Busy, Busy, Busy... But Fun!

Well! I've been trying to complete this post since last Monday. However, Blogger has a new photo-loader, which will not work properly. It either won't let me load any photos, or it takes so long that I run out of time and have to save my post and go away again.  This is what I've managed so far.... There may be some gaps where photos should be - I'll post those another day!

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My Weekend: 25th - 26th September

It has been another busy week.  J. was 13 on Sunday and on Saturday we had a family party, for him and his baby cousin, who was 2 the previous Sunday. 

On Sunday my MIL came to visit, so we were pretty busy all weekend.

Our "Birthday Card" for J.

The Birthday Boy (no birthday celebration is complete without chocolate cake!)

The Two-Year-Old getting ready to "go owside"!

Baby A. - 7 months old and so funny!

This was E's birthday present. She loved it and played with it all day. It isn't new - it was J's when he was small and a lot of the furnishings and little animals that live in it were Keri-Anne's when she was little! However, we gave her a brand new little family of wooden dollies to live in the dolls' house - which she was very pleased with. I drove them home to Northampton, as it wouldn't be fun to take the dolls' house on the bus! I think this is her new favourite toy (or certainly one of them).

That was a lovely weekend and J. was very happy with his birthday presents:

A new Warhammer set!

The third book in the Artemis Fowl set - he's just discovered these.

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A bit of an update on LSNED.

I'll tell you now, that I've been trying to write this post for A WEEK! Lots of problems loading image files, so I'm still working on it today... hopefully I can get the photos to load and publish my post!

Saturday 25th September:

Today was busy and I spent a lot of it in the car. I promised to pick up my younger niece from her home, which is 20 mins drive away, as her BF was working a late shift and wouldn't be able to come to the party. He was just leaving for work as I arrived, so I had the chance to admire their nice "new" car, which they bought to replace their 3-door hatchback - they couldn't get the baby in the back seat! 

We were a bit later than anticipated, so we went straight through my village, out the other side and over the river to the village where my mum lives, to pick up my elder niece and her little one, who were coming down on the bus.  Her husband had been going to come, along with my nephew, but one had a sprained ankle and the other was in bed with a horrible cold, so it was "all girls"!

We all had a lovely afternoon, with my mum and her friend adding to the party.  Birthday cakes for J. and little E (who was two last weekend); party food and a bit of fun.  C's FIL came to pick her up, so I didn't need to drive back to their house; Keri-Anne and E. were going to get the bus home, but they were obviously tired - E. was worn out and ready for her bed - so I took them back to Northampton (30 miles away), along with the dolls' house we gave E. for her birthday.

I was surprised by how well I coped with all the driving. I wasn't as tired or achey as I expected to be.

Today's Lesson: I can cope with more than I've learned to expect!

Sunday 26th September

Today was J's 13th Birthday! So it was filled with presents and fun, also a visit from MIL for lunch (brought all the way from Swindon - 90 or so miles - by a kind friend who drives taxis and drives her here for just his petrol costs!).  J. got lots of money presents this year and has already decided what to buy with it! I persuaded him to let me put a small amount away in his savings account.  I try to encourage him to save longer term (he's good at short-term saving for something he wants!), but it is difficult.  Still, every little bit helps. One day he'll be pleased he put away a little money.

Today's Lesson: I'm the mother of a Teenager!

Monday 27th September

In the afternoon, I made a pile of ready-folded sections for a lot of new notebooks, which are for my shop. I pierced all the sets of stitching holes and trimmed all the sections so their edges were level. 

I then completed a couple of fabric-covered Halloween notebooks and got them listed.  Blogger will not let me load the photos for today. If you'd like to see the Halloween notebooks at least, Find them Here.

Today's Lesson: It's much quicker to work in Batches.

Tuesday 28th September

I had a busy morning, taking my mum for a check-up at the dentist.  We enjoyed a nice cup of coffee in the cafe next door, before I took her home and helped her to make her lunch.

After lunch, I took a break for a little while and re-read (for the zillionth time) one of my favourite Jane Austen novels.  I'm working my way through the set - again! 
(There should be a photo here!)

My niece posted on Facebook, that E. has hardly left the dollshouse since she got it.  It was obviously a great present idea - very successful!

D. finishes his contract in Sweden on 30th.  He's been there for 9 months now (coming home for most weekends); he's ready for a change and would prefer to be in the London area this time.  Today he sent me a message that he's been offered a new contract, which is mostly based in London.  Terms and money still to be agreed, but that's good news.

Today's Lesson: Old Favourites (books) are the Best!

Wednesday 29th September

My mum has a regular visit from a chiropodist, who keeps her feet in trim.  This is obviously important for her, as she can't really cut her own toe-nails or deal with general "foot maintenance". 

I have no real excuse, now that my back is better, but I'd let my poor old tootsies get in a state.  So when I was at my mum's during the chiropodist's last visit, I made an appointment for her to come and fix up my feet!  She came this morning and my feet feel GREAT!

While she was here, I was stitching together some of my new notebooks.  She liked them very much and bought a pair for her daughters' Christmas stockings.  She also said she'd love to come along to our Scrapbooking Club, to see what we all do and perhaps join in - she'd seen it in a magazine and thought Scrapbooking might be a lovely hobby for her.  I think she will come along to the next meeting - I've promised we'll help her to get started on a page of her own.

Today's Lesson: It's great to make a Sale, but it's even nicer to find a new Scrap Club member!

Thursday 30th September

This morning was the first session of this term's Yoga classes.  I have really been looking forward to these, as I'm stiff and achey and really need to get started again.  I went along full of enthusiasm.  It was a bit tough, as my muscles really have seized up over the summer, but I still enjoyed it and wasn't as stiff afterwards as I thought I'd be.

September is always the time when my Year seems to finish and start afresh.  I don't know if it's because that was when I started a new year of school, or whether it has more to do with seasonal changes and perhaps stuff like lunar activity, but I always feel that September is the month when I wind up Last Year's activities and start a new year.  That's just how it is for me, though others have also said the same, so I know I'm not totally odd!

It's appropriate then, that on the last day of September, I should finish this LSNED course and also start a new Yoga course too.

Today's Lesson: I am ready for my New Start!

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Just to fill in the gap up to this evening; On Friday D. was at home.  I took my mum to the Dr. for a follow-up appointment, but then I went to meet D. for lunch in town (he was shopping for his Uncle's birthday/retirement present).  I spent the whole afternoon helping D. to find a present for Uncle John.  Not really what I'd planned, as I had a huge "to-do" list, but it was good to know I'd been useful and we came home with a nice gift for him, also a mini-rose in a pot/paper box, for John's wife.

It was lovely to have D. home on Friday.  He was able to come to J's trampoline class and watch him making progress with his front summersault, which he's been struggling with, but has started to work on again this term. 

On Saturday, after J. finished his first Frontiers Club session - he's doing Animation this term - we went down to Amesbury, near Salisbury, for John's Retirement/60th Birthday Party.  The drive was a bit of a nightmare - I hate motorway driving and I loathe the M25!  However, Amesbury is a nice little town and we had a really enjoyable meal in the restaurant of the little hotel we stayed in.  Then there was the party in the evening.  J. was v. tired by 9:15, so I went upstairs with him; he was supposed to go to sleep so I could go back down and be sociable, but when D. came to check on us at 10pm, J. was still struggling to sleep and didn't want me to leave him.  I was tired too, so D. told me to go to bed.  We were both snoring by 10:30! 

Today we enjoyed a cooked breakfast (!) and decided it was too pouringly wet and rainy to brave a trip to Stonehenge - which was only 3 miles down the road!  I was sooo disappointed, but we've decided to have a whole weekend in the Salisbury area some time soon. We'll go and see Stonehenge and some of the other ancient sites round about.  Then we'll visit Salisbury and see the old city and the cathedral.  

We went over to John's house, in a village nearby.  We hadn't been there before and his wife (who he only married in June) was very charming and welcoming.  We enjoyed a natter with their other visitors and a cup of coffee, then headed for home.  This time we chose a non-motorway route, heading North to Oxford, instead of East to London, then cross-country on familiar A-roads (instead of the dreaded M25/M1). It was much nicer to drive that route and I worked out that the distance was almost exactly the same.  Guess which route I'll choose next time!

So, that's me up to date... It's been busy and Blogger hasn't let me finish a post all week.   Sorry for the distinct lack of photos in this post  - I have raised this issue with Blogger (along with lots of other folk!), so hopefully they'll resolve it quickly.  Some users were threatening to leave and move their blogs to other providers (!). I don't think I'll be doing that - unless they really don't fix this soon.

Hope all Blog Friends are well.  I need to find a bit of time to catch up. I have tried today, but there's a lot of catching up to do - and I'm about to have another very busy week!  I promise to drop by your blogs as soon as I possibly can - and to try and leave an intelligent(ish) comment too!