She is wonderful!

Have you read She magazine? Everyone at ZooBooKoo has, especially since they covered our Maths Wraps - and it is a really good read. You can subscribe on-line for only about £1 an issue (see the link on the right) and take time out for yourself with features perfectly pitched for parents who 'juggle'. Thank you to the team at She for the fab photo of the Maths Wrap and the editorial about how it helps your children learn their times tables.

Oooh didims!

Waiting at a countryside T-junction the other day, my eye was drawn to three young men seemingly loitering across the road. They were dressed in t-shirts and shorts, with plenty tattoos showing, one with peroxide spiky hair and another with a couple of nose rings to match his earrings. But I wasn’t judging. Who knows what fashion sense will befall our two boys as they navigate adolescence? The object of the young men’s interest was in fact a baby hedgehog snoozing on the road. Clearly there was a discussion about the best course of action and finally a consensus was reached. Mr Peroxide held their bikes while Mr Nose Ring and Mr Tattoo found a couple of pieces of wood and between them, they carefully lifted the lucky hedgehog and placed him tenderly in the hedgerow. Job done, they all glanced over at the gawping mother of two and her boys, and treated us to ear-to-ear grins, which we returned. D said, ‘They are kind people!’

The utility room is blessed!

The new kitchen is still not finished, though definitely taking shape. The utility room is in a mess befitting a utility room, with some temporary puzzling plumbing solutions. We are either in dishwasher mode or in washing mode, but never in both as S is currently switching the dirty water pipe between the two. I was in full swing this morning, whistling through the chores to get out for a run and back for a shower and ready for business by 9.30am. I filled the washing machine thinking I’d get a load done before the plumber arrives and switches everything off again. But ooops, you guessed it. I flew back in having hung out the washing from the previous cycle at warp speed, only to find the whole of the utility room flooded. The NEW utility room!! B was asleep (13 years old!) so D fetched every towel in the house and we started mopping. Our utility room has now been christened!

All in good time

Our youngest is dyslexic and we have been through the pain that most families go through as they try to find the root cause of the ‘challenges’ and then lay plans to meet them. D, diagnosed at 6 ½ years old, is a great example of the sometimes painstakingly slow but measured progress which can be made. He has just finished his first year at high school and he is now using his handy expressions such as: ‘thingymyjig’, ‘wotsit’ and ‘you know what I mean,’ less and less. Just this week he used three what I call ‘significant words’ in the correct context. He asked for a ‘substantial snack’! He declared that his was a ‘valid reason!’ And he told us about a ‘dilemma’ he was facing! Tears of joy (and possibly just a little relief) are dripping onto my keyboard.

Size matters

The slim seventeen year old son of a friend of ours recently went shopping at the Army Surplus Store. He was very chuffed with his new camouflage trousers and whipped them theatrically out of the bag to show his Mum. ‘They look a bit on the big side,’ she said, ‘Well, they’re a 34”, Mum!’ he retorted. ‘Yes, but you are a 34” leg, not a 34” waist!” He’s still wearing them, hoisted up with a belt!

Proud Parents

They can make you cringe, raise your eyes north in desperation or feel ever so frustrated. But bless them, when they get it right, it does feel so good. D was playing footie with some friends and a mum they know from the village asked for help carrying two big bags of beer up to the primary school for the annual BBQ. D and two others said, 'Sure we can help you'. At the school the mum offered them some money for their good deed. D said,' You don't need to pay us, we did it out of kindness!' Wow, were we proud! All that nagging and explaining does pay off.

Speed dressing (on a budget)

Our boys will be in for a big shock when they see how long it should take to get ready for a night out. Shopping took too long on Saturday. We returned home at 5.45pm and really needed to leave at 7pm for the wedding reception. So made dinner for the boys, then quick shower, donned my dress – hubbie bought it from TK Max £20!!, and jewellery from Dotty Ps £30, flattened hair, smidgeon of makeup, splash of Fendi, stuck on French Polish nails (Superdrug £6 – ‘Awesome,’ was B’s comment), painted six toe nails as they are the only ones showing, climbed into shoes (see Outrageously High below), and finally made big, multi-looped bow in wide slate ribbon (£1.50) which hubbie strategically placed on black velvety clutch (at least 15 years old) with huge safety pin (couldn’t see the pin – which was good). And we were out of there!! So as I say, boys will be in for a shock waiting for their girl friends to get ready!

Fathers' Day

As I picked the Fathers' Day cards up off the floor once more - knocked over with all the toings and froings and comings and goings of the guys camped out in the kitchen (one new kitchen in a lifetime is too many!) - I had to giggle again at B's card. He bought a lovely card for his Dad and scribed some serious words. Do all thirteen year olds think like this? - ‘Thanks, Dad, for all the support you’ve given me with my running! You seem to get wiser every year.’ He meant it in a lovely way, we think! In reality, of course, as Dad pointed out, it is B’s listening skills which improve as time goes on.

DIY is like marmite

We are having a kitchen fitted including new patio doors. Most of the project is being undertaken by various skilled craftsmen. However, hubby thought we should try to do something ourselves – show the children us doing DIY and trying to save some money. He chose painting the patio doors. 'Simples!' I said (and we'd save £75 - that's the Scot in me). Did you know there are 10 different pieces to preserve and paint (minimum 4 coats for each with sanding in between each coat)? The two main doors are particularly heavy and difficult to handle. And all the pieces are so deeply grooved with holes for hinges and locks and what not, that they are a real challenge. Paint everywhere! And then of course, 'you have to go with the grain!' and 'you can't let the paint run!' and don't get bits on the brush like that!' Personally, £75 was cheap at the price. However, we'd never have found the wood-worm in the right-hand door frame (which we had replaced!) if we hadn't painted them ourselves!

Outrageously high

No, it’s not the cost of food or holidays. It’s the height of my new shoes. I'm not a tomboy, but I was never one for the girly-shopping-clothes bit. Quite feminine but not particularly glam. Wow, has that changed. Went shopping with hubbie and he bought me a BSN (black slinky number because LNB just doesn’t do it justice) and new shoes which are so high, they come in a square box! Of course, we included the boys in this new venture – I asked their opinion. They thought I looked, ‘OK!’. I used the opportunity to show them that it is important to be learning all the time, just as I am, I said, as I researched walking in high heels without looking totally ridiculous!