In praise of the charity shop..

Never has so much fun been had by two children for so little outlay...well cardboard boxes excepted. On a budget of £2 per child we now have a show jumping arena and a whole haulage yard/firestation setup in the respective bedrooms. I also got 16 Key Words Ladybird books all in A1 condition for 39p each, you can't beat that, even on Ebay.

Soo have now had 3 hours to catch up on paperwork as the kids have been heavily occupied with their new purchases. Paperwork is now in boxes waiting to be processed, but at least I have looked at all the paperwork now. It was developing into two worrying heaps (we have two limited companies) and I wasn't too sure what was in each one as the summer holidays have got in the way of anything like a weekly review. This should mean that I can zip through all of it on Monday when the kids go back to school :-)

My new hard disk is quietly formatting on my old laptop. The laptop has been dying for the past month or so. I finally got round to getting the hard disk and then left it for 3 weeks as the kids demanded my attention whereas the laptop could only beep and ask silently to be rescued (soundcard is off too).

The tax man is writing me letters chasing payments that I've already made. Their phone doesn't seem to work in Cumbernauld, and neither does their email, so I've resorted to a letter quoting bank reference numbers and dates. That took me an hour to sort out. I should start adding up how much time I spend on admin for the revenue people. If only I could charge them for the time I spend filling in forms. They are very nice on the phone, if you ever get through to them. I hate overdue notices though, much better to be able to deal with them immediately. Hence I find it highly frustrating that I cannot get an instant result and have to resort to the post.

It has taken 4 mini bars of chocolate to get through the afternoon. Good job I only have mini bars available. My balanced diet today = 1 large latte and 4 x 40g bars of chocolate and a snack sized Cadburys Twirl (which was breakfast). I am convinced I could lose weight this way. Trouble is everyone else in this house seems to expect an actual meal three times a day. I did once lose over 2 stone by just eating chocolate, fruit and diet coke!! Hey ho those were the days.

Turns out I turned off my counter

Well anyone can do it. In a previous attempt to make this blog look pretty I fiddled about with the counter settings....it looked nice on the screen..but it turns out it wasn't counting anything!

Happily I spotted this little problem whilst waiting to find out what is going to happen at the end of 'The Cassandra Crossing', so much for having an early night.

I've checked out the stars on the web (Burt Lancaster, Ava Gardener, Richard Harris, Martin Sheen, Sophia Loren ...who always looks the same age irrespective of the decade the film was made), but at the moment I can't figure out if they all go over a cliff or not. In the good old days this would have been on the telly on a Sunday afternoon and I wouldn't be sat here are one in the morning.

Did I help - probably not

I was on my way back to my car today, I'd left it in Jesmond, a nice part of Newcastle upon Tyne, kind of Knightsbridge of the north east I suppose..but quieter.

Normally I'm reasonably immune to pleas for money but today, a lady asked me for money just as I was about to get into my car. She was polite, and I had saved money all week by parking on the street, rather than in the more expensive and heavily monitored card park. So I fished in my bag and gave her my whole bag of change (that I keep for parking), I don't know how much money was in it, not more than £5 I expect.

Initially I supposed I was going to find £1, but I thought it was mean to count out coins. She said she had been trying to get £7 to stay in a hostel for the night and had tried the police, the probation service and lots of other places but I wasn't really listening.

It did strike me that I had never seen anyone so thin standing up. Her eyes were hollow and her skin very pale. I know she will spend the money on drugs or drink. I wish that wasn't the case, but my judgement is that is what will happen - unless it rains I guess. I just hope she gets some peace from whatever she uses the money for.

It troubles me that people end up asking strangers for money. I would like to think that someone would help me if I was in that situation. I feel guilty that I don't have the courage to engage in a longer conversation, but I doubt that I could help, and I didn't want to sound patronising. It was clear that whatever she did need the money for, her need was significantly greater than mine.

It makes me grateful for what I have. I am credit worthy so I can borrow money. I am employable so I can work and I am blessed with my health, and my family.

Join the club

Turns out I have joined a wine club. Funny how that happens when you use a discount voucher and don't quite read the small print. I guess that companies are now wise to women seeking a bargain and stick all sorts of things in the small print.

I think something similar happened with the mobile phone insurance, at least I think that is what the £4.99 direct debit is for. I know I should check it/cancel it, but it is getting round to DOING something that is the problem. After all I won't go bankrupt because of £4.99 a month will I? OK I'll do it....this weekend, probably.

Anyway I got the friendly letter from the wine club today telling me that I am about to receive my mixed case (lucky me) unless I DO SOMETHING to cancel it. So off I go onto the website to cancel the thing I didn't think I joined in the first place. BUT...SHOCK...the other half thinks it looks like a good deal. Which I think is approval not to cancel the wine.

I'll give it a go, just this once, fully aware of the fact that once these things start they are very hard to cancel. Just becuase cancelling involves making an effort, how to you think book clubs suck you in.

I tell you these sales guys have totally cracked the purchasing psychology thing. Wish I was as good at selling stuff.

It isn't asleep!

Well I have just removed a dead weasel from my daughter's bed. Not something I expected to be doing on a Sunday afternoon. I had heard whispering, but thought that it was something to do with avoiding piano practice, or sneaking additional children into the house whilst I wasn't looking (like it normally is).

The garden is looking more garden like, and less major excavation works. So the kids are spending more time out there. However one of my neighbours must have put some rat poison down, hence the dead weasel.

I was admiring the new decking when Jason asked if the kids had shown me a dead animal, he thought it was a weasel or something similar. Hence the following conversation with a small child, ostensibly sitting sewing in her bedroom, oh so cute!..

'Where is the weasel?'
'Oh, Mum, who told you?'
'Ok, where is it then?'
Child goes to bed, lifts duvet, and extracts dead rodent, which has been wrapped in a tea towel.
'It isn't asleep you know'
'Oh'
'It will start to smell'
'Oh it smells already' holds dead weasel to mum's nose - yuk

Chairoplanes

Back from hols, duly collected cats and dog, washed mountains of clothes and did the grocery shopping. Transported children to various swimming and sporting courses and visited newly pacemakered parent. So another normal day really.

Looking back on the holiday I think that a real highlight was our visit to Hollycombe Steam Collection in Liphook, on the Sussex/Hampshire borders. What a wonderful bit of nostalgia that was. I'm sure Elinor and George think I was around when the rides were first built, bless 'em they are convinced that anyone more than 20 years old can remember the olden days. In Windsor Elinor even suggested that I might have actually seen Queen Victoria when I was younger. Thankfully we used that as an opportunity to try out some mathematical skills to work out that I really couldn't have been there by a gap of some 60 something years.

Thought I'd pop in some pics of the steam powered funfair rides.
Yes there are real steam engines powering these things.


I didn't get the name of the ride in the first picture, so I'll just call it the spinny thing. It looks rather innocent at rest, but when it rises up, spins round and tips 45 degrees it is rather a different matter. Our ride was somewhat overwhelmed by the screams of George who wailed as soon as it tipped up 'I don't like it' and continued to sob the same thing until it stopped. I didn't like it that much myself, mainly because it felt too much like being in a tumble drier, but rather worryingly with a steam engine underneath, and I did wonder what would happen if the spinny bit flew off. Poor George was so pitiful I couldn't help but laugh (not terribly sympathetic I realise) but there was no point in joining in the panic.
Then there were the Chairoplanes, which seemed to have more safety straps than I remember. Jason and Elinor had two goes. Elinor would have continued spinning all day, but Jason developed a headache at that point.

George really liked the Austin Car ride though. These I do remember, somewhere there is a picture of me on one of these when I was about two years old. To see more on Hollycombe have a look at the website on www.hollycombe.co.uk. This beats all other funfairs hands down as far as I'm concerned.

Only in England

Well we've spent the past few days visiting Norwich. Our hotel looked out over the cathedral gate, and we spent a peaceful few days exploring the city centre while the kids stayed with their grandparents in Lowestoft.

So after a nice day out utilising the old National Trust membership at Blickling Hall (excellent second hand bookshop) and Felbrigg Hall (got totally lost in the woods!!) we got back to the hotel and spied two sets of what appeared to be morris dancers jigging away outside the local pub.

It is a bit blurry in the picture but there were around 30 of them in two groups doing rather complex footwork, some in clogs, some in bells and some with rather large leafy arches. It turns out that they turn up and dance outside a different pub every Monday night, so if you happen to be in the area you never know you might just spot them.

New gadget

Gadget of the week is the new mobile card for this laptop. I can now check my email anytime, anyplace, anywhere. So benefits of the new gizmo are that I can spend time deleting junkmail anywhere I choose....who are all these exotic people who keep wanting to involve me in their latest investment wheeze anyway...despite coming from lots of different countries and continents they all appear to be sending the very same email. I do wonder if anyone ever responds.

Anyway I'm sure that there was a legitimate reason for the new electronic expenditure. I just can't think what that was at this precise moment.

justbloggin

Sometimes I wonder why I never seem to have any time. I always think 'ah next week will be quiet and I can catch up then' trouble is next week is never quiet, and I never do everything I intend to do. The ironing is so far down my list of priorities it is amazing that anyone in the family ever looks human, let alone groomed.

So last week kicked off with one resignation and one period of notice being proferred, thus reducing staff numbers from 6 to 4 in one fell swoop. The informal team is more informal than ever, and I am fairly guilty of being informal myself, ie. hardy ever there in person. Which means that I have now hassled everyone to get their Skype phones and email sorted out as I haven't managed to master long distance telepathy yet.

The kids kicked off the holidays with an assortment of kids club events including karate and squash, trips to the cinema, trampolining and arts and crafts. Elinor headed off to a sleepover and a day out. George did Yogabugs and more karate. He has also developed a very strong interest in snooker thanks to our 10 year old neighbour and some men he met in a pub while Elinor was at a birthday party...yes he is only 6...yes he was in the bar playing snooker for an hour!

My mum went off for her regular heart checkup and has been advised to get a pacemaker. This would be fine if they hadn't had a disaster the last time they tried to give her a pacemaker. Last time it turned out the scar tissue from her original valve surgery (back in 1963) prevented them from getting the wires in. You might think a bit of prior investigation would be sensible on someone that had a history of early open heart surgery...or is that me...oh well. Anyway the solution then was to implant two new artificial heart valves and to postpone the pacemaker. The valves have been ticking happily ever since but the pacing problem hasn't gone away. With the usual gung ho attitude of those not having surgery the medics are claiming that the whole thing can be done in a lunch time and all will be hunky dory. Sadly my mum isn't so sure, especially after last time. I'm not sure what the stress is doing to her, but it can't be good.

Still this Thursday is the pre-op checkup so with any luck they will manage to calm her down. I don't think she knows what type of pacemaker she is getting, two wires vs one. I'm assuming it might be two.

All the internet info I've looked at is very positive, apart from the references to 'twiddler syndrome' which is the rather unfortunate side-effect whereby sufferers develop a tendency to do a nazi salute if the wires get attached to the wrong thing. I won't be mentioning this AT ALL.



justbloggin

Giant darts big success at school fair

Not that I saw much of the rest of the school fair. I spent the afternoon on the school field with my box of sweeties and a dish full of change and raised £14.75 for school funds.

Picture to follow when I work up the energy to re-inflate the inflatable darts board. But if you are looking for a simple stall to run then pop along to your largest Te*co and give them a whirl.

I recommend taking a friend or like me you will find yourself glued to your dartboard by the seemingly endless stream of kids who want to have a go. It has to be said that I wasn't particularly strict with the rules. But then 10p is a fair price for a lolly, and my kids get a new game for the garden - until the dog eats the darts!

Let the parties begin

It was 7am on a sunny July morning and Elinor had stirred into action (remarkably early considering the fact that she went to bed very late). Somehow a bag of cards and presents had been left on her bedroom door handle, nobody knows how they got there.....

Social Whirl

There is a strong danger that I may become totally overwhelmed with the volume of social engagements my children are attending over the next fortnight. I think I may need to give up sleeping in order to do some work.

This week we have 2 family birthdays, one family birthday party, two other birthday parties that the kids wouldn't miss for the world. Next week we have another family birthday. We've turned down another party; if any more party like post comes I'm not going to open it.

On the school side we have the Summer Fair, which requires prizes to be donated and my attendance is required to help on the stalls. The kids think they will get more spending money that way. ie if I am there I can part with all my cash so that they can go on everything. They also tried the 'if you are there do I get to go on everything for nothing' line.

Then there is the whole school trip to Holy Island requiring careful packing of small rucsacks to cope with all weathers, and a long bus trip, as parents aren't allowed. Normally I try to go on school trips as I know I can then take all of the other things the kids will want to have; but won't want to carry.

These are closely followed by Sports Day, Prize Day, end of term party day, end of term church service etc....there is probably something else.

The house is full of party bags, cakes, presents for various ages, shapes and sizes. My diary overfloweth.

I spoke too soon another invite has just arrived, hand delivered, a rather lovely invite, which again cannot be refused. Hand delivered at 8.34pm

As an aside I have a feeling that my hairdresser has read this blog, either that or she is telepathic (quite likely). I was on the back foot as I got the appointment time wrong and had to be telephoned to remind me to go the four doors up the road to get my hair cut. In advance of the appointment I'd been revving up to ask for a 'bit less drama on the colour front' and had hardly stepped inside when I was told that my hair would stay 'a more natural colour' this time. Spooky. Thanks Trysh ;-)

Stand back from the chocolates......

I’m having a fairly normal Monday morning. I’ve logged into the accounts software and checked that everything is pretty much keyed in. I emailed this week’s invoice proforma on Friday so got ahead of myself there.

I need to do a cashflow forecast and go into battle with the small print on a couple of CT600 forms and then read some stuff on Sarbox so why am I currently debating whether 15% and free postage is a better deal than £10 off orders over £30, and whether the trousers I’ve been looking at are any different to the ones I already have and if I really need them?

Meanwhile I have 50 minutes until my hairdressers appointment, I could do with attempting some exercise and at 2.30 I’m off on a school trip to watch my kids tour a football ground, and whilst I don’t like football I do like to go to these things to see what the kids get up to.

I still can’t find the missing email addresses. My daughter can’t remember how to spell the names of some of her classmates. This makes it rather difficult when it comes to sending them birthday party invitations. Especially as I’m always complaining about her terrible spelling (not that mine is great, and don’t even go there on the grammar).

And yes, for once, I spell checked this post!

Oh and I love my new screensaver – thanks Gillie.

Ninja is one year old this week

Here is the birthday boy, on the left with his special scoubie toy. Ninja thinks that playing with his toys is just about the best thing in the world. He carries his toys round with him and gets most upset if I won't play.

On the right we have Cinders, who is Ninja's mum. She may be tiny but she certainly rules the furry animal department in this house. The poor dog is often seen howling and running in the opposite direction as Cinders tends to hide behind the doors and pounce on him. Unlike Ninja she does go for the full claws approach.

A few questions

1. Do you ever swap handbags just because the one you have been using has got so heavy that you can't face carrying it about all day...but you can't take anything out of it because you might need it later on?

2. Do you put things in such cunningly clever places that you can't find them yourself?

3. Do you spend ages trying to remember your super clever hiding place and then find a wonderful workaround, only to see the missing item the next time that you go into the room?

4. Do you write lists of the things your kids have done that annoyed you to see if they look as irritating when you see them written down?

5. Do you carefully write down someone's contact email and then lose it?

That's 5 out of 5 for me anyway. Today has been a particularly good day for 2 and 5. My desk looks like a bomb dropped and I still can't find my important bits of paper, which incidentally were somewhere in my incredibly heavy handbag. I'm going to leave the room now and wait for them all to re-appear.

Playing with the settings again

Another technological first, I finally found the 'publish comments' button!
Must load some pics on the blog..getting very texty methinks.

I've decided that my children have turned into early stage teenagers for the summer. I must catch them telling lies about 10 times a day each at the moment. It is getting rather tiring in terms of bothering to tell when I know they are lying. If I don't tell them does that mean that they are getting away with it....so I guess they have worn me down a bit this week in that I am now fed up with telling them off or catching them out.

The garden is undergoing an overhaul. A large quantity of railway sleepers turned up this morning and Jason is now artfully arranging them into raised beds. The dog is then tunnelling round the edges for an extra rustic effect.

It's been a while...now that everyone else has gone to bed I figured it was time to catch up on the blog. The trouble with the lighter evenings is that nobody under the age of 10 seems to realise when it is getting late and as it takes me a good hour or two of peace to wind down for the day I'm rapidly becoming completely nocturnal. Which would be great if I didn't have to get up and organise breakfast in the morning.

Mostly it has been a busy time since half term. This week quite a few extra people joined the business. And very good they are too. The chronic organiser in me wanted to get the office set up for them but it turns out they are way ahead of me. This morning a full sized fridge had appeared in the new office, complete with its own set of Top Gear fridge magnets. I certainly didn't have it on my top 10 things to get for the office but now I think of it I am rather attracted to the idea of popping in for a cool drink when I happen to be passing. I may even store something in the fridge just in case.

To show how easily pleased I am with little technical breakthroughs. I got the online BACS software working on Tuesday and it is going to save me so much time. Why on earth I ever agreed to pay everyone weekly is beyond me, but at least I don't have to handwrite all the cheques every Thursday evening...hooray. I've even set up a payment template so I only have to put in the amounts. Now this one little thing makes me smile whenever I think about it - so how sad am I?

Fudgee the dog had the op on Tuesday. Not sure if it is working yet but he is certainly very wary of going on car journeys with me.

The kids birthday party season is almost upon us so I have had my party bag planner hat on. Parties are booked and the invites are going out soon. If the kids can try to keep their rooms tidy and not wind me up EVERY evening by not going to bed they might even get to go to the parties themselves.

Business is booming
Things are moving fast in software development land. From being an idea we now have 7 staff plus myself and Jason!! Not bad since we only started properly in February.

The development team are going to have to move into another office, 5 mins up the road, as we can't fit everyone in. I was considering introducing shift work and desk share policies but as it happens another office has unexpectedly become available.

Must post some pics.
Flippin eck

Jason is off to a posh business do tonight. Black tie, looked very smart.

Amazing how things just start to develop their own momentum.

It was hairdresser day again today. Every time a new surprise colourwise. It turns out that they don't write down the colour they put on your hair as they can 'usually' remember. Possibly not that accurately judging by some of my recent colour adventures. I'm currently getting used to a new shade from today's experiment in hair pigments.

This time I did work up the nerve to object to the initial colour so thankfully I don't look too flame haired. The amended version is a bit more subtle and the kids have given it a nod of approval. Two hair cuts ago they agreed unanimously that I looked a bit like a Bratz doll, something to do with the purple highlights I think.

Anyway I was explaining that maybe it would be an idea to write something down in the book for next time. They've had a go...and it could be one of two or three colours, so they'll try the first of the other options in June.

Don't get me wrong I don't dislike the hair cut or the hair colour but it is sometimes hard to cope with the surprise! I think I need to avoid bright lights for a few days until the colour fades a bit. Do I sound stressed!!!!

I'm considering taking in a picture of Chorlton (of the Wheelies) and seeing if they can make me look like my profile photo. Now that would be worth a picture.

Things are moving along, the business is partnering with another open source company. We now have 3 staff! So our nice new office now has no space for me:-(
Still it is an ideal excuse to work from home.

The dog has gone all adolescent on us. So he is being walked on his lead as public displays of inappropriate behaviour can be rather embarrassing. Not that the lead stops him. He is not being snappy just rather overfriendly.

I've just bought the new First News paper for kids. The checkout assistant in Tesco's seemed bemused that I was paying £1 for a newspaper with only 24 pages. But as Jason has pointed out it doesn't contain any adverts. I think the writing is of a very high standard, I kind of wish the rest of the papers were as clear on the issues.