Home Alone

I have clearly got something wrong here.... Elaine is out with some friends, enjoying Pizza- I am at home- no beer, no wine and no snacks, and unable to get out to the shop as I am babysitting.

On the bright side, I have been off work all week and have been to the following things which I often heard about, but could never go to:

• Toddler gym


• Pre- school (I was a daddy helper)


• Primate music class

During the week we have also played football, been to a museum (not to be repeated for a few years as Tim was not particularly interested,) been to the 'Living Rainforest,' been to the garden centre and spent a long time playing with CD's- a current favourite pastime of Tim's. We have also made a replica coffee maker from the Brabantia bin box, and a sword (Tim had to go dressed as a Prince to his music class)

At the rainforest, we saw some interesting plants- this is an Arabica coffee plant- useful in the production of espresso!

This is an Avocado plant- the fruit of which are eaten in large quantities by recent retirees

We also saw a bird eating spider.

And an imperial scorpion.

These are actually edible- as are all scorpions, you just need to cut off the sting- and the venom sack (that ball at the end of the tail) and then munch away- a good source of protein. I would rather have a steak I think.

Le weekend

We have had a much slower pace of weekend this week thank goodness, which has allowed us some time to get into series 1 of 'Prison Break'. Roy and Sian have lent it to us, and said it was equally as good as '24' which we all absolutely loved. They are right, and we spent 3 hours watching on Friday, 3 hours on Sat and are just about to get started on Sunday's marathon viewing session. Ben is supposed to be going to buy chocolate for the occasion, but he is still here as I write this...

We visited P, A, J and T for tea yesterday. It was lovely to catch up and we loved their new pad!. T and J get on like a house on fire and they had a great time together. T of course was thrilled with J's music player and cd collection.

Today we all went to church, and then out to play football. We took a giant chocolate chip cookie, and whoever scored a goal got to have a bite of it. It's the only way we can get T to be remotely interested, but he did score a lot of goals today.

Oh dear, I've turned the italics on. Not sure how to get them off, so its probably time to go and watch Prison Break. Where's the chocolate Ben?

Dentist

Today I went to see the hygienist for the first time in about 5 years. I had not been avoiding it- I was told by the dentist that there was no need to go. On my last visit, he said that it may be worth going to see the hygienist- and so I did.

I assumed that there would be a bit of scraping around with the mega metal toothpick thing, and then a lecture on flossing and a massive bill....... I was unpleasantly surprised!

This is an ultrasonic descaler- a device intended to really hurt your upper and lower lateral and central incisors (see picture 1) and to make your whole mouth bleed like mad.
Once I had stemmed the bleeding, the hygienist set to with a polish derived from the above- which was also pretty painful on the incisors.

There was then a lecture about gum disease- I have prepared the above slide as an memory jogger for all of my readers- basically, clean them or they bleed loads, hurt a lot, your teeth fall out and then it costs you a bomb to get some new ones made.
As luck would have it, I have an alternative to the troublesome and outdated enamel items that we are fitted with as standard. The above 'tooth grills' not only look stylish, but also enable you to set off metal detectors at airports, and to look like a bond villain.

In other news, Tim has started swimming lessons in a pool where he cannot reach the bottom- he loved the first lesson and hardly seemed to notice that he was floating for the whole time rather than his more usual wading technique.

Katie has started to re-settle herself when she wakes during the night- meaning a lot more sleep for the rest of us.

Elaine has baked blueberry muffins- which are very nice, (despite her forgetting to put the milk in them.) She and Katie went to feed the ducks today but were chased away by a swan (Elaine was bitten by a swan as a child and now does not trust them.)

I just managed to run 6 miles in a respectable time for the first time in about 2 months.

It's The End Of The World As We Know It.

An REM song, written I believe about Tilbury.

Today I went to Tilbury Power station for a couple of meetings

The power station is the highlight of the town in my opinion, although it is going to close by 2015, and is likely to be replaced with a more modern plant in the next few years.

Since I got back reasonably early, we decided to go out for tea.

The only choice for people with children in Bicester is Pizza Express- so we went there.

I had an Etna pizza, Elaine had a Salcicca pizza and Tim had a La Reine- and took off the olives- all very good. We took Katie's tea with us. (she doesn't like Pizza- Curry is her thing.)

We also went into the library whilst we were in town and Tim has got another Winnie the Witch story- he rejected "Winnie and the dragon" as he does not like dragons. The Paddington Bear book that he chose has been lost between the library and home- not deliberately, so we will have to go and confess about that tomorrow.

Another Post

It's only a couple of days since my last post and here I am again! Amazing.

This is Tim- on the night that we hosted the church's nativity figures (on the trunk.) I don't remember any of the wise men wearing orange hi-viz, but clearly that one does some work on the railways. Could our tree be any more festive?

This one is Katie in her high chair- showing the world her new teeth.

A little bee in our lounge.

KP playing with one of Tim's favourite toys of the moment- she is keeping a look out for when he will come and take it off her- which he always does sooner or later.

Congratulations to William and Kathrine!

Sunday Relaxation

We have just had soup and homemade bread for lunch and are now relaxing with the Wiggles. They are a childrens entertainment group who are amusing to watch for adults- Tim loves them.

KP is having a bit of a sleep- something which never lasts very long.

Last week was the last part of my project management course- I am now fully convinced that I never- ever want to be a project manager. There is apparently far more to it than learning to use Microsoft Project!

This evening we have one of Tim's friends- and her family coming to tea. We are planning to have roast chicken, followed by dessert pizza- prepared by the children, so probably containing things that you don't really want to think about eating.

Yesterday we went to Reading to look at a new rug in John Lewis. I had not been to Reading before, and will never- ever go again. it is a place which is a long way away, has a large one- way system, no signs, lots of stairs and far too many horrible louts loitering about. Oh, and we decided that we did not like the rug. There was a rug that we did want to buy, but it turned out to be for display purposes only! We had to use 3 different lifts to get to the rug department- one of which went the height of about 5 steps!The only interesting thing to happen on the whole trip was a discovery that I made about Elaine. She had a blocked up nose and despite some one to one intensive training from an expert (as those of you who know me will agree,) was unable to blow her nose. Apparently she cannot do it! I am considering fitting her with some pipework and a connection to carry out a periodic blow with compressed air.

Oh, the KP sleep is already over!

No self control

I was the model of self-restraint with the Green and Blacks butterscotch last night when Gill was here. Sadly she has now gone home and I am alone with no will power. There is also half a bottle of Zinfandel calling me from the kitchen, it really smells as if it is going off and needs drinking quickly.



Thanks to all for the words of encouragement on the sleeping front. I really do need it, as KP was awake from midnight to 3.30 am on and off last night. Even Gill was kept awake. Quite what I am going to do when I need to get up at 6am to go to work I don't know. I was interested in P's advice about the cold, and will try some of her suggestions, so thanks for that.



As KP is a lot better, Gill and I ventured to Banbury today. We decided to start our diets by having coffee cake and full fat cappuccinos for lunch. I'm not sure I was supposed to mention that. There was much indecision from me (as usual) about whether or not to buy a half price Brabantia bin for the kitchen - Ben and I have wanted one for ages. I finally decided to take the plunge, and when we unpacked it at home, it wasn't quite the colour we had expected it to be. Only Gill and I could actually take the thing out of its box in the shop and still not see that it is black and not chrome. Anyway, it is staying put, and Tim was so pleased with it he had to throw everything in sight into the bin. I am about to throw the Green and Blacks empty wrapper into it.....