Busy day doing nothing!!

Its been one of those days where I don't seem to have stopped doing something, but then again don't seem to have done anything!!! We were woken bright and early by the skip arriving, ready for the handyman to dig out the raised vegetable beds and dismantle them. The skip was safely deposited on the drive - sorry neighbours!! And the handyman did a great job of clearing the veg garden. It looks so much bigger now its empty!! The trouble is its so dry after years of being under raised beds or weed suppressing membrane, that as soon as you go outside you get a mouthful of dust blown at you!! Not sure what I want to do with the area now. Turfing it seems the simplest option, but then when we put Little Prince's Little Tikes stuff on their it will kill most of the turf!! Chipped bark is another option, but I'm sure Little Prince will love spreading it liberally round the rest of the garden!! Decking, its a bit too modern for my tastes and the age of the house. So I'm stuck!! Needs a bit more thinking about I think!! I also chatted to the handyman about a list of other jobs I want doing - niggly little things that I have nagged Mr Messy to do, but that he hasn't got round to or doesn't have time to do. The handyman has agreed that once I have bought all the necessary bits and bobs for the jobs he will come round and get them done.

Little Miss Sensible and Fraulein were both in college today. Fraulein to formally sign up for her courses and LMS to see her English tutors regarding resiting her last two exams! She got a Grade B and she wants a Grade A - if she is willing to put the extra work in and redo the exams next Summer they are very willing to support her. So that is what she is doing, recalling the papers so her tutors can look over her work and give her advice on how to improve her performance and hopefully get the elusive Grade A. I've said before she is a perfectionist, no one she has told so far can believe that she is actually unhappy with a Grade B!!! Except me and Mr Messy as we know her very well :-)

Drama Teen and her friend played on the Wii with Little Prince for quite a long time this afternoon. They also made chocolate melting puddings, at least the cooking equipment was all over the kitchen - but as I didn't have one I don't actually know if they did cook them!! I'm joking I know they cooked them, and I know they probably tasted lovely - but I avoided them as I'm trying to cut down!! I will definitely have to try and make it to the gym once Little Prince is settled in nursery!!

Little Prince has been prescribed some steroid cream for the ends of his fingers, as all the skin is flaking and peeling and is quite sore. The trouble is he sucks his thumb, so a lot of the day has been spent making sure he hasn't got his thumb in his mouth. He has been very grumpy about this and keeps telling me I'm a naughty mummy! Hopefully the cream will work pretty quickly and we don't have to go through this for too long!!!

Midnight Pursuits!!

Another of Drama Teen's friend came round for a sleepover yesterday. And I got roped in to playing first Frustration and then Trivial Pursuits with Drama Teen, her friend and Fraulein! Frustration lived up to its name - I lost dismally and was very frustrated!! Luckily Drama Teen's friend had brought round a bag of Cadbury's treat size chocolates - so that cheered me up :-)
After that they decided they wanted to play Disney Trivial Pursuits. I'm a bit of a Disney Geek - and managed to answer everybody's questions, so how come I still lost!!!! Fraulein gave up and went to bed around 10.30pm but I stayed up till midnight, which I promptly regretted when Little Prince started shouting early this morning!!! One of the questions Drama Teen was asked to answer - was what colour are Mickey Mouse's gloves? Her response "Is that in colour or black and white?" She couldn't understand why the rest of us nearly fell off our chairs laughing!!!

Proud of my Brave Girl

Little Miss Sensible is currently at the doctors, having her MMR booster! She somehow missed having the injection when it was due, but remembered that she was a jab short and when she received her university bumf, which advised being totally up to date with jabs, she organised having the missing jab herself. Which is a majorly brave feat for her, as she HATES needles and has almost fainted a couple of times when having to have a jab. So Little Miss Sensible, when you read this cos I know you will :-) I am very very proud of you - you are a very grown up and brave young lady :-)
UPDATE: LMS was in a foul mood when she returned from the doctors! Not because of the injection, as she hadn't been allowed to have it!! She had to provide a urine sample, and couldn't manage - so she wasn't allowed to have the injection!! If they'd have said yesterday when we were in the surgery making the appointment, we could have brought a sample bottle home and avoided all of this!! So after psyching herself up for this, she now has to go through it all again next week!!

Family visits

This morning Little Miss Sensible took Fraulein to college again, its nice not to have to do all the driving lol. Drama Teen and Friend didn't get up till late morning - unsurprisingly as they had been up until 3am!! They baked buns at midnight!! Strange girls!! When they got up they played Disney Monopoly for a while, and then we had to drop Friend off at her house and go into town ready for Drama Teen to have her eyes tested. Little Miss Sensible took Little Prince to a cafe, while me and Drama Teen went to the opticians. I got told off as Drama Teen hadn't had a contact lens check up since last December - but if they'd have sent me a reminder letter I would have booked an appointment, as I know how important it is to take care of young eyes! They did admit that something must have gone wrong in the system as we had been allowed to carry on receiving Drama Teen's shipments of lenses, and that should have been stopped until she had had the required check up. So I'm convinced its their fault!! Her prescription has changed quite a few points, so we ordered new glasses and also booked a contact lens check up for Friday. The glasses were set to be ready at the exact same time Fraulein finished college!! So we went over to college to pick her up intending to drive straight back to town and get the glasses. As always my plans didn't happen!! Fraulein was much later finishing college than the time on her timetable, so after half an hour sat in the car waiting I left LMS there to find Fraulein and took Drama Teen and Little Prince back to the optician. The trip to the optician was quick and painless, the glasses were ready, fitted perfectly and we were away again in just a few minutes. On the way back to the car, spotted a shop which was closing down and got a really good deal on a pair of pillows that LMS needs for university - they don't provide ANY bedding, just a mattress!!!

Arrived home and fed Little Prince, who was getting grumpy because he was hungry! Then he was getting over excited because Grandma, Aunt, Uncle and four cousins were coming over to see us. Uncle had been at work fairly nearby, and taken the whole family for a day out and then over to see us on the way home. Little Prince was a bit overwhelmed when they first arrived, wanting a reassuring hug off mummy. But once he had had his hug, he felt lots better and played with his cousins for the rest of the evening. Which gave the grown ups chance to chat and catch up. The cousins seemed to love playing with all Little Prince's toys, probably because the majority of theirs were destroyed in a flooding disaster not too long ago. No, not the flooding due to the weather - flooding due to a stupid plumber who was working on their house while they were on holiday! He apparently disconnected a radiator without turning off the water, or capping off the pipe - and by the time it was discovered most of the contents of their house had been destroyed!!! I have no idea how my sister and her hubby have coped, and are still smiling!!! They are hoping (!!!) they will be straight by Christmas!!

Anyway it was quite a short notice visit, so I didn't have enough of anything in to feed everyone - so we ordered from the local take away and had it all delivered (and paid for by Aunt and Uncle's insurance company!!). Unfortunately the delivery took 40 minutes, so we (and the kids!) were all starving by the time it arrived. Even the youngest cousin made quite an impression on a pile of chips and nuggets. After tea the kids played some more, the grown ups chatted some more and then it was time for them to make their way home. They live a couple of hours away, so it was going to be a long night!! Little Prince was absolutely bog eyed by this point, so Mr Messy got him ready for bed while we said our goodbyes and I got hugs off my nephews and nieces :-) It was lovely to see them all as we don't get to see each other very often, and lovely to see how the kids played together so well :-)

Productive afternoon :-)

Little Miss Sensible arrived home after last nights party and sleepover, and then dropping off Fraulein at college for her enrollment stuff. Hadn't expected her the right side of lunchtime so we were all still in jammies!! Once we were all respectable again, me, LMS and Little Prince went out to run a few errands, leaving Drama Teen at home as we were expecting a delivery. The delivery arrived minutes after we had returned lol which is a good job as Drama Teen was worried about signing for the parcel!!!

This afternoon Little Miss Sensible took Little Prince out with her in the car to pick Fraulein up from college. Which meant I had an hour or so free, and rather than sit on the computer I actually got down to getting something productive done!! Amazing!! I finished cutting out the small samples for my Squishes, and finished making the wishes I had half made and then run out of bits for!! Well that was after spending ages trying to find where I'd saved the 'wish words' to on my computer, finally found them and printed them off. Then stuck and glued all the bits together to make the wishes, addressed the envelopes and they are ready to post tomorrow morning :-)

Drama Teen invited one of her school friends round for a sleepover (should be prosecuted under the Trade Descriptions Act - there's not much sleeping goes on!!) but failed to check if friend was expecting to join us for tea. This wouldn't normally cause a problem, but as I decided to start dieting again today - I was starving and desperate to eat!!! I was going to feed me, Drama Teen and Little Prince early and then feed the others once Mr Messy was home from work. In the end Little Prince was hungry and out of sorts and we had to get him his tea first. Then once Friend had arrived we discovered she hadn't eaten, but it was so near to Mr Messy coming home time we waited for him. I was getting increasingly grumpy and snappy!! I ended up making lasagne and chips for me, Drama Teen, Friend and Fraulein and Mr Messy and LMS had a chippie tea soon after! Not very organised really - but there are so many people here and I'm not into the swing of cooking for so many again yet!! I'll just get used to it and it will be time for LMS to go to university. Talking of which she got her accommodation allocation in the post this morning, which meant a frantic hour of form filling and returning said forms to the uni. She has been given the halls she requested, but is now a bit upset that she hasn't got in-room internet access, which she knew when she applied for those halls!!! She chose that particular hall after seeking advice from past students, and they all said this hall was the friendliest (many people share huge kitchens and you get to chat to lots of other students) and being shy she thought that would be better for her. Hopefully the lack of in-room internet access won't be too big a deal once she starts there. They do have wi-fi points on campus that she can take her laptop to - so hope that will be enough!!

Blurb for today

We let the girls have a long lie in this morning - just wish Little Prince would extend the same to me and Mr Messy lol. And once they were all up, breakfasted, dressed (and it was past lunchtime by then!!) we took Little Miss Sensible and Fraulein to the supermarket. We wanted Fraulein to tell us what sort of things she likes/doesn't like to eat, what sort of things she would take to college for a packed lunch etc. And although she was shy and shrugged a lot, she did manage to tell us what she really didn't like, which is quite brave of her since she only arrived yesterday :-)

She helped put everything away once we got home again, which took quite a while as she hadn't got a clue where anything went. She asked if there was anything else she could help with so I set her and LMS off emptying the dishwasher. Fraulein seems very eager to help out - hope the kids learn something from that attitude lol.
We had planned to have a roast beef, traditional Sunday Lunch yesterday, but Mr Messy was too tired to cook it, so we had pizza instead. We had Sunday Lunch today instead, Fraulein pronounced it delicious but couldn't eat much, she seems to have a very tiny appetite, no wonder she is so delicate and birdlike!!
This evening LMS, The Boyfriend and Fraulein have gone out to a party thrown by one of LMS's friends. Fraulein was very nervous about going, as she won't know anyone, but all LMS's friends are lovely and they will look after Fraulein. I'm hoping she has fun and gets to know a few people. They are staying over at the friend's house and then LMS is taking Fraulein to college from there in the morning - so they have both been warned not to stay up too late!! Not that the warning will make any difference!!! But it makes me feel better that I've tried!! Fraulein is getting nervous about college tomorrow as she has to sit an English and a Maths test - she is dreading the maths one. We have tried to reassure her that it is nothing to worry about, and only for the college so that they know what level class to put her in - but she is still worrying!! Hopefully she will come back tomorrow evening a lot more relaxed as she will have already done the dreaded exam!!!

I'm feeling quite smug!!

I forgot to blog yesterday that I have finally finished sewing every single bleeping nametape in Drama Teen's and Little Prince's new uniforms :-) And then today I cut out the second colourway of my quilt swapping fabric. OK I still need to cut out the little 'samples' of fabric to stick to the wishes - but the bulk of the job is now done :-)

Another Tag!!

ou have to post these rules before you give the facts.

1) Players, you must list one fact that is somehow relevant to you life for each letter of your middle name. If you don't have a middle name, use the middle name that you wish you had.

2) When tagged, you need to write your own blog post containing your own middle name facts.

3) At the end of your blog post, you need to choose one person for each letter of your middle name to tag. Don't forget to leave a comment telling them that they're tagged and to read your blog.

I've got a fairly short middle name, so shouldn't be too hard - should it???

L is for loopy!!! That's what having three kids (and an exchange student so that's four at the moment!!) aged between 18 and 4 does to me!!!

O is for Oh no is it time to get up now??? Which is what I think most mornings when Little Prince first starts yelling 'Muuuuuuuum, Mummmmmmy, MUUUUUUUM'

U is for You did WHAT??? I know that's cheating but I can't think of a 'u' word!!!

I is for I don't know where the sock/book/tie/uniform is!!!

S is for sleep, even now at the ages they are I don't get enough!!!

E is for energy - wish I had more of it!!!

Now I have to tag 6 people (and sorry Kate but I know the same ones you do!!) so its probably a very similar list! I tag - Cristina Ellen Lara Rosie Sally and Valeri

She's here and she's lovely :-)

Well Fraulein has arrived :-) We sat her down for an immediate lunch, as she hadn't eaten since arriving yesterday!! The person who was supposed to meet them at the airport was late, then there were transport problems getting to where they were staying. So when they finally arrived there they were so tired they just wanted to sleep. This morning they had to board their coaches early, and had no time for breakfast - not that any was provided (!!!) just packets of crisps!! That is just dreadful organisation, and I can't imagine how the exchange organisation gets away with that!! We had planned on eating as soon as she arrived anyway, so it worked out well, I'm just surprised the poor kid didn't keel over from hunger - she's so slim to start with!!

Now Drama Teen and Little Miss Sensible are introducing her to the joys of the Wii. Drama Teen has made a Wii Mii of Fraulein, but so far she seems reluctant (too shy probably) to play herself. Although she does seem to be enjoying watching the girls play. Little Prince keeps offering advice, but the game they are playing (Big Brain Academy) is a bit above his level, so his advice isn't appreciated at the moment!!
Mr Messy has managed to get Fraulein's suitcase up the stairs and into her bedroom - quite a feat given the size of it!! I suppose we shouldn't have been surprised really - this is a teenage girl's packing lol.

She's Almost Here!!!

Mr Messy and Drama Teen have set off to meet the coach that is bringing Fraulein to the meeting point. I'm getting so nervous now!!! Just had a phone call from Mr Messy he is at the meeting point, and waiting. There has been an accident on the route somewhere, so he isn't sure when the coach will arrive, but will ring when it does. I think I need some chocolate!!!!!!

Still tidying!!!!

Well I have got the whole family in on the act - we are all tidying and cleaning!! Well except for Little Prince, although he has helped with some of it. I think its a displacement activity, to take my mind off panicking about Fraulein arriving!!! We've heard from the local organiser at around 10am and the students hadn't set off from their first night's accommodation at that point!! So goodness knows what time they will finally arrive - probably late afternoon, or around tea time I think.

Well off to do some more vacuuming!!

Exchange student arrives tomorrow!

Since getting home from shopping we have all been frantically tidying, cleaning and sorting ready for the arrival of Fraulein tomorrow!! I'm not panicking - am I???? Yes I am actually - and when I panic, I make people tidy up!!! I was the same throughout our homestudy - just ask Mr Messy or the kids!!!

Mr Messy cleaned the bathroom, and even the loo - he's a lovely man :-) I sorted out the cupboard at the end of the stairs, which we usually just shove stuff in and jam the door shut!! So I dragged everything out and sorted it (loads more stuff for the tip and the charity shop) and managed to get all the suitcases that had been left in various places round the house, back in there. I got all the spare quilts into bags and put back in there too. And there's still room to spare :-) I also came across a huge box full of stuff that I've bought or been given, for MeiMei (dolls, toys, clothes, baby feeding bowls, bottle insulators) - I'd forgotten I'd got most of it!!! And I didn't realise how many Pandas I've bought over the years!!! Hope she likes cuddlies lol :-) Drama Teen cleaned the big patio windows, and dusted the lounge and hallway and she did an excellent job of both. Little Miss Sensible supervised Little Prince, they played together on the Wii and then read books together. Then she helped me get the last bits and pieces back into the cupboard.

Little Miss Sensible is out tonight with her college friends, who she hasn't seen for ages due to her long backpacking holiday. Me and Mr Messy are going to drop her off at the pub, where she is meeting her friends and then go to the supermarket and get food for lunch and Sunday dinner tomorrow (got to make a good first impression on Fraulein!!) and the last few bits and pieces for her room. When I was making her bed up, I found we only had really cheap nasty spare pillows - more like pancakes than pillows, so we need to get another one!! I also wanted to get her a small box of chocs to put on her desk in her room, just in case she hates my cooking!!!

This morning we went off into town for a family shopping spree. Mr Messy had seen some Converse trainers he liked, and they were on offer 'Buy One Get One Half Price' and I'd seen some too!! So off we went - not as early as we'd have liked, mostly my fault! I went to bed late, and then Little Prince woke me up about 3 hours later as he'd dropped Blankie! Then 3 hours after that he decided it was wake up time!! Two lots of 3 hours sleep isn't good for me!! So kind Mr Messy let me have a lie in, another 3 hours sleep and I felt good enough to face the day :-) We also had to get Drama Teen a couple of school skirts, which I was dreading!! Fashion vs sensible or teen vs parent - not my favourite way to spend a day!! After trying a couple of shops and being met with either the skirt doesn't fit, or hmmm it will do if there's nothing else and the 'yuk' face!! I was beginning to think this 'skirt quest' was going to be a fruitless nightmare! But luckily Tammy at BHS came up trumps - fashionable enough to please Drama Teen, and sensible (ie not too short!!) enough to suit me!! Result :-)

We weren't so lucky with the Converse trainers - well I was but Mr Messy wasn't. They had a lovely grey pair with pale pink flowers on that I loved, but he ones Mr Messy chose weren't available in his size. So Drama Teen had an unexpected windfall, and she got to chose a pair - neon pink, I won't be borrowing those!! She also had a great time in H&M, and we were astonished that she managed to find a dress she had seen while shopping with Fraulein in Berlin - she was thrilled :-) Plus while me and Little Prince were off finding a loo, she managed to charm Mr Messy into another dress and a top - he just can't resist! And they know who to ask when they want to go shopping!!

THE Show!

Well what can I say?!?! The show happened! One actress stood out as beautiful and talented with a lovely singing voice - who could that be?? Why Drama Teen of course :-) Unfortunately the same can't be said of the rest of the cast!! The boys were absolutely dreadful, they mumbled their lines, their singing made my ears cry and they couldn't dance. The two girl leads were OK, the one playing Sharpay was over acted and was quite shrill. Her dialogue was unintelligible, but her singing was good. The girl playing Gabriella was too quiet and although her singing was good it was too soft and breathy. Little Prince managed to stay quiet, although he was very wriggly throughout - except when he was manically waving to his sister :-)

You definitely have to be a devoted parent to sit through these things!!!

Little Prince is ready for school

Well he has all his uniform now!! Whether he, himself is actually ready is another matter!!

After dropping Drama Teen off at her Stagecoach this morning - which was a drama in itself!! We were driving down the rural road as normal, when we came on a queue of traffic, at the head of the queue was a Police car parked across the road and they were turning back all the cars. Apparently there had been an accident and the road was closed. The Policeman gave us directions which would get us back on the right road, and on our way. We followed the directions, for what seemed like miles (probably was lol) with Drama Teen getting increasingly worried about being late. After concluding we were hopelessly lost and would never find our way home, let alone to the Stagecoach venue - we suddenly came to the junction we had been directed to!! Such a relief!! So after eventually dropping her off and returning home the long way round, to avoid the diversion, that I wasn't that confident I'd be able to follow backwards, I picked up Little Miss Sensible and Little Prince and we went shopping.

All I needed to get for Little Prince were some PE pumps and some school socks, all of which we found in Woolworths :-) I got him to try on both the ordinary elasticated pumps and some velcro ones, he managed to get the velcro ones on and off more easily, so figuring he will have to be getting himself ready for PE, those are the ones I got. Also got Little Miss Sensible more of the bits and pieces that she needs for university - lined paper and Bonjela!! Strange combination, but they were both on her list!!

Blog for today

This morning I was still feeling bleugh and quite dizzy after last nights sudden dizzy spell. Luckily (extremely luckily!) Little Miss Sensible was home and able to take Drama Teen to her Stagecoach workshop, so I was able to take it easy this morning. I'm a lot better now, so long as I don't move too fast or bend over too much!! No idea what brought on the dizzy spell (I don't drink at all, so it wasn't that lol) but it was awful at the time, and I hope its gone for good!! So I had a quiet morning, trying not too move around too much, and now (evening) I'm feeling almost back to normal. I was well enough to pick Drama Teen up at the end of her workshop.

Little Prince was thrilled to bits this afternoon, when The Boyfriend came round to play and promptly dragged him off to the park for a run round in the lovely sunshine. When I got back from Stagecoach with Drama Teen, the ex-Teenage Wanderers and Little Prince were all playing Play Doh. Just out of interest why does all Play Doh end up a murky brown colour - no matter what colour it starts out as!?!?!

The Boyfriend is off to a music festival later today, so Little Prince will be upset - he's only just got his favourite person back and now he's off again!! Oh dear, I'm sure we'll cope - somehow!!

They're HOME :-)

My baby is home :-) :-) :-) I'm SOOOOOOOOOOOO happy :-) :-) :-)

Little Miss Sensible and The Boyfriend arrived home last night, they're flight was delayed for about 2 hours, so unfortunately Little Prince didn't see them till this morning. But I got to see them last night YEAH :-) Unfortunately I had to greet them from bed, as I'd suddenly gone very, very dizzy at teatime and nothing seemed to clear it! But they are HOME :-)

More School Shopping

Dropped Drama Teen off at her workshop again this morning. Then took Little Prince to the local uniform shop, to sort out school trousers. They had he right size and style in stock, so I bought them all - all 5 pairs!!! I have a feeling that now he will be able to play on the school field, we will be having quite a few muddy knee days!! So the more trousers the better!!!
Heard from the Teenage Wanderers and they are just on their way to Amsterdam, for their last day on their mega holiday. They are staying in the posh hotel I booked for them tonight, rather than grotty student hostels :-) I bet Little Miss Sensible will appreciate the comfy bed and hot shower :-) Just hope she doesn't get too comfortable and manages to get up in time for their flight HOME tomorrow. I can't wait to see them, and neither can the rest of the family :-)
UPDATE: The Teenage Wanderers got to the hotel, and on checking in were offered an upgrade for just 35 Euros, which of course they took. They got to their SUITE and its gorgeous - jacuzzi and sauna!!! Little Miss Sensible is thrilled to bits :-) They check out tomorrow at 10am (to go on a tour of Amsterdam) so I hope they are making the most of the luxury, but not getting TOO used to it lol!!
UPDATE: Little Miss Sensible has decided to recall her English exam papers to resit them, as it is driving her potty missing a Grade A by two marks!! I wasn't at all surprised to hear that is what she wants to do - she's a perfectionist!

Musicals and School Shoes

Drama Teen is at an all day Stagecoach drama workshop, all this week. They are working on the hit musical High School Musical - she is over the moon :-) She would LOVE to be Sharpay. Unfortunately she didn't get the part she wanted, and isn't too pleased with the part she has got!! Hopefully she will still have fun with her friends and not let it bother her too much.
Once we'd dropped her off this morning, me and Little Prince set off into town to do the dreaded school shoe shopping. As like every other parent I know we were heading for Clark's. I thought that shopping this early in the holidays, we would avoid the crowds - well we only had to wait 15-20 minutes to be served, so it worked!! Little Prince had set his heart on the new YoToy shoes, and even decided he wanted an orange car inside the shoe! Once he had been measured the lady went away and came back with one pair of shoes!! They were too shallow and squished his feet!! He was almost in tears as she took them away, convinced that his chance of having the car shoes was gone, the lady had even shown him they had the orange car inside. But to (both of our!!) great delight - she found the right size and he is now the proud owner of smart black school 'Pit Stop' shoes that can hide a car inside!!

It doesn't work QUITE like the advert on tv though - the car has to be taken apart, the wheels removed and stowed inside the car before it can be hidden in the shoe!! And the wheels fall off remarkably easily!! I can see this becoming a tantrum hazard - when we lose the bits, or the bits fall off too easily whilst playing!! Oh well, for now he is a very happy little man. And as he isn't looking forward to going back to school, this is a breakthrough. If he was going back to his familiar nursery, he would be fine - its the worry of the unknown that bothers him.

Why aren't there any toilets???

We went out for lunch at a lovely little cafe, attached to a very nice organic food shop. While we were there we bought a local style fruitcake, to send over to our exchange students family, along with other English delicacies (local tea, Cadbury's chocolate and local cheese). Will get those packaged up and posted in the morning. along with all the Squishes I am going to finish making tonight :-)

Then I had the bright idea, that we could carry on into town and visit the large stationary shop to buy the bits and bobs still needed for the exchange student, and to see if they had any suitable card for making my 100 Good Wishes Quilt wishes. We got all the stationary bits and had a good look round the rest of the shop, I was just looking at the wide selection of card stock they had, when the inevitable happened Little Prince announced he wanted the toilet! Went to the cashier and she said there were no toilets in store that we could use (obviously ones for the staff - but not for a desperate four year old!!) and the only ones in the whole shopping centre, were in the shop right at the far end of the place!! So me and Little Prince set off at a rather fast gallop to find the toilets, eventually found it (yes there was only ONE!!) and stood in the queue behind the slowest people ever!! Poor Little Prince was jiggling about, crossing and uncrossing his legs and holding on for all he was worth!! When we'd finally had our turn and walked all the way back to the first shop, I refused to buy the stationary from there, and we got it all from a supermarket on the way home!! Why don't shops understand - keep the customers happy and they will spend more money!!!!

Teenage Wanderers are whinging!!

The teenage wanderers are in Brussels at the moment, they were supposed to stay a few days in Rotterdam, but didn't like it so moved to Brussels. Little Miss Sensible has been on a hunt for Maltersers all day, as she saw them in Rotterdam and now wants some!! She's had Belgium waffles and chocolate crepes and now feels sick! She is starting to look forward to all the English food she's missed too - hopefully she won't want to eat it all at once, or she'll be sick not just feel sick!! So I'm not sure how much they have actually seen of Brussels so far, or if they've just been in and out of shops searching for elusive chocolates!!

Wet Wales

We spent the day in Wales at our nephew's 8th birthday party. Little Prince enjoyed playing on the bouncy castle for about half an hour, before the heavens opened and the kids had to be shooed off and back inside the house. It was lovely to see loads of the family and catch up on all the gossip too. We even sang Happy Birthday to him in Welsh - a big improvement on previous years, when we've just stood there like gormless dummies!! It was a long long drive there and back, making it a long long day, and I'm shattered so I'm off to bed now. Night night :-)

Huge Sacrifice!!!

I decided to get involved in the Chinese adoption community tradition of 100 Good Wishes Quilt swaps. So far so good. What I didn't realise was that the squares have to be sent out pre-washed, pre-ironed and pre-cut!! IRONED!!! I don't DO ironing. And before you all wonder if we are creased, scruffy ragamuffins - no we aren't. I have a very nice, very helpful and totally wonderful lady who does our ironing for me. But I can't ask her to iron yards of fabric for me, now can I? So - I am going to have to do the unthinkable - wield an iron myself!!!! I hope the people receiving my squares appreciate the huge sacrifice I'm making on their behalf :-)

I've got a BUG!!!

Me and Drama Teen were playing on the computer (Neopets if you must know lol) while Little Prince was colouring at his desks. He came over to us and said "I've got a bug - is it dead?" Me and Drama Teen screamed, jumped out of the way and yelled at him to put it in the bin!! He looked at us like we were crazy and wandered over to the bin. Trouble is he dropped the bug!! And after carrying it all the way across the dining room and to the bin without a problem, started hysterically shouting "I can't touch it, help its going to get me." Me and Drama Teen were still jumpy and jittery over the seconds earlier shock of having a dead bug thrust at us, and now we were killing ourselves laughing too. Drama Teen was eventually despatched to get wipes for Little Prince's bug-ed hands, whilst I had to deal with the now dropped bug. Calm was eventually restored. I hate bugs!!!!! Suppose its better than his 'hobby' a couple of years ago of squishing snails he found in the garden!! Can you imagine cleaning THAT off chubby, wriggly little fingers!?!?!

Blah Blah sort of Day

We have had a boring, blah, blah sort of day. Not really done much. Me and the kids went to run some errands in the next villag. Of course we just had to visit the Tea Shop for some lunch, while we were there. Why does food taste SO much nicer when someone else has made it?? Plus they have gorgeous scones there :-) Yum yum :-)

Back from the Doctors

We had to get up and out early this morning, which was a bit of a shock to all our systems after the long lazy days of Summer hols we've been enjoying!! But we managed to get there on time and dressed, not still in pyjamas lol.

Little Prince's tummy bug seems to be completely better, he had his toast and milk for breakfast, with no problems, and feels tonnes better. He has come out in a rash this morning, so while we were at the doctors we got him to check it out. The doctor checked the rash, listened to Little Prince's heart and breathing, checked his ears and throat and his glands. He said there is slight redness in Little Prince's throat and put that and the rash down to probable mild viral infection. We are to give him Calpol if he needs it and make sure he drinks plenty of fluids. We were also there to get the results of the ultrasound scan Little Prince had last week - which showed that everything (kidneys and urinary tract) looks normal with no problems. I'd forgotten that Little Prince had provided a urine sample for testing too, but luckily the doctor hadn't and informed us that was all normal :-) We've another appointment in mid September to see a specialist, so the doctor said we should just wait and see what the specialist says before trying anything else.

Drama Teen also had an appointment as she had an infection in one of her nail beds that has now spread to other fingers and doesn't seem to respond to antibiotic cream. She now has an anti-fungal cream to try for a week, and if it hasn't cleared up by then we are to take her back and she'll be given tablets. Hopefully the cream will sort it out as she is finding it very embarrassing having red and swollen fingers and its quite painful too - she is more concerned with their appearance than the pain though!!

Little Prince is on the Mend :-)

Little Prince had an afternoon nap and woke up still 'off' but a lot better than he had been. He has managed to keep everything down today, water and very bland food (dry cracker and rusk), so I'm hoping that he's over the worst now. We are at the Doctor's tomorrow about a completely different matter, but I'll get him checked over while he's there anyway.

Update on Exam results reaction

Little Miss Sensible has somehow found time in her mammoth travel arrangements to find an internet cafe and read the detailed results of her A Level exams that I sent her. Which involved typing everything out, as I don't know how to get the scanner to work!! Anyway she is gutted that she missed getting a Grade A in Psychology by TWO marks!! She also missed getting a Grade B in Philosophy by TWO marks - but she is that chuffed at passing after struggling with the subject for two years, that she isn't too upset by that one.

Snuggle Sac is on the way :-)

For quite a few weeks now, Little Prince has been waking up in the wee hours of the morning and shouting for me. I get there to find he has kicked his covers off and is cold, once he's covered up and warm again he goes straight back to sleep. I wish I did!! These disturbances are really beginning to tire me out - so I've been looking for a solution!! And hopefully I've found it!! A Snuggle Sac from Great Little Trading Company. I got an email this morning saying the Snuggle Sac was on its way - fingers crossed that it will mean no more sleepless nights :-)
PS That's not a picture of Little Prince, he's MUCH cuter :-)

Has it been THREE years???

Yes it has! It is three years since we nervously walked down the drive of Little Prince's foster mum's house, to meet our son for the first time. We had seen a few photos and seen a very short video - but this was IT! The meeting. The door to the house was open, and sat in the doorway was a small, blonde, curly haired, gorgeous little boy - MY SON :-) Words cannot describe the memories of that moment, that first sight of him. He stole my heart in that moment, and he still has it in his grubby, pudgy little hands :-) He glanced at us and scooted away in a crawl with one leg stuck out! We followed him into the lounge and I noticed that he had grabbed our Family Introduction Book (that we had sent to the foster mum a few days earlier) and thrown it across the room - he knew it was something to do with us and he wanted no part of it!! We sat in the foster mum's lounge, while her young (5 years ish) son and OUR son played on the floor. Little Prince wouldn't even look at us and seemed to have put a wide exclusion zone around us, that he wouldn't cross. He was VERY active, flitting from one toy to the next constantly, we have since learned that is how he reacts to stress, poor lad must have been scared silly. When it came time to take our leave, we were all in the tiny kitchen and our Social Worker asked why I didn't give him a hug - after all I was going to be his mum! I said I didn't want to scare him, but she encouraged me to try. That quick, snatched few second hug is still so special to me now - the very first time I held my boy :-) I'm filling up and feeling all sloppy now at the thought.

A Level Results

Well we've been to Little Miss Sensible's college and collected her results now. It was quite stressful - Little Prince is still not well and I was worried he was going to be sick in the tutors room!!! And its a high achieving college so there were TV cameras filming the students getting their results, we had to dodge those and keep out of the way due to security concerns for Little Prince, birth family are not to know where in the country he is. I think we managed it though - that was the most stressful part of the trip lol.

Anyway the RESULTS
Critical Thinking AS Level Grade B
English Lang & Lit A Level Grade B
Philosophy A Level Grade C
Psychology A Level Grade B
Religious Studies A Level Grade C

I texted her the results as soon as we were back in the car, and she was pretty pleased apart from her English result "a 'B' in English that's terrible." What can I say - she's a perfectionist, she always has been!! But her grades have got her into the univeristy she wants, doing the course she wants (Psychology) and that's all that matters. Me and Mr Messy are VERY VERY PROUD of our big girl :-)

UNIVERSITY :-)

Little Miss Sensible got her confirmation letter from UCAS this morning - she has a confirmed place at her chosen university :-) Which means she must have passed her exams too, well actually it probably doesn't as she had so few points left to get that she could have failed pretty spectacularly and still got enough points!!

She has already rung up this morning, as they will be travelling all day today so she won't be able to ring as arranged, but wanted to use her phone card and to see how Little Prince is. They are catching a bus to Ljubljana, then train to Salzburg, then another train to Munich and then overnight train to Amsterdam, then train to Rotterdam where they will stay for a couple of nights!! What a day!!!! She is thrilled to know that she is IN her chosen university though - as are me and her dad. VERY PROUD of our big girl :-)

Midnight!!

Well I've stayed up till midnight, and not a peep out of Little Prince. Of course now I'm finally going to try to get some sleep, he'll wake up!! I really hope he doesn't a good nights sleep will do him the world of good. And we have to be up early tomorrow to go to Little Miss Sensible's college and get her A Level results - which he won't be happy about anyway, and even less happy if he's tired and grumpy!!
UPDATE: I knew it!! 2am and 6am!! At least he wasn't sick, just unhappy first time and wide awake the second!!

What a day!!

Started off pretty normally, apart from Little Prince mentioned he had an owie head once or twice, and then said the bubbles he drank in his bath (!!!) made his mouth and tummy owie. Then he had a nap cuddled up on the sofa with me this afternoon - unheard of (the nap not the cuddling!!). Drama Teen made some chocolate puddings and Little Prince didn't want any - odd?!?! Then all of a sudden around tea time he became obviously ill. He was shivery, but no temperature and very pale. Not long after that he threw up - luckily he had managed to warn us and we had a sick bowl ready!! He was quite distressed at being sick and very worried he might be sick on blamie (comfort blankie) as this one has only just started to 'smell right*.' In the end I had to take him into our bed and cuddle him to sleep. He settled pretty quickly and has been fast asleep ever since - hope it lasts all night!

During all of this drama, I was also negotiating with Little Miss Sensible, via text message, about how to get her A Level results to her tomorrow. I have to go to meet her tutor at college and pick up the results in person, taking a letter of permission from my adult daughter :-) Then have to text her the basic grades/results as soon as I can - not going to be easy with a sickie boy in tow!! Once we are home she has a calling card to ring us up and get the detailed results!! These exams are VERY important as her university place depends on them - luckily she already has almost enough 'points' form her AS results to get into university. So unless she made a monumental mess of the last exams she has got her university place. She is a very clever young lady, and is expected to get very good results, so she hasn't really got anything to worry about - not that its stopping her though!!


*Blamies need washing!! We have a number of identical ones. But until they have been cuddled for a few days they don't 'smell right' and Little Prince gets quite upset about this!! He demonstrates how, when he sucks his thumb, that Blamie is close to his nose and he can't help smelling him - and then throwing him to the floor in disgust at his not smelling right!! We've tried having the spare Blamie, in bed with Little Prince for a few days before 'wash day' and it helps, but doesn't totally solve the problem!!

Unexpected visitor!!

You'll never guess who made an unexpected visit to Drama Teen's room yesterday??? Any ideas??? No???

It was the FLOOR FAIRY!!! She must have sneaked in when we weren't looking and left a floor in there!!! There hasn't been a floor seen in there for quite a long time, so this is a wondrous event. And for all of you who don't believe in Floor Fairies (shame on you!!) it might have something to do with the ongoing 'discussion' (row if you like!!) I've been having with Drama Teen about the state of the floor and her room in general!! But I like to think it was down to the Floor Fairy. Now we just await visits from the Desk Fairy, Shelf Fairy, Sofa Fairy - and if they all turn up, she will end up with a fairly presentable room!!!

I know you are reading this Drama Teen
TIDY YOUR ROOM :-)

Latest news from Teenage Wanderers

After leaving me to worry all morning, and quite a long part of the afternoon, the Teenage Wanderers FINALLY decided to text me :-) They are in a rowing boat on Lake Bled, Little Miss Sensible sent a photo of her surroundings and it looked lovely. We read out the text to Little Prince and his response was to worry "Why is my beautiful The Boyfriend GROWING??? Its not good to GROW in a boat!!" When me and Drama Teen had stopped laughing we explained what the text actually meant and ended up singing Row Row Row Your Boat to explain to him!!!

Blurb for today

The weather has changed from the lovely sunshine we've been enjoying, and its now soggy and wet. Oh well, the sunshine was lovely while it lasted :-)

Me, Drama Teen and Little Prince are off to the local craft shop later. I need more 'bits' for my 100 Good Wishes Quilt wishes!!! Plus they have a cheapish homewares section, so I will be able to get Little Miss Sensible more of the things she needs for university - kitchen scissors, egg cups and cutlery! We've filled two large boxes of stuff so far, and have still got quite a list to work through!! And that's not even thinking about all the clothes she will want to take!!

Drama Teen is being very helpful at the moment and is making Little Prince his lunch. Trouble is he has asked for cheese and marmite sandwiches - yuk!!! He's going to get one cheese sandwich and one marmite sandwich, not combined on one!!

Feeling sad and blue :-(

I've been reading the latest post on the Rumour Queen blog and the responses to it. And its making me feel very sad :-( It reminds me of the reactions to the 1999 (ish??) rule changes for China adoption, that allowed people who already had children to adopt non special needs children. Some people publically posted cheers - that they wouldn't have to take a special needs child!! I found that hurtful - one of our children has a special need that is commonly referred from China and it felt like these prospective adopters were cheering because they didn't have to have a child like her. Which they were. And she is one of the most lovely, bouncy, happy, confident girls I know - why wouldn't someone want a child like her?? I guess the situation is just so close to home that it feels very personal - that people are rejecting my child and not an anonymous child with a special need. Anyway it just makes me sad. Very sad.

Over 1000 visits :-)

My counter thingie now shows over 1000 visits - wow!! Hello to anyone out there :-)

Teenage facial

This afternoon Little Prince and I will be playing in the park, while Drama Teen goes for a teenage facial at the local beauty salon. I've been reading on one of my American dominated adoption boards about how some of them disapprove of various things - one of which that was mentioned was teenage facials. I don't think I'm a bad parent for allowing Drama Teen to have one of these facials. She had her first one for her 13th birthday, and 4 months (ish) later this is her second. She loves to wear make up, don't know where she gets that from as I never wear any, and I thought this was a good way of reinforcing good skin care. After all if the beautician tells you to always remove your make up totally before bed, it carries a lot more weight than if mum says the same thing!! And to my total amazement, my active can't sit still for more than a few minutes daughter, loved having her birthday facial. She found it extremely relaxing and felt very pampered. I'd much rather she grew up feeling that a facial was a way to treat herself than follow her mum's path and use chocolate as a treat! Much better for her health, her face and her waistline. And the facial is a once in a while treat, not a weekly essential part of her 'beauty regime' if she wants them that regularly she's going to have to get a job and pay for them herself lol.

Teenage Wanderer update

Well Little Miss Sensible must have managed with her early morning, as she has texted me from the train from Budapest to Slovenia. She wants to use the toilet, but won't because they are horrible! Trouble is the journey has been six hours already and still has two hours to go!! Then they have to get a coach to Lake Bled which takes another hour and a half - that's a heck of a lot of leg crossing to do!!!

Unfortunately for her The Boyfriend has been asleep for most of the journey and his university friends that they are travelling with are discussing philosophy, and she doesn't feel able to join in. That's probably why I'm getting a lot of text messages lol. I don't care what the reason is, its nice to 'chat' to my little girl. Ok ok she's not a little girl, she is a fully fledged, legal grown up - but to me she will always be my little girl :-)

UPDATE: They have safely arrived in Slovenia, a toilet has been located and Little Miss Sensible is happy again :-) She's going to love this entry when she sees it NOT!!!

DHL Deliver :-)

I'm officially obsessed :-) Last thing before bed last night and first thing this morning - I checked the DHL tracking page! And our package of precious paperwork (how's that for alliteration??) has been delivered and signed for by the CCAA :-) YEAH

8.30 "With delivery courier Beijing - China, People's Republic"
10.15 "Shipment delivered Beijing - China, People's Republic"
Signed for by Stamp by Ms Guo.

The CCAA have our papers YEAH YEAH YEAH.

DHL again!!!

Just checking the DHL online tracking before I go to bed and our papers are moving again :-) Of course its already tomorrow in China - how cool is that lol??

13th August
04.56 "Departed from DHL facility in Beijing - China, People's Republic"

Congratulations :-)

Just read the blog of a UK family who met their new little one today in China :-) They all look so happy - mum, dad and the siblings :-) Its reading blogs like that one that make me believe, that despite the long, ever growing wait, we will adopt our own little one from China one day...

100 Good Wishes Quilt

Example of 100 Good Wishes Quilt found at www.originalquilts.com
I'm thinking (and definitely only thinking at the moment!!) of trying to make one of these quilts! I can sew pretty well so that shouldn't be a problem. And with Little Prince starting full time in school in September I should have more time too. Its just taking that first step and joining in an exchange that I'm being a chicken about at the moment!! I've joined the yahoo group devoted to these sorts of swaps, but they seem so professional - and I'm a complete amateur, what if I get it wrong and send the wrong sort of thing out?!?

Anyway I'm researching it to death at the moment, before I actually commit myself!! I've seen some gorgeous quilts on the internet, and seen the quality of the wishes sent with the quilt squares - its a LOT to live up to! Am I up to it?? That is the question of the moment!!

UPDATE: I've already had a few offers of swaps - so I'm going to be busy tonight sorting out my wishes :-) I think this will be fun :-)

Here's an example of a wish received with fabric, isn't that gorgeous? Found at http://www.sproutssquares.blogspot.com/