It’s all money as the saying goes.. along with too much month left at the end of the money LOL!
Mum transferred some money to me so that I can get shopping for them whilst they isolate. I’ve got quite good at separating the shopping in the trolley and putting their’s through the checkout first 😀
The car tax has come in.. deep joy.
Our balance for the holiday is due, Centerparcs have kindly extended the deadline to 24 days before we go, but we will pay it anyway then it’s done.
Sir is 16 next week, so I’ve been spending money on birthday presents.
You would think that by staying home for the past however long it is now – we still don’t venture far- I would have saved money but no! having all four of us at home is costing a fortune!
I have booked us a treat though, a meal out to celebrate all our birthdays and make use of this Eat Out To Help Out scheme.
Today (Saturday) is Madam’s 13th Birthday! she is now officially a teenager 😀 Yesterday she went to her friend’s house, her mum did some food and had bought a very chocolatey chocolate cake. The girls had a lovely time despite the fact it was so hot!
Madam requested a sponge cake with strawberry jam in it so I made that this morning, she’s asked for Indian food for dinner – which is fine by me as I have lots of packets and jars I can use 😀 She’s had two Equestria Girls dolls, a Taylor Swift CD, Angry Birds DVD and loads of pens, drawing pads and craft supplies. She’s had money too.
We are having a lazy day, unfortunately my parents are self isolating (they don’t have it!) and hubby’s parent’s live a way away, though she’s spoken to both on the phone.
Madam’s is the first of many birthdays this month, Sir, Hubby and my brother are all in August. We are thinking of going for a meal to celebrate all the birthdays later this month.
The last gardening post I wrote was in January. I just sat and read it, I sounded so optimistic back then..
One silver lining of the pandemic is that I have spent a lot more time in my garden this year than ever before. I got a new cover for my greenhouse, I filled it with carrots, peppers, lettuce, chillies, tomatoes, basil, parsley, spring onions, onions and radishes. Everything sprouted, green leaves everywhere, I sowed flower seeds, they showed promise, everything looked wonderful.
Until it didn’t. The flowers never really took, one lot got well and truly munched by something. I pulled them up today, poor bedraggled looking things. Not to give up though, I emptied the year old compost out of my potato bags onto a rather barren patch at the edge of the lawn. I sprinkled my remaining flower seeds onto it and left them to do whatever. At best I may get some wild flowers – at worst I’ll have better quality weeds! all good for the insects though.
The basil and parsley have failed miserably so far, I pulled a couple of those up today too. I have some more so fingers crossed at some point I may still get some fresh herbs.
The lettuces, radishes, tomatoes, peppers and chillies have all done really well! I took an idea from Adam Frost (Gardener’s World) and planted my salad in an old aluminum turkey tray, it worked brilliantly! currently on my third crop of lettuce, fourth lot of radishes. The spring onions are looking good too. I’m not commenting on the carrots. The jury is out at the moment.
We are going to get the hedges at the front of the house professionally pruned, they’ve gone wild. I can’t keep on top of it anymore. Just waiting for the man to give us a date.
That’s all for now, I’ll do another update in a couple of months when I’ve harvested (hopefully) more of my veg.
I have been most impressed with the speed at which my online orders have been delivered this week.
I’ve had the last bits of school uniform, socks for Madam, shoes for Sir both arrive promptly. Very fortunate this year in that apart from new polo shirts and PE t-shirts, I haven’t had to buy much.
I ordered two new mattress covers and they were delivered quickly.
I ordered some new face masks so that we’ll have spares, they came within a day!
Over the next month I shall be doing some deliveries myself as my parents have to spend the 4 weeks self isolating – they aren’t ill! there is a hospital stay coming up. So if they need bits of shopping I shall get that for them.
It’s a mark of how the year is going by the level of excitement prompt deliveries can cause!
Although I work at a school, I don’t teach – unless it’s a random discussion about spider webs, flowers or why you should leave earthworms alone, so when faced with the prospect of giving home lessons to two teens with Fragile X it was slightly scary.
It quickly became apparent that the dining room table was not suitable and I turned my dressing table into a desk, which it remains. I downloaded a myriad of apps onto my phone, thank goodness I had a new one for Christmas, my old one would never have coped. Class Dojo has been my saviour! It was a bit of a bumpy ride but after Easter things settled into more of a routine. Both the kid’s teachers have been brilliant. They sent me a timetable for the week, which gave me something to work to, then they posted the lessons for the day/several days and we worked through them at our own pace. I have learned more about long multiplication than I ever knew (or wanted to..). We’ve have maths, English, science, history, art, music, Community Participation, craft projects, and so many worksheets, the printer has never worked so hard in it’s life! Now I have two folders full of all the work they have done. Most of it has been photographed and uploaded so the teachers could see it.
I’m really proud of both the kids. Madam was very eager to get on and do her work, Sir being rather more reluctant. He sees school as school and home as home, but we got there. Turns out he knows a lot more than I ever gave him credit for and once settled he will work hard.
I must have done something right as there was more than one occasion where they were both in the weekly top three house point earners. They came second (Madam) and fifth (Sir) in the table for the whole year over the whole school!!
They both went in for a Transition Day, they loved going back and seeing some of their friends. I have no problem with either of them going back in September. Sir has coped far better with social distancing etc than I thought. Remind me not to underestimate him!
Both their school reports were glowing 😀
I really enjoyed doing this little bit of Home School, the kids enjoyed it too. I wasn’t sure how it would pan out with Hubby working at home as well but we made it work.
A lot of SEND parents have felt let down, left to struggle and unable to cope during lock down. I feel very lucky that wasn’t the case for us, the school were very supportive and both teachers went above and beyond to help. I hope someone, somewhere takes a long hard look at how those parents were treated and measures are put in place to ensure it doesn’t happen again.
Now it’s the school holidays, lockdown is easing, places are opening. We aren’t straying far. The kids come food shopping with me, getting Sir to wear a mask is a work in progress. They have a staggered start in September, which I think is for the best.
I shall leave you with some Alice Cooper, my two have been singing this for the past four months..
This week has seen the culmination of things that I have been waiting to happen – at long last!
At long last that payment I mentioned finally timed out and disappeared, my account now has the correct amount of money in it.
At long last we are getting the hedges at the front of the house sorted – or rather we’ve got someone to do it, we just need to wait for him to tell us when.
At long last Madam and I are getting a hair cut today!! we are so excited!!!
At long last the kids have had a day at school, they went for transition days and both enjoyed it.
At long last I’ve had a reply about Sir’s transport from September – he can have it! Yay!
At long last the kids are breaking up for the holidays tomorrow! the school I work at finishes Monday.
At long last I received half a dozen text messages that have been lost in the ether for the past fortnight – Humph.
At long last Hubby has been sorting out the spare room, he’s working in there and brought a load of stuff home from his office the other week.
finally at long last I have been Outside to The Shops In Town and not just the supermarket! I bought birthday cards, went to the bank, the green grocers and had a coffee!!! It was lovely – and very very quiet.
I don’t know how many of you are familiar with the term “got one on ’em” it means to be moody or uncooperative, disobedient even. My week has been full of people with “one on ’em” including me!
The Little Dears at school who are lively at best have had that extra mischief, cheekiness and selective hearing four year olds get when they have one on ’em. Challenging to say the least but I found the secret is to let them watch Julia Donaldson adaptations.. The Gruffalo and The Highway Rat being favourites.
My two haven’t been angels either. Yesterday Sir staged a mutiny over school work.. Madam’s had one on her all week… Joy. Both are okay today though.
I had a proper one on me this week when a declined payment showed up on my bank account putting me into my overdraft. Several phone calls to the bank – if I hear “in these challenging times” just once more… and a visit to the shop concerned – the matter is almost resolved, apparently the payment will “disappear” if it doesn’t I have to phone again so fingers crossed.
Hope you are all okay, one more week of term to go!
This week is a bit of a blur to be honest. I’ve sat down to think of a word to sum things up, tried to remember what we’ve done but I’ve no idea!Let me try again LOL!
It was my Dad’s birthday on Monday, we were supposed to go and see him but the weather put paid to that.
I watched Adele’s Glastonbury set from 2016 and promptly ordered two of her albums! she was brilliant. I also ordered a birthday present for Madam and some new pe t-shirts. School polo shirts are next, then shoes. Fortunately that’s all they need.
I had a socially distanced coffee morning with my friend today (in between showers!)
The rest has been food shopping and school work..
Ooh we did get a free pizza kit delivered yesterday courtesy of Hubby’s work, very very nice they were too.
Phew wot a scorcher as newspaper headlines used to proclaim, accompanied by a photo of thousands of folk crammed onto a beach. Nowadays those photos come with different headlines… I’ve never seen the appeal of rushing to an overcrowded stretch of sand pandemic or not. I’d rather be home in the garden, and that’s exactly where I have been when not at work – or hiding in the house!
I even dug out a sundress from the depths of my wardrobe!
I had a lovely socially distanced coffee morning with my friend whilst the patio was still in shade, very pleasant.
Of course today being Saturday it’s peeing down – typical.
Hope you are all okay, apparently it’s set to cool down a little next week.
The weather has been very entertaining this week! I was very lucky at work, most of the storms came either in the afternoon or at night so the Little Dears got to play outside at dinnertime. It was only on Thursday that they had to stay in.
One of the storms, I forget which one, mostly seemed to be just lightening with only a little thunder and no rain – very odd.
Sir didn’t seem bothered by the storms, Madam was scared at first but I think she just got used to it! I love to watch thunderstorms 😀
I was most relieved my new greenhouse cover arrived, means my plants have been sheltered from the storms. On the downside I haven’t been able to get out and tend to them. I’m sure they are fine, I’ll go take a look today.
Today is the Summer Solstice we are half way through the year already! Let’s hope that the second half of 2020 is calmer than the first. A calm after the storms if you like 🙂
