I give up....

The Ipad will not work for blogging... not until Apple actually make it possible to upload images... so I am cheating and I am using the works laptop... shhhh don't tell anyone... it'll be our little secret! ;D

So... whats been going on with all you lovely peeps... ? I hope you are all well and finding something positive to dwell on in this sometimes humdrum world we've managed to create! lol

I have been a bit busy teaching, cooking and fretting! .... well it would appear I'm a secret fretter and I don't mean that I can carve intricate woodwork either! ...

Where to start.... hhmmmmm

Well the teaching is going well, we were inspected by the LEA and we have been given the go ahead and approval to home school... he did say to not follow the curriculum in History, Geography and Religious Education though .... he suggested project work rather than individual subjects with these three... So today I will discuss with Jamie a subject or place that she would like to do a project on, after all, if its of interest to her then perhaps she'll be more enthusiastic about it... here's hoping!

We've been to Stourhead doing photography, but her favourite subject so far is design technology.... We got out the sewing machine and she has been learning how to cut fabric and plan a design and sew...

Luckily I already have a lot of equipment, cutting mats etc... I did go out and buy a rotary cutter which I confess I have never really used but now wonder how I survived without it! lol

The finished cushion made from materials I bought from my friend Joanne... and luckily Jamie has no attachments to her creations... her first words were... can I sell it! lol

The cooking is going well, I have to confess that I am lazy in the kitchen... it would appear that I am fairly capable but its not a great love of mine.. lol ... However I have cooked a meat and 2 veg meal every evening for the last 15 outta 17 nights... this is a major achievement for me and I do feel good about it.  Its been decided that Friday night is fish and chip night and the chap down the road is most agreeable with this arrangement! as he loves the fish we get from the chip shop! lol

Its always been too easy to order a takeaway and we have gotten into bad habits as Id rather be out in the garden than cooking in the kitchen... however I'm getting better at prepping and juggling the two! ;D

Now ... the garden... I have fenced off the veg patch and I have planted runner beans and courgettes...  so that's all coming along nicely...

and Daisy Kate our Sussex hen decided that it was time to go broody...

So she was moved from the Eglu cube, (she was stealing the other girls eggs!) and I bought 11 fertile eggs from my friend Dawn and moved her to her new broody coop... AKA an unused rabbit hutch! lol

She settled in well and here she stayed for the next 21 days....

Reading the Western Gazette and keeping up to date with local news! lol

The big day drew closer and a new nursery coop was bought on eBay... Les and Jamie drove to Leicester to collect it and the girls and I waited for signs of life!

Eventually on Day 23 I could wait no longer and I opened the hutch to see if she was okay... I had closed the hutch leaving her with food and water inside on day 22 when I noticed a black ball of fluff dissapearing under her wing...

As I opened the hutch and stepped back she jumped out and started eating dandelion leaves and clucking and tried to get her 4 chicks to follow... so I closed the hutch and the task of moving her and her brood to the other coop began...

Ta daaaa!
from 11 eggs 4 hatched successfully, and one died half hatched and the other six were unhatched and buried in the straw... to be honest 4 is plenty and nature has a way of deciding how many should live and I think she'll cope well with this many as its only her second go at being a mum!

This is Daisy Kate's baby from last year! Amber (aka Rusty) was born at Karen's house before I brought them home to live with me...

I just love sitting in the sunshine watching her teach them how to peck for food and preen themselves... they are such little mimics... her every action is copied!

on the creativity front I have managed a few things...

I did make a couple of dream catchers for Nicola...

 we did a little swap and she sent me some fabulous Body shop products...

 Thank you Nicola! love the Aloa vera face cream! xx

the bunny was crocheted around Easter and I sold him to a friend of my mums for £20...

I was stunned! ;D

But the yarn and other bits and bobs were probably that much so I covered costs...

This week Daniel has been poorly with a viral throat bug...

I took him to the doctors yesterday and he just said he'd get better on his own and to keep giving him nurofen and bring him back if it wasn't better in a few days...

he does seem a bit better today though!

so fingers crossed!

well that's about the lot for now...

I had better crack on and get Jamie sorted and feed Daniel... hang the washing out and so on and so forth!

No rest for the wicked!

I must have been really bad! lol

I hope I enjoyed it! xx

take care

Alex

x

being needed....

makes me happy...

I know my children need me and I dare say Les needs me but this old gent down the road has nobody else.... I am so pleased with his visible improvement over this last week.. he's had a hot meal every day and I pop in before I drop Daniel into school to make sure he's all sorted for the day ahead. Yes, no doubt he is exaggerating the aches and pains as he doesn't want to be on his own with no one caring about him again, however I enjoy a bit of banter and a chat in the mornings... and as I am cooking a meal for my 3 each evening adding one more grateful mouth doesn't really make much of a difference.

The old boy is getting up and around and making a real effort to clean up and do some chores, and he's not so wobbly on his feet and seems a little more chirpy and cheerful... before he looked tired and close to tears, almost like he was wondering what the point of it all was.

Don't get me wrong, I do love to help and support people but I know 6 months down the line this might get a little tedious... but to be honest as I pointed out to my mum today (who's the same age as this gent!) I have grown up in a home where she was always caring for relatives, friends and acquaintances... its something I feel comfortable doing but I have no intention of mixing his care with my own family life... the two things are very separate things... my mum and dad are no spring chickens, but with my brother living at home still they have someone to care for and about them on a day to day basis....

So I shall take each day as it comes and paddle my little heart out as I crest each wave and enjoy the wind in my hair as I ride high... and then start paddling again towards the next peak of happiness and joy... the dips and troughs have to be endured to make the highs all so much more enjoyable... lol

So a chicken casserole sits bubbling in the slow cooker and par boiled potatoes are about to be put in the oven for roasting... a few peas and a yorkshire pudding and one grateful smile as I tap on his door and he pulls himself straight in his chair...

So if you are returning home from a crappy day at work and your good lady or man has placed your tea on the table... smile, say thank you and be grateful... don't be as crappy to him or her as your boss has been to you... be better than that and appreciate and be grateful...

xx take care
Alex
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Good morning conscience..... do you have time for a chat?

I have a little query that is playing on my heart and soul and I was wondering if you could shine any light on the situation...?

you'll give it a go ... thank you so much!

Late last night the elderly gent who lives down the road banged on my front door and scared me half to death... knocks on doors at gone 10:30 generally do not bode well... anyway I digress!

The gent in question ... lets call him Bob... had taken a tumble down his stairs and had been laying at the foot of the stairs wedged and unable to get up... obviously he had managed in the end as he was banging on my door but he had been there, by his account, all afternoon... he does have my phone number but was unable to call it on his mobile as he got a bit flustered and confused...

So I grab shoes, coat and mobile and escort him home... the next 2 and a half hours were spent talking, with me mostly listening and watching for any visible signs of trauma or injury... he complained of aches and pains but apart from wandering in conversation and retelling old stories with slight changes to information previously told he seemed fine...

his overweight Rottweiler constantly tried to state his dominance over me by leaning, licking and climbing on me but previously having owned a Doberman I am not at all phased by a rotty...

during the following few hours I made cups of tea for him and at twenty past one this morning I came home... promising to pop in this morning to make sure he was okay...

This morning he was still sat in his chair and seemed himself although complaining of a stiff shoulder and aches and pains... his sink is full of dishes, the ashtray over flowing, the fridge is steadily breeding biological warfare... as I walked in he said "kettles boiled!" but I had Daniel waiting to be driven to school so arranged to pop back at 11am after he returned from town as he was adamant that he had to collect his pension...

now conscience.... how can I ignore this mans needs and yet still have time for my own responsibilities... he is an elderly man who's family have abandoned him for whatever reasons... he is living in the past where his body is capable of many things that it cannot accomplish now and he talks in circles as he frantically searches for more conversation to keep his visitor there... he's lonely beyond belief and has a need to give you stuff to buy your attention... he's always telling you how much pension he gets and how much money he has in the bank and I know he has been ripped off financially by the last couple of women that have "helped" him... he talks about sex like he's still a viral young man... and would rather tell someone to piss off than accept help or advice... he's cantankerous and stubborn and yet I see a proud man struggling to accept the advancement of life...

Im not the type of person that can close the door and say "not my problem!" however this could very well escalate into a full time undertaking...

dear conscience do I help him and try to keep him at arms length and do as much as I can honestly do, being up front and honest with him from the start... or do I just help when really needed and keep my head down so as not to get caught the rest of the time?

Dilemmas and consequences .... its all so frustrating...

Les's rolls his eyes and I know I have so much on my plate these days but whats a girl to do?

thank you for listening
xx

n.b.. he's just popped around with a bag of chicken breasts... "as he wont eat them" ... he said his legs are still shaky but when I asked when was the last time he ate anything he couldn't answer me.... he's popping around to the old peoples day center around the back of where we live... I said to him on so many occasions that he should try and move into a bungalow around there but he wont have it... hopefully he'll have a cuppa and a biscuit... i shall still pop down at 11am and check on him...

iPad good... But iPad bad....

Well what can I say... I paid £26 for a widget to upload photos and it has... Unfortunately the iPad will not allow me to upload images to blogger... Seems to be a common frustration, and I've even tried to upload to flickr and photo bucket with no success....

If anyone out there in the big blue yonder has a clue how I do this then please for the love of my sanity can you let me know! Lol

I also cannot write posts in compose mode only HTML so this is it people's.... This is my style of post and not by choice .... :(

Jamie's first week of homeschooling is going well, she's done so much writing that her hand hurt on Tuesday .. Wednesday was a photography lesson at Stourhead ... And Thursday was geography followed by a trip to the hairdressers and a girly hair dyeing session... Lol ... Friday was biology and although the topic had been covered at school she couldn't answer the quick test questions so we went over it again... Friday night she went to a Yeovil football club dinner with her nanny and Saturday she went to town with a friend... Today she's entertaining Daniel ... Well to be honest it sounds like the bedrooms are being trashed.. Lol and later when her dad gets home she'll be doing a little maths work with her dad. Tomorrow is English and she's currently reading Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier which we will be doing in English tomorrow...

Daisy Kate our white Suffolk hen is still sitting on 11 eggs eight days down and thirteen left to go. I have started working out an accommodation plan should she successfully hatch any... It's a little odd but I don't want to buy a second coop or shed to home them while they mature but you have to have a back up plan incase she hatches nearly all of them instead of 1 or 2. Last year she sat on 10 eggs and one chick hatched/survived so there's a chance she'll do better this year... So after much giggling and merriment Les and I decided to turn Daniel's playhouse into a nursery coop... Lol ... It'll need a little work and plenty of head scratching but I really don't want to outlay to much money on something that won't get used much...

I think I might pop upstairs and use jamie's laptop to upload some images... I'm sure she won't mind! ;D

Well I had better dash... My stomach is rumbling so I dare say the kids will be wanting something to eat too... Lol

Hope your all having a super Sunday
Take care
Alex
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