Alison Lees

Holidays

Fri, 25 Jul 2008 18:13:02 GMT

Showed Hannah that she could chalk on the brick wall outside, which is another easy and mess free way to get them artistic, if you don't mind coloured chalk on the walls.

A Barnaby Bear I hadn't seen before, at least not all the way through. Chester, with Romans, races, and the Chester plays, for which Barnaby Bear dresses up as a rabbit.

Also, to Little CupCakes, the new Mums and Tots group at Springhead Community Centre, which we find has a party: Hannah was photographed (presumably for a publicity article: she has already been in the Chron to advertise the music group that she has now left), played with the toy cars and ride on, had her face painted, played Musical Statues and Musical Bumps and won a bracelet, ate cake and sausage rolls, joined in a singsong session, and brought home yet another balloon,

Holidays

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 19:39:05 GMT

This afternoon, to the playscheme that they are doing at Leesbrook Park. Hannah painted, crayoned, made a card with flowers (now withered up), sat on her favourite 'Giraffe' tree, and swung in hammocks.

Holidays

Wed, 23 Jul 2008 20:51:11 GMT

Soapy water in the paddling pool helps to clean Hannah while she plays, and mitigate the effects of any 'accidents' in the water.

Also, she had a go at grating the cheese for cooking tea,
Also, she had a go at listening to Sam on the telephone; she laughed, but was clearly a bit confused; removing the phone from her ear in order to look at it.

Holidays

Wed, 23 Jul 2008 07:46:06 GMT

Since Hannah is not fully toilet trained, I am preferring to let her potter around the house. The house is a tip, and she can load a DVD by herself, but never mind.
While I'm working at my desk, she can sit at the little desk and draw, and I made her a paper aeroplane and a paper hat.
For cooking, she tried some of the red pepper I was chopping, and while everything was cooking in the pan, we danced to the songs on Space Pirates.

St Mary Magdalene

Tue, 22 Jul 2008 15:09:40 GMT

A lady who came with a reputation... I know how I propose to celebrate her feastday, and it's entirely secular.

Holidays

Mon, 21 Jul 2008 18:44:19 GMT

Grandad came round at lunch time. Also, bed making, which can include bouncing on pillows, pillow fights, etc.

Also, I got my deadline put back 3 weeks, which helps.

Holidays

Sun, 20 Jul 2008 18:46:08 GMT

To my mother's house for lunch, and to leave Sam who is stopping with her for 10-14 days. Grandmas are fantastic...

Diet update

Sun, 20 Jul 2008 18:45:00 GMT

Finally put a new battery in the scales: haven't been dieting much, and am still at about 10 and a half stone. Really need a new impetus; it's been a year since I started trying to lose and I've somehow lost interest.

Holidays

Fri, 18 Jul 2008 19:52:43 GMT

This morning, we went into town to buy a present for Emily Whittaker's party; which Sam was more interested in ELC's train layout, but we managed it, and then we had lunch at the Salt Cellar http://www.saltcellar.org.uk/ . this afternoon, John looked after the children, before taking Sam to the party.

And I am cursing myself for not thinking 'Oh that's a lot of money; it must be a harder job than it looks', or asking about tables and difficulty of editing.

Holidays

Thu, 17 Jul 2008 18:24:31 GMT

In the morning we took the cat to the vet, who has gerbils (they were asleep); after much questioning about stress, the vet diagnosed a flea problem, leading to itching and over grooming, so we have got more flea exterminator. Hannah kept switching the light off, but the vet said she used to do that when she was little.

In the afternoon, we were going to go to Rhymetime at the library, but when we got there, discovered the library was closed because of the strike (and I hadn't thouight to check), so we just bought some flowers (florist), a pencil sharpener (post office), sausages (butcher) and milk (Co-op), and posted some letters (pillar box, just before the post office).

Sam wouldn't co-operate on his homework, the little tyke, but very nicely telephoned Grandma, who is going to have him stay at her house for a bit, which is an excellent plan.

However, the new book (a year one nursing textbook) has arrived and is more complicated looking than I thought it would be, so I am a bit stressed about that.

A lunch date; and holidays

Wed, 16 Jul 2008 15:27:14 GMT

Because UNISON are on strike, Sam broke up for his holidays yesterday, but Hannah had an end of term party today, which meant she was at playschool from 9:30 am until 3 pm. So Sam and I went on the bus, train and tram, just to see Daddy at work and have lunch with him. We went to one of those Chinese buffets, where you pay and help yourself, which is very convenient with smaller children, as they can see what things look like, and there isn't any waiting, which that is good for at lunch time as well.

Now we have 6 weeks and 5 days more of Summer holidays to get through; even though this is shorter than last year, somehow it seems just as scary...

St Swithin

Tue, 15 Jul 2008 19:47:22 GMT

and it rained, but not all day. So maybe it won't rain completely for 40 days. We can live in hope....

Youtube recommendation

Tue, 15 Jul 2008 19:37:46 GMT

http://improbable.com/tv/

is very good, but note the adult content on the first episode.

that end of year time again

Tue, 15 Jul 2008 19:00:15 GMT

Sam has brought home lots of work: 3 maths workbooks, 1 workbook for letter writing, exercise books for RK and literacy, and a folder of 'topic work'. And everything off the walls. I am going gooey over his writing in French (I didn't know they were writing in French) and his attempts at writing 3 + 3 = 6, and have proudly put up all his artwork.

Seaside!

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 09:38:22 GMT

Went to Lytham (or was it St Anne's, I'm not sure which is which) for the day, taking in Mass at there church to give us as much time as possible there. Had a nice ride in a boat, the children enjoyed the sand and the paddling pool and the donkey rides, Hannah's new kite that she got for her birthday flew nicely. Still as nice as ever: but note that the toilets have been made worse; instead of lots of completely free toilets, with sinks, very convenient when you have small children, sand, water, and the like, there are now 3 of those cubicles with the coin operated locks, one of which seemed to be taking money but not opening. Most of the day, you just queued up and held the door open for people to go in without paying. What do we pay our taxes for anyway?

Dentists

Thu, 10 Jul 2008 18:46:09 GMT

Sam has lots of fillings, so obviously I am a bad mother, because I do not adequately supervise him brushing and give him sweets. He has had toothache, so I took him to the dentist, who referred him to the dental clinic, where I thought they might be able to fill the cavities with the right anaesthetic, but no. I am just going to get lectured all over again by one person (here is some colgate family toothpaste, fill in this diet sheet), and have to take him another person as well just to get him used to going to the dentist and persuade him to sit on the dentists's chair, (he burst into tears as soon as he saw the dentist) and even then she is only going to paint his teeth with fluoride, which 'will make them stronger' until they fall out and are replaced with his secondary dentitition, and which I can't see why she can't give me a prescription, and let me do it myself. So now I have two appointments, for two different people, on two different dates, neither of which appointments is actually going to stop him having cavities, or toothache, because they couldn't make me a single joint appointment before the 9th September, by which time he will be at school, and I'm not taking him off school to see the dentist again. And they wonder why they had 97 missed appoinments?

Photography is cool

Wed, 09 Jul 2008 08:26:06 GMT

I have a fantastic new digital camera. It has 10X optical zoom. It is compact. It has auto-shoot functions. It has special settings for different photos. I can even take short videos. It is very exciting.
I have put some photos on facebook. It is free and easy, but for some photos (e.g. of the children), I shall make it so that you have to be my friend on facebook to see the photos. Sorry about that, but facebook is free to join.

sports day

Wed, 09 Jul 2008 08:01:31 GMT

Was very good. They split the entire infants department into teams of mixed ages and had them go through a circus of events, with year 6 taking scores and timings. There were running, throwing, jumping, stepping, hurdles, and sack races, and it was all good fun. And I took some good photos with my brand new camera, but I must get a memory card for it, and maybe a system for storing and organising all these large quantities of photos I can take.

Try again

Tue, 08 Jul 2008 09:17:35 GMT

What I was trying to say was: Cavalorn, in his livejournal, draws my attention to Miss Tianwa Yeung, who appears on You tube. I haven't worked out links, so you'll have to visit his journal.

Anyway, it is this kind of playing that makes me sigh over my own feeble attempts. In my wilder dreams, I think maybe that if I played for 10 hours a day for 50 years, maybe I'd be that good, but somehow, I know it will never be....

beaten by a kid

Tue, 08 Jul 2008 09:12:31 GMT

cavalorn

In vino veritas

Sun, 06 Jul 2008 13:22:30 GMT

It's interesting what you say when you've had a drink, and are feeling relaxed. Apparently, I would like to throw my knickers at Gerry Kearns, of the Oldham Tinkers...

Hannah's birthday

Sun, 06 Jul 2008 13:19:21 GMT

Hooray! Hannah is 3! So she has a new trampoline, and a 'Charlie and Lola' party with 4 friends (because they seemed to come in pairs) , decorating party hats ( I want a pink party hat!), playing 'pin the tail on the Sizzles' and pass the parcel and playing with her toys.

I decorated a cake with pink icing and bought flowers, which I'm good at cakes, but not icing, but nobody noticed that it looked as though it was the first time I'd iced a cake..

I got to use my brand new digital camera!! Picture at http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/leeslees/Hannah.htm

Also, pictures on Facebook.

The things you do when you're a parent...

Sat, 05 Jul 2008 11:11:49 GMT

Bought Hannah a small trampoline for her birthday. It folds up, so we can store it more easily in our limited space. It is fantastic, but it didn't come 'assembled' or 'partly assembled'. It is very difficult to attach a trampoline mat to a trampoline frame using an elasticated cord; we did it according to the picture, tried twice, and still didn't have as much 'end' at the end as it said we should, and I got a blister.

Ho hum, and I can't bounce on it either; it only takes up to 5 and a half stone.

Saint Peter and Saint Paul

Sun, 29 Jun 2008 10:01:37 GMT

Music: Christus Vincit? For Peter: anything so long as it's rock and roll..

Food: rock cakes, seaside rock

Hooray for: Changing Names.

Cranberry really does work

Fri, 27 Jun 2008 13:28:11 GMT

Suddenly developed the symptoms of a urine infection. Ouch. Not happy. But had some Cranberry and raspberry drink (and coffee, and more drink: diuretic + extra liquid, you see, to wash it out), and most of the pain has goine. Still have to have antibiotics of course, as I am in fact, infected.