The morning after!

Continuing on from the last post.....I was still awake at 3am on Saturday morning.....guilt is a hard emotion to sleep on!

I was awoken by my forgiving 4 year old. As I opened my eyes, there he was with a sticker in hand saying "this one is for you mummy." I guess that was my award!

I promise to be the best mother ever from here onwards.......just as well it is not his birthday coming up as I would be tempted to take him & his pals to Disneyland for a week!

I have just won the "worst mother of the year award!"

I have had a terrible week which has just ended on me shamingly earning the above award.

First of all let me make my excuses otherwise you will all think that I am being a drama queen!

This week has entailed being stabbed viciously in the back by a best friend which set me back, working all week, car issues, PC issues, kids off half a day for conferences, husband travelling away, one of the kids was & still is sick to name just a few issues.

We are having a family portrait taken tomorrow and as the photographer had not contacted me I called in to his office. I wanted a photo of the lake & trees (with leaves on) he asked me to find a tree or spot to take the photo! Bearing in mind it is 1pm & I am on my way to an appointment, then school & daycare pick up, ending with traipsing off to the mall to buy my daughter (who is at the age of being very opinionated on even a pair of socks) a sweater to wear for the clan photo! I have not one minute to look for a leafy tree...is that not his job???So I was in mission mode!

I pick up the kids at school & then head to the daycare. When I arrived there were cars everywhere that lead into the road. My first thought was "a gunman had been on the rampage".. being dramatic & all! So I ran into daycare to find all the little sweethearts dressed up in Halloween costumes!! Of course my little one was dressed in the day cares "dress up" fire fighter outfit.. as wonderful mother had totally forgotten all about it! He came right over & told me so in front of all the other doting parents! Bless him.

Next problem, how am I going to tear him away from the party... all the tables were set with plates, party favours etc! I had a sick son waiting outside in the car so we could not all come in!

So I did what every desperate mother does.. I told him we had to leave & that there was a surprise in the car for him! He willingly came with me, jumped into his car seat & gobbled down a Popsicle. Then he said "thank you so much mummy!" I could have cried!

Feeling less guilty we arrived at the mall. After a couple of stores one of the store keepers tells me that at 5pm all hell will break loose. I asked "why?" It was only trick or treat night! Bang on 4.55pm hundreds of kids were running around in costumes! Needless to say we had to get out of there pretty quickly too. Talk about adding insult to injury!

We get home & I cannot sleep hence posting a blog at 1.38am! Why can I not sleep?

My husband arrived home an hour ago, the kids are all asleep......guess what?

"It is raining!"

So after all of this, the family portrait will probably be cancelled!

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

Family fun.

We are having the most glorious weather at the mo. Today it is a hot 84 degrees which is extremely rare as normally it is in the 50's by now. I do love the global warming today!

Yesterday I was determined to have a family day & to do something healthy, including lots of fresh air that did not include PCs, TVs & all the "stuff "that kids these days seem to crave. Hiking filled all these categories so off we went.

The sun was pelting down & the trail was a lot steeper than I anticipated too but the Daffodilly clan were not to be defeated! After a few meltdowns from the 4 year old that were appeased with a shoulder ride...thanks to Mr. L & the odd candy we made it to the summit.

These photo's are the view from the top of the fire tower which were gob smackingly gorgeous!

We all marched up to the top of the fire tower which is one health hazard. Despite the fact that it is about 200 feet high it is rusty with rotten wooden stairs & no fencing to stop you being blown off! Believe me it was blowy!!

It did pass through my mind....here I am a sensiblish mother of 3 & a preschool assistant teacher who insists that they wear bike helmets & seat belts etc. risking their life's for a photo shoot!

Ahh the price of fame!

Despite this we all survived to tell the tale & to sign the photo's for our fans.

It was a 3 hour hike all in all.......

Rewards.... gorgeous view, English chocolate at the top & 3 exhausted kids who went to bed early!

What more can a parent ask for? (besides a nanny!)

The Meaning of Change.

Today I sat on my spinning bike at the gym forcing my weary limbs to push the darn pedals around & around so that I looked just like everybody else!

Meanwhile my mind was a wandering!

I watched a small maple tree whose leaves were a fiery red and bright yellow swaying as the wind consistently blew at its limbs causing the odd leaf to flutter down. At that instant I knew we had something in common.

"What you may ask?"

Let's pretend that we are a tree spending countless time & energy growing green leaves & then changing them to red & yellow a few months later... to have it all destroyed by the weather within a few weeks! Its a hard life!

"Have you ever cleaned a room in the house until it looks "just right?" Only moments later had a herd of kids plus the odd animal trek through & cause instant devastation?"

OR

"Typed up a huge speech which took hours" to have it re-written five more times?

OR

"Sat on a spinning bike at the gym wishing you has stayed in bed & had one of Mr. L's frothy cafe lattes?"

Yes, yes, yes!

Why do we change everything all of the time?

We choose to do these things to improve our bodies, have a clean habitat, or just to indulge.

The meaning of change is " to radically alter something" as the radio advised me on my way home from the gym.

"So why do we fell the need to continually change things & lifestyles?"

I do not know!

It is getting chilly!

It is that time of year when the lake water is warmer than the air & we get an eerie looking mist covering the lake which means that Halloween is a coming. To think that only a month ago I was wallowing in these waters to try to keep cool!

Oh summer where have you gone?

Pumpkin Time & Breast Cancer Walk!

There is something about lots of pumpkins hanging out together that gives me a cosy feeling with a slight daunting feeling all at the same time. They are gob smackingly beautiful however you know that once they have gone, it is time for the bitter weather of New England, which is when one wonders "why the heck do I live here?"

Today cannot go by without me mentioning the "Breast Cancer Walk." I lost a close relative to the disease 4 years ago, which left two young children without a mother which just breaks my heart. I also have lots of friends who have been touched by the disease therefore over the past 8 years I have raised money by joining the breast cancer walk in October. It is so heart warming & always moves me to tears when I see all the walkers. The survivors who get to wear special sashes are so respected by everyone. A police lady who was controlling the traffic said to my friend "congratulations on being a survivor" which says it all. The solidarity hits hard. Let's hope in the very near future they can kill this disease with a less harsh treatment & totally eradicate it!

The things we say!

I am now working a couple of days a week at a pre-school as an assistant teacher in the "3's" room. As any of you who have kids know this week is fire prevention week! Well we had a local fireman come into the classroom. He was dressed in his fire suit, boots, hat and even his breathing apparatus and he asked the children "what do you think I am dressed for?" "Ready to paint" came the reply. As they say "out of the mouths of babes."

New England in the Fall

At this time of year I have to say that the sights around here are more than breath taking. I even drive around with a camera in my car hoping to catch a good photo to reveal the splendor of the magical colours. Yes all of this is on my front doorstep.. I know I am spoiled however it does come with its set backs too e.g. no curry houses within an hours drive, no trendy stores, no good theatre to name just a few. However today it feels like it is all worth it!

Burnt Fish Smell

The other day I came home with the kids & as I was on the driveway I could smell burning! I drove into the garage where the smell got stronger so I dashed into the house where the smell was intolerable. I shouted for my MIL and asked "what is burning." She nonchalantly said "the fish pie spilt onto the cooker & it burnt". The smell was so strong I opened all the windows & doors & then opened the cooker. It had thick lumps of burnt, black, crusty crap on it. There was the fish pie triumphantly sat there as if to say "look what I did." As my MIL likes to cook, let it cool & then re-heat for dinner ( trying to give us all food poisoning!) the cooker was obviously going to be on again in an hour or so. At this time it is 4.30pm I need to leave the house at 5pm to get my son to soccer & then we are having relatives for dinner at 7pm so the pressure was on.

I made a statement that we would have to clean the cooker since it would need to go on again in an hour or so which went down like a lead balloon! Thankfully a friend called me so I had a moan on the phone whilst MIL tried to repair the damage to my cooker. At 5pm I had to leave with the kids & go to soccer. The stench in my house was still terrible!

On returning home to a very pungent home my MIL put the cooker on to re-heat & poison the family! The next minute the smoke alarms kick in as there is black smoke billowing out of my cooker. Oh yes did I forget to mention that it is a NEW cooker that I have never even cleaned yet?

Then our guests arrive....the smell is so bad we have to have fans blowing the air around inside the house. The word "ticked off & highly stressed" will not even come near to my emotional state.

Let's recap here, smelly house, smoke everywhere, alarms going, guests arriving & fans running! I hasten to add that chocolate & wine are not even going to settle this one!

The fish pie was OK & after some wine I did soften a little. All I can say is 3 more days before she leaves & the fish pie can go with her!