Roads M, A, B and C

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY. Huffle's card to me was a drawing of a sofa with a heart on one of the seats and the words "I love you Ike Sheldon loves his seat" (from Big Bang Theory in case you didn't know). There was also a poem that he wrote about boards and gourds and me being brave. Silly Huffle. My envelope to him said "to my valentine Jude Law, failing that Huffle will do".

Boys went to school. Huffle worked in the loft and cleared some more snow from the drive. I went to work where I had a funny morning trying to speak in a Canadian accent while Jeff tried to speak in an English accent. At coffee break he was regaling us with stories of his wife organising a trip to Ireland. He told her to keep to the M Roads and possibly use the A roads but definitely keep away from the B and C roads (C roads, I know I've been here for a while but are there any?). He was making me laugh. I have never heard the Motorways called M Roads before. I told him to tell her not to turn at a red light like we could here and to remember that the roundabouts were the other way. He was telling us about when he went to England last year and had trouble with hedges and Small one lane roads. We potted up lots and lots of different things today.

I had lunch with my Valentine (Jude was busy) and we watched another half of an episode of Sherlock. OMG it's weird and I don't really know what is happening half the time. Love it though.

I FaceTimed Moo whilst making a soup for dinner. By the time we finished talking it was 3pm so I checked if ClownRose wanted to walk but her little man is poorly so I agreed to meet MissMoll off the bus for her. When Maurice stopped the bus, she said "oh you're not MissMolls mum". She must have recognised me though as she let her go with me. I waked her to her door, had a quick chat and came home. Huffle had locked us out of the house for some reason. He said he didn't mean to but...........

ClownRose's icicles

I think MrsPiano was supposed to come today but she never turned up nor messaged me so I have no idea what is going on there. For Small's chore today he cleared a bit of the drive though he was not happy doing it at all. However, after I called him in he said he now appreciated how hard it was for me to clear the drive by myself the other day when he walked past me and didn't offer to help. Good, well at least that's something.

Today I found out that Small's high school years are split into two semesters and his eight subjects he has chosen gets divided into four subjects each semester. So he only has to concentrate on four subjects at a time. He says this can be good and bad as the subjects are picked randomly. Ie if he gets Maths, English, Science and Geography in one semester, he would have a lot of work and a lot of homework, and some of the other subjects, like Music, less so. Oh well we will see.

Smallest and Huffle went off to football where CoachOlDHead took over the session. All the parents complained to each other and did nothing about it. I would have taken Smallest off the pitch. Don't trust the man, have they forgotten how much trouble he caused? Smallest did not enjoy the practice at all and said he was happy for me to take him off if he appears tomorrow. We have booked a try out for another club next week.

Small and I stayed at home. He played on the XBox and persuaded me to play FIFA with him. I wasn't very good but I did score a goal. I got very excited and I was a dirty player getting two players sent off and a couple of yellow cards. Whoops!

Just to prove that Huffle IS a LCFC supporter

It is snowing again.

 

Posted with Blogsy

Flowery day

It had snowed more during the night and everywhere was white again. It was also very windy and the snow had drifted a lot. To get into my car I needed to get off the windscreen a foot of snow but could only do that one side as the snow had drifted too high for me to get at it. The bus was running today so the boys went to school normally. Huffle went in to the office to look at new buildings for the office relocation. He had to dig his car out before he left and he cleared the snow from the path so my crochet ladies could get through.

I put some food out, made some coffee and got all my crochet stuff ready on the table. The ladies arrived (minus one who lives in the middle of nowhere and struggled to get her car out) at 9:30am bearing gifts. I was given an Emergency Crochet Hook to keep on my key ring, a handmade soap made from honey from one of the Lady's Bees and a ball of sock wool.

We had a really good couple for hours where they created two flowers each. They were really happy.

We have a week off as it is Family Day next Monday and then the week after I think we are going to review everything they've done so far and iron out any problems.

After they left, I had a tidy and got ready for my exercise class. Just me again and she worked me vey hard. I had to have a late lunch and I was just settling down with it to watch The Unforgotten when Huffle came home. He went straight up to his office though as he had a call.

I went out and cleared the snow off the drive. Someone had snow blowed our path and Otto's path, we think it was DonNoQuotey. That was nice as it was very thick. I was still clearing when the boys came home. No offers to help me and just groans when I asked if one of them could throw me a pair of gloves!!!

I came in and made some pizza dough so we could have pizza and watch another Harry Potter film (prisoner of azkaban this time). Huffle and I made our Valentine Cards and watched TV.

Nice day. Much happier.

 

Posted with Blogsy

The day it snowed all day

We woke up to a decent covering of snow, knowing that we were going to get a whole day's worth too.

I spent most of the morning cleaning (with Leicester City on the TV in the background) and did break two plant pots which resulted in lots of vacuuming. We had a visit from the one of the Fundraising mums who brought us some of the money collected last night. Our basket of Cheer raised $565 and was won by the same man that wins it every year. I don't know how but he is a nice man so that's okay.

Small did his humongous homework project on the difference between Somalia and Australia's quality of life. It took him a long time and he did a lot of work but he managed it complete it. We also chose and submitted his courses for when he goes to High School in September. He chose Academic Maths, English, French, Science, Geography. He also decided on Music, Communication and Information Technology as elective subjects. We have signed it and it goes to his teacher for final checking before being submitted to the school.

Smallest played on his tablet, broke a snowglobe in his bedroom (2nd one). He vacuumed his bedroom after we got rid of all the glass and goo and then he played in there and made a mess again ha!

Despite deciding we were doing nothing today, we have done a lot of cleaning and washing. Smallest, Huffle and I played Lego Creationery but Huffle threw the board (not literally, well not too far) when we ganged up on him and wouldn't let him build his final piece. Smallest and I played Pictionary later too.

We fit some lunch in and had some dinner. Huffle and I cleared the drive almost completely of snow and then it snowed some more and covered it all back up again. (Forgot to say that yesterday we all cleared the snow and the drive was completely clear). So far today we have had about a foot of snow and it's still snowing now and isn't supposed to stop until very early morning. The snow cloud starts at Detroit and finishes at Halifax which is a distance of 2000km. Wow!

The snow on the table just fell today up until 4pm.

Smallest and I baked some Ginger Muffins and some flapjack together and tried some late too. Yum yum.

Huffle FaceTimed Grandma and Grandad and caught up on all news. This evening we all watched The Jump (C4).

Smallest lost another tooth yesterday. He never checks his tooth pillow and the fairy is so good at remembering these days due to the fact that MrFairy puts a stone in his pocket to remind her there is something she needs to do. Sounds crazy but it does work.

 

Posted with Blogsy

V.I.P.S

Thank you for your kind messages. It does help to know you are there. Shame you are not a bit closer but there you go.......

I had a bad night's sleep, not really surprising all things considering but at least it made me get up early and have a nice shower ready for the busy day ahead.

The annual Hamlet Winter Carnival. Not a bad temperature of around 2* but not minus and no more snow fell. (Tomorrow we have 10cm forecast falling throughout the day). Our day started with a Pancake Breakfast at the Church which we chose to drive to due to the fact we had lots to get done. $10 got us two pancakes, a sausage and maple syrup plus a tea or coffee or juice. We bumped into a few locals and had a quick chat and then drove back home. Smallest got ready for his football game and the three boys watched the beginning of the Stoke game. As Small is in Grade 8, it was his responsibility to help with the floats for the parade, so I dropped him off at the parade start where he was given a high visibility vest and a list of who should be where and he organised and helped get the parade started.

I took my car to the Community Centre to deposit the Basket of Cheer and Joker Poker Board but couldn't park anywhere. ExerciseNic let me park in her drive and I walked back to where the parade was going to pass by and found Smallest and Huffle settled on the corner ready for parade watching. Smallest has never watched the parade as he is normally in it so it was quite nice for him to see it today.

My entry for the photo contest

We questioned Small later about why he wasn't on the Scout float and he said he had been allocated a job by the Leader. Huffle said "I think Small had a very responsible job in the parade". Silly Huffle didn't realise that his first born was part of the Pooper Scooper gang, shovelling the poo left by the horses. Still a very responsible job, after all, it's important to keep our roads clean, plus we got the bag of poo for our garden later.

Huffle and Smallest went off to the football match where the team won 8-1 but it's not about winning is it. I forgot. They came back later and joined us for the last part of the Carnival to help. When Small and I got to the Community Centre we found that our table, that was allocated to us earlier, had been moved back and to the side, and the very important Group that protests over the airport taking over our Hamlet, had completely overtaken our space. I very politely asked if they could move one of their signs that was blocking our table and they moved it a couple of millimetres and told us to move our table forward, if we wanted to. I am completely FOR their group as I do not want an airport built near us, I can't think of anything worse, BUT come on, our table was for the Grade 8's AND when we asked if any of them would like to buy a raffle ticket or take part in our game, we got a categoric NO! (Apart from one of our close British neighbours who probably felt they had no choice).

I had the help of six Grade 8's, Small included, to help me sell tickets. A couple of the girls lost some money and got confused as to whether they sold a ticket or not and caused me to have to ask a person if they did actually pay or not, embarrassing! The boys did better and did go and sell and we ended up with over $350 for the basket of Cheer (worth $400 but hopefully more tickets being sold tonight at the Ball) and $135 for the Joker Poker as we had to give away half to the winner (which just happened to be one of my little helpers Dad). Smallest was good at bringing people by to buy from us. It must be his winning smile. He made a new friend (possibly in his 70's) who invited him to play golf in his garden. We completely finished by 2pm ish, dropped off one of my helpers back home and waited for Smallest to have his shower before heading out again for a well earned lovely dinner.

At home we sat in front of the TV and finished a Harry Potter film and watched an episode of The Grand Tour with a cup of tea and a cake we picked up on the way home.

Everyone worked hard today and is tired. Being busy and being in the local community having to talk to lots of people has possibly done me the power of good today. I think I needed that. Plus, no-one can say we haven't done our fair share for the Grade 8 Graduation Trip Fundraising.

 

Posted with Blogsy

Knitting and Knatting

It was snowing when we got up and looked like it had been going for a good part of the night. It was thick but the snow coming down was big and fluffy and falling in that lovely mesmerising way. Lovely when you view it from your cosy heated home but not so lovely when you have to clear the drive (thank you Huffle) or scrape the foot high stuff off the top of your car. Not lovely when you open your car door really gently, only to find the damn light fluffy stuff flies in and covers your seat so your bum gets wet! Not so lovely when the road hasn't been ploughed and you have to follow in someone else's tracks and you skid and slide all over the road hoping the car coming in the opposite way is actually looking and not texting or drinking coffee!

After I saw the kids off (despite the big snow, the buses were running YAY) I got myself ready and headed off for knitting. It was a noisy one today with everyone wanting to talk at the same time about many different things. ShopKeeperEl gave me a bit of extra wool to finish my socks which was nice and I did manage to get a bit of knitting done, plus I wrote out a crochet pattern for Miche to take home to try. Suffolk should have come but she had trouble with the school/immunisation program and actually had a suspension notice for one her kids due to paperwork getting lost. She came to my house instead and we had lunch there.

During lunch we discussed her sewing lessons and established what we were going to do. We also had a good old rant about the immunisation process and how difficult it was to move from one country to another and not know exactly what questions to ask to get the answers we require. I feel very lucky to know her as we are in the same situation, pretty much going through the same problems at the same time. Plus, she has a child in High School so she can help me translate all the stuff I need to know for Small going there.

When the boys came home, Small informed me he had made his subject choices and seen his report (that we don't get to see yet) and was very pleased with his marks. His choices haven't been submitted yet and can be changed and will show us later. Smallest did his silent movie recording today and he said it went very well. They both had their last day of JungleSport. Small did his homework, Smallest did piano practice and did a bit of dusting for me.

After dinner, we made up the Joker Poker board for tomorrows Winter Carnival and looked through the basket of Cheer we are selling raffle tickets for also. We worked out the full value for the basket ($400) and packaged it all back. This is all booze that has been donated by Grade 8 parents and collected and packaged by a Grade 8's Mum who unfortunately went on holiday tonight and left us with the raffling of it.

Huffle and I took the boys to Movie Night at the Church (another Winter Carnival event) where they watched Jungle Book and we took full advantage and had a Wintry Walk. It was very wintry too. It snowed, the biting wind blew the snow in our faces and we trudged around the Hamlet for about 45 minutes. Then we went home for a warming cuppa before Huffle picked the boys up.

I have had a bit of a blip this evening. Very very homesick. Missing good friends. Not feeling like I belong. Too many things to deal with that are making me annoyed. Feeling very sad. Sure it will all pass. It's going to be a busy day tomorrow so hopefully no time to think about it.

 

 

Posted with Blogsy

Sighs*, Simon impersonator** and an Umbrella***

A free day for me with nothing to do. Well nothing planned anyway. The boys went to school - YAY the bus was running. The drive was still icy and Huffle thought we had Frost Quakes during the night which kept him awake. I never heard anything as I slept. HURRAH!

Small had a basketball tournament today that I didn't have to drive to and although I had every intention of popping along to see him play, I actually forgot. He lost both games unfortunately and he said there wasn't much to see. Smallest carried on with his JungleSport but told us that the bell rang and his belayer undid himself and walked off leaving Smallest dangling! He likes the JungleSport.

To fill my day, I brought my sewing machine downstairs and everything I thought I might need to make a Microwavable Wheaty Heat Up Bag and the Roman Blinds. I did end up making the bag but was quite disappointed with my sewing skills, so much in fact that I didn't dare touch the blinds and instead asked if Suffolk would give me some basic sewing lessons. She wasn't keen on charging me but I think it's important that we use our respective skills and if we can make a little bit of money while we are doing it, then we should. After all, she pays me to garden for her. She talked about lesson swapping but isn't sure what she wants to learn yet. I start next week. The wheaty bag, despite its ugly sewing, was a success according to Huffle and Smallest who tried it. It is filled with Flaxseed.

Huffle and I had lunch together and watched the other half of Sherlock. This afternoon I did some washing, tidied up and made two lasagnes for dinner. The boys came home and did homework, piano practice and after dinner we all went to the High School for an evening of informative chatter about how Small needs to choose his courses (which has to be done by Feb17). It was very confusing and there was lots of sighing* from me. First of all we heard about how many credits they need (credits have to be earned in order to get the high school diploma and I think you get them by completing courses to a certain grade or passing an exam) plus how many community hours you need (not completely clear about this part yet except that he has to work without being paid for 40 hours). We picked up a lot of leaflets and we now have an awful lot of reading to do. Small doesn't seem phased at all thank goodness. **one of the Guidance Counsellors looked like Simon Cowell. On the way home ***I tried to shoot someone with my invisible umbrella. Honestly, some of the driving here is ridiculous. You sit at a junction for ages waiting for a break in traffic and The said traffic turns into your road but only indicates right at the last minute. C'mon, it's common courtesy to let other people know where you are going before you GO, then they can make an informed decision whether to pull out or not!!!!

This evening Huffle and I watched The Great Pottery Throwdown. I really want to start pottery again. I think it might make me calmer HA!

 

Posted with Blogsy

They can whistle for it

There is a big tree in our front garden and it overhangs the porch roof. Yesterday and last night it was completely encased in ice and while we slept (or tried to sleep) the wind blew, the ice broke and shattered on the ice covered roof of the porch. It made such a hullabaloo it kept waking us up. In the end we switched the TV on. Terrible night's sleep.

Smallest didn't sleep well either and he had dreams about football that turned into snowboarding but only he had ski's and he had to slalom (we did watch the Jump last night) around a football. He couldn't do it right and lost his ski, then he lost his friend and his lost ski ended up smashing into a car and making a man very angry. Ummmmmm I wonder where he gets his weird dreaming from!

When the school bus company decide whether the buses are running or not, it is usually around 4am time. At that time this morning, there was still ice everywhere, but by the time we got up, the ice on the roads and our tree had gone. The cars were still covered and our drive was still really bad and the bus was cancelled for our zone. However, I made the decision early on to drive the boys to school as I wanted to get to Exercise which was near the school. I picked up MissMoll and drove the three kids into school and then on to exercise where I was far too early and ExerciseNic hadn't even taken her kids to school yet. She let me into the loft and warned me about the dog water and the fact she hadn't vacuumed. As I was really early, I vacuumed for her and then went on the treadmill for twelve minutes, just a brisk walk but it warmed my feet up and got me ready for the hours session when everyone else turned up. I still hurt from Monday's session.

Afterwards, despite the fact I was dressed in my aerobic gear and snow boots (very attractive I can tell you but not sure anyone bats an eyelid here) I decided to do my food shop plus a stop in Dollarama to get cardboard and cards for the WInter Carnival game Huffle and I are doing as a fund raiser for the Grade 8 Graduation Trip. Honestly, we have put so much money and time into this, it would be cheaper to just pay the full amount. I got everything I wanted and got back by lunchtime which I spent with Huffle. As he needed to get some time away from the phones and take his allotted hour for lunch, we sat and watched Sherlock. This is something we can't watch at night as it sends our brains weird and makes me dream even more.

After lunch I made a start on preparing dinner and made some Leek and Cheese sausages for me and the freezer. I peeled and chopped potatoes and veg and tidied up. ClownRose offered to pick the kids up from school just as I was thinking about walking there and back. My legs were so tired so I was grateful though i did have to call the school as we had a discussion the other day about who they could get in a car with and I don't think we mentioned dear ClownRose.

The boys got a small amount of time on the XBox before dinner and then Smallest and Huffle went to football practice and I took Small to the community Centre to help out with the Sports night for the Winter Carnival again. I did a bit of crocheting and when Huffle and Smallest came home, Huffle picked up Small who had been selling tickets for food (not refereeing as he thought he would be doing).

Temperatures were around -11* today and the wind was biting. The temperature is supposed to stay cold until Friday and then we have big snow coming.

Posted with Blogsy