Agh! 6 inches of snow are forecast for Monday - that could mean no school. It could mean no school and no packers. It could mean no school, no packers and no clear route to take doggy to respite for the week. More likely it will mean no school, no clear route to take doggy and ........packers arriving! That's about the half of it at the moment!
So today we've cleared out most of the electrical equipment, been to get the small Beehives' haircut and by 3.30 we decided to share a movie and some copporn (according to Little Miss Beehive!).
Ah well, with the "minor stresses" in our life right now, some copporn might be just what the doc ordered, alright officer??
Saturday, February 28, 2009
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Wheeew - and pause for breath!
Whoa, where the heck am I on this roller coaster right now?!
It's been manic- okay, rephrase that, it's been more manic than normal!
Mr Beehive is now working full time in Scotland and we are awaiting the imminent arrival of boxers and men wot pack to go with them.
It's been a rough ride for the last three weeks, all of them were sick the first week that Daddy left - nice timing guys, bringing me to my knees mid week. Then my mum came out - that wasn't rough at all - a blessing most definitely, but the leaving brought the tears - from the children.
Master Beehive the elder has been a troubled soul for the last few months. Part of this is down to the change in his school environment since September, he has a new teacher who, naturally, has new and different ideas and he is feeling the aftershock of the implementation of this. I am saddened by this as I no longer watch my happy child go into school and instead see this dejected, fallen character trudge his way up the corridor as if I've sent him along the green mile!
I'm putting lots of this down to the move and some of it down to this teacher shift and perhaps a small personality clash. I think the beauty and curse of Montessori is that you are with the same teacher for three years. If the child bonds well with this teacher, as MB the elder did with the previous teacher, then when there is a change - they can be hit hard.
Then, this weekend, daddy flew in for 48 hours and surprised them. It was a fantastic weekend, we just mooched as a family all weekend, went to the IMAX to see Grand Canyon, went to the aquarium, played chess and read books and basically had a fun fun time. But, weekends always pass so much quicker when one is having fun.......so this week, we are back to the drawing board again.
Things are picking up speed with trying to cram everything in before we leave. I'm teaching twice a week and fitting in hair appts, opticians, dentists, friends and all sorts.
Sorting clothing is the hardest - we need to pack for snow in Lake Tahoe, warm spring in San Francisco and Napa and then presumably wet and dreary in the UK and we only have two suitcases between us!! Working out what we're going to need three weeks from now when we have 54F one day and then snow and ice the next is proving challenging!
Oddly, we've moved so many times, you'd think we'd be dab hands at it. I've moved twice pregnant and once with a very small baby across continents too........I have to say, hand on heart, it is far harder, doing the shift with an older child. The depth of his thoughts and the release this is manifesting in quite defeats anything I was prepared for.
I'm cooking a big pot of chicken noodle soup right now - it's meant to be good for the soul. I hope it reaches out to my sad boy at the moment!
It's been manic- okay, rephrase that, it's been more manic than normal!
Mr Beehive is now working full time in Scotland and we are awaiting the imminent arrival of boxers and men wot pack to go with them.
It's been a rough ride for the last three weeks, all of them were sick the first week that Daddy left - nice timing guys, bringing me to my knees mid week. Then my mum came out - that wasn't rough at all - a blessing most definitely, but the leaving brought the tears - from the children.
Master Beehive the elder has been a troubled soul for the last few months. Part of this is down to the change in his school environment since September, he has a new teacher who, naturally, has new and different ideas and he is feeling the aftershock of the implementation of this. I am saddened by this as I no longer watch my happy child go into school and instead see this dejected, fallen character trudge his way up the corridor as if I've sent him along the green mile!
I'm putting lots of this down to the move and some of it down to this teacher shift and perhaps a small personality clash. I think the beauty and curse of Montessori is that you are with the same teacher for three years. If the child bonds well with this teacher, as MB the elder did with the previous teacher, then when there is a change - they can be hit hard.
Then, this weekend, daddy flew in for 48 hours and surprised them. It was a fantastic weekend, we just mooched as a family all weekend, went to the IMAX to see Grand Canyon, went to the aquarium, played chess and read books and basically had a fun fun time. But, weekends always pass so much quicker when one is having fun.......so this week, we are back to the drawing board again.
Things are picking up speed with trying to cram everything in before we leave. I'm teaching twice a week and fitting in hair appts, opticians, dentists, friends and all sorts.
Sorting clothing is the hardest - we need to pack for snow in Lake Tahoe, warm spring in San Francisco and Napa and then presumably wet and dreary in the UK and we only have two suitcases between us!! Working out what we're going to need three weeks from now when we have 54F one day and then snow and ice the next is proving challenging!
Oddly, we've moved so many times, you'd think we'd be dab hands at it. I've moved twice pregnant and once with a very small baby across continents too........I have to say, hand on heart, it is far harder, doing the shift with an older child. The depth of his thoughts and the release this is manifesting in quite defeats anything I was prepared for.
I'm cooking a big pot of chicken noodle soup right now - it's meant to be good for the soul. I hope it reaches out to my sad boy at the moment!
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
The final countdown
Doesn't that title make you want to release your hair and start banging your head around? Problem is, I had actually a completely different song in my head with a different tune, only couldn't remember the name of it.......or any of the lyrics, so.........Europe it is! It makes for hard googling when the only help you can come up with is "la la, la la la la"
Well I suppose it's pretty apt coming from where we're coming and .........well, going where we're going!!
I love nights where you just put the world to rights. Tonight a friend and I put the world to rights over cold pizza, the wrong salad and beers out of a Sigrid Olsen bag! Not bad eh for a pair of middle aged thirty somethings with staaaaaaayle? Shame we couldn't have put the salad right, warmed the pizza and not drunk as much as we did, but.........well, these things are best left alone n'est pas?
We are in week six before we leave week, which is seeing yet more children off school, this time, to coin a phrase, with "attics and basements" - delightful for those of you contemplating lunch or dinner. I did actually make it out of the house yesterday for nearly a complete day, on my own, without children, however, it appears today that I was to pay penance with a yakker in one toilet and a squitter on the other! I think I really p******d off the guy in the white suit somehow.
Our airshipment, which left our home on January 30th, has just, yes, JUST, left the USA. It has been sitting, uselessly, in a warehouse in Jersey, doing.........well, nothing really for the past 11 days. No one saw fit to let us know this, Mr Beehive has had to go out and purchase the items (cutlery, pans, linen etc) needed from the airshipment, hence the fact they actually were in the airshipment in the first place..........oh well for customer service. I wonder if our pizza had been sitting in the same warehouse in Jersey? Wouldn't surprise me in the least! Anyhoo, Mr Beehive has been turning up the heat and being quite a tiger in his approach. I saw disgruntled words in an email this evening that made my hair stand on end!! I suppose the moral is, never get between a man and his milk pan or bottle opener!
Mother of the Beehive comes out tomorrow (hopefully) I don't think I got her destination wrong when I booked her ticket mwahhahaha! The children are all desperate to see her and have a year's worth of games and puzzles to keep her amused. I, on the otherhand have a year's worth of eyebrow waxes, massages, coffee shops and bookshops to amuse me - and her I hope!
Well, it is 11.18pm - that's well and truly past my bedtime, it's a weekday and I am fueled with good convo, bad pizza and excellent vino. Tomorrow is.......well, another day........so, with that I bid you a good night!
Well I suppose it's pretty apt coming from where we're coming and .........well, going where we're going!!
I love nights where you just put the world to rights. Tonight a friend and I put the world to rights over cold pizza, the wrong salad and beers out of a Sigrid Olsen bag! Not bad eh for a pair of middle aged thirty somethings with staaaaaaayle? Shame we couldn't have put the salad right, warmed the pizza and not drunk as much as we did, but.........well, these things are best left alone n'est pas?
We are in week six before we leave week, which is seeing yet more children off school, this time, to coin a phrase, with "attics and basements" - delightful for those of you contemplating lunch or dinner. I did actually make it out of the house yesterday for nearly a complete day, on my own, without children, however, it appears today that I was to pay penance with a yakker in one toilet and a squitter on the other! I think I really p******d off the guy in the white suit somehow.
Our airshipment, which left our home on January 30th, has just, yes, JUST, left the USA. It has been sitting, uselessly, in a warehouse in Jersey, doing.........well, nothing really for the past 11 days. No one saw fit to let us know this, Mr Beehive has had to go out and purchase the items (cutlery, pans, linen etc) needed from the airshipment, hence the fact they actually were in the airshipment in the first place..........oh well for customer service. I wonder if our pizza had been sitting in the same warehouse in Jersey? Wouldn't surprise me in the least! Anyhoo, Mr Beehive has been turning up the heat and being quite a tiger in his approach. I saw disgruntled words in an email this evening that made my hair stand on end!! I suppose the moral is, never get between a man and his milk pan or bottle opener!
Mother of the Beehive comes out tomorrow (hopefully) I don't think I got her destination wrong when I booked her ticket mwahhahaha! The children are all desperate to see her and have a year's worth of games and puzzles to keep her amused. I, on the otherhand have a year's worth of eyebrow waxes, massages, coffee shops and bookshops to amuse me - and her I hope!
Well, it is 11.18pm - that's well and truly past my bedtime, it's a weekday and I am fueled with good convo, bad pizza and excellent vino. Tomorrow is.......well, another day........so, with that I bid you a good night!
Sunday, February 08, 2009
The great thaw of 2009!
Well that's the end of week one. We've marked a whole week off our chart, now only 6 more until we see Daddy again!~
What have we done this week? That's a good question. Mostly hunkered down in front of the fire, trying to shake off the shivers and aches, watched most of the Harry Potter films and the little Miss has learned she can move one eye without the other *sigh*!! Everytime I need to be serious or stern with her, she looks at me and moves her eyes independently with a big grin on her face. How can I stay mithering?!! Not to mention know which eye I am actually directing my disdain toward, accompanied by:
"I can seeeeee you mama...........there's two mamas" think Jack Nicholson with blond pigtails!
(or not if you'd rather!!)
...... she's hysterically funny, and she knows it too!
The leurgy started with the Little Miss last Monday, she was off Monday, Master Beehive joined her Tuesday (and there was a snow afternoon). He was off Tuesday and by Wednesday it'd brought me to my knees along with Master Beehive the younger (HE hadn't brought me to my knees, the leurgy had - well, at that point anyway, the first point happened by about 4.55pm!).
LMB was back in by Thursday as was Master Beehive the younger, however, he lasted 2 hours (I'd obviously misread his illness which had been mysteriously disguised as the running-around-the-house-like-crazy-kalooha-the-day-before symptoms!) oops *1 badmummy point. So I kept him off on Friday despite my hunch that he was really okay now - and picked up his work that he needed to finish from school mwahahahaha!!!
Today, Sunday, Master Beehive the elder has had a sleepover. What a delight! Normally I hear cringing stories about sleepovers that make me want to avoid them until the kids are at least 40! Stories of crying, homesickness, late nights (or rather very very early mornings!) too much sugar, too much noise, too much - agghhh. Well, this is the second sleepover we've had here, different children, one for each boy......they were asleep by 10pm and even allowed me to make a phone call this morning and enjoy my morning coffee without surfacing! And the manners!!! "Fank oo Mrs Patterson, yis Mrs Patterson, fanks Mrs Patterson!" *aaaahhhh* I think we'll do this more often!!!
Finally, for those of you with snow......remember this........what is wonderful and beautiful to start with......ends in slush and water, loooooooooots of water. You will find buried, that which was on the ground two months previous.
Today, I am going turd fishing! The dog poo I missed before the snow fell, then the ice, then the rain, then the ice, then the snow......oh and then the snow.........has finally drifted to the surface with the thaw.
Now, I'm not exactly sure what I'm going to need to wade knee deep in canine sewerage? Would one of the kid's rock pool nets do it, or am I going to need serious block and tackle. My fear is the fall out if I scoop the schmuck in a net- will it be like trying to seive a chocolate mousse? I've tried a spade in the past and that's just found me racing around the yard after a lump or two, cursing loudly and I'm probably likely to slip on the piles waiting for collection, which doesn't put pretty pictures in my head right now.
.......it's a real doggy doo dilemma - I'm sure archeologists didn't have this problem after the ice age!
What have we done this week? That's a good question. Mostly hunkered down in front of the fire, trying to shake off the shivers and aches, watched most of the Harry Potter films and the little Miss has learned she can move one eye without the other *sigh*!! Everytime I need to be serious or stern with her, she looks at me and moves her eyes independently with a big grin on her face. How can I stay mithering?!! Not to mention know which eye I am actually directing my disdain toward, accompanied by:
"I can seeeeee you mama...........there's two mamas" think Jack Nicholson with blond pigtails!
(or not if you'd rather!!)
...... she's hysterically funny, and she knows it too!
The leurgy started with the Little Miss last Monday, she was off Monday, Master Beehive joined her Tuesday (and there was a snow afternoon). He was off Tuesday and by Wednesday it'd brought me to my knees along with Master Beehive the younger (HE hadn't brought me to my knees, the leurgy had - well, at that point anyway, the first point happened by about 4.55pm!).
LMB was back in by Thursday as was Master Beehive the younger, however, he lasted 2 hours (I'd obviously misread his illness which had been mysteriously disguised as the running-around-the-house-like-crazy-kalooha-the-day-before symptoms!) oops *1 badmummy point. So I kept him off on Friday despite my hunch that he was really okay now - and picked up his work that he needed to finish from school mwahahahaha!!!
Today, Sunday, Master Beehive the elder has had a sleepover. What a delight! Normally I hear cringing stories about sleepovers that make me want to avoid them until the kids are at least 40! Stories of crying, homesickness, late nights (or rather very very early mornings!) too much sugar, too much noise, too much - agghhh. Well, this is the second sleepover we've had here, different children, one for each boy......they were asleep by 10pm and even allowed me to make a phone call this morning and enjoy my morning coffee without surfacing! And the manners!!! "Fank oo Mrs Patterson, yis Mrs Patterson, fanks Mrs Patterson!" *aaaahhhh* I think we'll do this more often!!!
Finally, for those of you with snow......remember this........what is wonderful and beautiful to start with......ends in slush and water, loooooooooots of water. You will find buried, that which was on the ground two months previous.
Today, I am going turd fishing! The dog poo I missed before the snow fell, then the ice, then the rain, then the ice, then the snow......oh and then the snow.........has finally drifted to the surface with the thaw.
Now, I'm not exactly sure what I'm going to need to wade knee deep in canine sewerage? Would one of the kid's rock pool nets do it, or am I going to need serious block and tackle. My fear is the fall out if I scoop the schmuck in a net- will it be like trying to seive a chocolate mousse? I've tried a spade in the past and that's just found me racing around the yard after a lump or two, cursing loudly and I'm probably likely to slip on the piles waiting for collection, which doesn't put pretty pictures in my head right now.
.......it's a real doggy doo dilemma - I'm sure archeologists didn't have this problem after the ice age!
Wednesday, February 04, 2009
Sponsor my tush!
Despite playing host to the leurgy today, I'm intending to run the Race For Life in Edinburgh in June this year - it's a long way off lol!!It is in aid of Cancer Research. It's a charity I have been a long time supporter of and affects one in four people everyday.
It's a small thing I feel I can do for something that can have such a devastating impact on people's lives and families. Since living in the States, Mr Beehive and I have had several friends and colleagues affected by this tragic potential killer and for that reason, it's time to get my lardarseup and moving.
So please sponsor me, either because you support the cause or because you'd like to see me with a firmer and smaller tush - either way, I don't care!! No donation is too small, and if you feel you'd like to do similar yourself, please go to www.raceforlife.org to find the closest one to you.
If any of my dear American friends would like to contribute, I will be happy to lighten you of your dollars but am not sure if the race for life link will allow you to sponsor me in dollars, in which case, mypaypal account might be better for this, you can contact me personally or leave a note at the bottom of my blog. You can click the link below to send your kind donations directly to my fundraising page.
Thank you all so much.
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