Drag them out!

My older kids do not want to do anything. They prefer to stay at home, listen to music, watch TV, play on the computer blah, blah, blah. This ticks me off.

My six year old is "oh so positive and full of vim & vigour."

So today I woke them all up at 8.30am...I know I'm mean!

Then dragged them all out for a day at the seaside.

Of course there were some harsh words from the 11 & 13 year old however, my six year old was carefully "NOT" turning the basement upside down looking for his bucket in sheeer intrepidation.

Two hours later we were there in 62 degrees weather walking along the beach.

Molly also came for her introduction to seawater which was amusing as she continually tried to drink it as she is used to the lake water.

We collected shells, had fresh seafood & returned home exhausted, smelling of the sea and happy.

Everyone admiitted that they had had a good time as we all fell into bed.

It was well worth the harsh wake up call!

"See kids your mum knows best!"

How to mix onions into stuffing without crying!

Chilly!

Its cold!

I know I cannot complain as it has been a really warm and gobsmackingly gorgeus November.

Sir L is in the UK!

I have cranked the heating up, wrapped my mums cosy sweater round myself and am about to indulge in a hot cuppa & chomp away at Sir L's last bag of Midget Gems which will give me great satisfaction!

I know I am bad!

The Graham Norton Show

Oh last night I laughed & laughed so hard I nearly wet the bed! It felt so good the laughing (not nearly having an accident!

Sir L & I were watching "The Graham Norton Show" on BBC America. He hosts a chat show and is extremely funny bouncing off his guests & having everyone in stitches. To make it even funnier his guests were Dawn French who I adore, Rod Stewart who has a cracking sense of humour & Michael Palin who brings everything down to lavatory level in a funny way.

Dawn French is snogging her way around the world looking for the best kisser....you rock girl! SHe says her hubby Lenny Henry is still the best which of course gets every male going as they al have such a big ego! Rod Stewart was confessing how he would dress up as an airline pilot and pose at Heathrow Airport to pick up women. He also got thrown out of a hotel in the states as he & his band wrecked the joint then had the nerve to go back the following year & sign in as Fleetwood Mack! Michaal Palin was in deep discussion regarding colonoscopie's.

Oh I do miss the British humour of quick funny comments that always seem to head towards the dirt or loo's!

So if you are feeling homesick watch this on a Saturday night at 10pm Eastern time. It really is worth it! Of course there are people out there who actually have a social life on a Saturday night...lucky sods!

Football Champions

I have just been to our schools football championship which has left me rather confused.

I had the game explained to me a few times yet I am still none the wiser.

Never mind.

The atmosphere was intoxicating, the crowds were a roaring and there was a great feeling of the community all coming together.

Even the younger children succumbed to the excitement by running around and sliding on the hills getting covered in green grass stains.

Well the good news is that we won & are now the local champions. I do wonder how many people knew what the heck was going on or was I the only ignorant one?

I have to admit that the boys looked good in their outfits and played to the audience getting everyone revved up.

So well done lads!

Things to be grateful for or relieved about!

This is not just the "norm" my family etc really things that you have to dig deep to find.

1. Watching my washing blowing on the washing line gives me a good feeling. Is it due to my heritage as it is very Eglish, the delicious scent on your bedding or the being eco friendly? I guess it is all of them.

2. The relief when you feel a little down, brew a cupof tea, look for some chocolate and are dissapointed and then as you shut the door you spy a corner of your favourite wrapper...relief! It was just hiding!

3. Hearing your cellphone go and not being able to find it until th last ring & you manage to grab the call in the nick of time.

4. So grateful that it is November and it is still warm enough to just wear a fleece outside!

5. Looking for a clean tisue in your pocket or bag as your nose is abou to drop a dollop & finding the last tissue in the packet.

Sulking & sacrifice!

As you can see my bottmom lip is still sticking out a mile!

Not only is Sir L going to the UK over Thanksgiving when he gets back for a couple of days he is then off to Japan for a week! WTF?

Sometimes the sacrifices that a mother makes are just too huge. Sir L's job often entails travelling all over the world at the last minute. I have always worked part time since we have had children so that the family life contnues as we have no family support for sick kids, emergencies etc except for a few good friends.

Due to living in such a beautiful yet rural area jobs are few & far beween so my job expectations have dropped dramatically since living here. In the UK I was a buyer for a leasing company with tons of perks. Since living in the USA I have done daycare, taught at preschool, cleaned houses, waitressed and worked in a call center.... all menial jobs. Now all 3 kids are in school full time I was hoping to re-join the career market but oh no there is a recesssion which is making it a slow process. For example there were 4 jobs listed in the paper today..2 for nurses, 1 for a carpenter and one for snow removal help!!!!

So whilst Sir L hits the airports and restaurants around the world I will be taxing the crew around NH!

So my bottom lip is pertruding, life is unfair & I just maybe I am a little hormonal!

Indulgence is.................

A darn big bottle of Smoking Loon and English chocolate to ease the pain!

LIFE IS UNFAIR!

So, Sir L has been requested to go to the UK for a week leaving asap. This happens all the time which is no big deal as it can be anywhere in the world, however when it is returning to the homeland & Daffodilly is feeling rather homesick its not fair. To make it worse he is going to my hometown to work.

I have been googling flights but alas at $760 each we cannot go with him so LIFE IS UNFAIR!

Can you keep up with technology?

Is anyone else struggling with keeping up with technology like I am?

I replaced my cellphone and I had to learn how to use a new one. Obviously if you were able to replace it with a replica (which is unheard of these days as they have always gone out of style) it would be alot easier.

I now own an Ipod Shuffle, I was so excited about becoming trendy but what problems! First you have to learn how to use it and then I am still fathomng out how to get itunes off the computer and into the Ipod. When will they invent a verbal command? I want to be able to plug the Ipod into the computer and say " please transfer "Beautiful Day by U2" to my Ipod." Not learn to download this, put it into a file, name it and then download onto the Ipod. Hassle!

Yes folks you are looking at a woman who can still not tape anything off the TV! They have invented Tivo and video's and DVD's why not the verbal command?

Every new item of technolgy also comes with a password that you have to remember.....well now that we have so much stuff how many passwords do you know or should I say remember? Life is getting out of control!

Drowning in spit?????

6.30am I was awoken by our 6 year old jumping on our bed.

"Good morning' he said in a chirpy voice. Part of me groaned & then the other part of me thought what a cheery child.

He snuggled between us and says "I killed a ladybug today."

"Oh" I responded.

"Yes, I drowned it with my spit!"

So how did you wake up this morning?

The Flu

What in the world am I going to do?
I still have this rotten lousy old flu?
My nose is all cracked, dry and peeling
I really look very unappealing!

Every day I neeed an afternoon nap
I hate feeling this lazy & crap!
My poor head is all airy & woozy
I'm still in my PJ's like an old floozy.

I'm full to the top of green gooey snot
At least my fevers are no longer hot.
My body still aches for most of the day.
I need more of my nasal spray.

Maybe next year I will get a flu shot
If they can provide alot,
Why oh why are there not enough?
When living with the flu is so tough.

Well I am back off to my bed
To rest my snotty aching head.
Please let me get better over night
So I do not not look such a scary sight!

Feeling
Lousy
Unbearable

Third Day of NaBloPoMo

So what do you do when you are sick at home for the week with the flu? Oh yes let's challenge yourself by joining NaBloPoMo which means writing a post for 30 days non stop. I must be mad?

Well I'm watching Survivor and just had a gulty feeling that I have not posted today as I've been blowing my nostrils to pieces trying to keep up with the snot removal! This flu is a rotter. I've has the unable to get warm stage, shivers stage, headaches stage, achy body stage, exhausted stage and now I am at the snot stage. When will it end?????

Of course I could look at this through Pollyanna's eyes: "I'm feling a little under the weather so I stayed at home so that I would not spread my germs. I'm sure I will feel better tomorrow. Darn Survivor is back on got to go folks!

I know sad isn't it? At least I've posted today!

Knitting Queen?

As you may know from some of my older posts that are mainly posted in the winter I do dabble at knitting.

Since my mum died last year I wanted to be the one to carry on the family tradition. My children had great wardrobes of beautiful homemade sweaters and blankets that were well admired by our friends. So I bought a pattern for a sweater for number 3 in February 2009 to continue in her footsteps.

A cocky shop assistant talked me into buying it and convinced me that I could do it. It was one of those scenarios that your gut tells you there is no way you can attempt a pattern that complex but you do not want to look like a looser so you buy it anyway!

Normally I am a very strong personality so it is very rare that I get bullied by a shop assistant yet this was a great example of being caught "off guard." I was determined to prove to myself that I could and would finish this god dam sweater.

It took 10 months of constantly rushing to my mentor who lives down the road to get this sweater completed. It has travelled from NH to FL, ME and MA.  I lost faith in it, unravelled it at least twenty times and swore at it as I cried many tears of pain and frustration.

Well it is complete and it is running a tad on the short side:  nothing that a few good pulling sessions will not fix.

My son was thrilled at first as I have drummed into him how much love has gone into making this sweater, however my heart has just been broken!

I pulled his clothes out for him to wear tomorrow and he said "I don't want to wear that sweater as the kids will laugh at me!" Since I am recovering from a heavy dose of the flu I had a hissy fit & stormed out of the room. Sir L went to try & resolve the issue.

He found that number 3 likes the sweater but only for home use as another kid at school wore a homemade sweater & everyone teased him.

I could understand if we lived in the city......hell most of the kids around here are dressed in Walmart specials. Peer pressure or what?

Needless to say my next masterpiece will be a scarf for me!

How many lives does a dog have?

We nearly lost Molly our 7 month old lab this weekend. Infact she has had quite a rough week.

She chewed through her new lead which we have had for almost 2 weeks...the rotter.

Worse still she attacked my daughters Uggs & chewed the fur off them......we are in the process of sticking them back together! My daughter is trying to find it in her heart to re-bond with the dog.

Then she wandered off & did not come home for a hour...I thought that she had been eaten by a wild animal!

On Saturday we had a bonfire party and Sir L was chopping wood with his electric saw mill. Molly picked up the wire and bit through it. She went into electric convulsions and her mouth was jammed to the wire. Thank god Sir L is an electrical engineer by trade as he picked up the wire wth the dog dangling on it and shook her off it. When she hit the floor she woke up. The first I heard of it was the dog screaming in pain and running around the garden.

I grabbed her and her whole body was shaking & her eyes were rolling. We managed to calm her down and found that her tongue has a "cooked line across it."

She is ok but we were all distarught.

I'm wondering if she is related to Marley???????????????

Nice photo's from a local hike in NH.

Smelly people day!

So I am now working fewer hours & have joined the "lucky day shoppers group." (Whilst in the process of trying to get another job.)  No more frantic rushes after work to pull a dinner together. Lucky me I thought...or not as the case may be today!

Since I live in the boonies once a month I travel an hour to go to the larger supermarket to stock up. Plus we had a few flurries today urging me onwards incase of a snow day so I hit the highway.

I pulled into the parking lot, grabbed a trolley and hit the aisles.

Now I do not think that I am snobby however today tested my "keeping your gob closed capabilities."

The shop was heaving with hefty looking folk and it seemed to me that they all seemed to have a nasty body odor, greasy hair, grubby clothes & tight fitting leggings showing lots of knicker lines (the chunky chinny ones!).

Oh my the stress!

The lady in front of me lets call her "Big Bessie" with her partner "Pongy Peter" smelt so badly of wee I thought that I was going to faint whilst looking for their puddle on the floor!

Over at the vegetables aisle I was loading a bag with broccli and the man next to me smelt of shower gel I was so surprised and happy I nearly commented on his cleanliness!!!! I fought for control of myself as I realised what a tart I was being , he would probably think that I was trying to pick him up!

But when I got to the check out with the hundreds of "stinkers" (as they had long queues) the lady in front of me "Queen Muck" had a cart full of white processed bread, donuts, chocolate bars, frozen ready made meals and grape soda. I swear there were fumes coming off her! I was so tempted to get her attention and say "oh my, love you have forgotten to buy soap try over in aisle 1 and grab some bleach too you smelly cow!" I did'nt. Too make it worse she was pregnant. Then to cap it all she bought a huge box of cigarettes.

My mouth was twitching to give her a mouthful, however you would be so proud of me as I managed to control myself!

What is happening to the world?

Sisterly love

You may ask what is this?

This is Tiptoe a stuffed pet rat that Santa gave to number 3 last year. He has become a treasured member of our family...probably because I loathe rats & constantly find him hidden in my bed or car! Much to my kids delight!

Well our darling 6 month old lab Molly decided she was a little jealous of the attention that Tiptoe receives from our kids and attacked him over night.

When we woke up he was missing two paws.....number 3 goes into hysteria..wanting to get rid of the dog, his life will never be the same blah blah blah!

Darling sister jumps to the rescue & offers to sew him up & put him in a hospital bed to recuperate.

Situation resolved...thank you darling daughter!

Here is the guilty culprit.......