Past couple of weeks

I'm not in a blog writing mood, but I haven't been for the last couple of weeks really, and I don't want a hole in the blog, as this will be printed as a book at the end of the year for a family record.

Last week was getting back into the swing of things week, with school clubs starting up, and Harry staying at school for lunches. Harry has been very tired and quite hard work at times.

I found last week hard - still not feeling well, and very tired. I think my Grandma being ill has got me down, and knowing that Mum and Dad are having to go through everything with her too. Grandma also had to move into a nursing home last week, as she now needs more care than her residential home could provide. The medicine she is taking for pain is sometimes making her confused, and Mum told me today, that Grandma is worrying about who will look after my kids, and their cousins, because she thinks all us grandkids are dead. She also thinks my Dad is a spirit and can walk through walls, and that Ken, my Dad's friend came and did her toenails! (That one made me and Mum laugh!)

A friend came over on Friday, and that cheered me up a bit, and on Saturday we went as a family to the church Helping Hands day - where we spent a couple of hours clearing polystyrene from a country park (I think it had blown over from a nearby building site), and clearing some woodland. About 200 people turned up to help - pretty good.

On Saturday afternoon Scott went to the gym (he has joined again, and now goes a couple of days before work), then took all the kids to the driving range to whack golf balls around. He then rang up to say he was going to Tesco with them, and giving them each £2 to buy their tea. It was interesting to see what they got, and how they had clubbed together and gone halves on things etc. I was grateful to Scott: didn't have to make tea, the kids had fun and learnt more about money/balanced diet etc, and I got the chance to finish off my talk for giving at church the next day.

Last Sunday I gave my talk and felt horribly nervous and sick. It went OK though I think. The kids also gave talks/read scriptures in Primary, and did OK too.

After church we had some friends over on the spur on the moment, and it was good just chatting and relaxing. Definitely what I needed anyway, in spite of clearing up after roast dinner for eleven! I love my dishwasher!

On Monday it was Harry's first full day in school. A few of us Mums with our youngest kids starting school, went to a beautiful historic town nearby, and wandered round the shops (I bought a pair of bright red shoes) and had a very nice meal. Again, it was just good being with friends and relaxing a bit. I seem to have somewhere got in the habit of being stressed, and it is time to unlearn it.

This week Scott is having a ridiculously busy time at work, with three separate lots of auditors/inspectors coming in including OFSTED, reports that he has had to prepare for them, extra meetings after work each night, oh, and the small matter of him taking over as Principal of the college next week, while still carrying on as Finance Director (...and Bishop!) It's a good job he is better than me at managing stress! I think he's pretty great!

On Monday evening Scott's Mum and Dad came round for a visit, which was lovely. We observed that Lucy is now definitely taller than Nanny!! This led to everyone getting their heights recorded on the door in the hallway. All the kids have grown between 1 and 2 inches since this February. (And strangely enough, I seem to have grown too - about 1cm. We have recorded the heights pretty accurately; is height growth at my age even possible??)

It must be all the healthy soup we keep eating!

(I had made this on Monday. I was following the soup recipe I usually use, but was missing two of the main ingredients, so substituted/added loads of totally different stuff. I liked how it looked. Lucy said it tasted 'interesting', but the boys and I really enjoyed it! The courgette came out of our garden, and the pepper, carrot and tomato came out of my friend Susannah's.)

On Tuesday I spent all day at church with lots of other people, working on our quilts which we are donating to a local care home which mainly looks after Alzheimer sufferers. The two I did can be seen here.

Yesterday was my first ever full day at home with all the kids at school! I spent an exciting day ironing and food shopping!

I have been to bed at 9.30pm the last two nights, totally exhausted. I now need to make an effort to get back to normal, sleep properly and be relaxed and cheerful.