T-Bird Anni Rides Again

So, 2007?  What did you do for us then?  Well, on balance I think there were more ups than downs. 

We had some great trips away, and one not so great but hey, I can safely say that if our tents can survive everything that Kessingland could throw at ithem this year then they are worht the money!  I can’t imagine some of the cheaper ones standing up so well somehow.  The mini-tent was fun for going Off the Path and the one leak, which was down to a design fault, should be easy to fix with a bit of ripstop nylon at some point.  Melrose was good if we gloss over Aprilia looking like death on the last day precipitating a very early get away (and of course recovering to look the picture of health by the next day…. amazing what sleeping for 20 hours in 24 can do for a girl!)  oh, and we’ll gloss over my total lack of any sense of direction when trying to find supermarkets too shall we   NicCamp was different again, not quite to intense, very pleasant and with the extra excitement of train riding!  House visiting was, as ever, lovely.  I am blessed with some vry good friends up and down the country with excellent spare rooms and floors for sleeping on

Aprilia has carried on edging closer and closer to reading, it’s not being an easy ride for her but we are getting there.  Her general knowlege is pretty good, it constnatly amazes me how she remembers stuff that I’ve red to her.  I t hink it’s one of the big pluses of HE for her that she can soak up so much interesting stuff without the struggle of needing to read it.  She pickes up maths concepts remarkably fast which has led to me being far from diligent about "teaching" it - seems no rush really   She adores practical science which I’m also far from diligent about doing with her and which I REALLY need to try harder with!  Likewise cooking although I have great plans for that in the new year courtessy of Duke buying me the River Cottage Family Cookbook.

Rainbows has been great for her.  She gets to do girlie things, running about and being rowdy things and belonging to a group things.  She can’t wait to go up to Brownies and have a go at all those badges!  I was worried that me taking over as Rainbow leader would mean that she would shaddow me but nah, she’s qutie happy to share me with the others, even lets a select few hold my hand

Our regular "Winsford Home Ed Group" meetings at Jungle Jims have been good for both of us.  She gets to learn that essential skill of dealing with someone even bossier than her (yes!  ther are people even bossier than my child!!!) and also even more "emotionally fragile" than her.  It’s been a tough dynamic once or twice but I suspect they are good for each other in an odd sort of way.  The other benefit of course is that I get to drink coffee and chat to a real live adult human being for several hours without having to share them with the TV!  I’m a bad influence on her though, she’s abandoning her autonomous aproach in favour of gentle guiding into learning stuff and firm turning off of the TV.  I really hope it works for her, she really needs a boost.

Duke’s employment history has continued to be varied, the private ambi company going bump lost him nearly £1,000 in unpaid wages which was a blow but then that led to the Red Cross taking over the contract and that’s given him a much more reliable income.  If only he could find one job that paid enough for the standard of living he wants….

My year?  The whole diagnosis of dyslexia and discovering what that means has been a roller coaster.  I’ve been angry that schools dismissed my saying that I thought I was dyxie when, looking at the list of "symptoms" they were all there for anyone who bothered to look.  I’ve been awkward at finding myself suddenly a "special case" with special allowances like a PC for my exam, somehow feeling a fraud for getting help friends on the same course don’t get.  I’ve been down right furious and inwardly seething when Duke’s family have (without knowing my diagnosis) dismissed dyslexia in their pupils ( there are 2 school teachers and a classroom assistant) as either a by-word for stupid or lazy. But I’ve been blown away by learning that actually I’m not who I thought I was, I’m actually just a bit clever, in fact, clever enough to get a Pass 2 (like a B grade) in a degree level exam.  I’m really looking forward to the next course now!

Taking on Rainbows has been great too, hectic at times but great.  They are a great group of girls.

Getting the kitten has been nice, she’s a bit fiesty but also great company.  Funny, Duke would never let our old cat upstairs but has been perfectly happy to share a bed with Whiskers, mind you, she is significantly smaller than Sammy was so takes up quite a bit less bed!  It will complicate holidays though, we don’t ahve a cat flap so she can’t let herself in and out which makes just getting someone in to feed her tricky as it would invovle asking them to dispose of smelly bits in the litter tray.  I suppose it’s going to end up being cattery time.  Ah well, she gets a holiday too!

And my targets?  One day I will learn.  They need to be acheivable, practical and specific.  And they need to be somewhere I can see them, not tucked away on a blog page.  I did make a bit of progress though!  There has been more domesticity and, although I still have a pile of washing, it’s usually clean washing needing sorting rather than dirty washing these days.  The new dishwasher has made kitchen duties quicker and easier (we can fit a full day’s worth of stuff in one go) which does make it more likely that there will be clean crocks.  There has been sporadic interest in excercise but the vile weather has restricted this, I’m pining for our forest rides.  There has been a little more routine in the home ed but I think I need to go back to the accountability of the "in brief" blogs to keep me on track!

41 words

Touch Typing

You type 271 characters per minute
You have 41 correct words and
you have 5 wrong words

As seen on Jax’s and Jo’s blogs!  And I have to say I used to be much better than taht which just goes to show taht if you don’t practice you do lose these things! 

And why doesn’t it work properly for me???  I should have a posh results box not a link!! 

2nd January - redid the test and got a much more worthy score

You type 292 characters per minute
You have 50 correct words and
you have 1 wrong words

May come back to this now and then 

Duke slept til lunch time, sadly teh cat wouldn’t allow me the same luxury and insisited I got up at 9am!  Aprilia arrived back from mum and dad’s just before lunch having had several queesy moments whilst staying with them - dad thinks it’s because she is snotty rather than anything else and I’m inclined to agree, shame you can’t get whatever it was I used to get dosed with as a kid to de-snotty-fy but alas nasty chemical decongestants are now out of vogue and she loaths the smell of Vicks.

Afternoon was spent watching Ballet Shoes (we recorded it, I can see it getting a lot of play) Three Men and a Baby, Cat in the Hat (how rubbish is taht film?) and something else as well I think.  Oh, yes, she played on teh Digital Art Studio and merrily printed out a load of stuff.  Throughout this I knitted hence I have finished the baby sleeping bag for my niece’s soon-to-arrive baby (I made it a 6 to 12 month size in case it took too long to make…) and also russled up a silly looking but extreemly warm hat for me! 

She went to bed without a whisper of complaint at 8 and we’ve heard nothing from her since.  Which reminds me - sleep training for 7 year olds?  Any suggestions?  I’m getting fed up of her rattling round til past my bedtime then being grumpy and over tired the next day so I’m going to have to get strict about bedtime which is a shame as I would prefer a more autonomous aproach but she’s just not getting enough sleep on her schedule so I fear it’s time to impose mine.  Sigh.  Speaking of which, it’s way past my bedtime too!!! 

Well, I kissed goodnight to my big girl at 10pm last night and left her with her cousin.  She had by that point learned the finer points of playing DS games against someone and PictoChatting with not only her cousin but the girl up the road (wow, those thigns have some range!)  I was, naturally enough, dismissed with an airy wave from her and an assurance that the parents will phone when they are ready to be rid of her today.  It’s lunch time and she’s still tehre so I’m declaring this a successful first "real" sleep-over (as opposed to her sleeping over when we go together to visit home ed friends when she knows I’m only in the next room)  That’s another of those growing up milestones isn’t it?  Sigh

After being so incredibly calm and wonderful for hte last week today she has sort of fallen apart.  She’s alternated between being sprawled over me like a particularly lumpy limp blanket and ricocheting off the walls with excitement at seeing her cousin this evenig.  I’m currently "hiding" upstairs on the PC before I turn into shouty mummy.

Big Brain Academy on the DS has been a hit, she’s determined to get gold medals on everything and assuming that the interest lasts then that should take care of most of her education for the next 12 months   the Sudoku game less so as it’s a bit complicated but now I’ve worked it out I can hopefully show her how it works.   

Just trying to think of what I’ve forgotten to blog over the last several days, sure there was something… oh yes i remember!

Back in the mists of time we were told by someone that one of the things she would miss out on by being home educated was the chance to be in school plays.  I dismissed this as stupid as neither me not Duke had ever been in a school play and we seemed to have got through life reasonably well…. but anyway.  On Sunday she was a shepherd in our church nativity and then on Monday she was Mary in my mum and dad’s church’s nativity (non speaking part - just sitting on a straw bale looking cute) so I think that’s another argument we can dismiss don’t you  

IT’S cHRIIIIIIIIIIIST-MAAAAAS (a bit coarse & loud like Noddy Holder DH) - oi!  Duke GET YOUR OWN BLOG!!!

sorry bout that folks, have reclaimed the keyboard…. 

Bliss, I am listening to the carol concert on Smooth Radio on line enjoying a moment of calm before going and attacking the next stage of cooking dinner.  The second draft of pressie opening has gone exceedingly well, DS has been played with, the learn chess set has been played with, Digital Art Studio is installed and played with (and declared to be even better than she had hoped) new bedding is on bed and looking very crisp and cute (it’s pink with butterflys and fairies on…)  Cat likes her pressies.  Duke has had his nose in a book all morning so looks like I picked well there too.  Mum and Dad managed to pick something non-insulting for Duke (so no window cleaning kit this year - still not worn out the other 2 yet…) and picked a good selection of Horrible Science kits for Aprilia which will keep us busy for a while.  I’m resisting playing my new Eagles CD (form Aprilia) until I have time to chill properly with it and likewise am resisting the knitting book (from Duke) until I’ve finished the last few rows of my current project which should encourage me to get on with it really!

Right, time to get cooking again!

Happy day! 

well, okay not totally new but it’s as good as and it’s all hers! 

It used to belong to Tim who is (are you ready for one of those copmicated relationships things?) the son of Tom, who is a collegue and friend of Rick my forth fave fella and his wife Kerry.  TIm had barely used it as the bike was at Tom’s and he lives with his mum not his dad these days and custody has been somewhat of a fight and in the mean time he just grew out of it.  It "cost" us a lovely drive out into rural Wales, a couple of hours chatting whilst cuddling some of the most gorgeous cats ever (Norwegan forest cats) and watching my daughter flash her baby blues at Rick who promptly bowed to her every whim, adjusted the saddle, taught her what to do with the gears and took her up and down the street a few times to make sure she could manage to ride it properly.  She is only just big enough for it so it should last her a few years meaning that yet again we have escaped buying her a brand new bike!!!

I spent a while trying (and mainly succeeding) to excavate the living room so that I have space to wrap pressies which is tomorrow’s job.  Whilst doing this, naturally we uncovered a puzzle book so spent half an hour doing subtraction (sigh, only in a home educating household can maths be considered a good thing to do on a weekend just before a major celebration…..) Tomorrow, when I’m not wrapping pressies and creating then writing cards, I also need to be at church on time (Aprilia is in the nativity play) and I need to make several batches of playdough as promised as a pressie to A’s children (and wrap it as soon as it’s cool enough, then deliver it…) then be back at church for before 4pm for the carol concert, then make a long blue tunic type thing as Aprilia is Mary in a different nativity (at mum and dad’s church) on Monday afternoon.  There is a threat of a roast lunch too…..  Next year I will start preparing earlier and wrap things as I get them.  didn’t I say something like that last year???? 

Sigh, if I never watch another Veggie tales video again it will be too soon….  Aprilia decided taht since I wanted nothing more than to slump in a heap today that she would keep me company in bed and watch videos…..  Well, to be fair, I’ll probably recant that statement if we buy a few new ones but watching the same stuff several times in one day?  Cheezey American accents projected over animated vegetables with corny lines is only okay for so long

Or do the rest of you mothers do this too? 

Last night I finally sucumbed to the gut rot that has been robbing me of my apetite for way too long.  It was distinctly unpleasant to say the least and at the end of it I had lost a full half stone (I’ve been keeping an eye on my weight so that if this lack of apetite went on for more than a month I could go to the Drs with some facts!)  which is a rather dramatic way to fit into those slightly too snug party clothes really!!! 

But once it was all over and I felt safe to leave the bathroom I first cleaned every inch to remove the odour etc (lets not go any further with that should we?), had a stand up all over wash (the shower being full of the cleaning cloths I’d just used….) and asked Duke to make sure he emptied the dishwasher in the morning so I didn’t need to handle clean crocks in case I was still germ ridden (he didn’t but hey ho, we have enough in the cupboard). 

This morning I ensured that there was a bucket next to both loos in case Aprilia is next and briefed her  in what to do the moment she feels ill…..  then phoned Harley to ask him to deal with the slipper shopping as he said he was going into town and in a bit I will phone everyone else that our 24 hour quarenteen may affect.

The cat wouldn’t leave my side all night, Duke went to bed and left me to it  

After her getting me up obsenely early this morning and making me watch her bouncing round like a loon til lunch it was swimming with Harely during which time she swam really well, mainly as a defence against being caught and tickled by a particularly playful loonatic godfather.  It’s lovely watching that pair, she really brings out the best in him, I think it’s those big eyes, makes him go all gooey-brained and doting whcih is as good a way as any to forget your troubles for an hour.  After that is was quick shower and hair wash then into our party clothes for the Christmas party at JJs.  I may well blog about taht elsewhere too but Aprilia had a good time, stood her corner against the bigger boys who were being, well, to be honest they were just being BOY-strous in a just escaped from being couped up in school all day sort of fashion.  Which of course is why I’m knackered and she’s bouncing round the bedroom listening to her Dr Seuss CD and reading along with it.  I swear she has an invisible chord attached to me to steal all my energy.

Tomorow I need to face teh evils of town one last time due to my dad needing an extra Christmas pressie for mum and only just realising today!!!!  He got the main pressie and the small in-the-dinner-table-cracker pressie but forgot the uner-the-tree pressie I’m so glad we don’t have such ***** awkward traditions here…. we have pressies, then teh day after we go see his family and we have more pressies, then as soon as the charity shops are open we off load the stuff we didn’t need and it’s all done for another year!

I may well ranty blog about taht at some point too….. gee, don’t tell me that yet again I’m going to be hormonal for Christmas???? Sigh, see?  I do have traditions to uphold after all