T-Bird Anni Rides Again

am bringin baking in "kit form" to do once the initial stocks run low.

Have got First Aid kit (but no MatPack Helen, sorry!) - not fetching O2 this year, insurance has tightened up so no anaphylaxis or MIs please people

Have got child but no husbnad (who is grabbing extra money instead) and hence roughly half the *** I normally end up with.

Have got crochet project to keep hands busy.

Have got 2 wraps for Helen

have got Sonlight stuff. 

Have no idea what else I’m meant to be bringing but if it’s not packed now it’s staying home. 

However, i reserve the right to run round aimlessly grabbing items 2 minutes after we are supposed to have left…. 

Obviously most of you have already left so this is a fairly pointless post but it makes me feel better  

I’ve got most stuff now packed and the car looks suspiciously empty.  Usually it’s crammed to the gunwalls but there’s huge great gaps.  I’ve forgotten something haven’t I

We are pretty much packed excpt for our duvets (if you think I’m sleeping under a duvet previously inhabited by countless thousand others…)

The car needs brushing out of the last few week’s crumbs ready for a new batch (blush)

I need to shop - somehow it didn’t happen

I need to file the last few bits of washing away

I need to bake so Duke won’t feel so deprived whilst he stays home next week

and I need to do everything else on that to do list that isn’t already crossed off

(but I did do half my OU essay!  does that count???) 

Log off and go and do something dearest…. you *know* you will feel better when it’s all done

Just by way of making a point, in amongst all the procrastinating yesterday I did manage to find the living room floor (useful seeing as we have 2 sets of visitors over the next few weeks not to mention a party!!)  whittle the washing pile down, finish a sweater for Aprilia (oky, okay, I finished the last half a sleeve and sewed it up so that’s not such a huge acheivement!!) and re-type here life story book as I realised the other day that I had no hard copy of it, I’d put it on my old blog which is now not accessable (sulks)

Today I need to…

finish the wrap for Helen (sew on the velcro)

dig out my suitcase

finish the washing

pack for both of us

plan Duke’s meals for next week

plan our meals for next week

plan party food 

go to Asda

dig out all the resources I am planning on taking to Melrose 

untangle PDA cable from back of PC so I can charge SatNav at Melrose

finishe OU essay, find next course book and pack it (cos of course I’ll have SO MUCH TIME to study!)

chose a crochet/knit project to take with me

set Yahoo groups to No Mail

put fresh bedding out for sofa bed 

make up bed for Jade under Aprilia’s bed

put out bedding for travel cot for Shannon in case it’s needed

wring half an hour or so’s work out of the loonatic child who has taken the place of my delightfully sensible daughter.

Plan a meal for tomorrow night (erring towards "pick and mix" so we don’t have to get everyone round the table!)

So, not a lot really hey  

sumbled on a fab site via another blog I read, print out, cut out, glue and hey presto new toys to play with!

increasing your calcium levels can reduce PMS.  However, you need to take it with fish oil for the vit D to absorb it properly.  Now, can someone please tell me how exactly having fishy breath all day is meant to make me in a better mood?????  No?  Ah well, I’ll stick to being grumpy without it as opposed to really grumpy with it then should I

In other news, I have a limpit for a daughter again, you’d think when I’m being grumpy she’d just avoid me but she seems to need twice as many cuddles which is nice but when it’s 8:30 and I have heaps of stuff to do it wears thin (especially when you know damed well it’s bedtimd avoidance rather than utter devotion!)

She even offered to do extra puzzle pages to delay bedtime…. 

displacement activity - (noun) any activity undertaken in order to avoid doing what one is meant to be doing, example, reading every post on every blog anad forum rather than cleaning the house and car.

RAINBOW!

After being twarted in our attempts to get her uniform bought before the Big Day (the army and navy shop sells Brownie, Guide, Beaver, Cub and Scout gear but not Rainbow   )  she had a generally wobbly day.  However she perked up when I said it was time to go and dismissed me at the door when we got there!

Aparently she made friends with EVERYONE, sang the special songs at the beginning and the end, decorated her VERY OWN folder that she can store her colourings in, played a game and made some bird feeders that needed to be put in the fridge tongiht then hung outside in the morning.

So we are falling back to Plan B and I e-mailed my mum with the addy of the on-line shop where Rainbow wear aplenty can be found.  And Rainbow gifts, Rainbow nightwear, Rainbow sleepover blankets…. it weren’t like this when I were a lass i can tell you…. (okay, they didn’t even *have* Rainbows then!!) 

Aprilia was late to sleep last night to late to wake this morning leaving me with a full hour’s un-disturbed study time.  She was droopy most of the morning but perked up when I mentioned that I may just do a bit of baking and did she want to help….

Baking was lemon curd cake which was very yum but not something I’ll do often, it takes 6 eggs!!!!  and after devouring all the individual componants with gusto, Aprilia decided that the finished creation wasn’t to her liking but I’m welcome to make lemon curd (used as the filling for the cake) again any time I fancy so she can lick that particular bowl out  (but not so she can have it on bread, she doesn’t like it *that* much )   So now the tally of Usbourne baking recipes that actually work stands at 4… not bad considering we have about 4 of their books!

 Then there was the aforementioned excitement about starting Rainbows on Wednesday which had to be passed on to Granny right away (because Granny offered to buy the uniform!)  I had to gently explain that she didn’t have to have the full uniform for the first night otherwise I think I would have been driving her over to Granny’s right there and then!!!

In the afternoon she made half hearted attempts at puzzles but she was obviously very distracted and I consider it to be a total waste of time to flog that particular dead horse too hard.  She did, however, read a few pages of a Dr Seuss book.  you know, I really think if I just beat her over the head with enough Dr Seuss books she’d learn to read and be damned with phonics…  No, actually, I don’t but I do think that she and I are both heartily sick of phonics and I have never really bought the idea that phonics is the be all and end all of reading.   That’s when I’m not being completely irrational about the whole reading thing and convincing myself that she’s never going to manage, will still be sounding out words when she applies for her first job and will prove once and for all that home educators are irresponsible (sigh, good job I only get PMS for a few days each month isn’t it!)

Anyway, I’m now heading for avoidance tactics rather than tidying up and getting stuff ready for Melrose really so I’d better be a good girl and log off so i can do something…. ah, maybe just a quick trip round the blog ring first…. 

The Rainbows lady phoned today… they have a place for her…NOW!  had expected to need to wait til after Easter but several girls have decided not to join leaving Aprilia at the top of the list.