it’s my birthday tomorrow.
Up early with alarm clock assistance this morning as I’d said we’d collect Dad from the MOT centre at 9am after he’d dropped his van off there. I got up and dressed, woke Davies and Scarlett, let the chickens out and broke the ice on their water, did the washing up from last night and hung out one load of laundry and put another load on while the kids got dressed. I’d already got the engine running on my car and the ice on the windows defrosting while I got on with everything else. So we were at the garage before the mechanic was. Dad was most impressed :).
Dad had arranged to ring the garage at midday and as there is cricket on Sky Sports and my Mum wasn’t home giving him licence to sit and watch to his heart’s content he asked to be dropped home again and said he’d ring me later to let me know what time he had to be back at the garage to collect the van. As we drove past our house however a fire engine screamed past us, turned into our road and three firemen ran up the drive of Don and Maureen – our opposite neighbours 😯 so we turned up the next road and came back down our road to see what was happening. David (thank you neighbour) was out deicing his car so I sent him off to find out the gossip. It turned out to be no more than a faulty smoke alarm but David shared the information that it is his birthday today. I said it was mine tomorrow and we wished each other happy birthday before we carried on to drop Dad off home.
Back home again properly Davies and Scarlett played in the garden for a bit, this time bringing in a starfish shaped lump of ice that had frozen in one of their sandpit toys. We put it in the chiller to see how long it might last.
I did some more online stuff in various places – slow and steady :). The bath seat and the saucepans both have takers on freecycle so collection has been arranged – hurrah for less tat in our house :).
Davies did some Xboxing, Scarlett announced ‘I feel Arty’ so got her pens out and did some drawing. I drank tea :).
At 11am we headed out having gathered up audiobooks from Scarlett’s room and books from my pile to go back to the library. I’m not working til Friday (should be in tomorrow but noone should ever work on their birthday IMO) and knew I had a couple of books out with waiting lists for them and had had emails to say more audiobooks were in for Scarlett. I also wanted to get some mince and a couple of other bits so intended going to the Co-Op and the butchers along with the library. Library first, then Co-Op and as they had a special offer on mince we by-passed the butcher and came home. On the way we had much discussion about fair trade, buying local, supporting small businesses, eshewing supermarkets, organic, economical and all sorts of other ethical / moral /financial reasons for the way we shop. Interesting having my thought processes on these things questioned and explaining where my real priorities lie when the chips (made from locally sourced, organic potatoes grown by disabled farmers from an ethnic minority while singing U2 songs while they work) are down.
Home again and I started batch cooking the braised mince in batches ready to seperate and turn into spaghetti bolognaise, cottage pie and chilli con carne.
Dad rang to say his van would be ready at 130pm so I arranged to pick him up at 115pm.
I cooked the kids dinner of leftover toad in the hole with some mashed potatoes (using those same potatoes as mentioned in the chips earlier) and vegetables. What a wonderful Mummy I am, I am, what a wonderful Mummy I am :).
Just had time for a speedy round of toast (and leftover Christmas pate) and a cup of tea before needing to go out again to collect Dad. Scarlett had licked her platter clean but Davies was still eating so we left him here and dashed off to collect Dad, drop him at the garage and come home again.I was rather surprised to learn when collecting him that Frazer was home… all that said I suspect even if Mum was home Dad would still have asked me. Never sure if this is because I am somehow easier for him to ask for a favour as he hates asking anyone (I understand that, also hate asking for favours) or it simply doesn’t occur to him to ask Frazer. Either way seems slightly odd.
Davies still hadn’t quite finished eating but he did eventually and I made them fruit salad for pudding. They played while I carried on internetting having finished braising the mince ready for next stage later.
Then it was swimming time. I’d been reading everyone elses accounts of heavy snowfall and feeling envious and very reluctant to leave the nice warm house and go out in the dark to get wet. But we girded loins and galvanized selves and headed off to the swimming pool. I bought the kids a new swimming hat each as their’s had gone mouldy in the swimming bag. I think theirs were rubber and the new ones are latex, what a difference! Easy to put on, not so pulling on their hair and a much nicer feel – well worth £2 each :).
Scarlett was dispatched (rather reluctantly) at her lesson, Davies went off and managed to make friends with a couple of lads in the pool and I got stuck into my lengths. After four I could really feel not having been for weeks but I managed a full 25 in the first half an hour which keeps me about on track for the 50 in an hour I had worked up to (although I know my second half hour is slower than my first). Scarlett then got in with me and swam a length, then walked alongside the pool pacing me for a length, then showed me her underwater handstands… so I lost some time. I’d been aiming for 35 lengths in 45 minutes (had decided to get out after 45 minutes to get Scarlett and I dried and dressed before Davies’ lesson finished) and managed it with a minute to spare so went for 36. It seemed an appropriate number to move up from and to somehow… ;).
Everyone dried and dressed we dashed home, dropped Davies off with Ady for a bath and toast before Sea Scouts and Scarlett and I went round to the church hall for Brownies. Except it wasn’t happening. There was one other Brownie there who’s mum was sure it was starting back today but as there were no other Brownies or indeed people to run it we deduced it wasn’t after all so we walked back home again.
Scarlett had a bath and some toast while Davies got in his Sea Scout uniform and I drove him up there. Except that wasn’t happening either. Despite Ady insisting they had said 5th January and one other Sea Scout turning up (are you spotting the pattern here?). So we came home.
Ady did suggest they had both been cancelled due to weather forecasts and maybe annoucements had been made at local schools which may well be the case.
So unexpectedly earlier night than planned meant pjs and several stories from ‘how the whale became’ for Davies, Scarlett and I.
I turned 2/3 of the mince into bolognaise which was labour intensive and time consuming but really very worth it – now have 1/3 as bolognaise to freeze and 1/3 plain to turn into chillli on Thursday. Am a convert to the mince treatment at least :). It took longer than I expected to reduce mind you so for once it was me creating a very late dinner.
We had a very brief flurry of snow around 8pm which lasted all of about five minutes and has been long since washed away by the on /off rainfall all evening. Given Ady and I have both booked a days holiday tomorrow and we have no real plans it would have been perfect circumstances to have loads of snow here. I have probably had about equal white birthdays to non-white birthdays so I’m still secretly hoping I wake up tomorrow to a big white world :).