Friday 30 April 2010

A spoonful of sugar...

We had a day in Ingleton looking at a different house as the last one went to someone else, this new one is even better suited to us so maybe fate lended a hand, it was lovely and sunny and felt so good to feel the sun on our backs, we had a bit of a disaster getting there, we don't drive and use the bus or our bikes to travel, so we got up extra early and went to get the 7.15 bus only to get told by the driver that you can't buy a family ticket until after 9am, which meant we would miss our connecting bus, I was fuming, I thought bus company's would encourage bus use, I know its because it's peak time but maybe less people would drive to work if the buses were more reasonable and therefore polluting the air less, so we got the rather expensive train instead.
We did enjoy ourselves though, it is so different to where we live, I found out I like taking pictures of churches- not sure why but when I uploaded our photos, I had loads of this church!
The boys have a new photo blog .It is part of there home school to encourage them to use the computer in different ways, they are going to take some photos hopefully each day and put them on the blog, some will be serious and others just silly probably!
This is a lovely one Chris took of us....

and here's another of Adam looking thoughtful, surveying the viaduct...


See another church one - maybe its because secretly I want to get married in it! Shush don't tell!



Mmmm yummy raspberry jam cupcakes with vanilla frosting, a recipe from the primrose bakery cupcake book I'm currently borrowing from the library- note the silly boy in the background!
In between buses we had an hours wait in Lancaster so we perused the charity shops and Ta Da I found this......



Oh call me sad but I was so pleased, Mary Poppins soundtrack on vinyl!! Woo Hoo, it was the one missing from my collection, I just need chitty chitty bang bang and that's my collection of musicals complete, I love to torture, I mean listen to them whilst the children are around to see there joyous faces- that's a lie!, I get the "ohhh MUM, turn it offffff" thing instead but I don't care, I shall dance around in my swirly skirt when I finish it, eating naughty cupcakes and singing at the top of my lungs in between mouthfuls and I know that life is good



Some beautiful tulips in the community garden in Ingleton, there are flowers all over the village, Chris asked me why people don't steal them like they do in Blackpool. I didn't really know what to say - is it because there is scummy tw*ts that haven't got any morals here or just a load of dumbed down wasters that have no decent role models to teach them right from wrong, probably a bit of both and that's why were so desperate to move away.

Does anyone know what type of flowers these are?, they smell heavenly.

Monday 26 April 2010

incompetent fools

Tom and the boys got stopped in town last week by truancy officers,
today I got a letter off them explaining that they had found my boys in town at 10.55 Tuesday morning - I rang up and told the officer the error of her ways as my boys were not lost in the first place so how they found them beats me!!

that was the funny bit although the woman I spoke to didn't find it funny! But seriously they spelled the boys names wrong and the dates of birth they put at 2 months apart - quick pregnancy I had! She explained how they cross referenced the details on the computer and that it was correct, I said how the LEA woman sent me a letter last week with the correct details from the same building.

Her answer "everyone makes mistakes, we had over 100 children that day to send letters to", maybe our details were the only ones they got wrong?!

This is why I'm glad I home school my boys, this is why all these do good services are lame, no one knows what the other one is doing, details/files are lost, mistaken, forgotten, this is why although it is much more serious than truancy, children all over this country are abused and these people in authority mess up big time.

Almost every day I read a story about how a teacher/ coach/ nursery worker etc has abused/molested/interfered with a child/children. What is done? - naff all, maybe a couple of years inside, except because of remand etc they are let out again in a couple of months.

Why is this country like this? why am I as a homeschooler made to feel like I have done something wrong because my children (accompanied by their stepddad) are out and about on a weekday?

PATHETIC, really flippin' pathetic. This may be a little twisted but I can't wait for the day the truancy squad stop me, although maybe I better watch my mouth or I would end up inside for the rest of my life for having an opinion!

Thursday 22 April 2010

My bestest day - ever!

Things have been looking up, the sun is still shining and I have had a good strict talking to myself and realise I'm very lucky to have such a wonderful fellow, 3 lovely boys, a houseful of lovelies and some great friends plus I'm in good health so with that in mind Ive been feeling much better than my last post. I have been sewing lots and this is a sneak preview of my newest project, I have been machine embroidering and loving it, I'm making a sewn family portrait, it's fun to do. I also saw a Jan Constantine cushion in Easy Living and at the costly price of £65, I got myself some gingham and set to work on making one, I'm really pleased how it turned out, on the heart is embroidered flowers - I love my new sewing machine!

I'm about half way through my first ever patchwork quilt, I enjoy seeing it coming together but its oh so slow, I'm a quick fix kinda girl who like to make things the same day, but patience I'm told is a virtue!

Now not many of you know but my favorite animal is an elephant, I have loved them since I was a small girl and dreamt of being a clown in the circus - it's true, I'm still a clown but just at home, well as members of the zoo we got invited to an enrichment day with the elephants, it was so cool to learn loads about them, and make them their dinner, Chris made this funny face out of hay and mash and fruit and veg,

we then carried out things out to the elephant enclosure, it was surreal being in the same place where the elephants normally are.





we positioned the food near to the viewing platform so we could have a good view when the elephants got let out




the boys loved it and so did I,



Here's Indra the elephant enjoying our enrichment, we got to go inside and see some foot work too, the elephant was so clever following instructions, she used to belong to the circus but now has a lovely time roaming around. The zoo contributes thousands each year to an elephant project in Sri Lanka to help injured and orphaned elephants, we learnt that the bull elephants are blinded on purpose so they are reliant on the masters - how awful is that.



Her she is again, the keeper said she wants to be blond because each day she covers herself in straw!
Can't wait for the next one, hopefully its going to be about monkeys so Chris will be in his element

Saturday 10 April 2010

ups and downs...

I have been having a great couple of weeks cooking new dishes, each time masterchef is on the TV I get all experimental and borrow more than usual books from the library for inspiration, this yummy plum and polenta cake was delicious but the next day we had very sore tummy's, i think it was overload of plums that did it, I have themed our evening meals this week with a different country or type for the night and we have really enjoyed trying new things, even fussy eater Chris has tasted some new foods after much coxing and bribing!
I found this rather lovely swirly pattern in a watermelon and I have never seen anything like it before, have any of you?

We went here this week -Ingleton, the place we feel at home and the place we really want to live, a house came up and we went on 4 buses and travelled for 4 hours to go and view it, it was everything we dreamed of, we fell for it, all of us even the children, so when we got home we emailed the estate agent and put in an offer.... we waited until the next day for a reply and one came..... not the one we wanted, another application has gone through before ours, I'm gutted, we all are but a small glimmer of hope is still with me, I feel ( and I know this is terrible) that the other persons application/checks may fail and we will be offered it, maybe I'm in denial, maybe I'm just mean thinking that way but i cant help it.


we went to the waterfalls whilst there and had our picnic here.....




We were so happy with the thought of a new begging, a new lovely greener life...

this would of been the view from the bedroom windows :(
I'm trying to be positive and think everything happens for a reason, something even better will come up and all that jazz but it has made me feel pretty sad.
It would of been my dad's birthday today, he died from cancer 4 years ago, it still pains me, I still feel guilt that I didn't go and see him on the night he was dying, I cried this morning whilst making breakfast - no one saw, they thought I was cross because I was ranting about not getting much help, I sometimes feel like it's always me rushing around trying to make things perfect for everyone else, I guess I'm just having one of those days, tomorrow will be better x