A lovely lie in

Today was the day when I got a lie in. And a big lie in I got. I slept until 12. I really must have needed the sleep. I will make sure that I get to bed at a decent time tonight so that I keep getting a good sleep. Hopefully if I manage to get a reasonable sleep every night I will not need a huge sleep to catch up next weekend.

The day went well. I got out to the shops and got what I needed and when I got back I was able to get some work done on the kitchen. I basically am making sure that the place stays clutter free on my own. My partner has not done much to help me do this. The one side in the kitchen that gets cluttered the quickest really can get cluttered quickly. I managed to get the side cleared again. It just is really challenging trying to keep on top of it all. There are still so many areas that still need to be decluttered.

My partner is getting really stressed at the moment. He has got behind with his college work and that is now affecting all the aspects of his life. Thankful he was able to talk to me later when we had both calmed down but I wish that he would tell me before it gets to the point of getting to breaking point. Hopefully though now that he has calmed down he will be able to start thinking about what he needs to so that his situation can improve.

I have got to start looking through the information that the nursery teacher passed onto me. I need to find a way of getting the younglings not only listening to me but also not being noisy all of the time. I know there will be times that they will be noisy, but it would be great if there could be times when they are quiet.

Cleaning the bedroom

Today I spent a lot of the day in the bedroom sorting through the clothes that were piled up on the floor and putting them away. It was a good opportunity to do so as I do not really get the chance to clean our bedroom during the week.

My partner did not take the younglings to his mums today as he normally does. It still meant that I got some peace though.

I also got some peace when I went out to the shop. Though rather embarrassingly I forgot to take my wallet with me. I was getting ready to pay when I realized. Thankfully she put the stuff that I had got into one of their chillers so that I could go home and get my wallet so I could pay for it. though on a positive side, I never thought anything bad about myself when I realized that I had forgotten it. There would have been a time when I would have thought some really bad things about myself for forgetting that. Now I know that sometimes these things happen, and that not only does it not matter but people will not think bad things of me either.

After the younglings went to bed I finished off our bedrooms as well as possible for the night.There are still some things to sort through but the room looks so much better and the floor is clean and clean. The manual hover is great to clean things up quickly and quietly. I will be getting another one of them as soon as possible.

Games night was sadly cancelled today as I was so tired. I am going to be a good girl and make sure that I crash earlier so that I can get a good sleep. I know that I will be getting a lie in tomorrow but I still do not want to go to bed at a silly time.

A night off

Even thought I had only one day off yesterday I still had to do a lot to make sure that I kept being organized. I am also being good with restarting doing my bingo wing exercises. I do not have bingo wings, but as I am in my thirties I know that this is likely to start happening to me now. I have also notices my muscles getting looser on my upper arms. I have got some homemade weights (they weigh 1.7KG each) I did not make them too heavy as I want to tone my arms rather than look like Madonna with big muscles. For the last few days I have been doing the exercises two or three times a day with the weights and following them up with some press ups. I can only do five at a time at the moment. I have found that I am managing the five a lot better now. At some point I will increase them up to ten. I can feel the burn after the exercises. I need to keep this up for some months though before I start to hopefully see some results.

I had to put spare trousers into my eldest sons bag, ask the school to keep a look out for his old school bag and take back the trainers that my partner brought home from nursery. They were the ones that my youngest son borrowed when his other shoes went missing (I just got him a new pair yesterday)

I was able to rush out to the shops in the morning and get my shopping done then. I am glad that I have started doing that. It has saved so much stress of rushing about in the afternoon. Afternoons now feel quite relaxing now.

We had our neighbor bashing down to us again in the morning. It seems that my daughter is not able to to fall over without them objecting. We have not heard from them since though and the younglings have been pretty quiet. Their dog must not like being in their flat on its own as it was barking and howling at one point.

My step daughter tonight is staying at my partners mum and dads house again and my partner is at his friends house for a lads night in. I have got a night off. I have enjoyed a nice night relaxing and watching TV while browsing the Internet. I will have to make sure that I do not get to bed too late though as I will not be getting a lie in tomorrow morning. I will get it on Sunday morning instead.

A very funky day

Today my partner has been lovely to me. He not only treated me to a lie in, but he took the younglings to school and nursery, collected the twins from nursery and then went strait to his mothers house. I was then able to go shopping while he fetched my eldest from school.

I had a lovely relaxing morning and my shopping trip was great. The town where I go shopping has got a new shop to replace the Woolworths that had closed. It was a shop that I liked which was in the town where I grew up. It is called home bargains and I was able to get some great things from there for the hom. I got a wok, so I am looking forward to using that. I an old style manual hover. My mum used to have one of them when I was younger and I thought it was great. I would often play with it for hours. It is much better than the electric and I can see myself hovering every day from now on. I think I might get myself another one when I go shopping next time.

I got some funky stuff from the pound shop. I was able to get presents for all of the younglings, my partner and for myself. I was even able to get something for my friends daughter (I happened to see something that she would like)

My partner even managed to get the front door fixed today. It is so nice to be able to open it with ease.

I was really laden down with bags by the end of the day though. My shoulders were aching from all of the weight. I got some really good things though and I managed to get some great bargains as well.

I was uploading pictures tonight and I found this one of my daughter that made me smile. She likes hiding behind trees and saying boo when you pass them. I think that she need to fins a bigger tree though.

 

Party time for my eldest

My eldest son has been to a birthday party of one of his school friends today. Thankfully my partners mum was able to take him in the car and my partner went with him. I stayed at home with the twins and my step daughter while they were away.

He enjoyed himself and from what my partner said was good as well. I am glad that he was able to make it though. The person who invited him is a boy who my son really likes.

I went to visit my friend in the morning while the twins were at nursery. It will be nice to start calling around once a week. I do not need to get out more but it is nice to get out to see friends. It also gives me a chace to stop rushing around for a short while and not worry about the housework.


Though I really need to get the bucket out at the moment. I also need to make sure that I go through some things to make sure that anything that I can get rid of gets put in before they it gets emptied tomorrow. I cannot really find the motivation though, so I think what I will do is just put the bucket outside.

Lovely clean kitchen

The morning was another busy one for me. After dropping the younglings off at school and nursery, I ran off to the shops to make sure that I got anything that I needed for dinner and for other meals that we eat.

By the time that I got home I did at least get time to get a cup of tea and relax a bit before I meditated and went to collect the twins.

While the twins were playing on the computers (my daughter is really good at playing the Dora game) I carried on cleaning the kitchen. I really cleaned the recycle corner and I washed the floor. The kitchen is looking so much better now. I need to make sure that it stays like that. I managed to get my partner to acknowledge that I had done a good job of cleaning it. I have got some things to get rid of, but the bucket will be emptied on Thursday so I can get it sorted out tomorrow. I still have got some work to do in the kitchen, but not that much. I need to sort through the cupboards as they are very cluttered.

The rest of the day went as normal, but the boys have not been settling off well at all. I thought at least my youngest had settled when I had finished reading. Unfortunately they were both awake. I thought it was my partners turn (I had at least read for longer) but he went off in a huff. He came back about  minutes later telling me that he had bopped the book off my eldest's head. I was not happy with him and we had an argument. I am still waiting for him to say sorry as he blamed me for getting mad with them as I sent him through to read to them (how dare I)

Board games

I always loved playing board games when I was younger. I think they are great fun. I have been looking forward to be able to play board games and role playing games with my younglings for a while now (I am just waiting for them to get old enough)

We have been playing board games with my step daughter when she comes over though, and that has been really good fun. We have got a good collection of board games. I got a couple from my brother for Christmas. A lego game that is based on Harry Potter and an Indiana Jones game. I am hoping to play the Indiana Jones game this weekend.

I phoned up Matell today to see if they could send out a replacement card for the Harry Potter mystery at Hogwarts game. Sadly as the game was made in 2002, they were not able to send me any. What I have done is order another copy of the game and use that as a spare parts game (or a back up game) but I know that it will be a game that will be played again and again, so it is worth it. I really like it, it is a really fun game to play.

I have ordered another board game from the Internet today. I was looking at what Harry Potter board games were available. I saw Harry Potter Diagon Alley game. I thought I would get that and see what it would be like. It looks like it is from the same year as the other Harry Potter game. Hopefully that will be fun as well. It is always a gamble when buying used games that you get all the pieces in it. I hope that it does.

 

 It is Burn night tonight. We are supposed to have Haggis for supper, but we did not have anything in the house, so I made mince and tatties instead. I know it not the proper meal, but at least I made a traditionally Scottish meal. The younglings all enjoyed it though.

Happy Birthday Rabbie.

Trouble again with the neighbors again

Today has not been a bad day and I managed to get some cleaning up done in my bedroom (and find a few bits of my eldest sons school uniform) I also watched the fast and the furious. I got the DVD recently but I had not had chance to watch it until today. I really enjoyed the film. It was fun and not too serious. I liked the car chases as well. I have got a sift spot for Vin Diesel as well (I have liked him since I saw him in the film Pitch black)

We also watched Toy Story one and two today with the younglings. They have never seen them before and they really liked them. They did not sit down for the whole of the time, but they did really well. My eldest had got a book based on the first film so he was able to follow along with the film with his book. He enjoyed mathing the pictures in the book with the scene in the film.

We did have some bother with the neighbors again today. The younglings went through a ten minute madness that can happen to them from time to time. This was greeted by them banging down on the floor to us. That really annoyed us both, in particular my partner who hear it (I was cleaning at the time) he said it sounded like they bashed with a hammer.

He wanted to go up and see them as it is not right them acting like this. It is bullying and intimidating behaviour. It was fine for them to do their DIY and make lots of banging noises, but it is not fine for our children to every so often have a bit of a mad run around. They could be in for a big shock when their twin boys become children (unless of course they just kick them out to play outside so that they do not have to hear the noise)

It was just annoying that it seems to be all right for them to make a noise, but not us. It was not unreasonable and they did calm down shortly after they banged down to us. Thankfully we have not heard anything since, but it does seem really childish of them to act like this. The sooner we get a new home the better. It is a shame that we cannot get a detached home. Or like a croft with lots of room.

I would love to live in a house like this:

I know it would seem strange to some people, but I would prefer a place like this over a huge mansion. I have no desire to live in a huge home. I think something like this would be idea for a family of my size. I think there is definitely enough room for five.

Getting a good sleep and time to myself

Today not only did I get a lie in but I also got to spend some time to myself as my partner took the younglings over to his mums house.

He went over there for a good few hours. It was really nice to just be able to listen to some music and clean up in peace. I also managed to browse the Internet in peace. Though the neighbors seemed to be banging the floor a lot at one point. I thought that they were moaning about my music, but I decided to leave it on anyway. I like listening to music and I knew it was not that loud. It only happened sporadicly so I just left the music playing. I did not hear anything after a while.

The neighbors seemed to have stomped around their flat a lot today. Both my partner and I think they are trying to get back at us for my daughter making banging noises. We are just going to ignore them. If they want to play childish games like that then they can play them. We just will not join in.

The rest of the day went well and we once again played the Harry Potter cluedo style game. I really do like it, in fact I think I prefer it to the proper cluedo game. My partner won this week.

Keeping the kitchen clean

Now that my kitchen is looking much better I have to make sure that it stays that way. I was a bit miffed though when my partner never said anything about how well I did. I was not expecting lots of praise but it would have been nice if he would have showed some appreciation, he is always quick to maon when it is messy, but never when I actually do something to clean it.

I managed to get some of the junk cleared from around my desk so that I can move my chair around better. I just need to clear it out properly.

Thank goodness that the weekend is here. I rush about so much during the week that I am glad to not have to do so at the weekend. I was thinking that when I was out at the shops tat all I seemed to have done during the day was rush around. I did managed to get an hours nap in the afternoon, but I have been out many times. Thankfully I did not need to take my step daughter dancing, so that saved one trip.

I have also put up some of the pictures that I have taken of the younglings as well as some of the pictures that I have taken up on the wall. I think they look funky. I am not fussed about having lots of pictures up around the flat, but it is nice to have some up on one wall. I will have to get some more at some point. The younglings likes seeing it. They giggled and pointed at the pictures that they were on. I will have to get a good picture of my stepdaughter to add there as well.

I have been busy today

The day has been a productive day.

In the morning when my partner had to get the train in I decided to change what I was going to make for dinner. I thought it would be better for something from the local shop. I was not able to get to the other shops as my friend was dropping off some clothes for my daughter.

This worked out well and the rest of the day went pretty well. Well apart from still being snippy with the younglings about them making lots of noise. I really need to stop getting so snippy.

The twins really like playing on the computers at the moment but I need to make sure that they do not play on them too much as they also play really nicely together and I do not want them to stop the proper interactive playing.

The dinner went well but my partner was not feeling well. He had been feeling bad at college all day and pretty much went to bed as soon as the younglings went to bed.

This is when I really became busy. I decided to start start working on cleaning the kitchen instead of going on the computer. I have found that if I go strait on the computer after reading to the younglings I do not get any housework done at all. Sometimes it is worth sacrificing a night to get something cleaned. I cleared the most cluttered side. It looks really funky now. It took me a while and I am shattered now, but it was worth it. I just need to make sure that it is maintained.

I need to clear my computer desk area next, as that is a complete mess.

I do think that I have had some good news tonight. I noticed that my daughter crying at some point (the crying is not the good news) and she was getting back into bed. I think what the banging noise was my daughter getting up in the middle of the night, sitting in the reading chair and rocking back and forth making the chair then bang into the wall and thus creating the really loud noise.

I really hope that this is the problem sorted out as the last thing that I want is to have problems with the neighbors.

A challenging day

Today has been a challenging day.

It was going well to begin with, I was getting the younglings ready to take out for school and nursery and I was running on time (a little ahead actually) when I heard someone at the door. It was our neighbor coming to moan about the noise. I told her I was doing my best to keep the younglings as quiet as possible. She then started talking about banging noises and I assumed she was referring to my daughters habit of rocking back and forth while sat on a chair making a banging noise. I again told her that I have been telling her to stop but she keeps on doing it.

She was not referring to that (well I do not think) she told me that there was a noise like a door being banged closed at around 1.30 and 5.30 which woke people up.; I told her that it could not have been us as we were asleep. She was not believing me at all and she was not cutting me any slack at all, even though I was apologizing. I even asked her what she thought I should do about it. She thought for a bit before saying that it was not her problem, well I think if she is upset about the noise then yes it is also her problem. Especially if she is to go through with her threat of contacting the council.

I am a little annoyed that she has just assumed that it was us that has been making the noise. It could be the other neighbors who are making it. I did not hear anything at that time and I know that I did wake at times during the night and I did not hear anything. My daughter slept in the bed with me so I doubt she made much noise.

I have taken the reading chair out of the bedroom and we will see if that makes any difference. I just took some cushions in to read on and they were taken out of the room after.

I do not like this, it really has put me on edge, I was then snippy with the younglings after. They even stamped on the floor after my daughter had a tantrum. They are like children above also having a tantrum. I will have to contact the housing association as soon as possible about getting moved.

After I dropped off the younglings I went up to my friends house for the morning. I have not been up for a while, so it was nice to see her. I had a nice time and we had a good chat. Bless her she passed on some clothes to me and for my daughter (she has three girls)

The afternoon went well...well apart from a run in with a crabbit old woman. I was walking home from school when my daughter ran into someones garden (she does this even though I have told her not to) I was telling her to get out and as she was walking out she was touching the lights on the way. An old woman tapped on the window, opened it and shouted about getting her off them as they were expensive. She was only touching them to I responded, she had a gripe back and I just told her to stop being so crabbit. Why to people have to be so rude, all she had to do was ask nicely. No wonder there is such nastiness and hatred in the world.

Thankfully that was the last incident of the day. My step daughter was over and once again she barely said a word to be before leaping onto my partner when he got home and hovering around him. I know that she does not mean anything by it but I do wish that she would interact more with me.

All I need now is a bath and strait to bed.

I did well today

Today went really well. I got the out of the house in time. I am really getting the hang of the morning schedule and the younglings are great as well.

I did think I saw a mouse run across the living room. Our home is right next to the wood so it is not unusual to see mice. I just need to make sure that I start plugging up holes so that they do not come through.

After I had dropped them off at nursery and school I ran up to the shops to get some food. It is the best time for me to get it done as it is too stressful. After a comment that my son made I went to the shop armed with a shopping list for two days worth of shopping. At least I will not need to get anything tomorrow. I also made it back home in good time, so I was able to get some nice peaceful time at home before I rushed out to get the twins from nursery.

The afternoon went well but I had to tell my daughter off for being a bit too noisy at times. The twins enjoy playing on the computer. I think I will have to set a limit on them so that they only spend an hour on the computer.

My step daughter came over today. I was not sure if she was going to bother coming over as my partner is still away but I am glad that she stil came over. She will also be coming over tomorrow as normal.

I decided to keep the meal the same even though my step daughter was over. The meal went really well and even though I forgot to put an onion into my cottage pie it still tasted really nice (I know that I am biased but I did think it was lovely. I was proud that I managed to make a meal from scratch. I have not done thins for a while. I combination of being lazy and my partner cooking the meals. I will be doing more of this from now on. The cottage pie was really easy to make as well. The younglings were not sure about it at first but I managed to persuade them to eat it and they did really well. My step daughter ate all of hers up. I was happily surprised about that as she is a very fussy eater. I had put a few different types of herbs in there as well.

The late afternoon went well as well. I got a little snippy with them when they were not settling down when I was trying to clean up but thankfully I managed to get Sponge Bob on and they say really nicely. They were once again great for their bath and I left the TV on and they sat nicely while I got them ready.

I spoke to my partner tonight, he tried to call while I  was reading to the younglings. It was unfortunate that he was not able to phone earlier. He is really enjoying it up there and will be back tomorrow. He has said about us going up there for a holiday. I think that would be wonderful.

The one thing that is bugging me is how quickly time is flying. They are off to bed and before I know it, it is the end of the night. Off to bed ready to start the madness yet again. It really does seem like it is never ending.

On my own today

My partner left the house at four this morning to go away to the highlands for his college course.

Today has gone surprisingly well and while I had a wobbly bit at the end I feel remarkbly stressfree for having dealt with everything on my own today.

In fact I think I kept control of my temper better than when my partner is here. I think that is because he is also short tempered.

The morning went as well as it normally does and so did the afternoon but the testing time really was when I got home from school in the afternoon with my eldest son. I did get frustrated at them on the way home as they did not listen to me so I will have to try something out for that.

Once I got home I managed to get them to behave while I was getting the dinner ready (and praise them for doing so) though I had to get them to learn to play with the Pepper pig tent properly. It was a challenge getting something for dinner though. I got some vegetables but I did not have anything to go with it. I thought I would use up the last of the frozen vegetables that we had in the freezer, but as soon as I put them in the pan I knew that it was straight in the bucket with them. The vegetarian sausage rolls had got stuck to the packaging (and they did not taste that good when I ate them, after of course scraping the paper off first) thankfully a packet of chicken nuggets came to the unhealthy rescue along with a tin of sweetcorn and some mushrooms. I went overboard with the potatoes but thankfully I will add them to tomorrow lot.So tonights dinner for ther younglings was potatoes, sweetcorn with mushrooms, chicken nuggets covered in gravy. Mine was the same except for veggie sausage rolls instead of the chicken nuggets.

When it came down to getting ready for bed I managed to get them to sit down quietly and watch Sponge Bob while I tidied their room and the living room. I then told them that their bath time was a time when they were to wind down for bed and to be quiet. The were for the first time in  very, very long time quiet for bath time. They also did not spill any water out of the bath. I think that the no shouting thing is working better than the shouting ever did.

It did go wrong when I told them just to sit quietly while I got them ready. I should have known that this was too much to ask for asn my eldest was starting to get noisy again. I ended up shouting and getting mad at them. I said sorry and thankfully it was not too long before I had got them herded into bed. I will try again tomorrow night but with a different tactic. I will allow them some talking and some giggling but it is hard for them to understand that that time of the night is the quiet time.

I thought I was going to get some trouble from my eldest settling but after an initial wobble he settled off.

Overall I do feel proud of myself for how well I have managed. Tonight after this I will prepare a shopping list for tomorrow morning. It is worth sacrificing a little time in the morning to go shopping for what I need for their dinner tomorrow. When making dinner tonight I decided that tomorrows dinner will be Shepard's pie. I can thankfully now get veggie mince. If I stick in a few vegetables with the mince then that should at least make it healthier (ooh arn't I the master cook in the making)

Going to the shop with all three is too challenging. I know that the only way to get the good in the shop is to take them out, but I only want to do this once they listen to me and do as I ask straight away.

Well all this is all depending on if the veggie sausage rolls do not make me sick in the meantime.

A very busy day

The morning was going along as normal, I even managed to get the recycle run done (I can easily forget to do that) I had washed the mountain of dishes and I was working on my partners flask when I noticed that the water had turned a funny color. This is normally a sign that it will be going off soon. My partner told me that his mother also did not have any water.

I quickly dashed out to the shops to get some bottled water. The shelves were emptying but I was able to get six two litre bottles.

When I got back I took a moment to prepare myself for the next shopping trip. My partner is going away for a couple odays tomorrow with his college course so I had to go out to get some things from the shop. I also needed to use up my healthy start vouchers on fruit and veg. I decided that as I was getting a lot of heavy things I would do it in two trips so that I was not over doing things. This worked out well as eve though I had put it into two trips I was aching at the end of it.

I still had to go out to the shop one more time to get some milk but thankfully that was it. Going out to the shops four times in one day is more than enough.

I do not know that has been the matter with the younglings. They have really been acting up, being cheeky and not listening to us. I really got mad with them at one point. Thankfully they have settled off to sleep with no problems.

We did have a problem with the heating. The winter is never a good time for the heating to go but thankfully after turning one of the dials the heating came back on. While the weather is a lot warmer than it was when we got back from my parents it is still not warm enough to not have any heating.

The only thing I need to do is have a relaxing bath and help my partner get ready for tomorrow.

Fighting over who gets a lie in

And I won.

Ever since the start of School I have been getting a lie in on a Saturday morning regardless of whether my partner was drunk the night before or not. He was saying this morning that he always got a lie in on Saturday and I said not. We were both right as he used to get a lie in on a Saturday morning but not any more.

I was so thankful that he let me have a lie in as I was as shattered as he was. I must have been tired as I slept until 11.

He has now taken the younglings to his mums for a bit. I love getting the peace on Saturday during the day. It gives me a great opportunity to look at the Internet and do the housework in peace. It always takes a while to clean the living room. I give it a proper sweeping and clear things up. I have started packing my partners bag up for him going away on Monday. He will be spending three days up in the highlands working on a coastal path for his college course. I think it will be great for him (I wish we could all go up) He will be right on the North West coast (parallel with the Isle of Lewis)

I have cleaned the living room pretty quickly this time so that will give me time to clean the kitchen as well. That is such a mess so I am not sure how much I can get done before they get back.

A peaceful night

My step daughter is not staying over tonight and as a result my partner managed to arrange a night in at his friends house. This has meant that I have got some peace for tonight.

I am spending a night watching cheesy TV. I like that. I think that if the line up is the same next week I will still put it on when when my step daughter is here.

It is nice to ahve a relaxing night after how today has been.

My daughter would have tested the patience of a Jedi Master. She was being really cheeky, having big huffs and just generally playing up. She was also putting whole toilet rolls down the toilet. I took one out but my partner had the messiest one to clean up. She had put down a toilet roll, done a stinky on top of it and then put another toilet roll on top of that. He did not have fun getting them out. We will have to watch her every time she goes until she once again stops doing this. It is strange how every so often she will put whole toilet rolls down the toilet.

Though I really do need to find ways of not getting would up so easily. It is hard with younglings as they do not really give you the chance to employ the techniques to calm down and when you are walking through the wood you cannot walk into a different room to calm down either. I will see what I can find out though. Thankfully that is one of the good things about the Internet, there is so much information available.

Murphys law

Typically after I had mentioned earlier about some of the presents not arriving, they arrived within five minutes of me posting.

The post man said that he missed me this morning but redelivered for us in the afternoon. I thought that was really funky of him to do that.

They all love the Pepper pig house that I got her and they like what my mum and dad got them. My partners parents came across and saw them all and my step daughter also came across. She has been over nearly all this week. She has been over on Tuesday, Wednesday and today. She will also be coming over tomorrow as well and stopping on Saturday night.

They have all gone to sleep with their build a bear teddies that I got for them. They all looked so sweet.

Happy birthday to my twins

They are four today.

Sadly my daughters present did not arrive today, but at least I had a present that she could happy. She was not upset though and I know that she will be happy when it arrives.

My son loves the carpet roadway that we got for him and they both like what my brother and sister in law got them. We are still waiting for what my mum and dad got them but they will appreciate getting the presents spread out.

I got them a cream cake each. We went through one of them for lunch and they will get the other for dinner. I am not a fan of fancy cakes, which is why I love the cream cakes that I can get locally. They taste so good and they are inexpensive (it cost £4.30 for the two cakes)

We had some more snow today and I made one woman laugh when I told her that I love this weather. The good aspect is that the icy wood is a little bit easier to walk around.

My mission for today

My mission for today is to get an early night. I really must manage it tonight as I am so tired. I have not had enough sleep for the past few days and I am so tired. I am not concentrating properly and that is not good for me and will also affect how I interact with my younglings.

I think the best way for me to do this is to switch off my computer at 9.30 tonight and get ready and go to bed.

I have heard a strange thing on the news today. There is a guy called Stephen Gough who likes to walk up and down the UK naked. He has got into trouble for this and been jailed. But now they are threatening to jail him for life if he continues to  so. I really do not see what the fuss is about. He is just naked. He is not hurting anyone, he is just going about his day to day life, but with no clothes on. Not only how it was done many years ago but how some tribes still do it today. Why are people so offended by nudity. I think it is really pathetic, are we becoming a nation of weaklings that shy away from a natural naked person.

Eek a close call

I was just getting ready for bed when I noticed a smell. I mentioned it to my partner and he said that he could not smell anything.

I dismissed it as maybe being connected to the fact that I have had a bloced up nose. However when I went into the kitchen I could smell it again. I started investigating it and it was not too long before I found one of the cooker burners on. The smell was from my partners lunch bag which was in a pan above the burner and melting nicely.


A few other things were burning as well. I was very thankful that nothing was actually on fire. I dealt with the things and made sure that the cooker was clear of clutter. I am going to tell my partner that the cooker is never to be covered with clutter ever again.

I do not really want to think about how it could have turned out.

Though after that my partner and I had a talk about a few random things and there went my early night.

Ah well, better luck tomorrow.

Sensitive neighbors

Thankfully we have not hear anything from them today but we again hear from them yesterday, moaning about the noise that the younglings make. We can only do our best but young ones can be noisy and they have no concept about how much noise they create.

This has led to more tension being in the household. My partner has been really short with the younglings.

Though today we managed to get them to be quieter without getting too mad at them. So hopefully they will learn how to be quieter. But it does feel like we are walking on eggshells at the moment.

I saw the head teacher of the primary school that my eldest son goes to.  She is happy to let the twins go to school next year instead of this year. Because they are born in January there are no questions asked when I request for this to happen.

I am happy that I am choosing to wait an extra year before they start school. I really do not see what harm an extra year of having fun at nursery will do. This will mean that they get their two years at nursery as well. I just feel that four and a half is too young to start school.

Thankfully my mother has also accepted that they will be five and a half when they start. I did not tell her they they could have started this year. She would not have been happy about that. She was not happy when I told her about my eldest starting when he was five and a half. She thought that was too late. She is just used to the English education system where I think they start far too early.

I really need to get an earlier night. I am shattered after going to bed too late. I need to get myself to come off the Internet earlier.

Clearing the steps

I thought that as we use the wood everyday to get to and from the school that I would clear some of the worst steps. It will make our journey that much easier.

So I found the spade that we had in the shed and started work on it when I went across. It was tougher work that I thought it would be and I really had to bash the spade down hard to get the stuff to move. Some of the steps I was only able to move a bit, but just enough to get footing.

One the way back I moved even more ice from the worst steps, so they look a lot better now. The ice came off nicely so I was able to clear whole steps.

This is what I had managed to get done when I went to collect my eldest son from school.

Ice in the wood

Walking to nursery and school this morning was a challenge. The weather has warmed up in the last few days and of course the snow is melting. This has led to there being a lot of ice in the wood at the back of our home.

We managed to get to school this morning without too many problems but there was points when my boys kept falling over on the ice.

I got back with the twins from nursery without problems but I had to take the younglings down the stairs one at at time.

I have now found my spade and when we go to collect my eldest son from school I will take it along and clear the steps of ice. It should be easier to clear as we are having another warmer day. It is four degrees today and when it was cold it was averaging around minus four. Though I must confess that I did enjoy the cold weather.

Tension in the air

My partner has been really on edge recently and that has been affecting us all. It has been putting me on edge as well and I think the younglings are playing up as a result of if. Unfortunately another thing my partner does as well is wind people up and because I am on edge I am very easy to wind up. We had an argument today and it ended up with us swearing at each other in front of the younglings.

He has also become paranoid about making too much noise. I knew that he would react like that. The main thing that our neighbor objected to was the door being slammed. It has not help that he is getting wound up about his college course. He is getting ratty with the younglings for being noisy. I think I will have to have a word with him when he is calm about how he is dealing with them. Children need disapline but the best way to do this is by being calm.

My partner managed to break the puppet theatre today. I knew it would not be long before it happened. I can repair it but it is going to have to stay away until it can be used under proper supervision.

On a lighter note my daughter has been asking for several days to play one of the board games. I would love to play one of the games with her but I think she is a bit too young. Though I could always try with the twins one day when they have finished nursery. I will have to read the instructions on how to play the game.

I have also ordered the birthday presents for the twins. I got my son a mat for the floor that has got roadways on it and for my daughter I got her a pop up play house. I think they will both love what we have got and it is different to what we have normally got them.

It took me a while to get the picture uploaded but this is a picture of our funky new bed. It is really nice to sleep in but we are going to have to move the exercise bench from the end of the bed as there is no longer any more room for it.

Time to myself

I was very lucky that in the afternoon my partner took the younglings to his mothers house. This meant that I have just over three hours to myself.

I used that time to clean the living room up. I would have liked to have got more done but at least I was able to get something done.

Even though I was busy I did get the chance to get the house to myself and it was lovely and peaceful.

We tried out a new board game in the evening. It was a Harry Potter mystery game. It is like Cluedo. We had seen the Harry Potter Cluedo game advertised but we did not really like the look of it. My partner found an older Harry Potter game that was like it but looked better and of course was less expensive. It was easy to play and it really was great fun. I really enjoyed it, though that was helped by the fact that I won but I think I would have enjoyed it as much even if I had not have won.

I met the neighbors today

The new neighbors knocked on our door this morning to say about being careful about the noise me make. I thought this would be a good opportunity to go around, introduce myself and say sorry. I did so and she seems like a lovely lass. I told her that the younglings every so often go craand that we would do our best to keep our noise to a minimum. I also warner her that we will have to slam the front and the back door at the moment due to them being warped by the weather. It went well and she seemed reassured that I said that the first six months with twins are the worst as she is already halfway through it. Twins are very challenging and especially so when they are your first.

Last night when I was listening to the radio show in Québec, I worked out how to find out what shows are on at the time of listening to it and which radio shows play music. This will mean that when there are the discussion shows I will be able to listen to the music shows that have been archived. I am not sure if they will include the track listing, but at least I will be able to listen to the funky music. I do not need to worry about doing this until Monday as they usually play a lot of music at the weekend.

I have downloaded a album from a band that I had heard on the two radio stations. They are called Cage the elephant. The album is really funky. I think it will not be too long before I have got a funky selection of music. I am really enjoying to music again. It feels like it has been a long time since I did and I was getting out of touch with new music. I have been getting the younglings involved as well. They have also enjoyed the music.

I think it is important for them to be introduced to music now. They have watched TV for far too long. It is time to reach for the off button. They do not watch the TV a lot of the time and it just ends up being background noise and a waste of electricity.

It is funny though how children can act differently in one place that they do in another. When we were at my mum and dads house over Christmas they never bothered about climbing on the furniture,  but now they are back home they are all clambering over it. I have kept telling them. So now they are getting time out if they do climb on it. That has helped a bit. Though it does not help when one of the programmes that the younglings watch features characters who jump up and down on the couch. Ah well, may the force be with me.

I have also had fun today putting up the puppet theatre that my partners friends mother got for the younglings. It is very funky but it was a pain in the ass to put up and we have to be careful as it comes apart far too quickly. It would have been better if I could have put it up once the younglings, but at least it is up and while it was stressful, thankfully it is over now.

New neighbors

We had a fairly good sleep in our new bed last night. Not because of the bed though. That is a really funky bed, but because not only did we go to bed late but I was once again disturbed by the younglings.

My eldest son christened the bed by having an accident in it. Thankfully the sheet was not damp so I think we got off very lightly.

We have got some new neighbors move into the flat above us. I am pleased that they have children so that will hopefully mean that they will not be playing music loudly late at night or having parties. I think I will have to call around tomorrow and introduce myself. I have never done that before but I think it is about time that I started. I am not good at getting to talk to people. Maybe if I make a little effort to start with, I might have a bit more success. I have not even seen them yet.

Though I heard them object to a moment when the children started being loud. They stamped on the floor. I must admit that annoyed me a little at the time. They could have come down and asked us to be careful about the amount of moise we make from time to time, but no they chose the easy and rude way. We did not even object to the moise that they made when they were moving in. I understand that they do not want loud noises and I feel the same, but there are ways of going about it.

Hopefully by going around to see them tomorrow will help things. It will be nice to see who is living above us.

Thankfully my eldest was good at settling off tonight. I really needed that as I really am not feeling well tonight. My dinner is not sitting well tonight. Hopefully this feeling will pass soon as the living room is looking a mess and really needs cleaned. My step daughter is here and has not said a word to me since I put the younglings to bed. I do not think that she will ever speak to me.

I am going to start reading my Ray Mears book about Canada tonight. I am listening to a Canadian Rock station tonight. They have got some really great rock stations. I listen to one in New Brunswick and one in Québec. The Québec rock station is great as they list the songs as they have been playing them. This has meant that I have been able to download some of the songs that I have heard. It has also been great for me because I have got the chance to hear some French Canadian rock as well. I really must restart my FRench learning.

New bed arrived

The new bed arrived today. It is so, so funky. I had fun putting it together. I thought I would be a bit stuck when I saw all the different kinds of screws that they put in, but after I had sorted them out into piles I did not have any problems.

The twins stayed at home so that I did not miss the delivery. They were really excited when I started putting up the bed. Thankfully they were really well behaved while I was working on it. There were a couple of moments when they were being pests, but that was not too bad.

I then cleaned the bedroom after the younglings went to bed as I thought it would be nice to have our funky new bed in a clean room. I even wiped down the walls. Though in wiping the walls I realized how bad the damp was getting in the room. I will give the walls a proper wash down tomorrow.

We have got another cold night tonight. Last night it was -8 before I went to bed and tonight it is around -5. It has been forecasted to go into the double figures. We made sure that the younglings were well wrapped up, as the bedrooms get so cold.

Went shopping

I got a fright from the younglings this morning when I took them to nursery and school. My eldest and youngest were close to the road when I called for them to wait. They did not listen to me and just walked across anyway. Thankfully it is a very quiet road and there was nothing on the road at the time. My daughter though decided to walk back across the road toward me (even though I was telling her to stop) I got a big fright when  I saw a car reversing down their drive toward her. Thankfully the car was able to stop and I told her off for giving me such a fright. Thankfully she started listening to me but I need to find a way to make sure that they listen to me when out and about. Accidents happen in seconds and they need to learn that they need to listen to me and do as I say as soon as I have said it.

Thankfully there was an accident today and hopefully I can do something about it to make sure that it hopefully does not happen.

After I dropped them off I went home and I was able to relax a little before I went out shopping. My partner had his last day of his Christmas holiday, so I was able to go out and know that he would collect the twins from nursery (there normally is not enough time for me to go out shopping, as I am out and about so much taking and collecting younglings from nursery and school)

I needed to get new bedding that will fit our funky new bed that is due to arrive tomorrow. I am so much looking forward to it arriving.

I managed to get a duvet, base sheet and some new pillowcases. I think they look really funky. I will have to get another duvet cover at some point but that will have to wait.

While I was out I was able to get a couple of new lamps and a new toilet seat. The one we had was broken and the children were getting scared of going to the toilet as it kept sliding about.

I did not do much shopping as once I had got all of the bedding I became laden down, so all I managed was two shops before I had to go home. I did not even manage to get into my favorite shop (Poundland) I love it in there as it is great value and there is some really funky stuff there.

Though I was annoyed when I got home as when I went to get a light bulb for the new lamps only to find that they do not fit. Typical when I have lots of light bulbs in the house that they do not fit. It was an awkward fitting but at least I was able to find one light bulb. I am not too keen on the color of the light, so I am hoping to get another (less expensive) one at some point.

I saw one of my friends this afternoon. I have not had the chance to see her since before the holidays. It was also nice for my eldest to play with her eldest. She is not too far from her due date. I would like to get some shots of her wee one.

Ooooh I am so excited about my new bed arriving (LOL what a rock and roll life I lead)

We are home

After twelve hours of traveling we got home.

We set off at just before nine in the morning and we got home at about nine in the evening. The journey went really well and the younglings did really well for how long the journey was.

There was a man on the table with us for about half of the journey who was lovely. He shared some of his food with  my younglings. He also kept my daughter entertained. He was lovely. As was the woman who was there for the last part.This is one of the things I like about traveling on a long journey on the train. You get the opportunity to meet new people and spend a nice time with them in a way that you do not really get if I would have flown down to my parents or if I had have driven.

The person who was looking after our home did not sadly put the heating on while we were away so it is taking a while to get the place warm again. Thankfully the pipes did not freeze. It is so nice getting back to the snow and the cold weather.

I have enjoyed my time away but I am glad to be home.

I managed to get to the shops and get some food and milk in for tomorrow, so tomorrow I can have a nice and relaxing day before it is back to school.

The last day

This is the last day of our Christmas and New year vacation. And as a leaving present we got some snow to look at. It snowed last night for a short while but there is still some of it around today.

We will see plenty of it when we get home though. Thankfully there does not seem to be any problems with the trains. My mum and dad may have moaned about us coming down by the train but it was the best way for us to travel this time. Flights have been canceled and the roads are not good to travel on.

We had an interesting challenge while I was packing. My partner was going to take the younglings out for a walk to not only burn off some energy but to also give me some peace to finish packing. All was going well until we tried to find my eldest son's shoes. We found one of them but not the other. We looked for them everywhere but could not find them at all. My partner ended up just taking out the twins. He was not happy about being left behind.

I even unpacked the bags to see if they had been accidentally packed, but they were not there. I even got my pendulum out and used that to see if it could help me.

Eventually I went up to the third floor and I remembered taking up some bedding as it was in the way. I gave it a shake and the lost shoe fell out. I was relieved to find the shoe as I am not sure how we would have traveled tomorrow if we had not have found his show.

The pendulum was right though, it said that we would find the shoe and that it was in the house. It would not be specific though but it is getting better at finding things. Maybe practice makes perfect.

There is something that I find strange though. The night before I traveled down I was so, so nervous about traveling. I only felt better once I was on the second train. But the night before traveling home I feel not only fine, but I am looking forward to the journey. Maybe because that even though I am not too keen on my damp home, it is still my home and I am glad to be going back.

Though hopefully the pendulum is right when it said that we are going to be offered a new home in January. I think I will have to start pestering the housing association when I get back home.

New year

The new year is here. I was very pleased last night as I was able to watch BBC Scotland. This meant that we were able to watch Still game and another comedy show. I was then able to watch the New Year fireworks from Edinburgh instead of from London.

It made me feel so much better as I really wanted to see in the new decade in Scotland (I should have thought about that when I was booking my tickets) but last night when I was watching Scottish TV I suddenly felt much better and it was then that I realized that I was seeing the new decade in as a Scot. I really am no longer English (I just need to work on my accent now) That made me feel great as then it did not matter that I was not in Scotland as Scotland will always be in my heart, and I will take a little bit of it wherever I go. Also now thanks to how things work out I will be able to watch Scottish TV as well.

One thing did make me smile. In the Daily hate mail online they were showing pictures of the New year drunken madness. but Scotland came out of it good. In England they were all badly dressed and rolling about on the floor, but the ones from Scotland were great. they showed people properly dressed for the cold weather and looking like they were having fun without getting lethered. Nice for an English paper to show Scotland in a good way.

I went out for a walk with my mother and the younglings. We went to the beach and along into the town where the beach was. I got some nice shots of them on the beach. Though I was not happy with my boys as they were not listening to me or doing as I asked. I ended up losing my temper with them. I felt bad as I do not like raising my voice to them when there are people around. I also need to not get so snappy with them as it makes no difference. they do not listen to me if I talk normally to them or shout at them. I need to find another way of getting them to listen to them. I think I need to have a meeting with the teachers at nursery and my eldest son's teacher and see if they can help me.

I am feeling better now as I have had some peace. I have to start getting organized ready to start packing soon. I need to refind my train tickets and some other things. I know that I will get it done in time but I have to start now. Tonight will be just getting everything in one place. Hopefully there is not too much ice. the journey will be fun as one person will have to sit with the luggage until Plymouth.