, even as the words were coming out of my mouth, what the hell I was actually thanking her for.

Thankfully, partly due to her being on holiday, I was given a 2 week reprieve. Good job too as it took almost a week for my finger to recover from the abuse and trauma!!

Unfortunately today is the day I have to go back.  I'm not looking forward to it and I'm having a dilemma as to whether to say something or not. I don't want to upset her and risk even more pain but on the other have if I make some might light-hearted comment with a smile, maybe she'll be more gentle with me!!

I just hope that being back of holiday hasn't put her in a bad mood 😕

I'm still here......

....although that may be because I haven't attempted the bath bomb yet!!  Although I have looked up a few recipes and have finally found one where I have all the necessary ingredients!  (What IS cornstarch anyway??). I then decided there wasn't enough time to blow myself and/or the house up before picking the kids up from school so everything is safe for another day.........

I did make it to swimming again and after my little energy burst yesterday (40 lengths!!!), which we worked out was the equivalent to 1 km, I now feel obliged to make 40 lengths my target. Why oh why did I have to do 40 lengths!  30 lengths was nice.  I liked 30 lengths.  But nooooo, now that little voice in my head won't let me do 30 lengths anymore, because it knows I can do 40.....  I can see I'm going to have to start thinking of excuses to go back down to 30, good enough to shut up that little voice in my head!

The little voice appeared again as I was standing outside the school, the rain hammering down, getting soaked...... in my flip flops.  Yes, I did think about changing my shoes as I left the house as it had started to drizzle, but it would have made me late and it was just a shower.  Unfortunately, that shower just got heavier and heavier.  Still, wet feet dry easily!

I think I should name it, the voice in my head, any suggestions?

We also had someone else come home with us, Wormy (if you haven't guessed, Wormy is a worm) and Billy's new 'pet'.  His last pet, who came home with him a couple of weeks ago, was Slimy the snail, who's only mission was to escape, preferably in the car on the way home.  Slimy, unfortunately, is no more.  Wormy at least had the decency to stay put on the journey home and is now slowly making its way around an indent in the lid it was brought home in. It doesn't seem as intent on escaping but it will still be going out in the garden before long!

Scrub that, I've just been out to put the dinner on and come back to find Wormy making a run for it (if worms can run) across the table.  Needless to say, he has now been evicted to the garden!!