Day 164: Wednesday 21st August

Busy day of to-ing and fro-ing, but all in good spirit.
C1 and C2 are happy with their new school uniform bits and bobs - larger sizes, and new shoes. £116 spent, but not too bad. Thank you Mr Tesco - your school shoes are fab!

Unbelievable though it may sound, apparently I am losing weight a little too fast at the moment. This is easily explained by my innards' total inability to hang on to anything I eat for longer than 45 minutes. 

I am using all my Severn Trent User Vouchers at the moment - flushed away!!!!

Still, it could be a lot worse.

Managed to get into THE PINK JEANS today. This is only meaningful to a few friends and my children. It is an awesome personal achievement, however, and I am suitably chuffed. So are C1 and C2. They have announced this evening that they much prefer the 'new slim mummy' and like my dress code a lot more. There is less black, and a lot more colour, and as there is a lot less of me, my wardrobe favourites are either a bit too loose, or extremely comfortable to wear!

I foresee a new swimming cozzy soon though. Indecent bagginess alert!

Soon there will be a need for some new underwear, and having checked out the charity shop provision in our home town, the possibilities of some honed down jeans, and other items, at knock-down prices, is getting exciting. All 'big' clothes are being designated to the charity collection bag as soon as possible.

Had a fruitless search for amalgamating tape today - the washing machine has decided to spring a leak, and the fix is going to be a taped up exit pipe. NOT a new washing machine!!!  Will continue the search tomorrow, perhaps. No more washing until it is fixed though, as there is now quite a lot of water travelling down the middle of the garage and across to the road outside, whenever I perform my laundry duties.

Perhaps I should use some amalgamating tape on my own exit pipe!

On that note, I will sign off, and go and enjoy a film with C1 and C2, peppermint tea for me and C1, hot chocolate for C2. Joyful moment.

Day 162: Monday 19th August

Hello Houston. We appear to have a problem.
Gut lining has taken a battering via microbes, holiday crisp-eating, a small intake of wine, and some 'fizzy' hummus that should have gone in the bin.

Yes - I tried it. 
Yes, it was fizzy. 
No, I haven't learned my lesson. 

In the words of Mr 1957: Stupid is as stupid does. 

Again.

I am still feeling quite unsteady, but putting on a brave face.

We had an extraordinarily good holiday in the Fens. The caravan was clean and comfortable.

So were C1 and C2.
Auntie Jill was with us for most of the time, apart from when she had to put on her professional hat for 'results day' to mop fevered brows and wipe away tears as her pupils approached the Clearing House website to sort out their futures.

C1 and C2 (and for the first part of the week, C1's BFF Hatster) even swam in the pool in the pouring rain. Once wet, you're wet, apparently!

A day at the beach brought more rain, but rain did not stop play. 

It did bring about some unusual summer fashion statements, however, 

including the 'picnic blanket rain mac', 

and the stolen cap to disguise the caffeine overdose,

Happy to be home, but we had a lovely time.

Day 152: Friday 9th August

Eeeeuuuuuugghhhhh!

Yesterday's headache progressed nicely into a full-on migraine, so all plans to see Daddy, have a nice time, and relax, disappeared down the porcelain telephone and I ended up sleeping it off. 

Ah well.

Today is being taken up with packing lists, making a cake, checking the bank balance and collecting C1 and C2. Then it will be one more sleep till Lincoln.

Not feeling holiday-ish at all at the moment. Hopefully this will change once I have managed to squeeze the luggage, supplies, 3 children, me, and other sundry holiday paraphernalia into Daisy Skoda. 

Back soon.

Day 151: Thursday 8th August

What a day so far...

Insomnia struck again - so at 3:30am I was sorting out my wardrobe and filling binliners with clothes that no longer fit me. 5am decided to try for some more sleep, only to be woken by a vomiting cat on my windowsill.

Braced myself to face the long to-do list for today - beginning with C1's bedroom. Unearthed many items of dirty, stinky clothing, all bundled up with clean washing which was supposed to have been put away. This resulted in a cross mummy pulling the lot out of all the drawers, nooks and crannies, regrouping, applying Surf, and putting the remaining items away in the right places. Grrrrrr. 

Washed 3 loads of her stuff, pegged it out, to find that half an hour later the clouds are black and it looks like rain. 

C1's stash of laundry!

Mowed the lawn, in the hope that such activity would send the clouds away. No luck with that so far.

C2's bedroom was a doddle. He appears to be unable to put his clean clothes away either, but at least he is efficient at dumping his dirty laundry in the basket. The poor laundry fairy here has a tough time of it.

However, C2 and his buddy are in a teeny bit of bother due to the state of the trampoline and the garden after their water-bomb-fest. Broken balloons everywhere (causing lots of back-bending before I could mow the bloody lawn) and the trampoline net broken yet again. 

Balloon Hell.

Have managed to cross off 3 major things off my to-do list so far, but time is running out. And I have a headache. Just got a shower, a charity shop drop-off, someone else's pets to feed, Daddy to visit, 2 job applications to complete, a financial annual review to suffer, and an invitation out to tea, and my day of rest (!) will be complete. 

Tomorrow will bring some serious packing for the caravan experience, shopping for the caravan experience, doctor appointment for some painkilling mega-drugs, collect kids from BabyDaddy, and hope for some sleep somewhere within the next 48 hours.

Looking forward to arriving in Lincoln on Saturday afternoon for a week of pool, seaside, wine and catching up with Lincoln Jill. Should be able to put everyone else's problems on hold for a few days, and just be me, with the kids and my buddy. 

Not the actual caravan, but similar, minus the wet towels and scooters!

To  complete the grim-fest, I now find a small river running down the middle of the garage floor, coming from behind the washing machine. 

For Goodness' Sake!

Day 149: Tuesday 6th August

Yes - August is well underway, and this is my first bit of blog since the end of July. Sorry - it has been somewhat full on in the world of Sooz.

I have found that I have too many things to do, to think about, and to deal with sensibly. Therefore, there has been a small adjustment, which seems to be suiting all. Including me!

The trip to visit S2 and his family went very well, and we were sorry, as usual, to leave. We left our departure until as late as we could, and arrived home, with C1 and C2 nested in the car, with pillows and sleeping bags. It was a doddle to transfer them into their beds, and all was well. 

Visits to Daddy have increased since our return, as he is only a 5 minute drive away from our house. This is working well, and it is certainly nice to be able to sit with him every day, and try to take the pressure off Mummy a little. Daddy is still suffering with a chest infection and a water infection, which is making him quite unwell, though. His stay at the Holiday Home has been extended by a week, in the hope that the 2nd round of antibiotics will knock both infections on the head and allow him to regain his confidence and increase his mobility to the level that it was before he got there. 

My visit to Joe Physio on Monday went well, with further zapping from the sonic screwdriver, some knee-massage, a telling-off (for attempting mountains and undulating surfaces in Wales!) and instructions to give myself a break and rest my knees more regularly. I have an appointment with my GP this week to discuss better pain management and an increased prescription. Ah well. The looks on the faces of C1 and C2 as I appeared over the top of the mountain was worth all the pain afterwards!

Today is the 2nd 'at home' day of the school holiday - it feels very welcome indeed! It's nice to get away, but equally nice to be able to spend time at home.

We have C2's buddy Ant here for a sleepover tonight. 
After a visit from Jools and her boys, coffee & walnut cake, a trip to the park.....

... and now we have balloon water-bomb wars in the garden. 

Cold roast chicken and a shared bag of chips for tea, then the blow-up bed will be sorted, a film will be selected, and C1 and I will leave them to it and go and choose toe-nail colours in the safety of her bedroom. 

Ho hum.