Thursday 7th May

Thursday was a day when my plans changed unexpectedly. I had been planning a full day of housework and tidying up, but all that changed after a phone call and I was asked to look after a friend's little boy. So after trying to get some jobs out of the way in the morning, I set off to the local nursery to collect a 3 year old and try to remember what you need to do when they are so little. It is amazing how quickly you forget! Well I can hardly remember what I did yesterday let alone 6 years ago! It was very nice to see some of the teachers from Jamie's first school.

On the way home we called into the park and Kaide had a very good run around, scaring me with his agility and bravery, he did some things which Jamie won't even do now! Then after our lunch, I spent the afternoon watching Brum and Balamory, a long time since I had done that, so I guess it was useful that Jamie will still not get rid of some of his old DVDs! We also played with some of Jamie's toys. He was not sure about Binnie so she was relegated to the kitchen, but she was a good girl all day and did not make a fuss about it at all.

We walked up to school at home time to collect Jamie and Kian who was also coming home with us (Kian is the older brother). They all got stuck into the toys and played, it is nice to see that when presented with no other options children are more than happy to play with regular toys. Perhaps that is the problem today, computers, computer games and TVs are too convenient, I know it is a constant struggle with Jamie to get him to play with his toys, but when he does, boy does he enjoy it! Perhaps we should have 3 days a week without computer games etc. Although I may just make a suggestion of 1 day per week to start with!

We were then joined by David, so the 'evening and weekend gang' were all together and they headed off to the park, I tagged along as Kaide wanted to go too. Then this side of EV was treated to a song at the tops of their voices which ended in 'dangly bits' - I guess that's 9 year old boys for you. We then headed back and they all had baked beans on toast and ice-cream for tea. It was a thoroughly enjoyable afternoon.

By the time they had all gone home and Mike was home from work, all I wanted to do was put my feet up and watch TV, yawn ............ and head off to bed!

Ciao

Sue

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Wednesday 6th May

Wednesday was a get some jobs done and try to catch up with things after a lazy weekend and a busy Tuesday. So not much time to do anything more interesting than all the usual stuff. I never seem to have enough time to get round to all the jobs I would love to do, or to sit and do the scrapbooking I have got planned. I guess I will eventually.

On Wednesday Jamie directed me to an interesting game called Sneeze, which in the light of swine flu is particularly sick but very very funny, it can be found at (www.routesgame.com). There is also another game for people with ginger hair, and as I fall into the outside edges of that I am allowed to find it funny!

Why can't there be more hours in the day?

Ciao

Sue

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Tuesday 5th May - A Busy Day!

Currently listening to a few of my Napster favourites, which includes Metallica (that always brings a smile to my face!)

Floristry Class

Today was a hand tied bouquet. The colours were some of my favourites, with yellow roses, cream, lemon and green carnations. It was going to be either a bride or bridesmaid’s bouquet and fairly simple in design. Hand tied arrangements are not easy and the best way to become really good at them is to practice, practice, practice. It is all down to how you hold them in your hand and to be able to allow them to spiral. Sue, the tutor, suggested that even if we got it right, we should take it apart and have another go, just for the practice, it wasn’t a suggestion which was warmly welcomed. I didn’t do too badly with my first attempt, but did take it apart and have another go. I think I got the colour balance a little better second time around.

Once I was happy with it came the tying up, that’s when you feel you need two pairs of hands. Although once tied I was pretty happy with it! Then I got to use Mikado sticks for the first time and after measuring and wiring them put the pearls on (lime green again lovely!) and rather than do a cage over the top of the bouquet I placed them around the outside. I finally tied lime green organza ribbon and a bow around the stems and it was complete. I am actually pretty pleased for only my third hand tied.

My Lovely Green Bow

Coton Manor

Bluebells as far as the eye could see.

Later in the day I met up with some of my flower arranging chums and we went to Coton Manor where the Flower Club was having a private visit. Sylvia was very familiar with the place so she did the honours and drove the other 3 of us there.

Once there she quickly guided us to Bluebell Wood so we could see it before the rest of the club made their way down. Sylvia had promised us something very special, but it exceeded all of my expectations, it was astonishing. There are over 5 acres of bluebells and once you walk into the middle of the wood there are bluebells in every direction you look. Breathtaking is the only way to describe it, it was an absolute joy to see.


When we could eventually pull ourselves away we explored the rest of the garden. There were also some unusual ducks, some flamingos and a parrot; the chickens had gone to bed! The borders must be something to behold in the summer when they are in full bloom and I look forward to going back again to see them. Amongst the highlights for me was the wonderfully scented wisteria on the manor house, the variety of unusual coloured tulips and the very unusual blue poppy, which matched the beak of one of the ducks!

Wow! What a colour!

I can highly recommend a visit to Coton Manor (www.cotonmanor.co.uk), it also has a nice tea room, the coffee was strong (!) and the cake delicious. A very enjoyable visit.

The Manor House and Wisteria

Ciao

Sue

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Lazy Bank Holiday Monday

A really really lazy day today. When Mike is at work on a BH, Jamie and I tend to have a slob out day, so we have played a bit, messed about on the computer a bit, watched some TV, a film and eaten the sort of stuff we shouldn't, while poor old Mike has been hard at work. Now we should be all rested and ready for a busy week ahead, well lets hope so!

Ciao

Sue

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Sunday 3rd May - Wolverine

This has been our keep free weekend, which means we keep it free, free so we are able to do something spontaneous if we wish, or just not do anything and all be together. Well we has a pretty lazy Sunday, doing little bits here and there. Later on in the day we went to watch Wolverine at the cinema. It was enjoyable rubbish, lots of action, lots of cgi and lots of me saying what is going on here. That is when Jamie really impresses me, because he always seems to know, he knew what was going on and who everyone was and where they all fitted into the wider xmen story!

Wolverine

Only query would be it was a 12A, now I am not so sure about that. It was advertised in the cinema information as mild fantasy violence. I disagree with that as there was a lot of violence, yes it was fantasy violence but it wasn't mild. Jamie and I had discussed why the xbox game was 18 and after seeing the film we understood why. Jamie is quite grown up over lots of things, the way a lot of only children seem to be, and when we had chat about it after we saw the film, he could see what we meant when we were talking about the level of violence. As I said above, enjoyable rubbish, but beware the violence. Perhaps it would have made more sense to me if I had seen any of the xmen films prior to this. Those I will have to catch up with in due course.



Ciao

Sue

XX

Saturday 2nd May

Just a plain old Saturday, did some chores, took Binnie out, watched Primeval with Jamie and put my feet up with Mike later. Not a bad day I guess!

Ciao

Sue

XX

Dinnerladies at the Derngate, Northampton and Other Friday Stuff

I'm writing this listening to Metallica: The Videos soundtrack......

Friday proved to be another busy old day. Mike dropped Jamie off at school, came home, we had a coffee, then we headed out again to school for Jamie's class assembly.

Jamie's class, 4GR, did a presentation all about Kenya, which they had written themselves and jolly good it was too. Georgia (Jamie's sometimes on/off 'girlfriend') and his friend since nursery school played the teacher who took the class away on a trip to Kenya. We then had fascinating explanations about the weather and geography of Kenya, it's food, animals, music and culture.

It was a lovely assembly and the children were clearly having a lot of fun telling us all about it. Jamie' starring moment came when he told us about Kenyan food and then took over the rains on the powerpoint presentation. The whole class did brilliantly, a very big well done to them all and they got masses of well deserved applause. Also a big thank you to his class teacher, Miss Robertson who must have had a very busy week as she was busy at the languages evening too!

Once we got home, Mike went to bed, having just finished his fourth night shift and I pottered on with all of the usual bits and pieces.

Later on after having KFC with Jamie and Hannah, Mike and I headed off to Northampton to see Victoria Wood's Dinnerladies at the Derngate. I have loved the TV show of Dinnerladies for years and years, and can often be heard throwing out a line or two from the show, "What's that your cooking, food?", "It seems to be want people want to eat these days" one of my favourites. If I have had a bad day or two, I will often head for the boxed set and sit through a couple of episodes, a guaranteed way to make me smile, especially the 'Christine' episode, "what will it do when it gets down there and finds it's got nothing to pump up". Without doubt, for me, the series was a highlight in Victoria Wood's career, so I was really pleased to see it coming so close to home.

A quick glance at the programme or poster and you could have been thinking you were getting a full cast reunion, but the two stars were Andrew Dunn playing Tony, the canteen manager and Shobna Gulati (who got the biggest round of applause, probably due to her time spent in Coronation Street) playing the nice but very dim Anita. The play could have been subtitled Dinnerladies - the greatest hits, as it featured some of the more memorable moments from the TV series. Basically it took us through the burgeoning relationship of Tony and Bren up to Christmas Eve 1999. It was a nice tribute to the show and the lines, and one-liners were of course brilliant, written by Victoria Wood, what else could they be. The performances were all good and the actors got the characters extremely well, but something didn't quite make it, it was almost like watching a tribute band. The songs were there, the sound was good, they looked like the band, but they just weren't the band. But it was an enjoyable evening, so no complaints.

Ciao

Sue

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