Todays post is brought to you by the letter R

and lots of love!

I am very picky about my purse, it takes me a long time to find the right one. it has to be a certain size, have a certain amount of pockets, it has to be black leather and be a certain price!

My last purse was from John Lewis, and prior to that I had one from Clarks (bought from their outlet store in Street, in October 2006) I never really liked the Clarks one, after the initial flush of love, as the coin part wasnt completely closed and coins would disappear into the lining.

so when I was given some JLP vouchers as a leaving gift from Brownies I decided to replace the Clarks purse, this was in September. a couple of days ago I noticed the lining was tearing, in a part of the purse I dont even use - so off I trotted today to replace it, sadly faced with a whole display of purses I could not find one that suited me. Just as I was about to give up I found one! and there was 20% off to boot (mind you the purse I was returning was now reduced due to VAT changes so whilst I paid £30 I only got £29 back - mmmmmmmm) the difference between my purse and the new one was a *mere* £14. after a quick phonecall to mr.B to confim it was ok I bought it.

I am now the very excited and proud owner of a RADLEY purse! not quite a Radley handbag, but it will do!

At last

the 3 year old has muttered the wonderful words 'I am not hungry anymore'

so since picking her up from nursery at 11.30am (3 hours ago) she has had, a ham sarnie, frube, orange, packet of crisps, slice of bread and butter, biscuit, bowl of tomato soup and another slice of bread and butter!

hang on what was that? right now she is thirsty - she wants milk. warm or cold my dear?!?!

O dear O dear

My lovely Husband has been laid off again, we didn't see that coming, in fact the company he was working for appeared to be doing so well.
Thankfully he has been able to sign on with an agency and has some temporary work for the next month or so.
But it has left me with something on my mind, if I pass my access course (And I should) and if I get accepted to Uni (as much chance as the next wannabe midwife) how will we survive if Mr.B is out of work?
I am going to train as a midwife to improve our future, so its not just a flight of fancy - like getting a degree in kite flying!
so I thought I would chance my arm, and see if anyone of the many many readers I have of my blog fancied hitting the button and donating a £1 or 2? as my Mum says, don't ask don't get (but then don't they say you shouldn't ask for things?!?!)
anyway there you go - nod with agreement at my cheek or shake your head in disappointment at my cheek. But either way you can't blame a girl for trying

now off to do my maths homework!

I shouldn't be allowed to have kids!

Youngest child has just embarked on her long and illustrious school career
Quite a popular child she is turning out to be!
so far she has had 3 party invitations
the first one she went to and had a wonderful time (see past post about cake!)
the second one sadly we couldn't go to as we were on holiday
and finally she had one yesterday. except I forgot to take her! and only remembered at 4.30 am this morning! thank heavens she is only 3 and doesn't remember she has a packed social diary.

Bad Mummy Marks for me

hey I am a cupcake!

What Your Cupcake Says About You

At parties, you tend to be a social butterfly. You enjoy making conversation and making sure everyone is having fun. You hardly have any restraint. You only hold yourself back when absolutely necessary. The most important thing in your life is your significant other. You are laid back, flexible, and easy to get along with. To know you is to care for you.

The Cupcake Test

Is my Husband insane?

this weekend he is camping with the scouts................................ so I would say yes!

Oh for heavens sake

Its like taking a plaster off really really really slowly, bit by painful bit (insert sound effects and loud explitives). Why can't they just grab it and rip it off?

10 'O clock news and what are they talking about AGAIN? The recessions again, aparrently, according to the bank of England we are slipping into the R word.

are we? are we really? gosh how can you tell?

so instead of slowly pulling the plaster off and saying here we go, sliding that way. Just grab it, pull it and admit it out loud!

After the ball was over...............

smallest child attended her first Birthday party without me today.

She has just been dropped home, with an amazing tiger face!

I asked her what she had to eat

sc: cake
me: anything else?
sc: yes chocolate cake

righto!

And

if someone could tell the idiot that lives next door there is really no need to have music so loud I can hear it through the wall, especially as the party is for a 9 year old! ye gods, I dread to think what will happen when those kids are teenagers

*shakes head and wonders if living in a yurt in the middle of the our forest is the way to go?*

Bargain!!!!

I love a good bargain
well what girl doesn't?
especially in these credit crunch days
so I am often found mooching around charity shops
but this week found me on unfamiliar territory in a town near us
of course I had to scout the charity shops!
found a lovely skirt for £2.50

and this

and these
and these
and these (which are actually a lovely mint green)
and these!

and all that yarn? 1900 grammes of it! how much I hear you yell!

£6

I kid you not! actually it was £5 something or other, but I felt so wrong taking change for so much lovely yarn I told her to round it to £6!

Hooray!

Can you see that clearly? that was the receipt from putting fuel in the car earlier.

99.9p a litre
does this mean, life is getting back to normal. Will we actually be able to afford to live this winter?
lets wait and see if it starts reflecting in the price of staples as quickly as it did when the price went up!

To the man sitting next to me this morning in the library

This post is adressed to the middle aged 'gentleman' who was in the 'study' section of St. Albans central library this morning, but others could learn from it!


Of course the clue is in the name 'study' area.

So sitting with your laptop laughing out loud to something on facebook is slightly disruptive.

constant sniffing is annoying, you may have a cold? keep it to yourself!

Headphones mean you can keep your noise to yourself, so if someone asks politely 'could you turn that down please?' dont reply 'can you hear that? I find that hard to believe' well there you go I must be lying then!

So thank you, from a mature student trying very hard to do the best she can in the rare few hours she has without her children (this morning was exactly 1 hour!)

Try and think of others who are actually working there, and use another area next time (after all the library have supplied banks and banks of PC's and desk space everywhere!)

A scary thing happened at college tonight!

whilst in the psychology tutorial we were looking at a cross section of a scan of 2 brains, one of a 'normal' person and one of a schizophrenia sufferer.
The tutor informed us it was a 'CAT scan or something' (very technically minded), a young girl at the back piped up 'I didnt know cats could get schizophrenia'

Geez and this person wants to work in the health profession?!?

a bit of reincarnation!

Your result for Reincarnation Placement Exam...

Lol Cat

41% Intrigue, 20% Civilization, 62% Humanity, 33% Urbanization.

After much consideration, we have decided to make you a LolCat.

Actually, there wasn't much consideration at all. It was the easiest decision we've made all day.

Why? Because, according to your answers, you want to have your good times, but don't seem too interested in all that "other stuff." You know... civilization, adventure, that sort of thing.

We hope you like being fluffy.

I don't know... Can you has cheezburger?

Take Reincarnation Placement Exam at HelloQuizzy

OK the results are in

And the eldest has secured her place at college!
AS levels in physics, biology and chemistry!
now the hard work really begins!

Me? haven't phoned uni about the maths yet, but thats not urgent.

Today I am off with a friend to IKnit this terrifies me as I don't *do* strange places, or crowds!

I will report back later..........................................................

No wait there is more

The following day eldest received a phonecall from her school and they said 'there is a problem with your 6th form application, you cant do chemistry and biology, you can only do physics, food tech and psychology'.

So you can imagine the poor girls reaction, right in the middle of the zoo
as well

I have phoned the school to find out what the hell is going on, but of course that day the phones were permanently engaged and the next day (saturday) there wasnt a soul in sight, she was
offered the places a week ago and now they have changed their mind? I know she had a high c instead of the B she needed, but that was purely because of physics! she needs all 3 sciences to go to vets school.

good for her though, after her initial breakdown she pulled herself together and when she got home she worked out a way of doing it all (including going to college in the evenings to do the missing A's and probably taking an extra year) she was worried she would be 'behind' all her friends, but as I pointed out age is only important at school because you are with your peers,
but at college/uni it isnt at all important.

I am just so cross that the school phoned her, that there was no consultation about it and that for the next hour i tried to phone back and it was permanently engaged, and then of course they went home!

so until monday I am really in the dark.

All change!

You have just go to love the English education system, with 2 weeks to go until the start of my course, and 4 months since my interview I went to my enrollment. What a shocking experience, I was sat down (squeezed inbetween other students, whilst the tutors had more elbow room than you can shake a stick at on the outside of the 'u' shaped desk set up!) at the tutor immediately said 'I dont know why you have been offered the evening 1 year you arent working at the correct level, o you want to be a midwife you do know lots of people want to do that lets hope there are enough spaces at uni for you all, pah I see you dont have a GCSE math you
know you need that as well, thats another evening out at college thats 3 evenings thats a lot of hard work you know, not a lot of people can cope with that.........................' at the point where she started spurting on about how hard it was at uni to do the studying for midwifery (no really?) and that it doesnt fit in with having small kids (you dont say?) and I was on the point of either a. picking up my bits and walking out or b. punching her on the nose, another tutor stepped in and took over!
the long and the short of it is the entry for the evening is level 2 maths and level 3 communications (literacy) I am working level 1 maths, but exhibiting level 2 and level 2 literacy with some level 3 tendencies! so there wasnt really a problem, that coupled with my proven track record of independant study with the OU. yes I need to do a maths GCSE, however I
have done a level 1 course with the OU 'open mathematics' so we need to see if the uni will accept that, if not I have to delay my plans by a year and do the access this year and the Maths next year (3 evenings a week at college could push it too far with the family!)

So I was trotted off to the tills - queued for half an hour to even get into the room then another 20 minutes when I was told that as I was applying for financial assistance I was in the wrong place! finally got that sorted and only have to pay £65 (in installments) for the £1000 course!

Exam results

My eldest daughter received her GCSE results last week, and with one exception she did really well. We are very proud of her. Off to 6th form for her to do all 3 sciences, and food tech! brave girl.

My results are in from the OU course I completed back in June, final TMA was 67% final CMA was 70%. and final overall pass with an overall 67%. coupled with the last course I completed I have been awarded a Certificate in Computing and Mathematics.

this is what happens to your feet

if you spend too long in the bath, believe it or not those are the feet of a THREE year old! mind you that was over an hour in the bath - WHOOPS

And what does day nine bring?

Me waiting for a site visit to iron out any wrinkles, there aren't many, but there are a few bits I need sorting.

Do you think that means by the end of today I can have my kitchen back completely? I hope so, mainly because if I have my kitchen back I can have my living room back, which in turn means I can have my hallway back, which in turn means I can have my sanity back!

And on the eighth day I had......................................

My appliances back

And a lovely new floor, this stuff is 'low slip' so feels a bit 'odd' under foot but is superb. Feels like tiles, but is in fact vinyl so not as cold as the tiles where.
and the sharp eyed among you may notice the pots by the back door, the painting should commence later this week.

husband at work................

One child watching TV the other two still in bed, gives me the time to update the kitchen news!

Day 7 brought much excitement with tiles!

And greater excitement when I realised they had changed the work surface and now I had a space for an undercounter freezer, rather than the oddly-stick-out-at-the-end-of-a-row-of-cupboards-for-no-particular-reason freezer!

I only have one thing to say today

Hello Kate, Steve and Kids!
thank you for a lovely day!
see you soon...........................

And up to date with day 6 news

posted on day 6!

I have a kitchen! well almost. As we were leaving to go to the zoo today the kitchen was being delivered and mostly it is fitted. But my appliances still aren't in so tonight was a yummy (yeah right) freezer meal for us, and a exciting bowl of plain noodles (micro cooked) for the littlies *sigh*

there are a couple of things I am not happy with. On the larder cupboard the handle has been
damaged

The work surface here ends too soon, as thats the freezer space, but I will query that tomorrow with the foreman. And the small cupboard above it has a different handle to the rest!

but otherwise it seems to be taking shape, if they put the floor in tomorrow I may have my appliances back

*keeping everything crossed*

cinq

WOW the woman can speak french!
what did today bring? chaos!
I came back from a morning out to a soaking wet cat sat on the fence. It was pouring with rain, but is unlike Bobby to sit out in it.
a quick trip into the garden showed why he was out there


the builders had blocked the cat flap with a plant pot shoved through it so that the cat didnt walk on the freshly layed (or is that laid?) levelling compound.
we put some food and drink in the garage for him and left the door open so he could go in, but he was not a happy cat.
of course that also meant we couldnt go into the kitchen (especially as the fridge is blocking the doorway)
but worse than that I have no appliances, well Ido but they are all lined up in my living room.

of course the kids loved it - no cooker means no cooking so they had the most horrific McDonalds meal!

are we at the 4th day already?

in case you are wondering thats monday.
and why am I showing you photos you have seen before?
Aha - no, look closely you will see that these photos are the

'after the plasterer has been' shots!

third day

you have had to wait for this update as Mr.B and me have been away for our dirty weekend, whoops sorry I mean our wedding anniversary celebration (a whole year!)

The day we went away was an interesting one, I was very glad I spent the day popping from appointment to appointment (waxing, dying, cutting and general primping!) as the mad polish men were smashing my floor up! I did have a tiled floor..........................................................

Day two

Well that was traumatic! the noise, the dust, the rain. Well OK I can't blame the kitchen guys for the rain but it did mean I was stuck indoors most the day with the dust and the noise!

Now we have sockets, lots of lovely sockets. Sockets that say things like COOKER, DISHWASHER, FRIDGE, FREEZER.............................. and we have a light switch by the new door!
the conduit should be behind the tiles (O boy I do hope so, I hate conduit!)
The old kitchen just had normal raised sockets on the wall which all the white goods had to plug into - not the best idea if you don't want things switched off by mistake!

at the end of day 1?

I am left impressed at how, clean and tidy, efficient and polite my Polish workmen are!

I have a temporary sink, a plumbed in washing machine and a cooker that works



But look at the amazing wallpaper they have uncovered, there are two there, the blue pattern is over the 'beige' one which has the vases and plant hangers on. this house was built in the early 60's so I would say the plants are circa 1963 and the blue must be the 70's!

I forgot to add, when Mr.B sealed up the old door with framework and plaster board we tucked a little note in there saying the date, who we are, our ages and what we were doing to the kitchen!

and so there we are

the various corners of our kitchen before the grand clear out - which took place on sunday, whilst I was full of man flu I should add!

the picture top right is the blocked up doorway and the picture bottom left is the new door opening, no door yet though!

Today

Chaos arrived in my house in the shape of the kitchen fitters!

No that isn't a kitchen fitter, it is Mr.B creating me a new door from the kitchen into the living/dining room

and here he is getting ready to block up the old one

Things I have found

up my 3 year olds nose

1. half a slice of bread (yes it is possible)
2. a purple bead (she chose a pretty colour)
3. a lump of blue tac big enough to hang a life size picture of herself!

and all in the space of 12 months. will she learn? probably not

A topsy turvy life

¡ʎɹlǝʌɐɹ ɹo snolnqɐɹɔs ǝqʎɐɯ ʇdǝɔxǝ˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙sƃuıɥʇ ɹǝɥʇo ɹoɟ ǝɯıʇ oɟ ʇol ɐ ǝʌɐɥ ʇuop ı ǝuıƃɐɯı uɐɔ noʎ 'ɯɹǝʇ ɟlɐɥ sı ʇı sɐ puɐ
˙puǝʞǝǝʍ ǝɥʇ ɹoɟ ʇıʞ pıɐ ʇsɹıɟ puɐ ǝɯɐƃ ǝpıʍ ʇno ƃuıʇɹos puɐ ɟlǝsʎɯ ɹoɟ ƃuıʞɔɐd '(ƃuıʞɹoʍ ǝq llıʍ ʎppɐp sɐ ʞ ʎuuɐu ɥʇıʍ ƃuıʎɐʇs sı oɥʍ) plıɥɔ ʇsǝllɐɯs ǝɥʇ ɹoɟ ƃuıʞɔɐd ¡ƃuıɥʇʎɹǝʌǝ splıɥɔ ǝlppıɯ ƃuıllǝqɐl ˙ʎpɐǝɹ ƃuıɥʇʎɹǝʌǝ ƃuıʇʇǝƃ ʎsnq ɯɐ ı ʇuǝɯoɯ ǝɥʇ ʇɐ os
(¿ʇuǝɯoɯ ǝʎǝ dɯɐp) ƃuılloɹuǝ ǝq oslɐ llıʍ ǝɥs ʎllnɟǝdoɥ puɐ 'ʇıun ɹǝɥ sı ʇı sɐ ɹıǝɥʇ ǝq llıʍ plıɥɔ ǝlppıɯ puɐ (¡spǝǝlq ǝsou ʇǝƃ ɹo ǝʞnd sƃuılɹɐp ǝlʇʇıl ʎuɐɯ ooʇ ʇou pǝssoɹɔ sɹǝƃuıɟ) ɹǝpıɐ ʇsɹıɟ sɐ ƃuıoƃ ɯɐ ı 'ı ʇıun ʎɯ ʇou 'ʎɐpıloɥ ʞɔɐd sı ʎɐpsɹnɥʇ
˙ʎsnq os sɯǝǝs ǝɟıl ˙sʎɐp ǝsǝɥʇ ǝuop ƃuıƃƃolq ɥɔnɯ ƃuıʇʇǝƃ ʇou

Result!

64%
I got 64%
for the essay!
lost marks for the stupidest of things
*kicks self*
just one more result to come
then I will know if its a pass
or not............

Done

OK a lot later than planned (just now in fact!) but its done, no turning back now..................................

Yeah Go Me!

See that counter there?
the one on the left?
under the one counting down our weekend away?
Well, It doesn't matter any more BECAUSE I HAVE FINISHED!!!!!!!!!

All 3 blocks, thats 16 units, 4 tutor marked assignments all submitted and marked (with really quite decent scores!), 1 computer marked assesment (results eagerly waited for ) and the Final tutor marked assignment, my finger is hovering over the submit button right this minute!

In fact my finger has been hovering over it since last Thursday evening when I finished it, thats 7 days ago. I seem to have a physical inability to hit the button. I had read it, re read it, had 3 other people read it and I have then made appropriate corrections to grammer. So why is it this 1000 essay is causing me so many problems?!

O.k. I am going to have my lunch now (egg topped muffins, in case you are interested) and then I will send it. I have a bag I want to get made this afternoon as a present for someone, and I want to be able to make it without thinking about the essay all the time!

Listen to the beautiful sound

Of the teenager stropping
Of Mr.B stropping back
Of the littlies fighting

*sigh*

I love the weekends, everyone is here invading my space, making a mess, spoiling my routine.

but I do love 'em all. HONEST!

996 visitors

since December, who will make it a 1000? wonder if there is a way of finding out, I could send a prize to the 1000's visitor - maybe something of mine? mmmmm I could send a dust bunny, got loads of those going spare......................................................................

what a difference a day makes

This is what I was going to post today


12 years ago today a lovely man came to my house to see if he could help me fix my car, and he never left - I love you Mr.B and thank you for a wonderful 12 years. I was going to invite you to join me for a yummy home cooked meal for two after the kids had gone to bed on saturday night. you, me, a couple of steaks and a good bottle of wine


But what I am actually going to post, in light of what arrived in the post this morning is

Mr.B you are a complete twit for getting a speeding fine, and the next time you tell me your moped only does 30mph, I will remind you of the intention to prosecute notice you have for doing 41mph! you great big numpty!

O boy, have you got some crawling to do!

ok could be making a right butt of myself

but apparently I have been 'tagged' by being a mummy so here goes

The Rules:
1. Pick up the nearest book of 123 (or more) pages.
“the dirty bits for girls”.
2. Open the book to page 123 and find the 5th sentence.
ok well thats no good as the page is done and dusted in 3 sentences - they are long!
back to 1. then "Death of a superhero by Anthony Mccarten"
3. Post the next 3 sentences.
Big laughter. From everyone except Louise. Unhappy Louise.
(that was easy, short and sweet)
4. Tag 5 people.
here you go then - Mr.B, Sajona, twiddletails, mrs Fink and Phyliss you have all been tagged!

more of those conversations with small people

making lunch for the 2 smallest children.

smallest child: I want ham in my ham sandwhich, I don't like cheese.

me: well it wouldn't be a ham sandwhich if it had cheese in it now would it?!

Honestly Mr.B

the best beloved has sent me a link to a marvelous item.

Which, given half the chance, he couldn't possibly live without.

But my question to you, Mr.B, is what happened to your old camping chair? Oh yes I remember now - it was left outside at scout camp, over night, in high winds.

And in those high winds, the poor thing was blown into the embers of the campfire, and as a result was so badly disfigured we had to put it out of its misery!

four seasons in a day?

was that a clap of thunder? If it was then, yes, here in Snorbans we have had the lot!

sun, rain, snow, hail and something slushy that whipped around right in the middle of the lovely easter egg hunt at the Wick!

Best day ever

well almost anyway

but I cant tell you about it yet

sorry!

Be Brave!

Are you a playground Mum?

take heed then kind soul!

If a child in your off-springs class is making you uncomfortable with their behaviour or moods. Don't just dismiss it by telling your off-spring to stay away from the child.

If your off-spring is telling you a child in their class seems to over-react in some situations, or cries a lot for no reason. please discourage your child from calling this little soul a 'cry baby'.


Could it be possible this child has problems, maybe be on the Autistic spectrum?

Be brave - talk to the parents, I bet the parent will be more than happy to explain things to you - I know I would be!

please dont make these special children outcasts they (and their families) have enough to deal with, without the pain of rejection as well.

Now where did I put that list?

time for another rivetting review readers!

not doing too bad, really, considering I am an idle so and so!

• take down the last of the Birthday stuff, cards, banners, balloons etc (completed, well one would hope so after all the last Birthday was the 18th Feb!)
  
• the mountain pile of ironing (ahem paid the 16 year old to do it!)
  
• plumb in the sink into the downstairs loo (more on that later!) (completed by Mr.B but its leaking)
  
• sort out coats in coats cupboard - there is a lot and I am sure there are some in there that the girls don't wear (surprisingly only 3 outgrown coats were found)
  
• plant the seeds in the trays for this seasons veggies (yes did that, and then the blooming wind on Friday night lifted up my mini greenhouse, turned it on its side which spilled the seed trays out all over the ground. terribly sad)
  
• find my wedding ring - yeah more about that later as well, sorry Mr.B it is in the house!(Yeah found! underneath the chest of drawers in the bedroom)
  
• put bits in the loft that need to go in the loft!(house tidy, loft full to bust!)
  
• sort out, launder, iron and price up things for the NCT sale next month. (well sorted and laundered anyways!)
  

POP!!!!!!!!

Whilst helping to tidy the littlies bedroom yesterday, I opened the wardrobe to put some games away and was faced with 3 balloons from various birhdays.
Upon asking why they were there Mr.B told me, and middle child confirmed, that they were hidden there from me so that I dont pop them!

Do I have a mean reputation then, as a random wicked balloon popper?!??!?!!

Happy Birthday to Me

I am eating my Birthday dinner, a pack of ready salted crisps and 3 slices of toast and marg (blimey don't even have any butter!)

yep another blinding Birthday!