Today I continued to feel better. I got a lovely lie in and I have done lots more reading today. I have really enjoyed reading books recently. I have enjoyed it much more than browsing the Internet.

I finished one book and I started another book. I have also ordered some more books from the Internet.

I do need to find out some books with Darth Vader in them. My sons teacher said that he could not get dressed up as Darth Vader for world book day as he was not a book character. I will find one of my children's books that has him in it so that he can take it to school next Thursday. I will have to think about what to do with the twins as well. Ooh to get my daughter dressed up like Mara Jade would be wonderful.

It was old firm day in the football and sadly typically on days like this there was trouble. Thankfully unlike some places it was only minor. I was out shopping when I had to pause to look for something. Some lads passed and when they came bak one started lashing out at one of the others. An older woman started telling the aggressor off anf the two others went away. She and who I assume was her husband really started telling him off for being drunk. When I was up the road I heard him shouting back at her. It certainly was a bit of excitement for a Sunday afternoon.

Thankfully the rest of the day went without incident.

I managed to get some cleaning up done along with my arm exercises and Yoga. I got out of the habit of doing those. It is very easy to do this but much harder to get back into the habit. It will be worth it if I can stick to it.

Feeling better

I did not feel too tired today. I also managed to get up to the chemist in time to get my iron tablets. I have started taking them today as well.

My partner took the younglings over to his mum and dad's house today. He went for a while so it was lovely getting some time to relax. I did some cleaning but I also got time to read and listen to music.

Our neighbors are still being funny at times. My eldest son had a tantrum and he stamped his foot on the floor to us. I can understand them getting upset if it is in the middle of the night but this was just past seven in the evening. He had even stopped his tantrum when he stamped. I think it is a really childish thing to do.

I really will be glad when we move. Well of course depending on the neighbors that we get next. Neighbors are like family. You cannot choose them.

Feeling really tired

Today it the turn of feeling really tired and lacking in energy. I keep forgetting to collect my iron tablets from the chemist. I will see if I can do it tomorrow morning when my partner gets up from his lie in.  Maybe they will help.

I have been feeling tired for a lot of the day and I really do not have any energy. I would love to have the flat looking lovely, tidy and uncluttered but it is not going to happen until I get the energy back.

It was not fun walking out in the weather today. We managed to keep dry though and we did all right. Though I really do have to lay off the chocolate. My clothes are getting tight and while I know I am not overweight I know that it could be the start of the slippery slope downwards. With all of the walking that I do all I need to do is cut down or ideally cut out the chocolate to make a difference.


I have not found the disc to fix my computer yet. I really hope that it will not be too long before I do so though. It would be good to have my computer working again.

I am not sure if it is linked to my tiredness but I am also feeling really cold at the moment. Much more than normal. Maybe the dampness does not help as well. There has been some snow but it has mostly been rain. Though by the end of the day the snow was settling. It would be nice to wake up to see snow again.

My daughter lost her comfort blanket at one point today and while she fell asleep without it she woke sometime later and would not settle at all. Thankfully I managed to find it and the effect was instand. She calmed down immediately and settled off to sleep shortly after. My youngest son was not that bad when he lost his blanket. I know he still misses it as he shares my daughters during the day but he can sleep without it. My daughter can get by without it during the day but cannot sleep without it at night.

Feeling really fed up

Today has been a really down day. I just did not feel good and I had no energy to do anything.

It did not help that my partner gave me a morning off the school run. Though it was great to not have to rush out (especially in the rain) but it did not help my motivation. I did very little in the morning.

I did have a lovely bath though but it did little to help my mood. The rain really did not help me. Even though it was snowing yesterday I was happy to see it and it was nice to walk in. Today however was horrible to walk in and the wood was extra wet due to the snow having melted. I even wore my partners wellies to make sure that me feet did not get wet.

I just do not like waling in the rain though. I was glad that when I went to collect my eldest that I did not have to take the twins. I will not have that luxury tomorrow but I do have their waterproof jackets in their bags. Hopefully that will help.

I just wish it would have snowed today. We had so much snow yesterday and it is so, so sad to see it all gone in less than a day. I am glad that I got some pictures of it. I do need to move to a place that is not so damp though.

At least I am feeling better now and in my lack of energy in the afternoon I got to do something nice with the twins. I have got a lot of Pepper pig stuff and I got it out and they played nicely with it. My daughter got the chance to paint as well. She had fun.

Not feeling very well

I was not feeling to bad but during the day I started to feel worse. I even had to lie down for a bit. Thankfully my partner put the younglings to bed and I have been able to relax. A nice early night for me is going to be the way. I will have a nice soak in the bath before that though.

Though earlier on I got really ratty with my daughter. I think my bad temper was linked to not feeling well. I wish I would not get ratty like that though. It also upset my son. I managed to make it up to them both.

Walking to and from nursery was wild. Sadly the rain has started but for a good portion of the day there was heavy snow. When I went to collect the twins I looked like a snowman. Thankfully the snow was not so heavy on the way back.

The snow was really wet as there was rain today to my shoes ended up getting soaked. I do not like this threshold snow. The weather feels far too damp and it feels even colder than when it is below freezing.

My computer has also died today. I do not know what the matter with it is but it went off when my daughter was playing it and it just will not load up. I need to find my Vista disc. I will have to start searching from tomorrow.

Cleaning the flat

Is taking longer than I thought. I have been working on it today but I have mainly doing things like day to day cleaning. I would love to get to a point when the flat is spotless. I wonder when I will see it.

I have hovered the younglings bedroom. At least the younglings room is pretty much clean all of the time. It is in fact the cleanest room in all of the flat. I will just have to keep going. I will get there in the end.

I am going to have to see one of the mothers at school. My eldest son really wants to play at her sons house. She said that it will be difficult to arrange a time as they have evening activities and she works. I am hoping that she is not using that as an excuse to stop my son from seeing her son. I will see about getting her number so that we can arrange a time. I will see how that goes as I think it would be fun for him.

I have also come to a decision about the computer usage during the week. The younglings get upset when they play the games at times and they fight over the computer. I told them that I was fed up of them fighting so that they will only get to play on them at the weekend. that will be fun enforcing that until they get used to it. Something has to be done though.

I have been thinking today about the possibility  of moving to the highlands. My partner is definitely happy about it and mentioned about moving once he has finished his courses. I am really excited about it. It will not be anytime soon but I know that within the next five years we will be moving.

I will jsut have to contend myself with the exciting task of cleaning my bedroom before I crash.

Out and about

As per usual I was out and about getting things done. It is on days like this that I feel like I have not had much time to stay still.

By the time of evening coming I just do nothing to make up for the day of rushing about.

My partner had some exams to take today. He is feeling confident about them. I am so pleased that he managed to get through today and that he is feeling good about it. the best way to increase his confidence about his ability is to actually do something.

He has now applied to take the follow on course next academic year. I think that will be even better for him.

the younglings have had their moments today but they have been pretty good. I have also had some nice moments with them. I always do my best to remember those moments when they are driving me mad. I am trying as hard as I can to make sure that I do not get too wound up when they start to play up.

May the force be with me.

A lovely relaxing day

Today was the day for my lie in. And a lovely lie in I got. I got out of bed at gone 12.

I then decided to have a lazy day. I did need to go to the shops but after that I had a nice lazy day.

The younglings spent most of the day on the computer but that went well really. It gave me chance to really relax. I spent some time reading and some time with my younglings.

The younglings did well with their dinner. Usually there is one child that does not eat their dinner very well. Tonight though they all ate all of their dinner.

I did do something though in the evening. When I start clearing out things I tend to put stuff into bags to properly sort through later. The bags then sit untouched for ages. Tonight I went through a couple of the bags while I was watching Avatar. I was able to sort out a big pile of paper for the recycle bucket and find a few pictures that the younglings did.

I will be sad when they stop showing Avatar. I found it great for motivating me to get stuff done at night. They were only showing it during the English half term school holidays. I will be getting them all on DVD at some as possible. I will get it one season at a time. I am thinking of getting region one DVD's as there are special features on them that are not included on the region two DVD's. Though I will have to find out if the extras are worth having and if they are worth the extra money that I will need to spend on them.

A busy day

I have had a busy day. I have been cleaning the bedroom, general housework and washing clothes like a madwoman.

The clothes pile has become like a mountain. A mountain that never stops growing as well. As soon as I start to make some progress it grows again. I have got clothes on all of the radiators and there is a load in the washing machine waiting to be washed and there still is a basket full of clothes and I really need to wash the bedding.

I will have to have a mad few days washing to get on top of this pile.

I am not sure what is the matter with me but yesterday I got a sharp pain in my chest (in my side but in my lower chest area) it made breathing painful and it was a minute or two before I started to feel better. Ever since then my chest area has not felt right. If I need to cough I( take in a deep breath before I do so and there is a feeling of uncomfortable when I do so. Kind of constricting. I will see how the next day goes and if I need to I will make a doctors appointment as soon as possible.

Tghankfully it did not stop me from keeping on doing the housework. I made a good start to cleaning out the bedroom. I moved all of the clothes off the floor and folded them up while watching The avatar on TV. I will put them away before I crash. I also sorted aside csom clothes that will get taken to the clothes recycle point. I think that is great as any clothes that are good get sold in a charity shop but anything that is not sold will get recycled.

I think it is great how much can get recycled and how much easier it is to do so.

An up and down day

Today has been an odd day. There has been good things happen and other things that what was not so good.

Though at least there was some good things that happened.

I did get ratty with the younglgins and upset them on the way home, but at least i was able to make it up to them. That was the bad thing.

I have also had a lazy day. I have not done so much cleaning up today. I did discover a damp patch in our bedroom and I took the wallpaper off and washed the wall with antibacterial spray. The sooner we are out of this flat the better. We are going to start looking at privately rented homes as we really do have to get out. I am going to start phoning up next week and visiting the office to see about getting a home from the housing association.

It is good to have lazier days though. Even though I do have to clean the flat as soon as possible I know that I will be very busy tomorrow. I will be spending most of the day working on cleaning our bedroom.

My sweet younglings

This morning when I was taking the younglings to nursery and school. I saw a can in the play park and I decided to pick it up and put it in the recycle bank next to where the nursery is. I picked it up but when I was getting back over the wire fence I caught my foot on the fence and fell on the floor.

It really hurt. I scrapped my knee and bashed my hands. What really did warm me though was how my younglings acted. They all rushed over and asked if I was all right. You could really hear the concern in their voices. I was so touched to see them being so caring (even though I was in a lot of pain at the time) my daughter even kissed my knee better for me.

It made me feel so proud of them to see them act like that.

I did not get a great sleep last night so I was very tired today. I was able to get a nap in the afternoon and that really helped me feel better. Thankfully my partner had a half day so I did not have to take the twins when I went out to get my eldest from school.


I have managed to find my eldest sons new cat. It had accidentally put in the washing machine. It did need washing as my daughter accidentally dropped him on a muddy road. He was only slightly damp so my son was able to take him to bed with him. He would not settle off without him. I think it is so sweet how he has taken to plush toys. I am glad as it will hopefully help him with his nighttime fears.

Busy cleaning

For the third day I have been cleaning the flat. I'd just had enough of it being a mess. I think the final straw was then I saw a programme called 'how clean is your house' and I realized that the clutter in our home could rival some of those featured on the show. It was not really dirty but very, very messy.

I do not know how long it will take to get it clean but I do know that I will not stop until I have finished. I am really determined this time to get the whole flat clean at the same time. I have manged before to get several rooms clean at the same time but never the whole flat. I will do it this time though.

I need to make sure that I keep it like that as well.

The twins managed nursery well and my daughter has started eating again. She has not eaten much but at least she has eaten something. My youngest son was well in the morning but he took a downturn in the afternoon. He had a bit of a temperature in the late afternoon so I gave him some Calpol. Hopefully he will be better tomorrow. I will be glad when we are all better.

I went to see my friend today. She is nine days overdue. She really has had enough, bless her. I got some pictures of her and when she was giving me a lift home she told me that she has a feeling that she will give birth on Friday afternoon. Whatever happens she will be induced on Saturday. One way or another she will have her wee baby. I am looking forward to meeting her girl.

Daughter still not well

The boys are much better, the only thing that they have is a lingering cough.

My daughter though was not very well at all today. She cried all the way to nursery, was not happy to go in and did not even eat her snack. I carried her much of the way home, but when I got home she managed to eat some of her lunch. shortly after lunch she fell asleep on the chair and slept for nearly two hours.

Here she is when she was waking up. She took a while to properly wake up so I managed to catch her when her eyes were closed.

I actually phoned my mother in law and got her to collect my eldest son from school as I thought it would have been too much for them.

By the evening though she had really pickjed up and was acting much more like herself. Hopefully after a good sleep she will be back to normal.

At lunch I thought I would try out one of the home remedies. I got them to eat some garlic. My youngest son managed to do it without too much trouble (bless him he really did well) but my daughter really did not want to eat it. I eventually managed to persuade her to eat it but she was not happy. Hopefully I will not have to do that often. I will find another way that will be better to taste. The garlic was just the most convenient.

I have found out today that the final season one of my favorite animated TV series (Avatar - The legend of Aang) is out on DVD. I have been watching it on TV as they are showing it this week. I will save up and get the show on DVD at some point as I really do like watching it.

Back from the doctors

After a long wait, seeing the doctor and a walk in the rain, we are back home.

The doctor checked them and told me that they are all fine and that they did not need anything.

I asked about what I could do about their coughs and he told me that I need to put them in a steamy bathroom.

It is Murphy's law that when they were seen they did not cough at all but now they are home they are all coughing again.

I will have a look on the Internet and see if there is anything there that will help me help relieve their coughs.

All I need to do now is get my daughter to eat something. That should help take away her tummy pains. At least they will be back at school and nursery tomorrow.

I am glad that there is nothing wrong with them but I do think it was a shame that he was not able to give them anything for their cough.

A bad night

It did not help that we went to bed later than we had intended. But the younglings caused some disturbance. We ended up getting a short and broken sleep.

I was getting the younglings ready for school and nursery when I decided that I would keep them off today as my daughter really is still not well. she did not eat dinner last night and she has not eaten her breakfast.

I have made an appointment for the doctors today for 10.50. He will be able to see them all and hopefully we will be able to find out what the matter with them is.

The boys do not seem too bad but their coughs have not gone.

Darn the...

Credit card bill.

I was out and about and I was thinking about ow much it has taken over. It has got to a silly size. Darn both my and my partners over spending. I used to be so good with money before I met my partner but now it is out of the window. Thankfully we are getting back in control of our spending and we have not put anything on the credit card so far this month.

I know that it is not that much but it is a positive start. That will mean that whatever we put toward the credit card will just be lowering the cost. Our next aim is to get the credit card bill under 5k.

Though once again the shopping trip took it out of me. The bags of food end up getting so heavy that I ache by the time I get home. I have had a look online and found a shopping trolley. I have found a really funky shopping trolley. I will have to wait until the end of the week before I order it but it looks great/

An update on the neighbors. Up till last night we have not heard from them. they would stamp if we have to shut the back door or my daughter had a tantrum. Last night though they had a huge argument, shouting cursing and lots of crashing. Hmmmm I wonder what would have happened if we would have had the huge argument.

My daughter still seems to not be well. she did not eat her dinner. If she does not improve tomorrow then I will make a doctors appointment for her.

Valentines day

This year though we are short of money so we have not got each other anything. I have got a couple of heart shaped frying pans and some cups that were made for valentines day. I also got a magazine with some valentines cards to make on the cover so we will make them tonight. The frying pans and cups did not cost much as the pans where from the pund shop and the cups were from Tesco.

I think this year it will be about spending some nice time with my partner.

The younglings seem better today. I have not heard my daughter or eldest son cough much. So hopefully this means that they are over the worst of their coughs. It is strange that they only seem to be bad at night so we will see what happens later. Though my daughter is just sitting on her chair and not moving much. She does not have a temperature. I really hope that she is over the worst.

I need to make sure that I get to bed at a decent time tonight as it is back to school tomorrow. It will be challenging though as I had a really good lie in today so I am feeling really refreshed. Like with the younglings we will see how tonight goes.

Bugs in the house

Well coughs and colds that is.

My eldest has got a nasty cough, my daughter has also got a nasty cough (she did sleep well last night though thankfully) but my youngest son is a lot better than what he was long too long ago.

I think I will have to ask my mum about something that she told me about not too long ago. She said that there are things that you can get which will draw the moisture out of the atmosphere. I think that would be a very good thing to ahve and very much needed. It is not good for any of our health to live like this.

The younglings are getting better at letting us have a lie in. I am not really getting a proper lie in but I was able to cat nap and I got out of bed about 9.

My daughter was the last out of the bed this morning though. I knew something was not right. She did not move much after getting up either. When I sat down she joined me and fell asleep on my lap. Later on she settled in one of the chairs. I got more Calpol for her and after that she brightened up.

 

My partner took the younglings out for the afternoon so it gave me chance to make a good start to cleaning my desk corner. There is still a lot to do but it looks so much nicer.

Thankfully the younglings had their dinner at my partners mums house.

I did spend a bit of time on the Wii today. I have been looking at the new channels that I downloaded. I really like the fun Horoscope channel. It is just silly and gives my Mii character a lucky color of the day. I have managed to get us all on it. I like doing it just for fun. I also had a good look at the news channel. I really like that and I think I will have a look at that often. At least I am getting use out of my Wii now. I think I will dig out the games that I have got and have a go at them as well at some point.

I did also manage to make progress in the kitchen as well. That was getting a cluttered mess again. It really does not take that long for it to become a mess. Though watching how clean is your house makes my home look spotless. Having said that I think I can rival some of them with the clutter that we have got. Drastic action is needed I think.

A relaxing start to the day

Today started out as a nice relaxing day.

The younglings let me have a lie in today. I think it was nearly nine O'Clock when I got up.

The morning went well and I managed to get a browse on the Internet before the younglings decided to hog the computers.

I was going to get some work done in the bedroom in the afternoon. The flat is really getting cluttered at the moment so drastic action is needed, but sadly I suddenly felt tired when I went through so I had a nap instead. I then needed to run out to the shops to get something for dinner and before I knew it, it was time to take my step daughter dancing and of course by the time I get back from that it is time for the younglings to go to bed.

When I was out I did order a repeat prescription of iron tablets. I do feel that when I was tired earlier on was not right. I need to find a way of naturally getting an iron rich diet, but this will be good enough for now.

Both my eldest and my daughter have developed a nasty cough recently. My daughters sounds like a croupy type of cough, so that is not good at all. I know that we will be able to sit with her in the bathroom with a hot bath and the steam will help her.

She has woken a couple of times with her cough. I have given her some Calpol so hopefully that will help her get through the night. 


It is hard to know what to do with coughs though as I was told that cough medicine is a waste of money. I think I will have to find out what is a good alternative to use. There must be something as at the moment my eldest is coughing so bad that he was sick and he is getting a sore throat.

Thankfully he was able to settle off without too much problems.

I know that there are a lot of bugs going around at this time of the year, but I also do wonder if the living conditions are affecting them as well.

Oh we got a letter from the college. They have sent us some money to help with travel expenses and toward things that we have needed to get. Unfortunately it was not as much as we had hoped for. At least it is something that we can use toward the credit card bill though.

Picnic time

When I woke this morning I thought that the picnic that I wanted to have would not happen. It was overcast and cold looking.

Thankfully though the sun came out and brought some warmth with it so the picnic went ahead.

We have a lovely walk out and it was really nice to get out with them. I walked up to the bit where we had the picnic, after that we walked all the way along to the  other side of the wood. We then walked back and up to the point where the last duel in Scotland was held.

At this point we were all getting tired so we came home. We were out for nearly 3 hours. They were walking for about 2 1/2 hours. I think they did so well.

the only downside to the walk was that one of the toys that they took was lost. It was one of my cats that I'd had for nearly 20 years. I took it off my daughter after she threw it near the stream. I put it in my bag but it fell out of it. I went back along the path to look for it but it was not there. Either a dog has picked it up and ran off with it, or someone has just picked it up and taken it home. I do hope that if it has been picked up that it has gone to a good home. Though I am still hoping that one day I will be walking through the wood when I will find it again.

I do feel very blessed to have a place like the wood at the back of our home. It was wonderful to get out and have a lovely time with the younglings. They loved the picnic.

Here are some pictures from our time out:

 

 

  

I will definitely get out more with them for picnics. I think this is a great spot for them. I do not think my partner thought of the wood as being a good spot for a picnic, but now he has seen that it can be.

It was very sweet when I got home and was waiting for dinner. My eldest son sat on my knee and was kissing me a few times and telling me that he loved me. I always thinks it is sweet when he says that and I love seeing how openly affectionate he is.

Though I am worried about my youngest son. He can get very emotional very quickly. He gets really mad and calls himself really bad names. I managed to calm him down and cheer him up. However I will have to do something so this way of acting does not go any further. He need to feel good about himself.

I had a good time at the photography club tonight. There was a guest speaker who came in to give a talk and show his pictures. I was really impressed by him and his work. He reminded me a lot of myself and how I take photographs. A very good night.

Well my daughter did not sleep until nine O'Clock as I had hoped she would. She woke at seven and both she and my eldest son would not go back to sleep. However after much pestering I managed to catnap until about eight thirty. I felt better for getting the little extra sleep.

My youngest son did sleep well though and he woke up shortly after I had got up. If only they could all sleep like he does. He mostly stays in his own bed as well.

The day went well. My step daughter came around but left shortly to meet up with some friends. I still took the younglings out. It was going really well until we had to come home. I needed to make sure that I was home in time for my step daughter getting back. When ever I have to get somewhere in a hurry I start to get anxious. I then get ratty when the younglings start to mess around. I got really snippy with my eldest and upset him. It really did not help that he made a very cheeky face at me, but I should not have snapped.

I had a talk to him on the way back and I wild him that if he does not want me to get mad like that at him he needs to stop making faces at me. He has told me that he will help me stop getting mad. Hopefully he will. I do not like getting snippy at all with them. We were having a really nice walk up till that point.

I will be taking them back out tomorrow as well. Hopefully the weather will still be the same as I told them that I would take a picnic. They were so excited when I told them that. It will mean that there will be no rush to get back so I will be happier for them to explore (well except for them exploring the mud and puuddles)

My daughter did do something sweet. We saw another family walking through the wood. She asked about them and I just told her that is was another family also walking in the wood. When she approached them she called out 'Hello family' She looked so cute saying that.

My partner is back today. He had a good time away and enjoyed the beer festival. He manged the walk up the mountain today and told me that even though he had nine pints he did not have a hangover. Must have been the pure mountain air.

A much better day today

Thankfully today went so much better. I was not that snippy with the younglings (well aprt from the times when they were getting in my way when I was trying to get the dinner ready and clean up)

Thankfully tomorrow I do not have to go anywhere so I can have a lazier morning. My step daughter will be coming around in the afternoon. I think I will take them all around the woods for a nice walk in the afternoon. It will be good for us all to get out. It has meant that I will not have to rush to get to bed for a reasonable time. I do need to make sure that I do not crash too late though as I am tired tonight.

My daughter said something today which made me laugh. While she and my youngest son were role playing going to sleep I heard my daughter say ‘Time to wake up, oh dear it is nine o’clock’

If only they could sleep until nine o’clock from time to time (the weekends would be ideal) I would be so, so grateful for that precious lie in. The time will come however when I will be dragging them out of the bed my their hair but for now the extra sleep would be heavenly. I asked my daughter if she could sleep in till nine o’clock tomorrow morning, but I doubt very much that it will happen.

I managed to do the marathon shopping trip in the morning, but I sadly forgot to get some things so I still needed to get out to the shop with the younglings. Thankfully it actually went pretty well and it was not too bad as I only had to get a few things. LOL I also bribed the younglings with chocolate if they behaved themselves. It was cute watching the twins push the shopping trolley around the shop. the boys curls also got some compliments as well.

After we got home I decided just to get them to sit down and watch TV while I rested from my walk. This went really well, so well that they did not ask to go on the computer (three to two computers results in arguments and fighting) this was so much nicer and the rest of the day went really well (as I am on my own making things easy is the best way)

I have not heard from my partner yet. I know that he will be in an area where there will not be a signal. Hopefully he will be able to get to a phone at some point. There is a beer festival on at the moment so it is understandable that he will be distracted.


He is at the Cairngorms at the moment. I would love to go up there at some point. It looks so beautiful in the north.

Bad tempered day

Today has not been a good day for my temper. I have been really snippy with the younglings today. I was trying my best not to get really angry with them, but alas it did not work. I was really mad at them on the way home from school.

I felt terrible for being so mad at them. As soon as we got in I sat on the couch and we all did something nice together. I got my Wii working and I did some things on that. It helped me to calm down. I was still a little snippy with them at times but so much better. I think I need to speak to someone about getting my temper under control.

I have been not getting enough sleep recently then other days I over compensate by getting too much sleep. I need to do something about it. I think from now on the computer has to be switched off by 10.30PM so that I can be in bed for 11 and have a little bit of time to read before going to sleep. Maybe if I get consistently good sleeps then I would not get so snippy with the younglings.

My partner goes away tomorrow with his college. He will be away tomorrow and will be back on Wednesday. I get tomorrow night off. Though tomorrow will be a busy day as I will need to make sure there is enough in the house to make three dinners from. I will have to have a think about what I will need to get from the shops tomorrow.

It will be better that way, as I will not have to go to the shops with the younglings. I can just take them out for nice walks instead. It will be a good opportunity to take some pictures as well.

I think most importantly it will be good to get out with the younglings where I am not getting them to hurry up, keep clean and stopping them from exploring.

A lazy day

I had a lovely long lie in this morning. After I had woke up I had a read for a bit before I got up.

the only things I did was go out to the shops to get something for dinner, other than that I had a lovely relaxing day.

I will have to clean the kitchen tomorrow though.

The whole place still needs gutting as well. I think I will have to set out a plan of action, either that or just go mad and throw stuff out anyway. I have got my pile of DVD's that are going to the charity shop on Tuesday so that will help.

The younglings have really been playing up today. Not listening to us and not doing as well asked. Right up to the point where we got ratty with them. I will definitely have to look through the book that I got about what to do with children.


Thinking about the amount of housework that I have got to do, I cannot understand why people would want to have huge homes. The bigger the home the bigger the amount of housework. I know that it will not happen anyway but I am glad that I will not end up in a huge house. I do not think I would be able to manage the housework.

Cleaning walls

I spent a lot of the day relaxing but in the afternoon when I was reading in the bedroom I noticed that there was damp on the chair that I was reading on.

I decided to clean the chair and then give the walls a bit of a wipe down with anti-bacterial spray as well. Before I knew it I had spent an hour cleaning the wall. The worst area was where my partners clothes are kept. I have had to leave them out so that the area can get a good airing. There were areas that I struggled to reach. I will just have to tackle that on another day.

I am pleased with what I have managed to do today as at least I managed to get some cleaning done and I have been meaning to wipe down the walls for a while now. I am not sure if this is the damp that is left over from before the builders came around to sort it out and is just not going away due to the damp weather, or if it is new damp. Only time will tell.

The twins rooms do not see too bad but there is wetness on the area where I had put some damp paint a few years ago. Hopefully the weather will become dry again to help things, either that or we will be offered a new home soon. We still have not heard anything from them about moving.

I did find something funky though. I have been listening to a French radio station and I have been downloading some of the songs that I like. One of the songs I could only find on I-Tunes. Even though I do not like the format of their songs I got it anyway as I really liked the song. Today I found a programme that managed to convert the song into MP3 format. I do not know what I will do with the older songs that I have got as they are protected files and will not convert.

I did do something funky with my daughter today. My friend got her a little kit where you get to decorate a crown. She has asked for some days to make it and I had not done anything about it until today. In the morning we decorated her crown. It looks really pretty. She will be able to wear it tomorrow as the glue will have had plenty of time to glue.

I am looking forward to getting my lie in tomorrow as I am very tired.

Selective listening

I have been working on getting my younglings listening to me. It is most important when walking near roads. The roads where we walk near on the way to nursery and school are thankfully quiet but there have been times when they have just ran across without looking.

When I was collecting my eldest from school today I was telling the twins to stop when I told them to stop as soon as I said it (this was brought on when my daughter did not listen to me) they were doing so well. They both stopped when I told them. I was able to praise them for doing well and they really responded well to that.

I thought that was going well until I really needed it. In the madness that follows my eldest getting off the school bus my daughter just trotted off and did not listen to me at all. Even though I was calling she did not stop until she was some distance. Some of the other parents kept an eye on her for me and I got looks of sympathy from them as well. I was so mad with her that I held her hand all the way home. I told her why I was upset and disappointed with her. She was most upset when I told her that she would not get any chocolate when she got home.

the three of them just kept running away though when I was trying to get the phone number form my eldest son's friends dad. We were trying to arrange some play time for them once a week. I understand them getting excited, but I do wish that they would stay still.

Tonight I am going to have to look through the book and see if there is anything to get them to listen.

Apart from that the day has gone well.

Well apart from feeling sick. That is my fault though. I have eaten too much chocolate and junk food. I really need to stop eating so much chocolate and junk. It is not good for me. I do hope that it passes though as feeling sick is not good.

I am feeling better today

I still could do with a good sleep but I am beginning to feel better. My nose is still clear, though there are moments when I get bunged up. Though it does clear and there isn't the tension that there was last night.

I think I will put my head over a steaming bowl of water and Albas oil to help even more. I had to go to the shop to get more Lemsips, but they had sold out of the ones that I wanted to get. There must be a lot of bugs going around at the moment.

I felt sad for my eldest son though. He was given some late Christmas presents by my friend yesterday. He really liked what he got and took it into school today. He took his car and he ninja warriors. When I collected him from school someone had broke his car and his ninjas were in bits. I only got the arms and legs back, so I am not even able to fix them. I think that is very sad that someone else would break his toys.

I remember when I was younger I took a wee snail into school that my mum had got me from when she went on holiday. Someone stole it, I was so sad about it at the time.

My eldest did not seem too upset by it thankfully but I still think that it sad that it happened in the first place.

After I had collected him, he went off to his friends house to play for a bit and get dinner. He had a good time and his friends dad walked him home. I thought that was really nice of him. I might see about getting his friend to come across once a week and my eldest can go over to his once a week as well. Either that or once a fortnight. It is good that he has got a good friendship.

I am just hoping that I can get a good sleep tonight so that I feel even better tomorrow. I can tell that I am not functioning as well as I should be.

Still not feeling good

But feeling much better than yesterday, this meant that I was able to take the younglings to nursery and school as normal.

I have not been able to get much done around the flat recently though as I have not really been feeling well and the flat is beginning to look cluttered again. It does not take long before the mess starts to creep back. I will have to see what I can do about it tomorrow.

My eldest had a trip out with school today. He had fun but I did not really have chance to ask about it as one of his school friends came over to our home with us for a short while after school. The twins were very excited to see him and he had to try and divide his attention between three people who wanted to show him as much as possible.

I did not stay for long while he was there as I went out to visit my friend. She is due next Monday so is really beginning to struggle, but it was nice seeing her. I have not see her for a while through one thing or another.

We had wanted to get my younglings up so we could all open our Christmas presents together but we were not able to do that. She just passed on the presents today along with some clothes for my daughter. The presents that she got for me and the younglings are really funky. I really like watching the animated show Avatar - The legend of Aang and one of the characters in there drinks Jasmine tea. I have wanted to try it since. One of my presents was a selection of fruit teas. Jasmine is in there, I am looking forward to trying it.

My nose is blocked up at the moment. I manged to get some relief from it by breathing over a bowl of boiling water with some Albas oil in it. I was only able to clear one nostril, but that was much better than what it was before. It was nice being able to smell again.

Not feeling very well

I did not get the best sleep last night again. It was disturbed and I really wish that I could have a night where the younglings do not come through to our bed during the night.

My head was pounding in the morning and I really did not feel like rushing around to get ready to go out. The younglings did not seem well either. I just decided that it would be better to take a day off so that we could get better.

The morning went well. I had to tell them off a few times but it went well.

After lunch we went out for a walk in the wood. That was going well until one point when I w3as calling them to come back to me and they just would not listen. I lost my temper with them and really told them off. We were walking on a different path to normal and there was a hill next to where they were walking. I did not like getting so mad with them but I really wish they would have responded when I first called them. They had heard me but chose not to respond.

It sort of went downhill from when I got home. I am getting a little tired of being expected to respond to their requests immediately. I tell them to wait while I do the jobs that I need to get done, but they keep pestering me, until I get snippy with them.

I really got snippy with them later when I was trying to eat my dinner. I did not even get chance to eat my soup in peace and I have been getting really annoyed at not being able to eat a meal in peace. I was really snippy with them and I do feel really bad about all of the times that I have been snippy with them today. I do my best to stop getting snippy but today has not been a good day.

Better luck tomorrow hopefully. May the force be with me.

Here are the younglings on their walk:

So tired

Actually I think I am coming down with something. I have got a bunged up nose and I have got a stuffy head. I think I will get a Lemsip and an early night. Oh and I am feeling a chill across my skin.

I am going to also have to take my youngest son to the doctors. He has got a nasty cough again. He is fine during the day (though he does not fare well if we have to go somewhere in a rush) but last night he was coughing a lot. Both my partner and I did not get a good sleep last night. I know I went to bed later than I wanted to but it took me longer than normal to get to sleep and then the sleep was disturbed. Hopefully tonight will go a lot better.

I think I might put some Olbas oil on my pillow tonight as well.

Today has not been too bad though. I did not have to rush out to the shops. I like it when I can cut down on some of the rushing about that I have to do.

I have been a bit on edge today and quick to temper. Maybe it was due to my bad sleep last night as I have been getting better. It came to a boiling point when I went to collect my eldest from school. The younglings were just not listening to me, then they decided to take off their coats (it started off when my youngest did it in a huff) but before long I was really getting snippy with them. My daughter ran off and would not come back. I eventually found her in someones garden (thankfully the people who live there were not in as you never know how someone will react)

I was really snippy with them until we got into the wood when I started to calm down. I was not totally right though as I was on edge all the way home.

I do feel better now that it is the end of the day and I did not get really snippy with them since the big explosion (I do not count telling them to get out of the kitchen while cooking as that was just frustration at getting interupted and they were not upset by it)

I did remember to take the books that I was lent from the nursery. I have scanned the information and bought a copy of the book so I am armed with information that will hopefully be able to get my younglings to listen to us and do as we ask.

I found an old postcard that I got free from a cinema a few years ago. I thought it was funny but it is not looking in the best condition so I scanned it to preserve it. I also did a bit of Photoshop restoration to make sure that I will have a copy for a lot longer.