Angels and Mobile Phones!

 

This morning I had intended visiting a new Tesco Superstore that opened yesterday.

It's less than a mile away, so will be very convenient.

But first thing I had a call from Grandma saying she was still unwell and could I take her to the doctors.

The rest of the morning was spent sitting in the surgery.

When we finally got in to see the Doctor, he gave her a thorough check up and couldn't find any reason for her feeling so unwell.

He took some blood tests and said to call back Monday for the results.

Hopefully just knowing her basics are fine, will help her worry less and start to feel better.

Knowing how hard it is to think about what to eat and cook it when you are feeling unwell, I asked if there was anything she fancied for lunch.

She thought a piece of steamed fish and mash might appeal, so I dropped her back home, then went to the new Tesco.

I thought of all the things I know she usually likes and bought a few to try and tempt her to eat.

Egg custard tarts, milk roll bread, rice pudding and of course the fish.

I steamed the piece of fresh haddock and made some parsley sauce ( which she also thought she might like) to go with it.

There was enough to make a little fish pie for her dinner tomorrow as well.

Later in the evening I rang to check she hadn't had any ill effects from eating and she said she had eaten it all and other than feeling very tired was starting to pick up a little.

Lets hope with some food in her and a good nights sleep, she will start to turn a corner tomorrow.

 

 

Last night, Teen One and I sat and cut out circles, and semi circles....

 

 

...and this is what the Friday Club kids created out of them!

Our story tonight was the Angel Gabriel visiting Mary.

I asked the children if they knew what angels were and one little lad said "yes...they are God's people"

I rather liked that answer!
We did of course explain that they were Gods messengers....no one could think of what a messenger was...or even a message...until I said "well you know what a text message is..." ahh... the penny dropped ...I hope anyway...lets hope they haven't gone home with the idea angels have mobile phones!

 

The Wrong Keys!

 

Today is of course Mother and Toddler day.

We had to cancel last week as I was of course ill and so was one of our helpers.

Today it was Grandma's turn to be ill, but we felt we could carry on as she "only made the cups of tea"

Well....it was like many things in life, you never realise how much is involved until you have to do it!

There is of course far more to Grandma's morning than "just making cups of tea" and I felt quite exhausted trying to do my usual activities as well as "just making the tea."

One of our helpers gave me three packs of leaf mosaic coasters. She had bought them with the toddlers in mind, but like a lot of things you buy without actually seeing, she felt the mosaics were too small for little ones to use.

So she has given them to me to use with the older children.

I am looking forward to using them, but it will be next autumn now as we are about to start our Christmas crafts.

 

 

 

I brought a stack of card home from church today, for Teen One and I to cut out ready for making some angels tomorrow.

I left the stack neatly in the hall, but became curious about one of the cats running up and down the stairs constantly and the strange rustling noise that followed.

When I went to investigate it would appear she was having a great game of sliding on the shiny cards!

No doubt running down the stairs then landing on the card and sliding!

I wish I had gone out earlier and caught her in the act!

 

 

 

Hubby came home bearing gifts for the Teens.

A teeny Pudsey bear for Teen Two ( pic to follow!) and a Pudsey hair band for Teen One to wear to college tomorrow.

 

 

Thursday nights have become "Mum's Taxi Service" night.

Teen One has piano lessons one end of town and twenty minutes later, Teen Two has football the other side of town.

By the time I have dropped Teen Two off, its time to collect Teen One.

There is then about a fifteen minute break before I have to go and collect Teen Two.

Generally, I pop home, clear the kitchen etc then go out again, but tonight the traffic was very bad so I dropped Teen One home to do some chores and then went straight on for Teen Two.

I had told Teen One to get my keys out of the bag....what I hadn't realised was, she had picked out the church keys ( which has a similar amount of the same looking keys on as the house keys)

Having realised she had the wrong keys, and me half way down the road, she went to our neighbour who has a spare set.

That should have been the end of the story, but unfortunately the key in that set is a bit our of kilter, a little bit of jiggling is needed to get it in the lock correctly...poor Teen One couldn't make it work no matter how hard she tried.

So, instead, she had to squish down in our tiny porch and await our return.

As it happened Hubby was home first and was of course surprised to find her stuck outside of the front door.

We will have to make sure she takes her bag in future, so she has everything she needs for an emergency, phone, keys etc.

Transitioning From A Statement to an EHC Plan

 

Today started with some catch up jobs from last week, the ironing being the biggest one!

 

 

The rest of the day was spent in a very long meeting at Teen Two's school.

Anyone with a special needs child will know that the current Statement of Special Educational Needs is being replaced with an Education Health and Care Plan...otherwise known as EHC Plan.

I won't bore you with all that went on at the meeting, but suffice it to say, I was, not for the first time, exasperated with our local council.

Teen Two's main education difficulties arise from his Receptive and Expressive Language Disorder.

Our own local authority discharged him  from Speech Therapy when he left primary school.

We had been quietly warned this would happen and was standard procedure, regardless of how much progress a child had or had not made.

The local authority had made the decision to put all their investment into Early Years, when most progress was generally made.

Well that is all well and good, but what happens to the children who do not go on to be age appropriate with their language skills?

We are in the fortunate position where we can ( with personal sacrifices being made) pay for private language therapy.

This had proved invaluable and is the only reason Teen Two has made the progress that he has.

We paid for the private therapist to provide a report for the transition meeting, and our local authority had said they would accept the report.

Imagine how cross I therefore felt today when I was told by the local authority's representative that they could not accept the report as evidence of Teen Two's needs!

When the private therapist is quoting the tests she has done, one wonders what the problem is.

They were however happy to accept the report of a neighbouring authority who had made a quick classroom observation of Teen Two and drawn up a report based on that!

The SENCO wasn't even aware the observation had taken place.

It's even more ridiculous that no assessment was carried out!

On the plus side, the comments that we had submitted formed quite a large part of the draft and was considered evidence of Teen Two's needs.

It is just a waiting game now to see if his support will continue.

It's never easy sitting in these meetings as by their very nature, their focus on the negative side of Teen Two's life, but what was heartening was hearing how well behaved, polite and pleasant he is and what a good role model  he is younger students.

I am glad this afternoon is over and will be dreading that large white envelope coming through the letter box in the next few weeks!

 

A Day Of Mixed Emotions

 

The weather has been very mild for the time of year, and also rather wet and windy.

However every cloud has a silver lining!

The wind has blown most of the leaves off the nearby trees, and the rain has left the imprint of the leaves on the pavement outside our house.

 

 

How pretty it all looks, what a shame the next lot of rain will wash this bespoke pattern away!

 

 

 

 

A friend was due round for coffee today so I made a batch of blueberry and sunflower seed flapjack.

She has breast cancer and told me today she is now only receiving palliative care.

It was so sad to hear that.

Her daughter and Teen One started school the same day and used to play in each others houses a lot.

Another friend called to say she had to rush her husband to hospital last night.

He is undergoing heart surgery this afternoon.

 

Around 10am I had a call from Teen Two's school medical room.

For the second time, a student had shone a laser pen in his eye.

The last time this happened this sparked off a few weeks of anxiety and headaches for Teen Two, so needless to say, I was not very impressed that the same student had managed to get hold of the pen again and reek havoc with it once again.

Medical room gave Teen Two an eye bath ( not sure that would do anything really) and I gave permission for him to have some pain killers as a headache was building.

They also let him have a chat to me and that seemed to reassure him and I didn't receive any further phone calls.

It has nonetheless left me feeling rather cross.

What if some irreparable damage has been done to his eye?

Online research seems to suggest it is highly unlikely damage has occurred, but I am taking no chances this time and am making an appointment with the optician.

 

 

Milly the cat is getting soft in her old age.

She has never been a lap cat, but has in recent times taken to sitting on my lap

At lunch time she suddenly took a fancy to Teen One's lap! Much to Teen One's delight!

 

 

 

 

For dinner tonight I am doing salmon and am having a go at a white sauce Grandma always makes.

It is always delicious and  I am hoping I bought the right vegetable stock powder for making it!

 

 

About an hour ago the door bell rang...it was my neighbour's son with the cyclamen plant for me!

He brings me flowers and plants so often!

He used to buy them for his mum, so each time he brings me something I am reminded of her and how much I miss her.

It really has been a day of very mixed emotions.

 

 

An Early Start

 

 

For some reason, I woke rather early this morning, around 5am, and couldn't get back to sleep.

So, once hubby was up I switched on the laptop and had an early catch up online.

Hubby brought me up a lovely cuppa a biccie...what a way to start the day aye!

 

 

It was then on with the usual business of the day, checking my Recycled Teenager next door, visiting my Monday Recycled Teenager and taking her to Morrisons.

Sadly her cancer has grown, although not spread, so she has to embark on a course of radiotherapy soon.

Needless to say she is not looking forward to it.

 

 

The rest of the day was spent catching up with the washing.

With it being such a windy day most of it dried on the line, just needing the tumble drier to air it all off.

 

 

Teen Two had English revision after school, and his teacher said he did brilliantly and his work today was a thousand times better, so that has really bucked him up.

His school transport doesn't do after school pick ups, so I have to make the journey over and back, which isn't a problem, other than I can never get back into our street as the school opposite runs after school clubs which end around the time we get home.

It's the little things like not being able to park near your house that really get irritating...thankfully once school is closed the road is clear, I realise some people in our city never manage to park in their own street!

 

 

Dinner tonight is left over chicken and broccoli from yesterday's roast, so its time for the Amish casserole recipe I think.

 

 

It's fairly quick and easy and a hit with all the family, so worth the little bit of effort required.

 

 

Upcycled Gifts Are The Best!

 

Whilst I am feeling heaps better than I have been, I decided that  I would take one more day easy and concentrate on getting today's roast cooked instead of fitting it around church.

After a fairly full on day in the kitchen one way or another, I am now feeling quite winded so am glad I made the decision to stay home.

 

 

With Christmas being just around the corner, I am trying to get the Friday Kids Club presents organised.

This morning, with the veggies prepped and the roast in the oven, I sat down for an hour and went through the register, listing down the "regulars" "only been once" "just started" etc.

With over 70 on the books, I also needed to get all their ages down and separate the genders, to make it easier when choosing gifts.

Tomorrow I will try and match up what I have bought already and then see what is missing...its going to be the bulk that is missing I think, despite my early buys a couple of weeks back.

I am hoping to get a large number online.

I discovered Hawkins Bazaar have a good clearance section, some items are 70% off! I hope I can get most of what I need there in the week.

 

 

As usual, we gave Grandma her weekly game of Scrabble.

For once I nearly won! I managed to more than double my score half way through the game by getting two words on a triple square.

Sadly, I was lumbered with the Q and didn't see a U for the entire game!

Hubby had two of them and used them right at the end, ending the game with his last three tiles.

By the time the Q came off my score and onto his, it meant he won...not that I am sore of course!

 

 

Tea was our usual traditional fare and I still love using this very useful present from a couple of years ago!

It keeps the cake fresh as well as looking pretty on the worktop.

The challenge was to buy something from a charity shop and upcycle it

What a clever idea to use an old trifle bowl as a cake lid!

My house is full of upcycled gifts...they have got to be the best don't you think!

 

No Sooner Asked Than Done!

 

We woke this morning to the sound of rain beating against the bedroom window and very gusty winds.

Now had we plans to do anything today that would no doubt have been disappointing to hear, but seeing as we had planned a "take it as we find it" day, my first thought was the apple tree at the top of our road, laden with fruit.....just think how many apples may have fallen in this wind!

So later on in the day, I sent Teen One along with a carrier to collect what she could see.

It wasn't as many as I had hoped for....and there was as much wastage as there was fruit....but any free fruit is always gratefully received in this house.

 

 

I have made an Eve's Pudding for tomorrow's dessert.

There are still plenty more apples on the tree and I will be keeping a close eye out for any more fallers.

 

 

For lunch today I made the butternut squash and sweet potato soup  I mentioned yesterday.

Along with one of Morrison's Coburg cobs heated in the oven and lashings of butter, it made for a hearty meal.

 

 

During the afternoon we sat down as a family and watched "Five Children and It"

An easy to watch heartwarmingly funny family movie.

I kept my fingers busy with the knitting needles and Teen One set about a task I had set her of creating flowers from giant pipecleaners.

They are for tomorrow's Sunday School.

With it being Remembrance Sunday, Hubby is speaking on flowers as the link, and wanted a quick activity for the children to do at the end.

 

 

 

Since my kitchen dresser has been refurbished,  I have been irritated by the old cup hooks still on there.

Not only were they too small for the mugs we now use, they were rather drab looking to say the least.

I mentioned to Hubby the other day it would be nice to get some bigger ones some time.

 

 

 

Yesterday evening he said to me "how do you like your new cup hooks then?"

New cup hooks??

I hadn't noticed anything different when I took down a mug a few hours earlier!

A quick dash to the kitchen proved that I did indeed have new cup hooks!

How had I not noticed that?

No doubt the next time I went to put the mugs on I would have noticed...wouldn't I?

What a star he is...I had no sooner asked than it was done!