OH MY GOD ZOOM IS GOING BUST!!!

Stobo So Long

On Monday morning I left Mae with her grandparents and bussed it to the big city. Edinburgh, 15 minutes away. But it felt like 20 years and I felt like a teenager again!!!

I went browsing at loads of shops, smiling the whole way, then went to meet my BFF (best friend forever, in teenage speak) Sharon! Yay! We are on our way to STOBO CASTLE!!!

What a great night. We spent the evening and next morning in our bathrobes (and recently bought slippers for me and zip up boots for Sharon, which looked quite retro dominatrix. If it was the other way around it would have been v.v. bad but she pulled it off!!

I was coated in mud and wrapped in clingfilm. Heaven. Sharon was a dragon with a ball (ask her).

Our every whim was catered for, food was great and the alcohol was even better because there was no possibility of having to sober up in the case of a sick or injured child. Bliss!!

And how long does this wonderful day last? Mine wore off about 8 minutes after I got home.

I need to go again. Now.

Alvin and the Chipmunks

Sheese. I thought someone would get that.

Well............YAY!!!! Mae's back at school! The only reason I am so very happy of that is what she said when I told her to eat 5 more bites of her lentil soup last night.

'FIVE more bites?! You must be crazy.'

Thanks. Now back to school, sucka.

Ooh-to the-eee-to the- ooh ahh ahh

For 10 points name the film that the title was in.

Answer to Aubrey's note: the tick removal was disastrous. The doctor picked at it with first a q-tip (!?) then his fingers, thereby leaving the head in and legs hanging out!!! If Mae was a more delicate child she would have freaked, thank god she's got a keen sense of the grotesque. It eventually made it's way out, before I had to get her when she was asleep with the tweezers. Not a word about Lyme disease.

So, re: Summer highjinks: last weekend I stood in the pouring rain with 5 other people protesting the Human Rights records of China. In the pouring, freezing rain for 5 hours. Needless to say, I was wet and cold when I got home. None of the below is me, but apparently I will be in the paper with a similar shot on Friday. I think I am winning the paper war in this house. We've been here 2.5 years and our family have been in one paper or another 7 times. We're like the bloody Osbornes!!

So I haven't really wanted to venture out much more, apparently the weather here being much the same as Canada. Rain rain rain.

What to do with a bored kid at the end of summer holidays? Give em chopsticks and blueberries. Unfortunately Mae conquered this challenge after about 5 minutes.

Any more ideas?

More summer highjinks

Off to get a tick out of Mae's leg. Ticked that box.

3 miles in 12 feet of snow

See, when I was a kid, we had it tough. I regularly had to break the ice in the toilet to pee, we had no heating. And Fridays were hotdog-juice pop days in the summer.

We didn't get no fancy chocolate factories.

April 30, 2008

go back and look at that post. Feel the pride and love regarding the beautiful watercolour that Mae did at school that week. Look at it closely and enjoy the passion and artistry that went into the painting.

Here is today's conversation , when Mae is getting her shoes on in front of said picture.

Mae: 'I really like that picture. But I didn't paint that one'
Jen: 'What?!?! Yes, you did! Mrs Foden put your name on it and said you did it that day!'
Mae: ' But I didn't paint it. My friends Olivia and Marina did it'
Jen: 'What....?'
Mae: 'Yeah, they did it and gave it to me then Mrs Foden put my name on it.'
Jen: '.....'
Mae: 'Every time I look at it I think of them- I love that picture.'

Every time I go into the hallway I look at that picture with pride, and warmth in my heart. I now realise that pride and warmth is for the twins, Olivia and Marina.

Lots to blog but you'll have to wait for pics

We've just been doing so much over these holidays!

We borrowed Sharon and John's tent before we went to Canada and set it up for a camp out in the garden when we got back- it was fun sleeping outside, but we started thinking about getting one for ourselves and impulsively bought a trailer tent!!!

We went to Gateshead (near Newcastle, north east England for you Canadians) to pick it up this Saturday. While we were happy to stop at the Angel of the North, it put us back 10 minutes and when we got to 'Mick and Lynda's' place the skies opened up and we had to put it up in a thunderstorm!!! But it is so cute! And we had a great night camping near Hadrian's Wall, where we stopped on the way home for a bit of Roman Re-enactment.

We have also had the lovely Reidie girls visit on my birthday for more tenting fun and waterpark fun and cake eating- and I am looking forward to hooking up with Sharon at Stobo Castle Spa which is my birthday gift!!!!

We have been to the local castle once and Dalscone twice, as well as Mabie farm where we fed the calves last week (but I am finding Mabie filled with rude little shits so am getting a bit fed up with it).

We are growing a huge sunflower and peas and beans (thanks Elaine) which have been filling our bellies along with the various cakes.

We have been to a classic car show as well as the air show, with Mae's pal Beck.

I am Amnesting in the centre this next weekend (how can I not watch the olympics? It's everywhere already?) and painting a mural on Liza's wall in her new house for the childminding room.

Mae's back at school in two weeks from tomorrow! Lots more to fit in!