Car

Scott went on the train to somewhere near Birmingham last night, and picked up our new (second-hand) car. I think he is happy with it, and it has just about every gadget under the sun. (Though it wasn't bought for that reason - just better fuel consumption by nearly double, than a people carrier, which we did not need two of.)

Beds & Dust

A picture from last Sunday - 5 of us ended up squished into Scott's and my bed in the evening, all reading. (Lucy got squeezed out by Harry.) Scott's Mum gave us the Playmobil catalogue a while ago, and Harry regularly has to daydream about owning it all...Squashed beds reminds me, this is a very good book!After the last little bit of decorating, it has been operation clear-up, especially of the thick sanding dust that got over everything. Harry was mega-tired yesterday, but couldn't have a nap as were setting up the chapel for the ward activity on Saturday. In contrast, today after a good night's sleep he is sweetness and light, and has been helping me clean.

Here he is happily scrubbing all the shells and rocks etc. from our 'nature' (junk) shelf.

My Mum says our antler (which we found on a walk at a country park) looks like a slug/snail with its horns, so Harry and I added a couple of things to it...
This picture is for you Mum!

Well I'm here babysitting at Ben and Anna's at the moment - fingers crossed the kids won't be too scared of me. This is about the first time I've sat down today - have had a few busy decorating days - fillered on Monday (in between Visiting Teaching trips), sanded and wallpapered yesterday and then painted the whole living room and dining room today. They look better, but now the door frames etc look worse than ever. Oh well, they've waited 5 and a half years, a bit more won't hurt. I basically lived on Christmas cake this week. (Yes, I am Mum's favourite child, John, Robin & Katy - did she make a cake for you this year?!) The house is a total tip now, and it looks like 3 years housework needs doing, not 3 days. Nobody had better come round unexpectedly. Scott even bought new socks on his lunch break today. (It's not quite as bad as it sounds - we do have a few clean clothes left - it's just I've just shrunk all the rest of his socks, and he finally got fed up of them.)
So a clear up day tomorrow, and getting set up for the Ward activity, for this Saturday.
I was pleased with my run on Monday night, and very pleased that I didn't ache on Tuesday. I'm missing a run tonight, and should really make up for it tomorrow morning, but I don't like the idea of running in daylight. I like the anonymous-ness of the dark - no-one can see me bright red and looking rubbish. Hopefully by summer it won't be so bad.
Scott and the kids are OK - Scott is still busy researching cars and looking at the figures. He has seen a nice Rover 75 for sale near Birmingham that would be good, so if it's still for sale on Saturday, he'll go by train and look at it. We are a good team. He number crunches and I paint, and we are happy. I've just realised that it was 14 years ago on the 17th that we got engaged! He still makes me laugh every day.
(I just read that through - I should make it clear: laugh with him, and not at him...)

About 20 minutes ago.

Mum: Did you have a nice day then Tom?
Tom: Yep
Mum: What did you learn?
Tom: Nothing. You have wasted your taxes.

(Fortunately not all our taxes have been wasted today - Lucy says she learnt how to use a chisel.)

Ran (ie. jogged very slowly) for 50 minutes non-stop tonight!!! This font is the colour of my face!

This Weekend

The boys have got down to some serious Lego & Playmobil playing, this week. I cordoned off a bit of the living room for them and they were happy. Harry loves his new Playmobil camper van that came this week (total eBay bargain!) We had a fairly relaxed weekend. Jack had his friend Richard round for tea on Friday - they had requested pizza, so I made the dough in the breadmaker, and made Jack's batch green. (Jack's happy too because he and Richard have been picked from their class to go to Lucy's school, for a Gifted and Talented maths day, next month.)

The pizzas looked truly revolting but tasted good!

Scott took Lucy to the Young Women's sleepover, on Friday too, and I was just itching to make something, even with no new fabric yet. I made a cushion cover from fabric left over from when I made the curtains, and from some scraps a friend gave me this week.

It's great - I seem to be getting known as a person who can 'use stuff' - in the past week I have been given some clothes for me, a coat for Tom, and had two visits to my house from the 'fabric fairy'. Actually in one of the bags of fabric (from a school Mum) was a beautiful, full length, pale blue silk dress, which fits me like a glove... Scott is going to the next Gold & Green ball at church whether he likes it or not...On Saturday, Scott picked up Lucy, then went to a birthday party with Tom, at a Laser Force/Quest type place. He said the Dad's showed no mercy to the kids at all, and totally won all the games... makes me laugh!!

Afterwards, we played board games, and then all went swimming. I've cancelled my gym membership now, so will only get free swimming till the end of the month. The kids will still all be free though because of Scott's membership. My foot is much better now - I have driven a lot instead of walking this week, and should be good to run tomorrow. Got back from swimming and all wolfed down our Kashmiri Butter Chicken (made out the slow-cooker book again - it wasn't a fluke first time round - it still tasted great!)

Church was good today & Harry managed to not bite anyone in Primary this week. The kids totally got on my nerves on the way to church (actually, mainly it was sleep-deprived-from-the-sleep-over-Lucy), but I liked them again by the time church was over.
We have taught Tom to play 'Settlers of Catan' now, too! He is pretty good, especially considering the game is Ages 10+. Lucy says she never wants to play it again EVER. Over-dosed a bit, maybe! She is dying to do some quilting with me though, and we spent a while today drooling over some of the beautiful things people have made, on their blogs.

Scott and I took it in turns for naps again this afternoon, and then have spent this evening deciding which new (second-hand) car to get. (To replace the red one.) It was a toss up between a Rover 75 or a Mondeo. (Should we match Dad, or John & Robin??!), but then Scott asked me, so now it's a toss up between a Rover 75, a Mondeo or a Mazda MX5.

Another of my goals was to do the quilting class at church this year. This is the fabric assortment I've bought: I went on another run on Monday - did about 40mins non-stop this time, but my foot is still killing, so I'm going to stop till it's healed up a bit.
Everyone is plodding on quite happily at the moment, and Harry has not been permanently ill like past winters.
Scott and I are still playing Settlers of Catan when we can, Lucy is up to date with everything, Jack is working on writing a 'Famous People' book, and Tom has been made a 'free reader' at school now, which he is very happy about.
Harry told me today that he has told the new Mum-helpers at playgroup that his name is Billy, and that's what they are calling him...
Robin (my wonderful brother!) sent me his new MP3/4 player. He'd bought one the same time as Scott and I but his order wasn't cancelled like ours. It arrived today, so I need to have a play! I cracked the screen on the other laptop that has all our music on it, 2 days ago, so will have to wait till we've got a new screen fitted.
My friend Tracy came over this afternoon, to show me how to put a new screen in, and have a chat. It turns out she has always wanted to do quilting too, so will be coming along!
Right, better go and get Tom now.

'This Week' or 'Old Photos, Aching, Snow & Settlers of Catan'

It has been a pretty quiet week really, compared with the run up to Christmas, and the holidays. Just got sorted out with the house and laundry etc. One of my new year's resolutions is to get my non-digital photos onto the computer. After looking at various options, I decided to scan them. I got my first album done this week. (I'll have to look into improving them with my Photoshop, but I'm still not familiar with it enough yet.) Here are some of my favourites so far:
My Granny and Grandpa Flinn's wedding in 1945 My dad aged 4 and 3/4

Love this one of Dad in Trafalgar Square, 1957.

Dad, 1973

Mum and Dad, 1972

Me, 1975

Me, 1977

Me and John, 1980

Granny

John

John and Robin

Mum and Robin

Katy!

Grandad Asher, 1990

Robin and Katy

Robin

Best friend Juli and I at Lathkilldale - one of my favourite places! We have had smallish amounts of snow frequently over the past week, and the garden has looked like this, most the time. None of the kids' schools have had to close. Last week I carried on with the running training schedule - 3 more shorter runs. I ached a lot less after my second run, but have had a pulled something in my foot all week. Scott's at the gym at the moment, but when he gets back in I have to go for a 40 min run (or jogging as slow as you can without walking in my case).

Also this week we found friends to play the Settlers of Catan game with! They came over on Sunday (kindly bringing dinner with them!) and we let the kids amuse themselves while the grow-ups played!

Lucy did Family Home Evening this evening. She got the idea from the Friend magazine, and it involved playing Follow-my-leader in the dark (Scott and I managed to find the settee, whilst the kids made plenty of noise going round in circles), followed by Twister. At bedtime Tom got tickled so much his tooth fell out!