This week has again zipped by and I can only remember chunks of it. I do know that I had a bad migraine on Monday or maybe Tuesday. Fortunately they are rare and I am okay now.

I managed to get out in the garden in the week and build 4 sides of a raised bed for the allotment. Unfortunately I won't have access to a vehicle next week to get them there but hopefully I can build some more sides here instead. I had started out measuring the beds but now to save wood I am building the sides determined by the length of wood. It is all scrap wood I am using donated by my friend. It has been quite rewarding sitting in the garden hammering and sawing. At one point J stuck his head out of his bedroom window and asked if I could hammer more quietly ....erm, NO!! lol!

A an D went to a book signing at the Trafford centre on Wednesday for an ex tits model who now has her own show. I think you know the one I mean!!! Don't want to mention her name on here as then goodness knows who will find my blog by googling her name.
Anyway they queued from 2pm even though the signing was for an hour at 5pm. The queue ended up massive with hundreds waiting (WHY????). A was very disappointed as said woman turned up 45minutes late and then hurriedly signed books without even glancing up/talking to/interacting with the people who had queued for hours. Apparently Billie Piper had been much more friendly. I explained to A that sometimes the fantasy is better than the reality. But they had wanted to go and had done it so there was some (strange) sense of achievement!

We had a great day yesterday as a home-ed Dad ran an editing/animation workshop for the kids. It was fab. M and a boy spent ages sat photographing toys and moving them a fraction. Windows movie maker (free!!!) was then used to animate it. The older one also had fun filming the same kind of thing only using themselves instead of toys. We were there from 10.30 til 2.30 and when I got home I downloaded Pivot for the kids to have fun with. M again made an animation last night that was very creative.


A and D went to watch a guides/scouts gang show in Altrincham last night. They didn't get back til nearly 11pm and said it was fantastic. They are all out now as I type at dance/drama. I was looking forward to a free Sunday tomorrow but the dance school has started scheduling extra dance classes to fit in show work as well as exams so my 2 children have 5 hours of classes there tomorrow as well as nearly 4 today!!! That should keep me busy lol.

All in good time to relax for my birthday on Monday :-)

I saw this on one of Gill's blogs. Funny how I consider myself a night owl (by default as kids keep me awake I should mention, otherwise who knows?) and yet I am an early morning time.
I like doing these little random quizzes. I always find it a bit hard though as sometimes none of the answers fit so I have to pick the one most likely.

Before I forget .......

I watched an absolutely fantastic programme on TV the other week. It was Dave Gorman America Unchained. I highly recommend it.
There is information about it on his website.

Wow, my energy is all over the place at the moment. Mostly I feel good but then the flip side is bouts of tiredness brought on by my own actions. I really seem to be doing too much so am looking at ways of structuring my week so I have more down time which sounds like a contradiction I know.

Today has been rush, rush, rush. We have had D's friend here since Sunday. The poor girl got homesick so wanted to go home today instead of Friday.

Firstly today, I had planned on going to the allotment to build some more beds with the kids help. I needed to do it there as I didn't know what size I had marked out. Now I know, I can do all the sawing and hammering here as the ones I am working on are about 1m square.
Anyhow the girls did a good job of hammering old nails and new nails into the bits of wood. As time was limited - we had less than an hour - we managed to get all 4 sides of a bed built but not bedded in yet. That will be next weeks job.
The other kids did some more moving woodchip for our path. These new allotments are constantly getting delivery of woodchip so we are stockpiling it for our plot. I don't think I will end up with so much room I can't manage. I calculated about 6 big beds (approx 2 x 1.5m each) and 4 one metre square ones. It won't make us self sufficient but we will be able to grow some stuff. I also want to join in on the home-ed one at the same site so we can get stuff from there too.

We rushed home after the allotment, the girls headed out to the shops and I boiled pasta! As soon as they arrived back from the shops and had eaten a bowl of food we rushed out for D's hair appointment .... which wasn't essential but she seems happy!

The plan for afterwards was for A and D to take D's friend to the train station from the mall... but then I remembered D has dance at 4 so A went on her own, bless her. I have pots to wash then will take D dancing. If A is not back then I will drop the little ones at my Mum's till she returns ... well if she is home, otherwise they will have to come with me.

It is all this logistical planning that I find quite draining!!!! But that is the reality of single parenthood and 4 children!
I now do yoga for 2 hrs on a Wednesday and Thursday evening which means being super organised and making sure food is cooked/nearly cooked before I leave at 5.30. Tonight it is baked potatoes, hotdogs and veg as the kids can manage not to burn this if they have to dish it up!

I will blog about my DWP interview on the other blog tomorrow!

ps sorry for spelling errors as Blogger spellcheck keps playing up on me - damn it!!

Hmmmmm,
do you think if I went to the DWP and told them I wanted to train in NLP and EFT and offer it free they would pay for me??? Rofl!

It is all very quiet here. This is normal for most average households but here there is usually activity at this time of the evening, not least the girls grabbing food. However A and D went to stay at their friend's house in Blackpool on Sunday so their absence is very noticeable. They will be back on Friday but I am not sure how and when, the details will become clearer when I speak to them later on this week.

I have just watched wife swap on channel 4 on demand. I wanted to watch it as it was a homeschooling eco family that lived in Spain on a boat. I must admit that kind of low impact living really used to appeal to me (without the animal useage/killings of course). But really it doesn't any more. I do like some mod cons : my washing machine (though it is currently broken), running tap water, internet access, cooker that I can turn on quickly, electricity etc. though I am aware how privileged I am to have all that. Yes I am concerned about the environment and do what I can. I would love a more eco house with a wood burning stove that heats water, solar panels, wind turbine, rainwater flushing toilet etc but those are not things at my disposal right now. I can just about manage that kind of living when we are camping but it is then always such bliss to come home!

M, J and myself are having a quiet week with some social outings planned. Today they came to get some shopping with me which we just about managed thanks to the purchase of a veggie sos roll and a cheesestring. If I provide them with regular nibbles we can just about go anywhere!

Yesterday we went to a local water park and had hot chocolate and ice cream- their choice of course. Tomorrow we are going to an indoor play area for a couple of hours then on Wednesday a home-ed walk round a different water park. So a good combination of fresh air and play for all of us.

I have been doing lots of reading the past few days. I am reading this : to M and J as and when they will listen and this :to myself. Bliss, especially when done with a fresh brew and some chocolate!