I worked this morning. Davies and Scarlett went to play at Caz’s with A and E. I mis-timed the journey slightly even though I was organised and got the car windscreen defrosting ten minutes before we left. I think it was half term or something when we last went and it took nearly 20 minutes to get there this morning when I’d only allowed 10. The traffic going back to work again looked as bad if not worse so I was fully expecting to be late to work, but five minutes later having dropped them off it had thinned out and I was dead on time for work :).
There was no fussing on any part this morning, D and S were looking forward to going, greeted with great joy when they arrived and disappeared into the house with cheery ‘bye Mumma!’ said over their shoulders. They had a fab time, were grubby and happy when I collected them, having played all morning, been for a walk, spent loads of time outside and impressed Caz. They love it there and certainly on the basis of two visits are very welcome houseguests indeed :). Childcare seems to be working well at the moment, Ady is managing to be pretty flexible with all the extra hours of TV shows he is doing, Dad seems to be putting more effort in on his afternoons and the mornings with Caz and Julie seem to be working well for Davies and Scarlett. It’s all totally transient of course; Caz is intending to go off travelling soon, Julie is having a baby in less than 3 months and Ady’s work can be as inconveniently timed as often as it works to our advantage, but for now it is working well :).
Work was good. I spent some time creating a giant Very Hungry Caterpillar and ordering in lots of books ready for a display in the children’s library to finish off on Friday. Very pleased with how it’s come out so far and might do a bit more at home in the morning with Davies and Scarlett who love having contributed to displays that go up there. I did lots of running up and down the stairs today too, drank lots of water and ate lots of fruit so it felt like a healthy day :).
We came home via Sainsburys for fruit supplies to find two parcels had been delivered. One was the new mechanism for my clock; the one we bought at Hobbycraft didn’t work and further research showed that for hands as big as those on my clock a ‘high torque’ mechanism was required, basically we burned the motor out in the one we had, hence it only worked for a week or so before dying. I spent some time fiddling to install this one and although it seems to gain slightly in the first half of every hour and slow slightly in the second half (whizzing downhill and labouring uphill :)) it appears to be keeping time more or less okay over the hour.
The other parcel was a needlefelting supplies set of needles, foam and wool as I’ve been hankering after some sort of craft and I really enjoyed that at Kessingland a couple of years ago so bid on a cheap ‘starter kit’ on ebay and won it :).
I made pizza for the kids tea and then went out to see if the bantams liked pineapple (as you do) and quickly checked for eggs like I do every few days. Then did the ‘we got eggs!’ dance in the garden before running in to fetch Davies and Scarlett and the camera. Then we all did the ‘we got eggs!’ dance and took some photos before coming in to ring Ady and tell him the happy news. And twitter it, flickr it, blog it and post it on two forums :). I’ve since been reading about broody hens and we’ve been discussing the prospect of fluffy chicks round the place again :).
Then it was Badgers. Ady came along too and had brought a load of plants, pots and compost for the Badgers who are doing EcoBadger this term and had planting things planned in as an activity. Ady had spoken to Julie, the leader at the beginning of term and offered the supplies which were very gratefully received. We sat in the car and chatted and then Julie came and invited us in so Ady could talk to the Badgers about their plants – he’d got them ivy, fushia, verbena and something else I can’t recall the name of, special compost with beads of slow release water activated feed and pots which the children all labelled. I showed Scarlett how to spell CAT at the weekend (she had a question in her activity book from the Italian restuarant which she had to fill in her favourite animal in so she got me to tell her the letters to spell ‘cat’ – Davies got me to tell him the letters to spell ‘all of them’ :lol:) and has been writing it lots ever since, including on her pots complete with little pictures of cats :).
Ady stood at the front and talked to the children, most of whom put their hands up to ask questions. Davies was excellent, talking about root systems and stuff, Scarlett was less sensible but charming and cute nonetheless putting her hand up and then starting her questions with ‘Dadda…?’ 😆
Home for a bit more of ‘Relax Max’ which is dealing with many a thorny issue and of course throwing up questions as it goes along. Curry and Torchwood for us. We’re off to London for the weekend courtesy of Ady’s employers who are paying for me and the children to stay in the hotel while Ady is on tv which will give us all Saturday afternoon and evening when Ady rejoins us before coming home Sunday lunchtime after his Sunday morning show. We’re staying at Country Hall where we stayed before when we had a few nights in London a couple of years ago and the children are really looking forward to it. 🙂
Hope you enjoy the hotel!