Melbourne Belated

I mentioned here and probably somewhere else on my wide interweb presence that the girls and I were going to Melbourne in the first week of the school holidays to hang out with my youngest sister (Fiona – known as Fi or Feebs) and her family.
I’m finally getting round to writing a brief, mostly pictorial, post about the trip.
There was some of this….

…and a little of this.

We took the female children to Build-a-Bear for some of this…

…yes, I know…it’s a dragon not a bear, his name is Norbert.
This one is a bear though…although you can’t tell yet because it’s still unstuffed.

Then we belatedly celebrated Hannah’s birthday…

We also went and saw this…

…well actually we saw the whole exhibition not just the banners but there was a ‘no photography’ rule in there so the best I could do was the banners.
And on the final day I took the four older children to see Harry Potter 3D at the IMAX theatre.  It was the highlight for Aislin (here in Quidditch robes).

All in all a busy, but extremely satisfying and enjoyable, week.

The most honest post I’ve ever written

…possibly the longest too.

For those of you that know me you’ll be aware that aside from my ‘day job’ I run a business.  I teach meditation and run personal and spiritual development workshops for women and do a little bit of business coaching.   For a while I’ve been thinking I need to get more serious about my own business so I’ve been working on a website and blog and creating a Facebook page and generally immersing myself in getting the whole thing online (cos I love me some online).

It has totally sucked. I’ve hated every minute of it (well maybe not the messing with code, I like the nerdy stuff). The rest though? Despised it.  I started and stopped and wrote stuff then scrapped it and wrung my hands and gnashed my teeth and cried tears of blood over the whole damn thing.

I just couldn’t do it in a way that pleased me.  At first I thought I was just being a perfectionist (something I’ve been accused of before) but I really didn’t believe that (on this occasion at least).  It was just all hateful to me, I was unhappy with the content, the images, the general feel and most of all the vision I had. I looked at other online stuff and found myself wanting (comparison is never a good thing).  I couldn’t work out what was wrong.

Then I remembered this...

This is Aislin shopping a few weeks ago, in full Hogwarts regalia including her wand.  When she got out of the car dressed like this I tentatively asked her if she was sure she wanted to wear her robes to shop.  She looked at me as if I was mad and said ‘yes, of course I do!’. And so off we went, muggles people stared, she didn’t give a hoot. Because right now, that’s just who she is.  So wise at 8 years old.

This afternoon, while wallowing in internet misery, I had an epiphany. The reason this work on the business is making me so unhappy and uncomfortable is that it’s not ME.  I have spent so long learning how to do this and looking at how others do it that somewhere along the way I lost sight of me.  This is the same me that conducts a perfectly successful business offline…but I was unconsciously trying to be someone different online.  Where along the way did I become so confused about my identity? At what juncture did I start to believe that the real me wasn’t good enough to grow my business further or that I had to be different to appeal online? I dunno.

I also realised that over the years, the most ‘me’ I’ve been online is right here on this blog. The one I don’t tell people about…HELLO!! I’m here!!  Posts have been erratic for a while now…but it’s still here and it’s still mine and it’s still home.

Ironically one of my business messages is about authenticity and here I was not taking my own advice…but let’s just skim over that for now *blush*. 

So here it is, the truth of me (at least some of it). Who I am and who I’m not…

• I’m deeply spiritual, but I’m not about angels and unicorns.  I think both are cool, but they’re not my thing. You go ahead though.
• I’m a bit of a hippy, but I don’t do tie dye…I’m lovin’ it on you tie dye gals…but it ain’t me – my hippy-ness is more internal. Internal tie dye if you will.
• I meditate but I’m not a zealot, at the same time as I’m teaching you how to do it and singing its praises my own practice falters. This is my truth with meditation.
• I sometimes swear – yes, even ‘fuck’. You don’t like it? Thanks for stopping by anyway. Ciao.
• I read a lot of spiritual and self help books.  I rarely put any of it into practice. I like them though.
• Except Eckhart Tolle…sorry Oprah …that dude sends me to sleep.
• My humour can be both sarcastic and ironic. I’m not sorry about that.
• I don’t give a crap about RSS and SEO and Google analytics or any of that. I care about people.
• I’m not a perfect mother. I  love my children with every breath in my body but I get impatient and frustrated by them.  Sometimes I let them watch more TV than is appropriate because when I’m busy it makes my life easier. They have eaten baked beans for dinner more than once when I've been trying to work. I’m so tempted now to back this up with positive things I do for my children so you won’t hate me…but I’m not going to.
• I worry people will hate me…or judge me…or criticise me.  See above. 
• I’m not a perfect wife. But I’d take a bullet for him and fully intend on seeing out my days in his precious company.
• I sometimes read and watch horror and sci fi (quite a lot in fact). I love Jane Austen and Shakespeare…but at times I have the literary taste of a 14 year old boy.  Judge away if that’s what you like to do. 
• I have my own brand of spirituality…it’s a kind of Buddhist/Pagan/Celtic/Catholic thing and despite everything you’ve seen here I really am a compassionate person. 
• I want happiness.  I want you to have it too.

You may be seeing some more businessy type stuff from me from time to time. It will be real.  It will be the authentic me.  It will make no apology for the fact I’m a flawed human and it will not try to portray me as some kind of blended personification of the Dalai Lama, Mother Teresa and Ghandi. There will be no rainbows, unicorns or angels (I may occasionally mention dragons).  It will be me in all my glorious, disrespectful, irreverent, imperfection.

If you don’t like it you don’t have to read it, I won’t be offended.

Congratulations if you made it to the end of this post.

The July update…

…because I’m not going to be any more optimistic than that.

The mid year term holidays are upon us, I’ve taken some time off and we are heading to Melbourne on Sunday to spend a week with my sister and her family. We have some rather exciting plans for Melbourne but I hope to blog about them so I won’t spoil the surprises by blabbing here today.

I’m recovering slowly from my shoulder injury, I have some more movement and a bit less pain.  I call that progress.

Work continues to be just that…work. That’s all on that topic, after all, I’m on holiday.

My girls are still gorgeous. Hannah continues to amaze me with her creativeness and intense commitment to anything she does.  Aislin just amazes me. Her Harry Potter obsession is not lessening, in fact here we are on a shopping trip.

As you can see she is in full Hogwarts regalia (and yes, she has a wand)…my little Gryffindor. She’s eccentric, but I like that…it just confirms that she is mine. Fortunately she has a best friend who is equally HP obsessed so she has someone with whom she can share her freakiness.

I have to say, as I sit with here my morning coffee, posting to my blog I am filled with a sense of nostalgia for the days that this was a more regular occurrence.  I miss those days.

Blogging stamina

I have none.  I had a good go for a few days there and then lost my energy for it and it all came to a standstill again.

Never mind, I’m not giving up.

Not much to report here, Hannah has finally recovered enough to go back to school. She ended up with an ear infection and slight perforation to the ear drum.  She doesn’t do things by halves that girl.

So life has returned to relative normality. 

It’s almost the weekend (huzzah!) and I am absolutely knackered and can’t wait to have a couple of days off.

Roll on Friday 5pm!

Plague House

I make no secret of (or apology for) the fact that I love winter.  It’s by far my favourite season, and yes, even when in the icy, grey, rainy, windy climes of Scotland it was still my favourite.  I would sooner tolerate freezing cold than heat any day.  In fact, I’ve also made no secret of the fact I loathe the heat.  My legion of long time readers will attest to this. But that’s another post (or several, come summer when the whining will commence).

This winter however has been one of the worst for ‘winter ailments’ in our family.  It seems like every two or three weeks another round of sore throats, coughs and sniffles descends upon us and Tom and I are either a) taking sick leave because we’re actually ill ourselves or b) taking ‘carer’s leave’ because one, or both, of the girls has it.

Once again I had to ring work this morning and make an apology for my absence due to a sick child.  Of course this means a day spent fussing and fetching and carrying and mopping the fevered brow of the little darling.  Fortunately she’s sick enough that she is actually lying quietly reading and has been doing that for the last three hours.  I hate the days that they perk up by lunchtime and annoy the bejesus out of me for the rest of the day.  I’m a great parent as you can see.

The upside is there was time for a blog post.  

Quick post

The girls go back to school tomorrow after their two week break, so today is a whirlwind of preparation and not much time for blogging.

I had a day off yesterday, we’d been so busy and had a couple of late nights and I was tired.  We ended up having a quiet day at home, Tom worked on an essay and I just puttered about.  I did find a pattern that got me all enthused for knitting again (more about that in another post) and that then led me to Ravelry which I hadn’t visited for some time.  It was nice to reconnect there although it can be even more addictive than Facebook.

So now I must go and drag out winter school uniforms, make sure everything is in good repair (which I think it is because I checked before I put them away last spring).  

Pay Back Time

I mentioned last week that Tom and I were child-free for a few days.  It was quite pleasant.  Although I was working I still felt as though I was having a little holiday.  I had no-one to worry about but myself, I could get up in the morning, have my coffee and read my emails then wander off and have a leisurely shower, get ready for work, have another coffee and an uninterrupted chat with Tom before getting into the car and driving to work in silence.   In the evenings I’d arrive home, Tom would hand me a glass of wine and we’d discuss our day, then we’d eat dinner and on two nights we even had time to watch a DVD and STILL get to bed at reasonable time. 

However, (there’s always a ‘however’ isn’t there?) last night on my way home from work I stopped and picked up our nephews who will be staying with us for the weekend.  You may recall that this is an arrangement we have with Tom’s brother and his wife.  The difference is that this time I will be looking after the four children on my own.  It might feel a bit like this….

Tom is away all day today and all day tomorrow.  I don’t really mind, they’re good children and don’t give me any trouble.  The noise levels sometimes need to be controlled but apart from that it’s easy. 

So in the space of 24 hours I’ve made the transition from no kids to four kids.  I have to say, although I did enjoy a peaceful week there’s nothing nicer than seeing their sweet little faces.  Especially when they’re asleep. 

All she wants for Christmas…

Is her two front teeth.

That’s the missing tooth she’s clutching in that bag – my photography skills haven’t improved you’ll notice.

Christmas in pictures (and a few words)

I've been meaning to get this done for a week and today I finally got around to going through the Christmas holiday photos. Here is a small selection for your viewing pleasure.

The captions are clockwise.....(no, they're not...Dave pointed out my error - thank you Dave - they are actually left to right).

1. Queuing for a parking space pre-Christmas 2. Tom took the girls for a sushi lunch while I did some Christmas shopping 3. Finally in the car ready to go (and yes, that is the cat, she came too) 4. The makeshift driftwood Christmas tree at the beach house (I love it) .

1. Christmas Eve mass with their cousins on Tom's side (the boys in the picture, not the holy family and shepherd, I'll refrain from making any comments hinting that some people in Tom's family might think they're Jesus Christ...oops, too late) 2. Lighting candles for loved ones lost 3. Whisky, shortbread and cherries for Santa (the girls like to give him something seasonal hence the cherries, they can't believe he'd actually enjoy whisky) 4. Christmas morning, presents!

Post Christmas beachery, it was very, very windy... 1. Hannah in danger of being blown away attached to a Body Board 2. Tom had a surf then gave Hannah her first surfing lesson 3. Aislin battling the wind to get back to me and a warm cuddle 4. I didn't do anything but this.

Another beach on a different coast with more cousins (this time my family). It was even more windy and this time freezing cold which didn't seem to affect the children as you can see. 1. It was very choppy out there 2. Aislin and Emily running away from the waves 3. Hannah, Aislin and their big cousin Jacob 4. The sensible one, Alexandra, she didn't go in .

Afterwards they were freezing cold and windblown, we went to a cafe for hot chocolate. 1. I think they're adorable (even if Jacob does look a bit bored, it could be because of the 15,000 photos his mother and I took). 2. They talk nearly as much as their mother and I do, it's nice they like each other so much. 3. They think they're hilarious (they're not, well only sometimes). 4. Important spoon balancing skills while your cousin has her second hot chocolate.

So there you have it, a pictorial guide to our Christmas break.

That'll do for today.

Toys r us

Yesterday we decided that the girls' room really needed a clear out. I go in there fairly regularly and 'cull' some of the stuff that has somehow accumulated. However this time we decided that we would take everything out of the room, sort it all out and do a bit of decluttering then put back what was left. We would also sort and organise everything so that the children could easily find (and put away...ha ha) their toys.

So we pulled out every container, tray, toy and 'treasure box' into the middle of the living room floor...and onto chairs...and the sofa...and the dining table...and the kitchen bench....after that I surveyed the piles and had a cup of tea and Bex and a nice lie down.

However after much wailing and gnashing of teeth, two days later it was finally done (yes, you read that right...TWO DAYS). There is now about 1/4 of the 'stuff' and despite being a bit anxious about the process the girls are now really happy with the organisation and all the space. They even found toys they forgot they had.

I, on the other hand, am totally bewildered. We don't buy them lots of toys, they get some toys at birthdays and Christmas, lots of books and they like games and puzzles but that's pretty much it. Where possible we try to encourage gift buyers to give them 'experiences' rather than more toys. I even managed to limit the amount of stuff that comes from friends and acquaintances with this email last year. So where does it all come from?

I don't know, but I'm beginning to suspect that the toys are breeding.

Unplanned renovations

Remember I mentioned that I was planning to put up the Christmas tree on Sunday? Hannah had a birthday party to go to that day and I said we'd put up the tree when she came back. In the afternoon, while she was gone, I started to organise the furniture to accommodate the tree. I happened to mention to Tom that we really should have moved the piano as we've been planning to do for a few weeks. 'Well, let's do it now!' he said. 'Ok!' I enthusiastically cried.

Later, after we'd removed two doors and a built in cupboard to get the piano to it's new location, I nearly had a little cry.

Everything from that cupboard was piled on our bed. The office was in turmoil, there were tools over all over the floor, the tree wasn't even close to being put up and the children were whining about that and the fact they hadn't been given dinner yet.

'Shut up' I said. And they did.

Since then things have been tidied up, the tree is decorated and looking lovely, the children have recovered from the slight malnutrition they suffered on Sunday and I'm getting better with some counselling.

And I'm really glad that cupboard has gone, it was an eyesore.

.

Nothing exciting to report...

...shocking I know! Yesterday I had a two hour nap...TWO HOURS!!! Then I ate dinner, watched a DVD and went to bed! I may have sleeping sickness.

Today I made a feeble attempt at sorting through the year's worth of art work that came home from school on Friday. I seem to be just shifting piles of it around various locations. I wish I could resolve the 'art work' issue. My children are obsessively attached to their work and they are the most unbelievably artistically prolific children I have ever met. They draw, paint or create daily...and never just one...oh no, it's always several pieces. I don't want to spoil the fun, but really there just is not room for all this art! Where in God's name can I put it all? I can only dispose of it by stealth, always leaving a few behind hoping they may not notice. They do though. I've tried offering to photograph it all for posterity and just keep it on a special disc. They're not buying that though. If anyone has any suggestions I'd be grateful.

Later today we will put up the Christmas tree. I haven't done it yet because a) I've been too busy b) I don't like putting it up too early (I get sick of looking at it) and c) we're heading to the beach house next weekend so I wasn't sure there was much point. Apparently that is very un-Christmassy of me and we can't get into a Christmassy frame of mind without the tree...so I've relented and we'll do it this afternoon. We'll also do a smaller version at the beach house so Father Christmas knows where to leave the presents. Two tree decorating sessions, yes that's sure to get me in a Christmassy mood. Or some kind of mood anyway.

Concerts and stuff

It's been a busy couple of days, although not nearly as bad as last year. The school concert last night went well. A few hundred parents relatives and friends crowded into the school hall and the children came in one class at a time and gave their performances (there just wasn't room to have all the children in the hall too). It had been raining off and on all day and shortly after the concert began it really started to rain heavily. The noise of rain on the roof was so loud at times it drowned out the singing...which may have been a good thing. By the time we left there was a bit of flooding round the classrooms and people were dashing to their cars in the downpour.

This morning was the last assembly of the year and Aislin's class were leading it. Because the children hadn't been able to see each others performances we were subjected treated to another round of their songs. Then parents were invited to a morning tea, frankly I think we deserved cocktails. I wanted to come home because I'm tired and have had enough of school, but that seemed rude so I stayed for a cup of tea, socialised a bit and managed to resist the scones.

Next week is the last week of school and then we have the long summer holidays stretching before us. Looking forward to that, as long as it doesn't start the way it did last year.

Cast away!!!

Cast away...bit of play on words there...cast....away....castaway....get it? Ahem.

Anyway, today was a big day, Aislin was back at the hospital to have the cast removed (we hoped). As it turned out that did happen although the doctor warned that the growth part of the bone may be affected but we won't know unless it gives her trouble so all is ok for now and she could have the cast off.

She was very nervous, wouldn't smile for the camera....she'd been able to hear the saw going from the waiting room and it was freaking her out.

The saw came out and the nurse assured her it couldn't cut skin and demonstrated by touching it then got me to touch it. I don't remember that being in the contract but I did it anyway. She began to cut and it was very noisy and Aislin was not happy, but stayed very still and quiet and didn't complain.

Then there were some big plier type things to prise the cast apart.

Then the cutting of the inner bandages......

.....and then it was gone.....

Apart from some funny looks from the nurse as I was taking photos (she obviously doesn't have a blog) everything went well. Aislin is limping slightly but that's more from stiffness and lack of use than pain. The doctor said she'll be fine in a couple of days.

She's now soaking in the bath, she's been longing to do that and has already been in there for about 45 minutes. I'm going to have to fight to get her out.

Tonight is the school Carol Concert. Every year we're encouraged to pack a picnic and sit on the school playing fields to hear the carols. Last year is was 35 degrees, 100% humidity and ended in torrential rain and a thunder storm. The year before the parents were all huddled in their picnic rugs it was so cold. Today it is raining and warmish with storms forecast. Should be a good night.

Sunday in pictures

We all had a nice day and are suitably tired but happy.

There was also a birthday pavlova provided by my sister-in-law, it wasn't around long enough to photograph.

Just a reminder for anyone new to this blog, I spoke here about my reasons for watermarking photos of my (and other people's) children on this blog. Just in case you think I'd suddenly imagined myself Annie Liebovitz.

As I mentioned in the post that I linked to, help yourself to anything you like, I'm not that precious - they are words and pictures - not that important in the grand scheme of things and I certainly don't have any delusions of talent that require me to copyright it all - but leave the children alone.

Is it bedtime yet?

Well I haven't stopped all day and I'm exhausted. This morning they were fed, dressed and entertained for hours, we made paper bag puppets and had a competition for the best collage monster then I made a tuna pasta sauce and gave them it with pasta dinosaurs for lunch, they ate that and some fruit for dessert while I cleaned up the mess from all the craft.

Then Tom took over for an hour while I went and did the shopping and as I came back he left (it was planned, he wasn't running away at least I don't think he's running away - he assured me we'd planned this). I bathed the youngest (Lachlan) and cleaned up the toilet (don't ask), unpacked the shopping, made popcorn (real popcorn not microwave) and prepared apple juice drinks for all (no, I didn't squeeze the apples) and put on a movie for them (cheating I know). Then I set the chicken drumsticks to marinade, cut and seasoned potatoes to make wedges, put a load of washing on and unloaded the dishwasher and reloaded it with yet more dirty dishes.

I made myself a cup of tea and a piece of toast (it's 5pm and I haven't had lunch) and came through here, heaved a sigh and started to write this post and......Hannah came in and said 'Mummy, the movie is finished'. I looked at her for a moment, looked at my tea and toast, looked at my half written blog post and said 'want to watch another one?'. So off she went and put another movie on (don't judge me, I don't care). I turned back to the computer and heard a little voice saying 'oh no, not again'. Let's just say the youngest is back in the bath and I'm about to go and clean the toilet again. His aim really isn't very good at all today.

We do this child swap regularly (I've mentioned it before) and usually it's no trouble at all, the kids all get on well and pretty much entertain each other. They are, on the whole, polite, well mannered, undemanding children, however for some reason this time is testing me. Admittedly I'm doing most of it alone because Tom had other obligations this weekend (so he says) but even that doesn't usually worry me - I may not be the most domesticated woman on the planet but I'm actually quite capable (despite the way it may appear if you read this blog). Just not this weekend.

Anyway, tomorrow we are having a birthday afternoon tea when the boys' parents come to pick them up, Oliver, the oldest boy will be 7 on Monday and my birthday is on Tuesday so it's party sausage rolls and fairy bread (ick!) all round.

That's assuming I last the night.

And Dave if you point out any typos or spelling/grammatical errors today I'm going to jump in that teleport and come right over there and punch you on the nose. Or leave the children with you.

Stop, drop and have a gin and tonic

Today I had to accompany Aislin on a school excursion to the local CFS station. Something I was thrilled about as you can imagine. It's a 10 minute walk from the school but as Aislin is on crutches it was decided that she should be driven...normally the Principal or another staff member would drive her but that couldn't happen today so it was me. Hurrah.

The CFS* presentation was entertaining for the children, they learned all about the service and the different types of emergency they attend, then some fire safety stuff like 'Stop, Drop, Cover & Roll' and 'get down low and go, go, go' (personally I prefer the Macarena but whatever). They also learned how to strap someone into one of those rescue stretcher things and how to work the Jaws of Life.....all useful stuff for 5 year olds. The highlight was that the kids all got to ride in a fire engine.

While we there it started to rain....really, really heavily. The plan was to have a snack break in a local park then walk (except us) back to school. That plan was changed. I spent some considerable time ferrying Mums back to the school to pick up their cars, then we crammed all the kids into various vehicles and drove them all back. Normally this requires a special permission slip to allow your child to be driven in a private vehicle by another parent. Seemingly when the choice is to break the rules or get really wet, breaking the rules wins.

Once Aislin and her classmates were all settled back at school with their snacks I left to run some errands, I had some shopping to do and a birthday present to buy and some pharmacy items to purchase (you get the idea...like I said...errands). I got home with enough time to unpack the groceries and eat a bowl of cereal for lunch (cornflakes if you're wondering). Then it was back to school to pick up the girls and rendezvouz with my brother and sister-in-law for a child hand-over as we are looking after their boys this weekend. Now I'm home and hiding from all those children out there until it's time to go and throw them a dead Wildebeest prepare them a nutritious meal. It's going to be a four cocktail weekend I can tell.

*Despite my lighthearted comments I want to say that the CFS are some of the most incredible people in existence and they have my undying respect, admiration and gratitude for what they do. For those of you that may not know this, in this country the standard Fire Service only serves the metropolitan area, anyone outside that area is under the protection of the CFS (or other rural fire services depending where you are). The amazing thing about these rural services is that they are staffed almost entirely by volunteers....especially the firefighters...all volunteers. Did you get that? These people fight fires FOR NO MONEY AT ALL. Highly trained and experienced volunteers but volunteers nonetheless. See all those enormous Australian bushfires that you see on the news? Volunteers fight those...and volunteers from rural fire services in the various states and territories will travel to wherever they're needed to fight fires if necessary. Most of them have jobs and they take time off work to do this. But it's not just bushfires...if my house caught fire? CFS. If I was trapped on a cliff? CFS. If I was lost in the bush? CFS. If I had a car accident and needed to be cut from the wreckage? CFS (admittedly if all this really happened to me I think the CFS would be getting pretty pissed off). They do it all. Sadly there have been occasions that a CFS firefighter has lost their life doing this. And they don't even have to be doing it. They choose to volunteer and in doing so risk their lives for all of us.

The CFS is awesome.

What was I thinking?

I have to say it....I'm over NaBloPoMo....over it!!!! Clearly I am not a daily posting kind of girl, I'm a nearly every day...or most days....or the days I actually have something to say kind of girl. It seems ridiculous to post when I actually have to sit and think of something to say or just say something pointless to fill the page! I'm busy and it's annoying me and I have a headache and I have to stop the work I'm doing right now and go and cook dinner and I don't want to because I have to finish this work and I really need to keep going (but oh guess what? I also have a bloody blog post to write!).

But I'm also a stubborn kind of girl and I will not be beaten by this.

End of rant.

In other news Aislin went back to school today, there was some conferencing with her teacher and the school principle and some little adjustments had to be made to allow for her giant foot but it all worked out and she was happy to get back and frankly I was happy to see her happy....because I know she has been bored at home and she hasn't complained once. In fact the only time she said something about being incapacitated (not a complaint, just a comment) she followed it up with 'but it's my own fault for jumping off the chair' and I, nor anyone else, had actually said that to her so she worked it out for herself. However, she is only five and five year olds don't always understand about consequences do they? At least not until it's too late.

Hopefully I'll be in a better mood tomorrow...see there's the other problem with this...in normal circumstances if I'm grumpy or stressed or tired or busy or likely to say something I'll regret I just don't post....but with NaBloPoMo there is no such opportunity for restraint!

And it's goodnight from me.

Test post

I'm trying a different system of posting today. Posting from my desktop using a browser called Flock. If it works I will be impressed. This is a test.

Not much news today really, I've been busy working. This morning I took Aislin to see her teacher and classmates at school. The doctor has given the all clear for her to go back to school on Monday so I discussed, with her teacher, how this would work. Then I discussed it further with the school principal. They thought it would be best for her to come back and are happy to assist her as much as she needs. I was prepared to 'home school' for a few weeks if necessary but fortunately it's not going to come to that. I'm relieved, she's bored and really will be better at school and although I wouldn't mind temporarily homeschooling it would have been really difficult.

That's all from me tonight. I'm off to have some dinner and a glass of wine with Tom. I believe Taggart is on tonight.

Blogged with the Flock Browser

On my desk

I am a complete on my desk failure as once again there is nothing of great interest.

I have moved the laptop from the office to the dining room table so that I can (hopefully) get on with some work while Aislin plays - it seemed cruel to shut myself away in the office leaving her all alone. This way she can see me and chat to me and I can keep going - that's the theory anyway.

I've been juggling appointments so my diary and appointment cards are here....

And some entertainment for the invalid.....

I am also messing with the online component of my business, writing a report and uploading an 'sign up' box to website.

But really all I want is to be lying here sipping a Daiquirí with not a child, appointment book or laptop in sight.