Wet lion

Huffle and I had a terrible night's sleep. A barking dog woke us up first, then it was too warm. Huffle's tummy started gurgling and making weird noises and then because we opened the window, the noise of the main road was being carried by the wind straight into our room. We are both so tired today we are struggling to function!

The bus came early, driven by a driver I have never seen before and the windows are quite dark so I couldn't tell if the normal kids were on there. So trusting. After the bus went, I got an email saying the bus was going to be 15 minutes late. Well that system works then!! !!

I went off to work leaving Huffle to face much work and many calls. Today we replanted many geraniums (pelargoniums) and had some caramel almond orange squares at coffee break.

At home I had lunch with Huffle and we watched some of First Dates Hotel before I walked to the Beerstore to buy eggs. Now it's not really called the Beer Store but the Beer Store is in there. Really it is the Co-op. Anyway I got my eggs, had a quick chat to my nice neighbour about pancake day and came home in time to walk with ClownRose. We had a lot to talk about as she has asked me to look after her two little angels once a month for a couple of hours. We sorted all the intricacies out and walked hard and fast at the same time.

At home I FaceTimed Moo and she watched the boys come home and play basketball and then they played their piano pieces for her.

We had dinner and pancakes and Huffle went off to the doctors to get a prescription renewed and the boys played on the XBox. I measured material and windows and then played Mancala with Smallest.

 

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Rubbish Monday

Listening to the radio (BBC Radio 1) this morning and they decided to call today "rubbish Monday" because they hadn't a good day so far. I thought "oh my day won't be rubbish........".

HAPPY BIRTHDAY HUFFLE. Poor Huffle had to go into Toronto for a big meeting that lasted all day. On the train on the way home, Small and I entertained him with lots of snapchats. His train stopped half way for a medical emergency.

As soon as the kids went off to school, I drove to Di's house and then she drove us to Miche's house where met Mim and had our crochet lesson. Today I taught them how to make a flower granny square where we started with a round and ended as a square. They were very happy. Next week we might start an amigurumi (Japanese meaning ami crocheted/knitted nuigurumi stuffed doll).

On the way home I got stopped for speeding. 116 in an 80. To be fair 116 is only just over 60mph but it's still over the limit and I am more annoyed that I got caught as I know I have a heavy foot. Plus I was going down a hill! The policeman was very nice and although I tried the line "I learned to drive in England and the speed limit there is much higher" he came back with "yes, so did my parents". However, he did reduce it down to 15 km over the limit which meant I didnt get any points. He said my records indicate this is not a regular thing. In all my years of driving (since I was 17), I have only been stopped four times and three of those have been here in Canada in the last five years! Ummmmmmmmm. I have to pay a fine of $52.

I didn't have time to eat lunch before my exercise class. Today was ExerciseNics birthday too so I took her a piece of Huffle's cake and a beer. Who can't be cheered with a beer and cake? She changed her session because I said I struggle with a Monday class and Wednesday. Monday's hurts my muscles and by wednesday I can't move so don't put as much work in. So today we worked mainly with weights and arms and abs because Wednesdays is usually lots of leg work. We will see how that goes.

Back home I hurriedly made myself a piece of toast which I burnt terribly. Alarm went off, smoke was everywhere again. I had a good tidy up, emptying of dishwasher, washing put on and a shower before the kids came home. They played basketball for ages before they came in, taking full advantage of the sunshine.

MrsPiano came and the boys had their lessons while I made soup and garlic bread. This evening both boys were invited to an Emergency Animal Hospital for Cubs and scouts. Bearing in mind Huffle was Downtown or on a train, this fell to me to take them. Therefore I made sure dinner was early enough and that we were all ready to go as soon as Piano was done and food eaten. An hour before though we had an email saying it was cancelled for the Cubs but not the Scouts and that Cubs would be on Friday instead at the ski slopes where they would do Tubing! Not fair to be told an hour before and on Friday Small has a try out for a football club. He was most disappointed but Huffle has said that we can all go as a family instead. We decided not to go to the Hospital as it was too complicated with Huffle not at home and Smallest not invited now. So annoying!!!!

Watched Match of the Day2 to see the Leicester goals. YAY? That's better.

Tribute to Ranieri

 

 

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Happy Porkmas Birtl Day Poke-man*

All the boys got up early in order to watch Stoke lose to Tottenham. Oh dear, this family's Football teams are not making us happy at the moment. While they watched, I made waffles for the birthday boy. We piled the table up with gifts and cards and watched him open them. He had some fabulous cards today. His presents consisted of new trainers, an alarm clock, tee-shirt, mug, seeds, chocolate, telescope, money, bubble gum, marmalade, tea. A standing joke with us is the fact that Huffle always says he could 'whittle' that, so when I saw a little book of whittling, I had to get it. Of course a book is no good without the accessories so we also bought him the tools and some blocks of wood.

After breakfast, considerable clear up and a game of chess, Huffle cut down a branch to whittle and the boys made a couple of pass the parcels for later. I concentrated on the decoration for the top of the cake. Decided on Stuart the Minnion which was hard to do and didn't really look like him. In the end Huffle thought it was a pirate. I also helped Smallest with his parcelling as he had trouble with the cellotape. The boys made up their own forfeits and typed them out on the computer. They played on their tablets until we stopped for a birthday tea late lunchtime. We had jelly and ice cream and cake. Yum yum.

Pretty impressive for a first attempt.

Full of too much food we walked in the village - the other side of the tracks. It was cool but a nice walk. When we got back we Facetimed Grandma and Grandad and played Pass the Parcel. Lots of silly forfeits and mini cream eggs, flower and vegetable seeds and a tree face. While Huffle talked to Grandma and Grandad (and had a delightful birthday song sang to him) I made pizza for later.

The boys played on the XBox and then we ate some of the pizza watching, what Huffle called, Weird beasts and how you find them (Fantastic Beasts and Where to find them). We didn't get to finish it tonight.

 

*Happy Porkmas is our new day before Birthday name. The boys were putting up our 'happy birthday gels' on the windows and one of the letters fell slightly which made it read Birtl. We then sang Happy Porkmas Birtl Day to Huffle. When we spoke to Grandad later on and he saw the cake, he asked if the minion was a Pokeman. Not a Pokemon but a pokeMAN.

 

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Por kabor at Porkmas

We woke up to dense fog and a weather warning telling us that there was zero visibility for the first part of the day. Then the fog went, the rain came and went and then we had snow. Crazy mad weather!

After breakfast, the boys built a 'battle' out of Lego, which included Animal Kingdom (this time two years ago we were at Disney World), Star Wars Land, Castle Land, Halloween Town and Golden Brick. Apparently there will be another side built and that's why it's a battle. I just know that they spend a long time building and being nice so we let them get on with it and I don't make them them clear it all up until it takes over the whole floor. Today's battle was built in Smallest's room.

Today was the start of Huffle's birthday weekend (real birthday Monday) and he decided he wanted to go to the Five Pin Bowling Lanes (something Small suggested last weekend). We thought we had the whole place to ourselves until we saw the party of littles. They were one end and we were the other. The place was set up as a disco, possibly for the party, unless they heard that Disco Stu was in the house. We paid for an hour and managed to get two whole games in plus a quick bowl each at the end. It was quite difficult bowling in the dark with flashing lights all around. Actually it's quite hard with five pins too. If you aim perfectly straight then you can easily hit just one pin. Everyone but me got a strike though I did manage a spare. We had a lot of fun and of course let Huffle win because it WAS his birthday.

We then walked across town to get some dinner which was nice. Huffle requested a visit to the Dead Mans shop but didn't find anything except for Harry Potter Chess which we bought for Smallest. He also wanted to pick up something from the bakery so we bought some Empire Biscuits and Gingerbread men for the kids.

Tomorrow we are having a party so we popped to Dollarama to pick up some pass the parcel gifts. Smallest made friends with a pig dog toy and squeaked it all the way round the shop singing Happy Porkmas. He is a funny boy, don't know where he gets his ideas from! Must be Huffle! We also popped out the suoermarket for a few things and came home. We sent Huffle to watch the football highlights while we made his birthday cake. Small also made jellies. Smallest and I started a game of chess but the cakes overflowed and caused lots of smoking from the bottom of the oven and then it set on fire again. Oh Grandma! All the doors were opened and the smoke alarm dismantled. It smelled horrible and we had to throw it all away and start all over again.

Smallest and I worked really hard and finally finished a three layer Victoria Sponge which we made vanilla icing for and added jam and the icing to the layers. Tomorrow we will finish it with some special decoration and candles. The ktichen was a huge mess and Small and Huffle helped us before playing another game of chess.

We had tea whilst watching Ant and Decs Saturday Night Takeaway. There I was waving at the window just in case the helicopter came over to pick us up. I suppose we are a bit far away (sad face).

Poor Mr Ranieri

I don't think I have ever seen this whole mural. I hope they keep it, it's fabulous.

 

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It is what it is!*

Mike the bus driver was driving again today and I made the kids get out earlier just in case. When we checked if it was coming, the bus was parked down the road letting cars pass before he got to our house - they are not supposed to do that! When he got to us, he waved the boys over the road before he put his stop sign out. That's naughty. When they put the stop sign up it means that no cars can pass, on either side of the road, so the cars know they have to stop to let kids cross. You can get many points on your licence plus fines for passing a bus, so the fact that ours parks to let cars pass is ridiculous. Talk about mixed messages. So the kids went off to school. Huffle went into the loft and had a hard stressful day at work, including a late call from his boss.

I went to knitting and did a considerable amount of knitting of my new sock made up of old bits of sock wool. It was a very loud session, everyone wanted to talk and everyone wanted to be heard. Most of us went for lunch too at a really nice place I haven't been to before. It was lovely but still loud! Suffolk and I went and did a bit of window shopping plus some birthday shopping for Huffle who's birthday it is on Monday but he has decided to celebrate it on Sunday as he has to go to Toronto on Monday.

I got home before the kids and had time for a cuppa with Huffle. Small had moved a present from the loft and the boys and I spent forever looking for it as he forgot where he put it. We found it and wrote our cards and wrapped the presents. The boys played on their tablets while I made dinner and practiced Granny Squares which is what my next crochet class is about, among other things.

This evening we watched the end of Pixels and The Jump.

The snow has almost gone and the garden is appearing

*my most hated phrase since being here. I hear it all the time and it's horrible. To me it means NOTHING!

 

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Girl with a big flower

I shouted "34" at the boys this morning. In my head that meant IT'S 8:34 AND THE BUS WILL BE HERE SOON, GET GOING! But they didn't move and when they finally did move (not really late) to put their shoes on, Huffle saw their bus go by very slowly. It didn't stop, just cruised on by and stopped at MissMolls. I wasn't even dressed so the boys decided to walk to school instead. Then the bus turned around and picked them up. Not Maurice today but Mike. His excuse for going past the house? He couldn't see if there was anyone standing waiting because it was foggy. Funny!

Not long after, I went off to Suffolks house to have my second sewing lesson. Today I made a small drawstring bag and learned all about hems, mitre corners and edging. We got very carried away and ended up sewing until 2:30pm with a break in between for a lovely bowl of soup and a chat. I felt mentally exhausted.

I popped out to get a birthday present for Huffle and then came home. I made it just as the bus was coming down the road. At least he dropped them off at the right House. I got on with dinner while the boys put their clothes away and played on their tablets.

17* that's ridiculous. Record temperatures for February.

This evening Small went off to Football where Huffle bumped into one of the mums. She said we should come back. NO WAY!! Huffle registered us for some more clubs and emailed them to see if Smallest could go and try out. We wait to hear.

Smallest and I finished watching Finding Dory and Big and Small watched The Pottery Throwdown (BBC) with us after Football. Huffle and I watched a bit more of The Painting Challenge. I am really loving all these creative programmes.

I am very unhappy with Claudio Ranieri being sacked. I liked him despite the poor results of LCFC this season. Poor MrR. Who will we get now?

 

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R.e.s.p.e.c.t

The boys went to school, unaware that I would be following them to attend their assembly as I had a call from one of Smallest's teachers yesterday to say he was getting an award. Small spotted me getting out of the car and assumed he had forgotten something for Ski Club later. Because I had aerobics, I had my kit on plus my snow boots - ummm attractive! Smallest got his award for Respect and looked extremely embarrassed when he spotted me. Funny, both boys have this funny watery eye blinky thing going on when they are overly embarrassed. I don't know what that is because I just go bright red! I was sitting next to two mums who sat and chatted about what fur they had on their coats. One had raccoon and ten other had coyote, plus one of their friends had rabbit. Really? They really wear proper fur. I told you we were in the 1970's!! I left as soon as he sat back down and I escaped to aerobics where I only missed five minutes or so.

ExerciseNic had a sore back so she went fairly easy on us today which is good because I had a terrible headache. Huffle said we were supposed to have a storm which could account for my head if the pressure was high. The weather was quite weird today. Very very thick fog but extremely bright sunlight too. How did the sun get through the fog that's what I want to know because I couldn't see anything.

At home Huffle had taken over the living room with a phone call and laptop which meant I couldn't make noise so I went out and picked up toiletries. He was gone by the time I got home so I emptied the dishwasher, FaceTimed Moo and got her up to date with Football etc.

This afternoon I tackled the huge pile of washing. I don't know how I got so behind but there was a mountain of it, including bedding. I prepared dinner and watched the Leicester v Seville game.

Smallest came home. He said he didn't mind me being there at assembly, he was just embarrassed because he didn't understand what his award was for. He says sometimes the teachers ask who hasn't had an award and he thinks they just get given out unfairly. I told him not to worry as we all know he is respectful and that's what he got it for. He put away everyone's shoes as a chore, played on his tablet and sat with me watching Leicester.

After dinner, Huffle and Smallest played on FIFA while I folded washing, knitted and watched Boy George and Piers Morgan. Huffle went to pick up Small from ski-club.

 

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Elite Seedlings

I did NOT want to wake up this morning. I was snoozing well and apparently well wrapped up in my quilt. The boys went to school and nothing spectacular happened, so they said. Huffle worked from the kitchen table sitting on a hard kitchen chair with no cushion and then wondered why his back was giving him trouble. I went to work but not before I sat at the petrol station for an eternity. Our little petrol station in the Hamlet is an attended one so I like it because I can wind down my window. Plus they now know me and just ask if I want it full or not. I do have to walk in and pay but that I can cope with. Well today the attendant who we call "thanks again" wasn't there because he had nipped out to get coffee. He was very apologetic. At work we worked in the Greenhouse which was quite puddly and muddy. We potted on lots of seedlings and had a laugh, chatting about cricket, baseball, basketball, accents and whether you pronounce pecan, PECAAAYYYYN, PECAARRRRN OR PECUN.

Huffle had already had lunch and was just moving off to the loft when I got home. He had boiled me an egg and I sat and watched a bit of Call The Midwife until our water heater people turned up. On Friday, we had a gas bill and found out that we rented our water heater. Bearing in mind we have lived here for five years, this was the first time we noticed it. At the same time MrBasement called me and he answered some questions about how the rental worked and what we should do. Our heater was 25 years old and there was a smell plus rustiness. We called the company and arranged for them to come out and that's what they did today. The took out the old one, replaced it with a new one and replaced any pipes that weren't up to standard. I left Huffle with them when they turned the water off and I did a food shop.

By the time I came home, made a start on dinner and started putting the shopping away, they were all done. Not long after the boys came home. Small had homework, cleaned his bathroom, Smallest cleared and set the table and they both played on their tablets until dinner. Huffle had to eat his in the loft as he had a long late call. Today I made a Roasted Butternut, Apple and Cumin Soup which everyone liked.

This evening we all went off to watch Smallest try out for a new team. 35 minutes drive through horrible traffic and a million traffic lights all on red to a dome with one 3/4 size pitch, split into two. There were about 30 kids trying out for two different age groups. Smallest played for a very short time and was instantly asked his name by the head coach. There were five of us from our old football club which was funny, one who had left before the Winter season, one who left on Saturday, us and one who left today. After about half an hour the parents were called out into the hall and told how much the cost would be, how the sessions and practices worked, took some questions and then told us that he wanted everyone to play here but some he would chose for his elite team and some for development. He had five names written on a piece of paper and Smallest's was one of them. He took us, Angel and her hubby and Old Coach's wife into a room and told us he wanted our boys for the Elite team (four practices and a game a week!!!). He said they were a little under-developed but that wasn't their fault, that was their coach before's fault (this made me laugh because Old Coach's wife was sitting next to me). He said it wouldn't take much to develop them and get them up to speed with his top players. He didn't want any answers right then, he said we could bring the boys to practice any time after next week to see how they felt about the Coach and his way of coaching before we made any decisions. We also want to take Smallest to other try outs to see what is what but it's nice to know they want him.

We got home quite late and Smallest showered and went straight to bed. Small got his snowboarding stuff ready and also went to bed though I think he may have watched TV. Huffle and I watched a bit more of the Painting Challenge.

 

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Liquid Aspirations!

HAPPY FAMILY DAY if you are in Canada, though apparently this does not apply to anyone who works for Federal (not sure what that means but know it applies to our hard-working Post Lady Lenny). If you are not in Canada, then HEY ITS MONDAY and we had a day off here ha!

We all had another lie-in but don't worry it's all back to normal tomorrow. Back to school, back to work. Another beautiful day with bright sunshine and lots of snow meltage. Pancake breakfast. Smallest burnt his arm on the frying pan (not bad) and helped me to flip, Small set the table and Huffle prepared fruit. Yum yum. We didn't eat until after 10am and then Yahoo FaceTimed me so I was excused from clearing the kitchen and went upstairs to have a chat and laugh with my old friend (she's not old of course!). We had plenty to talk about. Another face I needed to see. Wish it could be face to face though and not through a silly screen. (And No! yahoo, I didn't ask him!).

Some tablet time before getting dressed

The rest of the morning we FaceTimed Grandma and Grandad, set up Huffle's new telescope (birthday present from Grandma and Grandad) and left it ready for this evenings night sky viewing after watching a squirrels twinkling eyes from far away through the lens. Unfortunately it was too cloudy when it got dark but Huffle and Smallest did try. Never mind, there will be plenty of clear nights I'm sure.

Some piano, some chopping and a game of GOALIE!

For lunch we sat and watched The Grand Tour, the last one in the series and then we moved outside for some fun. Christmas 2015 Small bought me some SnowShoes from the Thrifty Shop (still $25 bit considerably less than brand new) and I have only used them once in the garden. Today I got them out and had a good walk around the back garden, side and front. The snow in the back is about a foot deep and the shoes really do stop you going down. They take a bit of getting used to and certainly work your legs but they are good. Huffle had a go too while I had a go at Cross Country Skiing. I bought a set from Yoda next door a couple of years ago for just $5 in the garage sale. I had no idea what I was doing but Small told me "don't fall over because it's hard to get back up" and "going uphill you need to go sideways" and he left me to it and played on the trampoline with Smallest. First they had to clear it of a huge pile of snow though. Huffle and I walked, snow shoed and cross countried down the garden and into the bit at the back behind our garden. I made some tracks which helped me to go up and down. I didn't fall over but my legs and knee hurt now. It's hard work!

The boys went in and played on the XBox and Huffle made a start on dinner for him and Small. Smallest and I had our leftover Calzones from yesterday to finish. I left Huffle with the boys and went off to the Garden Club Meeting. Tonight was Seed Swap and a talk from a Master Gardener about planting seeds. Nothing really new but I did pick up a few tips. 1) to check if seeds are viable: place some on a wet kitchen towel and put into a sandwich bag. Keep checking regularly and they will eventually germinate. This will tell you the percentage of viability. 2) when seedlings are about 1" tall or more, gently wiggle your fingers over them, this will promote healthy roots and stems, similar to if they were outside and there was a breeze. I came home with about eight packets of seeds, morning glory, carrots, radish, russet sunflower, lupin, coriander and more. We all have to volunteer to make cakes and coffee for each meeting. I chose to do the next one with Garfunkel. I also got to add two people (members of the same house) to add to my membership. I added Huffle and Grandad. He lives in this house twice a year! It means he can now go to the meetings for free instead of paying $5. Hurrah!

At home I had time for a quick cup of tea and a watch of half of the Great Painting Challenge (BBC). Love it, makes me want to paint again.

 

 

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Put in the code, put in the code!

Huffle and I slept in past 9am. Ahhhhhhh. Small woke up later than normal but stayed in bed watching TV until around 9 too. Smallest got up at about 8:30 which for him is really good. Everyone is nicely refreshed.

It is Family Day weekend and the sun shone all day. Most of the snow melted and it was warm enough to go out again without our coats though Huffle made us put them in the car 'just in case'. We spent a really slow first part of the morning watching the All Star Basketball dunking contest and having breakfast and then went out late morning for a walk by the lake.

Today it was Smallest's turn to choose where we walked and he picked Frenchmans Bay which is normally quite busy on a long weekend. However we chose to walk away from the crowds and around the nature walk encircling the Nuclear Power Station.

TL: the poor old Post Office

We followed the path which was full of snow and ice on the way there but all melted puddles on the way back. We walked about 5 miles in all. The sun was very bright causing lots of lovely shadows and it was so warm we had to take our fleeces off. Small said he wished he'd worn his shorts! Today and yesterday were record temperatures for this time of year.

Th sky really was THAT blue

We forgot to take a ball with us so we played with balls of snow to keep us cooler. On our walk we got to the beach but couldn't get on it as it was too high up so we had a breather, took in the views and then walked back until we got to the beach we started at where we had a sit, threw stones in the water, took photos and picked up stones (I collect beach glass and one day I will make a stained glass window with my finds).

TL: we decided Smallest would set the pace on the way back but stopped and let him walk ahead for ages before we told him we weren't following. He must have been in a world of his own because he was far ahead! TR: who is tallest? Huffle says his head is bigger because it the Engine Room

Hungry and tired, we drove to a pizza place and all had calzone which was lovely. On the way home Huffle took us through a car wash. Since we've been here Huffle has used car washes four times and only successfully twice. One time he got on the conveyor belt and drove right through. Another time Something got knocked off the car and once he drove through without waiting for the dryer! Today was a successful car wash. 2/5!!! To be fair, I'm not allowed in one on my own because I forget to breathe.

 

MY BOYS

Am I taller than you yet Daddy?

 

 

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Get off my land*

Ooh it was a late one last night. The boys didn't surface until past 8am today and have been a bit grumpy. At one point Huffle shouted at them "well it's not our fault you had a late night". ERR YES IT IS. We had a very lazy pj morning, watching Leicester City get beat, playing on tablets, eating breakfast and choosing books for Grandma to get the boys for their excellent reports (though she specifically liked what their teachers said about them).

By 1pm we were hungry and went out for a bite to eat and a bit of a shop. I wanted to get something from Michaels the craft shop but the queue was so long I gave up despite finding exactly what I wanted. The rest of my family left me and went off to find a sports shop which had moved so bought instead a toilet seat!! We popped to the little IKEA shop to get some cupboard hole fillers (we only need 1200 to finish the inside of the cupboards) but they had run out. We drove to a sports shop and bought some trainers for Huffle's birthday. Trendy trainers too! He hasn't had a new pair for about ten years.

It's been a long time since he could stick his head out of the window, dog style

It was a beautiful sunny day with temperatures of 12+ perfect for shadow photography. We went home and had an ice cream bar on the porch and Smallest made Huffle and I a cup of tea. Not bad for his first one.

First bulb poking through - go back, it's not Spring yet!

It's been a funny day. Knowing we should be at the football and not being there, not really knowing what is going on. Apparently the team won 12-2 and another boy left today. Time to move on.

The boys played on the XBox and I sewed in my ends on my new socks, vacuumed under the cushions on the sofa (eeeuuuggghhhhhhhh) and then we all watched the last five minutes of Harry Potter, Ninja UK and The Voice.

 

 

*while we were sitting on the front porch, a car came by, stopped in front of our house, had a good look and then reversed in our drive. We find this rude but it obviously isn't here because it happens all the time.

 

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The Dinner Party*

Another night of silly dreams. This time I saw a woman (who I used to run with in the UK) driving up and down the road in a fork lift truck. Every time she passed me she shouted my name and I would walk towards her but her brakes didn't work so she would pass me, I would turn around and the same thing kept happening. In the end I went to her house (via a nightclub) for a cup of tea and her cat sat on my head. I was very uncomfortable. I think the dream was to do with us being invited to the old coach's house this evening as she asked if we were allergic to anything and all I could think of was Cats (Huffle has allergy to cats).

So, today was Moo's birthday and we FaceTimed her first thing to watch her open her presents and card from us and from her friends. We didn't have long to talk as she was on her way out. She said she had a nice day. HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOO.

Huffle went off to the office today and the boys went to school. I would have had a nice peaceful breakfast if the dishwasher hadn't needed emptying and half the things in it weren't washed so I couldn't load it fully again and the kitchen needed clearing from the night before and washing needed putting on.

Mid morning I went off to knitting though and finished my lovely two tone socks. I am very happy with them and think they might well become my second favourite pair. When I walked in to knitting everyone was talking. Some looked up as I sat at the table but not one of them said Hello, even when I said Hello. I find this strange and don't understand. Last night Suffolk asked me for measurements of my windows and measurements of what I had cut my fabric to for the blinds. This morning I had a text asking for all the measurements and workings out that Grandma had done when she was here last. Then today at knitting she asked me why I had cut my material to the length I had and I told her I thought she had told me what to cut. Apparently she had been worrying how to tell me I had cut them too short and started telling me that she owed me some new material and she was really sorry. It later turned out that I had measured the wrong window (a longer one) and my material was fine and fit perfectly. I am a Wally.

I forgot my purse (here a purse is a handbag so when I held my handbag saying "I forgot my purse" I got some strange looks) and my car was very on low petrol. Suffolk had to pay for my knitting and then she bought me lunch and followed me home to check I didn't run out of petrol, plus she wanted to check my blind material. For lunch we went to our normal cafe where they were pleased to tell Suffolk they had a dairy and gluten free soup for her but not a vegetarian one for me. They said they had a frozen one I could have if I didn't mind it not being fresh. Unfortunately when it came and I started eating it, I found a piece of ham. They gave me another soup and apologised lots. We go in their all the time and I know it was an accident, plus I didn't eat the ham! At home Suffolk and I had a cup of tea after the shock of realising the blinds were okay so far.

I made dinner, the boys came home and Huffle followed later. We ate our dinner in front of a bit more of Harry Potter and then went out for our evening at the Old Coach's house.

The kids played in LittleCoachs room while we chatted and then the boys (they have a boy and a girl) played FIFA with OldCoach playing very now and then. We sat and chatted, drank wine and ate nibbles until 11:30pm when we finally left. The boys were extremely tired and went straight to bed but Huffle and I had a cup of tea first. OldCoach was talking about when he stayed in London for a short while and mentioned visiting various tourist attractions like The Eye of London. Love it. I had to tell him it was called The London Eye but Huffle and I think it should be rebranded.

We had a good time, I wasn't sure what to expect but it was nice to go somewhere different and they are a nice family. Its a shame our boys aren't playing football together but you never know, they might be in the future depending on what club we chose for Smallest. The kids got to play a lot of FIFA and came away with a few football shirts each.

Hope everyone sleeps in tomorrow. We have no game or anything to get up for so we can be as lazy as we need to be.

*Smallest thought we were going to a dinner party tonight. He got the idea from watching a Simpsons episode.

 

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Principles of Patience

I didn't sleep well last night. Too much in my mind plus I had a terrible dream which was very similar to the Sherlock episode we watched and then I dreamed that the old football Coach wrote a blog and called it "what's the point" and I knew it was about me. ARRRRGGGGHHHHH!! Very tired today. On the plus side I don't ache too bad, probably because I didn't work as hard because I ached too much from Monday.

The boys went to school, the snow wasn't bad so the bus was running. Smallest didn't win the colouring contest but did get a participation ribbon and some sweets. Small has been selected for the Math(s) Olympics in March.

After I waved the kids off, I FaceTimed Aunty Miaow and had a lovely chat, had a tour of her new house and watched gorgeous BabyH sleep. Chatting to her was just what I needed. I don't know why we don't speak more often, busy lives I guess but we promised to do it more often.

Today was my first sewing lesson with Suffolk. I was there for about three hours, two and half was actually sewing. I loved it. I made two little bean bags for the kids with chick peas in, learnt the different stitch lengths of my machine and an invisible hand stitch and then I had homework relating to my blinds. It was great and I feel like I have learnt some really useful things that I didn't know before. She is very good.

Huffle had already had his lunch and was in the middle of a call so I had a quick andwich and then went and did a food shop. I had very little tolerance in the supermarket. Everyone was getting on my nerves or in my way. I kept my cool though and sighed very quietly or muttered under my breath. I bought some great things in the sale.

Back home I put the shopping away, the boys came home and we chatted about school and I listened to their piano and Ukulele practice. After dinner Huffle took Small to his football where he got three assists and Smallest and I made flapjack to take as a gift tomorrow as we have been invited to old coach's house for drinks and FIFA. Then we watched Finding Dory.

Big fat North American Robin sitting in our tree

This evening we watched the Pottery Throwdown. He cried, twice. Love it.

 

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