Mums Running Club

Caro - I always buy a box of Celebrations or something.  As a teacher I was always delighted to receive anything - even a Christmas card .

Lotte - really sad and shocking news for you.  My friend is in a secure hospital with anorexia/self harming issues and she is having a tough time.  They wouldn't let me visit recently either, not sure why.  Just be there for him is my advice.

Also Lotte I had you down as around 5' - 5' 2" ish, no idea why !

oh gosh, lotte - so sorry to hear about your cousin. that sounds really awful. let's hope he now gets the help he needs and recovers well

do teachers really want boxes of chocolates. there are 28 kids in J's class - so i do just wonder whether they really do want 28 boxes of chocs / smellies / wine etc. i might try and get the kids to make some biscuits or something the day before the end of term and take them in for all the teachers. we made biscuits and mince pies today and it was fab to have an oven which didn't burn the ones at the back and leave the ones at the front raw!

have had a great day again today. took the kids to the local national trust place and J had a good cycle. fab to see him riding on his own without stabilisers. i know it's high time but it was such a block for him. and more than anything it was great to see him enjoying it so much!

wasn't too impressed with T though. i'd asked him if he wanted to come along and arranged it so that it was convenient for him time / location-wise as he is working all weekend on a bid. so we get there and J hands him the biscuits etc that we had made for him and he pulled a face and said 'last thing i want. i have been vomiting non-stop for the last 12 hours'. oh great - thanks for that!!!! how had he failed to mention it and why then meet up with us?!?! i know the kids can catch it from anywhere but if it was me that had been vomiting non-stop for 12 hours, i wouldn't have voluntarily met up with the kids at the weekend if they weren't with me! not only that - he'd been into work all morning so had been 'sharing the love' as CC put it

he then informed me that his heating is still not working and he hasn't had heating or hot water for 2 weeks - haha, says he.  what?!?! so no way of heating the house (no fire or anything) and no hot water or electric shower. WTAF?! so when the kids have been there (weds - sun), they haven't had a bath or anything. and he hadn't told me. errrr? and he then says he has no idea how he is going to get it fixed because the guy has been out 3 times and can't work out what's wrong.

for the last 2 winters the pipes have frozen / burst over winter because he hasn't heated properly. and now we are supposed to be having a colder snap again in the next few days, so now i'm thinking that might happen again. last time it ended up with no running water in the kitchen for about 3 weeks... J doesn't feel the cold so it won't bother him, but poor E

CM - as usual I'm lost for words.  He's something else!

Lotte - so sad for your cousin.  Time of year doesn't help, felt pretty blue myself yesterday but got some extra sleep in which helped.

Off to bed now!

JT - where did you get the pastry recipe with ground almonds and orange zest. would like to try it!

oo - xmas decs is a nice idea. i was thinking more of just sending in a whole box of home made biscuits for the teachers to eat between them in the last few days. the teaching assistants in particular seem to spend time in different classrooms on different days. J's main TA is in nursery with E on a friday afternoon, for instance. and she has different TA's throughout the week, so knows (and loves) all the staff. it would be nice to send in something for all of them really.

i suppose we could actually decorate some baubles for them all. they would LOVE that! will get a list of all the staff and get them to do that, actually. good idea!

oh my god - a team spa day. why on earth would anybody want one of those?! it sounds like my idea of hell!!!

We have no tree and no christmas decorations up yet!!!! I did put a Christmas CD on this afternoon and the kids do have an advent calendar on the go (even if it is still a work in progress of sorts as I made it!!). Am aiming to try and buy a tree this week inbetween working at library, teaching pilates and all the other stuff that goes on! TBH, if we'd not gone skiing yesterday it would have been the perfect time to buy it.  Planned to make mince pies this afternoon but didn't have right ingredients and I wasn't going to do one of my strange concoctions ... so banana loaf it is!

MM - is this the race that bu**ered your knee last year, or is that next weeks race?  45 miles is still good going, even by your high standards.

Kinsey - hope you continue to get more sleep, it DOES make a huge difference I find - must be off that way myself in a minute.

Camlo - your evening sounds fab, and so would a desert trek too! Which/where?  Once went camel riding in the desert with hubby when we went to Morocco for a couple of weeks BC, spent a night in a berber tent -was awesome actually even though we were on the tourist trail so to speak.

CM - I bet every time you meet your oh-so-unpleasant ex - aside from being alarmed re the childcare - you must also heave a sigh of relief that none of you have to endure his company 24/7 ... Fab re J and the cycling. Who cares when they get there, just great when they do. My J was very hesitant for quite a while and now there is no stopping him.

J was training with the P6/7s today at Rugby (he is P4 in the P4/5 section), he LOVED it - proper tackles and scrums ... OMG, he's going to end up broken!! Have pointed out the scrumming stays on the rugby pitch and not appropriate for school playground - even when dealing with nastier members of the class!

I'm afraid I'm sticking with Christmas cards, am only just making inroads on any kinds of christmas shopping for anyone! ... hmmm, need to check bank balance actually

our p1 parent council reps are collecting cash - give what you like or don't, no pressure and they buy vouchers for the teachers . I used to get the preschool staff make up or nail polish in a boots 3for 2 gift set deal and they lucky dipped for colours.  

!!! to T cm.  I could not live like that.

your poor cousin lotte.  glad he US getting help now.

sorry for short posts and waves to all not mentioned . frankly my legs are about to walk me to my bed unbidden.  sooo tired. long day at east links farm and only just defrosted.  

that's "is".

sadly childrens services won't be interested, camlo. there are plenty of people who don't have / can't afford heating and those kids aren't taken away from their parents... i know i (and many of us probably) grew up in a house with no central heating and i remember having a strip wash in a bucket in front of an open fire, and my back was frozen if i was facing the fire. didn't do us any harm, i guess. the thing is, though, that T won't be doing a strip wash in front of an open fire as he doesn't have one. 4 nights without a bath isn't the end of the world, i guess. but there won't be any washing going on either, unless he boils a kettle and makes them strip off and wash, which i can't imagine him doing.

my kids ate loads of lollies today out of a charity stall thing, spinning the wheel. i am a bad mother when it comes to things like that. i know i should say 'no' but ... it was in a good cause. does that make it ok?

oh and my house always has a slight coating of glue and glitter. i bought a pack of make-your-own christmas cards in poundland. 4 for £1 including glitter, glue, pompoms, stickers etc. kids loved them. only thing is, i was helping J with something in the playroom and left E with the cards and the glue. within about 90 seconds, E shouted 'mum, can i have more glue? mine's all gone.' the whole tube had been squeezed onto the back of two bits of card and had gone EVERYWHERE. ho hum! it was then all over her, her clothes, the chair, the table, the floor, the cat - you get the drift!

glue and glitter regularly found around our house too, always bits of cut up paper all over the place - S loves snipping things! One thing I do have to be in a very calm mood for though is paint.

 to kids on bouncy castle with lollies though