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November 21 Urrghh... it's not such a good morning; however it's not the worst either, which must mean I am feeling a bit better (woo hoo). I have been dropping by and reading blogs but then just sneaking off and not commenting cos my head isn't up to full speed, so if you've seen me sneaky about it's just cos I couldn't co-ordinate the typing properly. To be honest this is taking longer than I thought it would!I still don't have my computer desk back up but I do have an almost there, very nearly decorated living room
 , I do see us being done by the end of today which means a nice dinner (if I feel like eating) and a dvd this evening, hoorah a relaxy saturday mayhap?This swine flu thingy didn't hit me extremely hard but I am cream crackered and also have a very persistent cough, which of course prevents any sort of deep sleep occurring. The girls seem much improved even though youngest miss would not contemplate the tamiflu at all. They don't give the syrup to any child over the age of one, because of course we are all fully capable of swallowing tablets after that age!!! I know I know sarcasm, lowest form of wit and all, but sometimes it's just necessary. Because of this I have had to be deconstructing Tamiflu capsules on my kitchen worksurface and crumbling the contents into spoonfulls of chocolate spread like some sort of mad chemist. It didn't fool Miss Maya for a second though, neither did the jam one, or the yoghurt one or any subsequent thing coming towards her on a teaspoon! To be honest I gave up and she has improved vastly thank goodness.
Ok, coughing up a lung now (note the use of poetic imagery) so off to make a cuppatea, have a great weekend all, will be dropping by soon (when I've got my desk back I suspect
 ).November 16 Swine Flu yep it's hit! We have swine flu in the house, yippee  .It's just Ruthie at the moment but as is the way with four of the little darlings, goodness knows how long that will last. I have been stressing all day about whether she has or hasn't, and finally decided to check out the pandemic website. I have to say it's all a bit vague and almost seemed to say "if you have the sniffles and a high temperature have some tamiflu....." So me being me, and needing more definitive answers, I rang NHS direct and spoke to a doctor person who confirmed that yes, she most probably had it. And the way little girl has been this evening I am fairly certain she has. Ah well let's just wait for the next one eh? Oh and hopefully it's not me!
On the upside we now have nice wooden flooring in the dining area of the living room
, walls have been smoothed and painted and it is only skirting board and carpet to go, yay.Right just off to obsessively check a young girls temperature and make sure it hasn't crept up any higher !November 15 I Shall Say This Only Once.... 'Allo, (sorry to those of you that aren't getting the obscure reference, just imagine trench coats and dodgy french accents) I am having a sneaky five minutes on my computer. The living room is still in turmoil, I don't think we've spent five minutes in here since the beginning of decorating . The kids have been relegated to playing in their rooms and I have spent a lot of time lurking in my overcrowded kitchen. It's amazing how the upheaval in one room spreads around the house.Other Half has taken this morning off to go to judo with Kane and Ruth though, and I should be taking advantage and doing stuff that is tidying related.... and I will, honest, just five minutes on here
!I suspect I have missed lots of stuff with my lifeline being inacessable and when I can I will be catching up... best be off there's only an hour until they get back
. There will be pictures when this is all done, but meantime I am off to look at my washing mountain and try and sort out some sort of dinner. Have a good one everyone
.November 09 Let The Decorating Commence... after the tonsillitis and sickness bug have left the house of course! As predicted, saturday saw us at the emergency doctors, Ruthie was so sore and couldn't even bring herself to drink water. I had decided that I was going to call on saturday morning anyway, and as madam Ruth was a very odd shade of grey and appeared to be storing golf balls in her neck I thought it was a good plan. As soon as I pick up the phone to get the number a sad and covered in sick Maya appears at the kitchen door, closely followed by a Ruth running to the downstairs loo to reach noisily and then be sick two or three times, yay
. So I quickly put the phone down (before anyone picked up) and cleaned up the various pools of vomit (ooh hope no-ones trying to eat lunch) then I had to reassure little Miss Maya that she was ok and nothing else was going to come spurting out of her nose (I didn't see it but the evidence was there).
We got an appointment for 11:40 and I was pleasantly surprised when we were out of the clinic by 12:15, most efficient. We did get a prescription with the instructions not to fill it unless Ruthie went rapidly downhill, cos the nurse practitioner we saw thought Ruth would be improving that evening, she just wanted to save us another trip to the docs on sunday if she was proven wrong. We did however stock up on throat pastilles and pain killers for my girl. Miss Maya was grumpy all day and appeared to be surgically attached to my leg, there was a lot of crying on saturday. I didn't even get her to bed until half eight.... where, of course, she promptly threw up all over her bedding and self, yay again!
I got her swiftly changed and cleaned up and she must have felt a whole lot better as she crashed soon after she got back into her bed. I on the other hand was feeling distinctly dodgy cos it was the worst smell I have ever encountered (and as you may be able to imagine with four kids, two cats and a dog, I have encountered some smells!) So washing machine full and going into the night, Ruthie feeling grotty but painkillers helped, one mum tired and crashing out on the sofa and not seeing any good telly
.Sunday was the start of our decorating extravaganza, after the judo of course, and Other Half has successfully stripped one wall of some very dodgy 60's wallpaper, revealing quite how bad the plaster boarding underneath is... ooh more work to do, what a surprise.
I am looking forward to the end result of decorating, but I have to say I am glad I am at work wednesday, thursday and friday, I think out of the house is the best place to be.
Got yet more washing to do now, and some cooking and some drying and some... sleeping would be good, but there are two girls at home (giving Ruthie one more day to recover... seems the nurse practitioner was right as we didn't need the antibiotics) and I'm not convinced they'll allow me a quick nap on the sofa .November 07 Another One Bites The Dust... another child is ill, tis a different illness and I think we may well be visiting the emergency doctor tomorrow! Today I was determined I would be going to work, young Chay was a lot better, Maya seems (cross fingers, touch wood) to be ok, I thought Kane was sooo lively yesterday that there was no problems there, Ruthie did have a sore throat yesterday but she too seemed fairly lively all day as I tried to get stuff done (yep, they were all home yesterday... hair getting torn out all over the place... well my hair out of my head but you know what I mean). This morning Kane wouldn't even get out of his bed, when I finally managed to turf him out of his pit he wandered down the stairs looking very pale and clutching his stomach (very dramatically) "I feel ill, my stomach hurts...I think I have what Chay had!" I tried to stand my ground honest I did, but I just knew that even if I got him to school I would receive a call within half an hour declaring he was ill and needed to come home.
I caved and let him stay home, I still had to go to work but as he is a big(ish) lad he is ok to stay at home in bed, I am only a phone call away (see the guilt kicking in here?). Ruthie was also looking a bit peaky (but in a more genuine way!) I asked her if she could possibly stick it out for the day and she said she would try. We poured some medicine down her neck and off we trotted to school, nursery and work.
Even though I haven't been in work all week, today seemed to last an awful long time, it was nice to see my pals and have a little natter. Mind you due to the nature of our job all we do all day is natter, just usually to very disgruntled people who don't want to discuss what was on Eastenders last night.
When I picked Miss Maya up from nursery I got a lovely enthusiastic welcome, a huge "Mummmmyyyy!" and a big cuddle (aaah see how cute they are at this age?) I was brave today and actually parked in the car park at school, I even reversed into a parking space, between the lines and everything (ok, so there may have been a slight bump into the fence, but it is a very long car, and I was going ever so slowly
 , anyway there's no mark so it doesn't count.) Chay was next on the pick up list and I was pleased to see little man emerge with no sickly looks and a "star of the day" badge, proudly stuck on his jumper. Oh good, thinks I it all seems to have gone well then.
Hah! Poor old Ruthiepegs came out, white as a sheet, looking extremely sorry for herself. She told me her throat had been hurting all day, I did say why didn't she go to the office and get them to ring me, but you know my girl was being brave as she knew I needed to got to work today (guilt, guilt and double guilt!)
I am so pleased I did take the car to pick them up as it absolutely tipped down on the way home and my girl looked really unwell. When we got home Kane was bouncing around in a most I am not ill in the slightest way, which got right on my nerves I can tell you.
I took Ruths temperature and it climbed right up to 38.9 which scared me slightly, however a couple of doses of calpol and a bit of a sleep brought it down (phew). She does have spots on her tonsils though and a nasty sore throat, so I think antibiotics will be called for.
Wonder when we are going to be well in this house?
Night all, I am off to watch a bit of rubbish on the telly and listen to small explosive devices go off in the neighbourhood November 04 Another Day Off Work I suspect all my leave is going to go on looking after sicky children! Chay is not himself at all, he went to bed and didn't get up once in the night, in fact it was only cos I was getting Kane up for school this morning that Chay woke up. First of all he bounced up and said "It's good I'm better now! Can I have mini-weetabix?" He was most annoyed with me when I said no to cereal and offered him a slice of toast. Mind you his bouncyness didn't last that long as he has now gone back to bed to watch telly, he never goes to bed to watch telly! I had purchased some lucozade yesterday so at least he has something to drink, water wasn't really doing it for him.Miss Maya is a little clingy today (uh oh) and I am a little tired (four glasses of Baileys seemed like a good idea at the time) so the ever looming housework will have to loom for a while.
Off for a cuppatea, hopefully the walk to the kitchen will inspire me !November 03 Warning....TMI Alert....Warning TMI Alert.... As all us mums know (and anyone who has dealings with small children or animals, to be honest) a large portion of child rearing entails dealing with bodily excretions and expulsions....It's been such a day. After my successful travail of the paperwork mountain (now a paperwork molehill... much better) I embarked upon my weeks cooking. I like to prepare at least two meals on a tuesday night, so that my long day at work on wednesday doesn't end up with me having to then cook dinner as well. So, curry and bolognese on the go and young Chay, who admittedly had been very quiet all day, came and asked for some cut up apple. I did this for him thinking to myself "ah at least he's eating" when all of a sudden I heard a very loud splat noise from the hallway. I turned and young man had managed to get almost to the toilet, but not quite. Luckily his lack of eating for the past couple of days meant I wasn't faced with anything too lumpy, just kind of purple (blackcurrant juice) and lots of it. He had successfully blocked his entrance to the downstairs loo, so I had to lift him over the new river and plonked him in front of the loo. "I feel better now" came the plaintive wail, closely followed by more throwing up... about three more times in fact. I am standing there trying to fight off cats (disgusting animals) and tell them no you do not want to eat this stuff on the floor and tell Maya in no uncertain terms to GO AWAY as she came to see what all the excitement was about.
Poor lad, has been in bed and asleep since about half five!
Oh and to top off my encounters of the gross kind, I was rescuing one of Kanes paper planes from under the stairs only to find it had landed in a nice soft pile of.... well let's just say the cat had an accident of a more solid nature... sort of solid
.I have been to Morrisons and bought myself a large bottle of Baileys (thanks for the idea Debs and Ziggs) as alcohol is definitely in order this evening, well it's not like I can go to work tomorrow is it?
I am off to open a bottle now, night night .Paper Paper Everywhere I am currently disappearing under a landslide consisting of paper, paper I have put to one side to sort out "later". It now seems to be later. Other Half is due to be decorating next week (aaaargh... in anticipation of ructions) and surfaces need to be cleared. I am obviously on clearing duty as I suspect it hasn't even occured to OH that this needs doing. He would only notic ewhen he tried to start and found stuff in his way.Sigh, best get on as the cat is now trying to help, paper is disappearing onto the floor and I have an under the weather boy at home too
. If you don't hear from me by this evening, send in the search parties............... November 02 Hello World my littlest darling' has made me very tired today. Last night I sat and watched telly (yes.. telly.. not playing some strange and sparkly game on facebook) and was thinking "ooh best get off to bed soon it's a bit late" then as I checked all the kids were breathing (as you do) Miss Maya shot up and stared wild eyed at me. Now this in itself isn't unusual and I can normally get her to lie back down and drift off, not last night though. To be fair her bed looked as though she had a bit of drool problem and I think her nose was bunged up, so probably lying down wasn't favourite at that point. I asked her if she needed some meddy (oh yeah she was a bit warm too) and off we trotted back downstairs... "Where Chay?" enquired the quite loud little girly "In bed asleep" see that's me whispering
"where Ruthie?" (Maya not whispering) " In bed asleep.... it's sleepy time" by this point I had reached the bottom of the stairs with her ..."Put light on!!" not a fan of the dark my girl. I managed to get her to sit on the sofa whilst I went in search of calpol, she noticed when all I could find was calcold (completely different apparantly as last time I tried to give it to her she did not approve) "That's green!" she shouted, pointing at the label I was trying to cover with my hands "Green!" luckily she didn't seem to mind the taste so much this time and told me it was lemon (don't know if it is, as I have never tasted it).Me and my girl ended up watching some show with Peaches Geldof running about being rude to Fearne Cotton, I tried the lying still being sleepy approach in the hopes that little lady would follow suit. We had a couple of it's bedtime now conversations and in the end I managed to get her back upstairs for about half one
I'm tired.
Right must get off and sort that kitchen out, sunday dinner day always seems to leave a huge mess in its wake, oh and shopping is due sometime, and I must, must, must, make sure all uniforms are ready for tomorrow (as long as little man isn't sick again today... did I mention that little man was sick yesterday?)
It's all go here innit?  November 01 Talking about YouTube - Simon's Cat 'Cat Man Do'
Quote
Sunday And It's A Judo Week so I have the perfect opportunity to get on with housey things whilst everyone is out of the way. Of course what am I actually doing? Am I actually sitting here at my computer browsing various websites and playing a game or two? Maybe
 .It is raining and blowing a smallish gale outside so my drying washing, options are severely restricted, clothes horse again. The sunday dinner is going to be a pie today as I don't have a joint of meat to roast, I really need to move and do something... sigh.
Last night I finally got to watch the dvd I've had for three weeks, The Boat That Rocked and I did enjoy it. There is something about that Rhys Ifans you know, he is a strangely attractive person (to me anyway). He wasn't the main character though and there was a very strong and interesting cast, a lot of decent music and it was just fun to watch.
Ah well, cuppatea calls and I must at least be dressed before the hordes get home, young Chay was a little sick this morning, I am currently blaming last nights sweety intake but we shall see. Off to do something useful I suppose, now if only I could move from this chair  .Survived we survived. All small children accounted for and suitably full of sugar and e numbers, one mummy finally relaxed and settled in front of the telly/computer. The girls went out with the boys for an hour and a half, unsuitably dressed in sparkly witchy costumes, it was freezing and of course they couldn't wear any sleeves. One of the girls dads also wandered about in the background, so in a way it wasn't too bad when Kane abandoned them ten minutes earlier than expected! (I had told him he could disappear at seven and the girls dad would see our lot back to our house) Kane was allowed out until nine o clock (and I wasn't happy about that I can tell you.....sigh, I am finding this growing up thing hard to come to terms with
).I took Chay and Maya round to a friends house and we took the littlies for a wander. Maya looked stunningly cute as a little kitty and Chay was a scary pirate skeleton (methinks Johnny Depp has a lot to answer for). As I have never ventured out into the world of trick or treating, it was all new to me. I didn't realise how many pumpkins and decorations there were out and about. Chay was declaring everything to be "awesome" and saying things like "this is the best night ever!" and as we went about our merry way Maya learnt a new phrase, which I am sure will stick and be remembered for many years to come...
so, all I have to say is "trickle treat" and goodnight all .October 31 We Won The Lottery!!! a whole sick squid to be precise, hmmmm think I may reinvest it.Morning all, at last I have had a lie in and feeling vaguely human again (mind only two kids up so give me time) I suspect we shall have over-excited little balls of sugar rush later, after all isn't that what Halloweens about? (Never was in my day... oh god getting old!) It's been a strange half term week as I have had to go to work still and eldest lad had a nasty touch of tonsilitis for most of it, not the most relaxing week. So, for the pleasure of not being able to get leave this week I have now had to fork out £200 for childcare fees, as you may guess I don't earn £200 in a week
.I am not looking forward to this evening much either, Ruthie has persuaded me to let her go Trick Or Treating with her big brother and a couple of her friends. Now these friends clash on and off and it's been a right pain for the last five weeks (yep FIVE weeks that's how long ago they decided their Halloween agenda) so I am kind of praying for rain.
The kids have had a nice week though, Maya loves her nursery anyway and to have her big brother and sister there was a novelty. On thursday Ruthies friend's mum took Ruth and Chay to the funfair for the day and yesterday was the nursery Halloween party.
Right just off for a cuppatea and maybe even get dressed, then let me see.... hmmm more washing I think and then attempt some drying... somehow !October 26 How Long??? I seem to have not been on here (this site only mind... the call of facebook is strong) for six days! The work thing is obviously interfering a bit and then I spent a large part of saturday stressing. I was babysitting for a friend on saturday, this entailed driving, in the dark, on the motorway... and then parking, in my friends teeny tiny car park... with OTHER VEHICLES. Sigh, I hadn't overthought this at all, oh no .My Ruthie wanted to keep me company and this was a good thing as I always seem to feel a bit more in control with the kids in the car, something about having your babies lives in your hands focuses the mind wonderfully.
Of course it was fine, I left with a good half an hour to spare and got to my friends a good twenty minutes early. Her little lad was fast asleep and remained so for the whole evening. My friend had left chocolate for us, and it would have been rude not to eat it... wouldn't it? My girl and I watched X-Factor uninterrupted by male huffs and puffs, and we played on her nintendo ds brain training (I've improved from age 58 to 45, woo hoo!) It was good fun, and as I say the little man slept peacefully, despite me checking every half an hour and opening his creaky door several times. My friend had said the party was ending at midnight, but she was certain she was going to be home early. She was.... quarter to two actually. Her and her Other Half wandered in after walking back from the party (think it must have taken them an hour or so) and they were cheerful. My friend wasn't quite as cheerful however when her other half decided the baby was awake and wanted his mum, so brought the sleeping child into the living room. Ruthie and I made a quick exit as if baby boy did awake and see us he'd never go back to sleep, oh and I thought my friend might explode any minute also
.The upshot is, sunday was a washout with a tired and ratty me trying to get housework/washing done, I even fell asleep on the sofa and missed my House and Fringe!!!!
Oh and even though it's half term I am working from wednesday as usual, boo hiss... never mind eh, only six more loads of washing and goodness knows how much drying to get done before then! Night all... off to obsessively play a certain game for a bit .October 20 Today’s “To Do” List
and this is just the living room,then of course there is this weeks menu to sort out… I do have some ideas.. something along the lines of beef stew/curry, sausages and mash, chili, pork steaks and cauli cheese, pizza’s and possibly some fish fingers at some point. Oh joy be unconfined, what an exciting life I lead… mind you, not sure I could actually take any excitement. I’d rather watch my telly progs and relax on the sofa…. mmmm, winter programming, House, Fringe, Bones, Lie To Me, Flashforward uh oh the words get, a and life are springing to mind October 19 My Painted GlassOk, here are some I made earlier! A couple of years ago I thought I might earn some extra pennies from making stuff, and the stuff I decided to make was this… what do you think? I have painted various glass bits and pieces with whatever took my fancy at the time. Sadly I didn’t sell anything at the time of making and packed it all up in tissue paper in boxes, I found it all today hiding in a cupboard (in shame) and thought “why not?” So it’s all been taken out and photographed, and ebay here I come! Worth a shot I think, so I shall let you know if my artistic endeavours produce any results of the monetary variety, fingers crossed eh? October 15 A New Fashion Trend? so what do you reckon on two wadges of tissue paper shoved up the nose? Is it a fashion statement I can get away with in public? I suspect not, but sadly it seems the only way to stem the flow at the moment. Yuk.Oh and to add to my joy (misery) my head seems to be completely full of fluid just behind the eyes, I have what I can only describe as toothache of the eyes, weird eh. In case you hadn't gathered I'm not feeling much better and will be visiting the doctor later to see if antibiotics are called for. It is a complete pain having to call in sick to work as well, having to describe my illness to my line manager (who saw me yesterday and still felt the need to say "..and what's wrong?"....'scuse me? I sound like I'm underwater and my nose is glowing red and I can't keep my eye's open.... what do you think is wrong?
 .)Miss Maya is also poorly with a tummy bug of some description (which actually I shan't describe cos it's not good).
I am trying to rest but the head won't clear and the girl wants to chat, must go and have more fluids.... cuppatea time methinks, anyone want to come and put the kettle on for me ?October 12 Update****News Update*****News Update**** Third load of washing out on the line, most of the ironing done, no cooking yet :( and washing load number four can bleepin' well stay where it is!!! For those of you who may have had the impression I spent my day on facebook
, which of course I didn't, well only for cuppatea breaks (note cuppatea is now actually one word in my vocabulary, permanently )October 11 Here We Are Again there are still lurking germs in the house, some of them seem to be thinking about taking up residence in my throat, it's sore . I am trying the old "cuppatea" remedy and it seems to be doing something, suspect I'll need another for the full effect to kick in.Once again a sunday morning and no sign of the lottery win (sorry Simon I'll keep trying), Other Half is still in bed, which never inspires much activity in me (what with having to keep the rest of the household silent and all!) and my head is ever so slightly thumpy and bunged..... Bleugh, that's the word, feeling a definite edge of bleugh creeping in this morning, shouldn't have eaten so much choccy last night it doesn't do me any favours the next day.
Today there is no judo so everyone is milling about the house this morning, I must do a pile of washing, you know it's not the washing that's the problem of course... it's the drying. The repeated rain rinses of the washing I do have out on the line means nothing else is getting done, may have to resort to the tumble dryer and clothes horse today.
Oh and of course it's sunday dinner day, which always seems to take all day, goodness me I am a cheerful chappy this morning
.Yesterday was a nice day though, I took three kidlets to the local shops (in the car!!! Oooh I am getting brave taking a chance on parking on a saturday lunchtime) we were off to spend young Chays birthday money (OMG I never blogged young mans birthday.... what's going on with me!) and have a little wander. Chay pointed me in the direction of the correct shops and we came away with two water pistols, a very odd springy light up rubber ball thing, a nintendo ds lite game and a couple of stylus's. A good shop I think. We then met up with Kane and his mate, who followed us around a bit before I drove everyone home, it is quite something to be able to give other children a lift home
.Yesterday evening we watched a film called Changeling and it was excellent, triggered a few mumsy type tears of course, but it was a good story and made more interesting because it was true. This of course is when I was eating too much choccy, oh yeah and jelly babies
no wonder I feel a little iffy this morning. I also stayed up late watching another film which was much more light hearted and easy watching 13 Going On 30 this meant I stayed up til nearly half one... mmm the more I type, the more the reasons for my gloomy rattyness becomes clear .Right off for another cuppa and possibly should feed some small people whilst I'm at it eh? Have a good rest of the weekend all .October 06 Dear Lord, Please Give Me The Strength... to not scream at littlest girly.I shall explain... deep breaths think calm non-explosive thoughts, now I'll begin. It is raining this morning, in fact it is pouring, there is possibly an old man snoring somewhere. I decided that we would still be walking to school (much to the disgust of my newly found taxi customers) as parking near school on a rainy day is nigh on impossible, coupled with the road works all the way up to the car park I figured it wasn't my best option. Now Ruthiepegs the organised went to fetch her waterproof trouser, jacket etc, I managed to dig out Chay's wellies and a raincoat. Myself? Well there was "raincoat" but not a lot else to protect against the elements (elephants... sorry blame my mother she brought me up to speak utter nonsense for a large portion of the time
). Miss Maya (the Moany, as I shall now christen her) had the most effective shielding from the wet in the form of a huge raincover over her most substantial and comfy buggy.Did she appreciate the huge and effective cover? Or did she scream blue murder the whole way there saying "I need it open, I need it open"? And did she scream and cry for the whole journey there (ten minute walk, unable to see through rain soaked glasses and feet getting wetter and squidgier by the minute) and then scream and cry for the whole journey back! (This was a rhetorical question by the way, hence lack of question mark.)
Now, I have heard of the chinese water torture but I hadn't realised it consisted of getting soaking wet and uncomfortable, having stinging eyes from the rain and on top of all that have a two and a half year old scream unreasonably at you for a straight twenty minutes.
Effective though
.Time for tea methinks, ah and now there is quiet as Show Me Show Me has perked the little monster... I mean madam, up |
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