Back from Greenbelt

It was great. I love it. There's just nowhere else in the world I feel more at home. The blend of people with a spiritual worldview, not dogmatic but willing to ask and explore all kinds of questions about their faith or lack of it; music of all types (Christian hip hop/rap/funk anybody?) mostly very loud; art of every description all round the site; great food stalls, clothes stalls and all sorts of other shopping opportunities; and great speakers discussing issues of poverty, justice, ecology, radical action and humour .... there's just nothing like it anywhere else!

It was lovely to see Jan and Jonathan and the girls and to meet baby J! Jan and I had one evening together when we wandered down to the village with her baby to calm him down and get him to sleep (yes, it worked) and I left my kids in the caravan with Bill, so that was nice and relaxing.

Tamsin had a good time, with lots of time on the bouncy castles, lots of ice-creams and even a session where she was happy to be left in one of the very carefully supervised kids' areas playing with train track (what else?!) while I went off elsewhere. Isabelle doesn't mind where she is, of course! Bill chilled, and we all had a good time together. Except that we confirmed that our caravan is not big enough for 4! On the way home, we stopped off at a caravan dealers and drooled over the cheapest 4- or 5- berth caravans they had, which at £5-6000 and 7-10 years old were still light years ahead of ours and amazingly well-equipped. Not that we can afford 5 grand, but it's given us something else to dream about, anyway!

The whole experience still hasn't taught Isabelle to sleep any better, though, although Jan did give me night-weaning tips which will take a bit of work to implement but I hope to aim towards. Anyway, I hear her murmuring again so I'd better go!

My favourite weekend of the year...

...is just approaching. (Hmm, at this point, 10.30pm, Isabelle woke for the 3rd time since 7.30pm bedtime and I gave up and went to bed.)

Resuming the following morning:
We're off to Greenbelt today! I love it! It is the place in the world where I feel most at home. The spirituality, the music, the people, the non-mainstream feel, the food, the kids' activities, the outdoors-ness - it's fantastic!

So, I should have been madly packing yesterday afternoon and evening, but got precious little done. We always intend to leave mid-morning to get there by lunchtime (it's only in Cheltenham so not far) but are always late, and almost certainly will be this time too. We're going to be 'Stepping off the Path' with J 'n' J too!

There is a small chance that I may be able to blog while there, if I can remember my Blogger password, but otherwise, I'll be back on Tuesday!

Feeling nicely fuzzy.....

after a *very* large glass of Baileys. Definitely not one of my better birthdays. Been in a foul mood all day. Sobbed in the shower after blogging this morning. Half-way through the morning I decided to sod work and indulge in my second-favourite form of therapy: retail. (Favourite therapy being sleep!) Took kids to Stratford and spent over £40 in Boots .... various bits and pieces but sorted out a few problems i.e. replaced my lost tweezers so can now get eyebrows into shape, and bought some waxing strips to use with the home-made sugaring solution I made months ago.

Then came home and a quick change of clothes to go to my friend Kate's eldest daughter's 6th birthday party. I got a small fairy cake with a candle in it while they sang Happy Birthday to me, as well as Daisy. Tamsin was not in party mood - she refused to take part in any games or indeed to play with any other children although she knows many of them very well - she just kept asking me to play with her. Probably she's feeling my 'go away' vibes and it's making her feel insecure.... One of the major things that's been making me feel so weepy is that I am so fed up with her wanting 'mummymilk' every couple of hours throughout the day and I want to wean her, but am worried about inflicting a major emotional wound. Maybe it's the only one of her persistent demands that I feel I can change. Maybe I should find something else to change so that I find her demands easier to cope with. I don't know. I just know I feel very conflicted about it all.

Anyway, I'm just waiting for Bill to get home with a huge Chinese takeaway ... thanks to everyone for the birthday wishes!

Happy Birthday to Me!

Or maybe not .... I am feeling distinctly ropey. Feel sick as a hangover of getting travel-sick on a train on Monday, feel weepy, cried myself to sleep last night, and am fed-up of highly demanding children. Bill is working, as am I later. Hohum. Must get a grip!

Hooray, and yikes!

Hooray, because after 2-3 years of wishing something like this would happen, at last I have found a gaggle of local girls who like coming round to play with Tamsin and the dog. There are three 11-year olds who live on our road who this week have been dropping in every day to walk the dog and then play with the girls, which has been nice. The 'yikes' bit is that a couple of times Tamsin has gone out with them for a walk, without me. They've stayed on the estate, and only been gone a max of half-an-hour, but it's still kind of scary. They're really nice, sensible girls, though. Comments please - would you let your 4-year old go out with 11-year olds unsupervised?

Isabelle wakes ..... must go!

Who would have thought ...!

... that chickens like chasing butterflies! It's the funniest thing to see. I hope none of you ever, ever buy anything from a battery-farmed chicken - it has got to be one of the cruellest things ever. To cage up such funny, characterful birds is criminal. Make a free-range only pledge now!

Not much going on...

I've been really tired today, after a particularly disturbed night with Isabelle. I really must get her used to being settled without a boob in her mouth. The strange thing is, she will fall asleep first thing at bedtime without it, but during the night she won't accept anything else. And, I'm starting to think about some work stuff I might do in the evenings, so I need to be able to go out for the evening knowing she isn't screaming for me.

So, there's not been much happening today except plenty of TV watching, some playing in the sandpit, a walk into town for a UK wall-map (for the postcard exchange) when I also bought myself 4 books (oops!) and, of course, the Brio train track.

The work thing is giving me something to think about. I have signed up with Usborne, and some of the paperwork came today, although not the books. It was just too good a deal to miss - for August only, £200 worth of kit for £38. I'm trying to decide how much of a thing to make of it, although the competitive side of my nature is coming out now I see the 'quick start' targets they encourage you to reach. The other possibility is a franchise for a seemingly really good, healthy and sensible weight loss company. And as nutrition is my 'thing', I'm tempted. But not sure I can take on that much of a commitment just now. Still mulling it over, anyway.

Festival of History

It was a very interesting day, with almost too much going on, as I hate feeling I'm missing stuff! I think it was useful for Tamsin, although I'm sure it's all quite confused in her mind. However she's been introduced to knights and jousting, archery, the concept of living without electricity, television or computers; houses made of wattle and wood like those that burned in the Great Fire of London (which story we've read several more times recently!) and much else. We also did meet Margaret and her triplet girls so it's nice to put another face to a name.

I don't think I've ever mentioned that I am a complete history ignoramus. I got chucked out of History 'O' Level after the mock exams when it was clear I was going to completely fail, and I've just never got the hang of kings and queens, what on earth were Tudors and Stuarts, and phrases such as 'Norman Conquest' and 'the Restoration' have just been empty words to me. Seeing as I'm going to have to educate Tamsin, though, I have been feeling that I really must fill in the huge gaps in my knowledge, and last week with Bill's help I found some simple children's history books in the Library and have been reading. It's really interesting to feel it all beginning to come together, and to get a general overview of the history of my own country which I've never had. I don't think I'll ever become a big history buff, but at least I should get the basics into place!

A little bit more

... reading. All enthusiastic about what happened the other day, I have been encouraging Tamsin to decode more three letter words (cvc) and she's doing pretty well. I've also done some 'whole word' stuff with her by printing out names to stick on things (wall, door, computer, television etc) and also by having big printed words of verbs (dance, walk, stand), showing them to her and telling her what they are, and then doing a flashcard type of thing of showing them to her silently and she has to do each thing that it says. She's done really well! I'm so excited - but note to self: must not go OTT and put her off!

We've been for a really wet walk this afternoon in Batsford Arboretum. They're doing a summer 'game' with money (total £250) in £5, £10 and £20 to find hidden in the trees - but we didn't find any :-(

Tamsin's playschool is having a fund-raising disco this evening, and as Chair of the committee I have to go.... don't feel like it but I must show my face.

She took me by surprise!

Yesterday morning, when we were all still lounging around on the bed, I showed Tamsin the "Reading Reflex" book (that I picked up for 99p in a charity shop) that I am planning on using to teach her to read, starting September. "I want to read it now," she said, grabbing it off me. "Okay," I said and opened the book to a page with some simple 3-letter words...(Jo has been baby-alarmed so Bill is continuing)....like CAT, MAT, SAT etc. She saw the T and shouted "T for Tamsin!" and then the other letters M, A and said "M...A...T...MAT!!" and her face lit up. We pointed to the C-for-Clever-Cat and she said "C..A..T...CAT!" and so on to SAT. We both applauded and said "You can read!" and we turned to the page which said "Cat sat on mat" and she read it herself with very little prompting. We have a genius for a daughter (or so I thought until she totally flunked on 'byzantine chrysanthemum')*

Jo is currently keeping low due to her nose dribbling copiously and her chin displaying a zit the size of Mount Etna, and the house is filled with the pungent aroma of Tea Tree oil and plaintive wails every time she passes a mirror. But I still love her**.

*I made that bit up
**I didn't make that bit up

The day started with Tamsin dressed as a fairy, and of course the Brio track had to be built as well. While I was doing a couple of things on the computer (a Tesco order - been meaning to do that for months; and an order of various creams and things from my favourite non-toxic supplier) she started drawing. She's been doing more drawings in the past week or two, and they're definitely starting to look like 'something' instead of a scribble. Today's effort is here:



Bottom right is 'Mummy' with a big smile ("because I love you", she said), in the middle is 'Isabelle', top left is 'Daddy' and bottom left is a penguin. Top right, by the picture of the 'very big smile' the words say "please can you do what you are told"!!LOL! I did the odd letter for her which she didn't feel confident of doing, and of course told her letter by letter what to write, but the majority of it is her writing. I think that's the most she's ever written at one time.

She also impressed me this afternoon, when I left her in the car for a minute while I popped to the Fair Shares office. When I got back, she pointed to the sign in the door of the next shop and said "that says 'Open'". I was amazed! Thinking about it, I suppose she knows signs in shop doors either say open or closed, but even so I thought that was pretty good going.

I get the feeling that Tamsin has been quietly growing in understanding about reading although nothing hugely concrete has come out of that yet (apart from the above comment!). She has been asking what words say when she sees them printed, for example on cereal packets or book titles, and looking closely at them. She's getting a feel for printed text, and also in the last few weeks has confidently figured out how to spell her name - she used to ask me which letter came next but now she can do it all on her own.

Now I'm finding it hard to concentrate on anything else because I'm watching "Transformed" about 3 horrible husbands while I blog ... it looks interesting!

Hmmm

I am worth $1,675,076 on HumanForSale.com

It's a good job I know I'm worth far more than that! My friends and family think I'm priceless!

Struggling through

I have re-discovered that it's possible to almost hate your baby when it's 3am, they've woken you about 5 times since your bedtime, won't go back to sleep again without feeding, and your boobs are *very* sore because the new teeth haven't quite been adapted for when latching on.

I am very tired and grumpy, lethargic and fed-up. Isabelle's sleeping has got worse and worse over the past few weeks. Bill and I were going to have a major 'talk' last night but we were both just too tired by 8pm - and that's what got us into this mess in the first place (sigh).

Just a quickie

Had a fab weekend with my friend Andrea *waves at Andrea in case she's decided to start reading blog again*. It was just what I needed. Feel refreshed and with a bit more clarity.

I also feel a bit inspired by her (relative) organisation and tidiness. Even with a non-stop 3-year-old and a part-time job, she keeps her house nice and tidy. I wanna do that! Must find 'a place for everything' - half the reason I don't tidy up is I don't know what to do with stuff. Must also spend less time on computer. So, the plan of action for the next few weeks is:

Declutter
Re-organise and redistribute stuff
Overhaul marriage
Re-energise spiritual life

Hmmm, not much then!

It was also lovely to visit the Beans today and view the lovely house and garden IRL. SB and Tamsin had fun together, even if they couldn't agree on the rules for 'tag', and BB and Isabelle did their baby-bonding thing. Had a clear run home in only 2 hours so near enough to do it again sometime!

Holiday

Well, not exactly, but I am in need of a little R&R so I'm going (with kids!) to stay with my friend in Cambridgeshire for a long weekend. I haven't seen her for such a long time so it's going to be great. Sad to be missing the Portico do but hope you all have a great time!

For Sarah

It's not lovely, it's just a 1949 ex-council semi:

But in the desirable North Cotswolds, it's the best we can do! Besides, it's got a big front garden:

and back garden:

and the back garden also contains chicken house (top right of back garden), Bill's big shed/workshop, garage, and caravan/trailer storage space. But as you can see, we really need a garden designer and a windfall to afford to implement it, followed by a gardener each week!

Hacking through the jungle

The jungle that is our front path, that is. It has been impenetrable for weeks, as neither Bill nor I are the gardening types, or even the 'keeping the neighbourhood tidy' types. So here is the 'before' pic:















And here is the 'after' pic:

The pics I mentioned

Not sure how this will work - first time using Blogger Images - but here goes:

Our first history lesson

Well, I made some notes of the stuff that has been going on the past couple of days, but I have lost them in the piles of tat around here. But we've been doing some good stuff!

Earlier this week, I bought two children's cassette tapes (for 29p each!) from a charity shop. The first one was songs and stories, including "London's Burning" which Tamsin had never heard before. "Why was London burning?" she asked, so I told her that a long long time ago there was a very big fire in London. She asked more and more questions about it, so when at home I Googled it and found some interesting information which we looked at together, including an animated map of how the fire spread. I then looked in one of my earlier charity shop purchases, this book, and found a story about the fire. It has very advanced language for a 4-year old, but she seemed to enjoy it and has requested it and listened to it again this morning. Since then, she has asked several times "Why was London burning?" so we have gone over the reasons time and time again - houses made of wood and thatch, built very close together, windy weather, started in a bakery, no fire brigade, etc, etc!

We have also read a couple of other stories from the history book - about the first Eddystone lighthouse and Stephenson's 'Rocket'. I don't expect that she'll retain a great deal of it, but it's a start on history anyway.

This morning, following a second reading of the 'Fire' story, I showed her a practical experiment with fire. I lit a candle, and explained how it needs air to burn, and then put a little glass ramekin over it and we watched the flame go out when it had burned up all the air (OK, so I know it's oxygen, but thought that 'air' was a simpler explanation at this stage!). We did that a couple of times, and then I explained that's how you put fires out - by excluding the air with water or foam or whatever.

She's also been asking questions about why plants die (plenty of evidence of that round our place!) So we've talked about the things they need - air, soil, water and light. Each time she sees a dead plant or flower now she asks why that one died. Actually, those questions started being triggered when we went to Benjamin's grave to check on the little trough of alpines that we planted up there, and they have died :-( I haven't been watering them, thinking that they were well established enough by now to be able to cope with a little dry spell, but apparently not! So we'll be off to the garden centre to replenish those shortly.

She's also been working on several of her Learning Land CDs and she's now pretty proficient at 'left' and 'right' (tells me which way to turn while we're driving), and I've heard her working on simple fractions, adding and subtracting and this morning has been introduced for the first time to odd and even numbers. Actually - just checked on Ebay and some of these are available but I have learned that there are more issues than I have (I have up to number 28) so that could have just cost me more money to try and complete the set. Tamsin does enjoy them and they are good.

Lulu the speckledy chicken has given us a surprise! She disappeared earlier in the week, and I thought I had lost her but later in the day she unaccountably reappeared. She did that a few more times during the week, and once I saw her coming out from behind some old fence panels that are propped up in their run, but I didn't have time to investigate. Then on Thursday morning I let them out in the morning and she was missing, and having been out all night I thought for sure she would be a goner. However, I thought it was time I investigated behind the fence panels, although I had tried peering behind them a few times when she was missing. On moving them one by one, I eventually found her - sitting on 17 eggs!!!!! I knew we had only 2 hens laying but had thought it was the black hen, Flora, who wasn't laying. Now it turns out they have all been laying, but one in secret! Lulu was most outraged at being chucked off her eggs but she fails to realise there is no fella around to give her any babies!!!

Apart from that, playschool has now finished for the summer so I will have childcare struggles for work, especially in the coming week when Kate is away. Never mind - we're flexible enough that we can just shut the office if it's impossible to go in.

I took some lovely photos of the girls earlier this week - will try and get them uploaded asap, but must go and get showered and dressed now!

At least I'm consistent!

Your English Skills:

Grammar: 80%

Punctuation: 80%

Spelling: 80%

Vocabulary: 80%

Does Your English Cut the Mustard?