Drat

I look forward so much to my weekly meditation group that I don't know whether to be cross or embarrassed that I spent most of my main hour long meditation this evening asleep - and only came round when I woke myself with an exceptionally loud snore *blush*.

Whilst I'm sure my snoring did nothing to enhance the Holy Harmony and general meditative mood no one actually said anything to me.

Off to bed now with a very sore hip as I made sure that I lay in an awkward position for the next meditation so that I didn't drift off again.

Here's hoping I was just snoring and didn't actually dribble, break wind or anything else....

Diesel

I think this could be Diesel's blog debut. I don't think she's been on here before. She's known by many as 'Scraggy Cat' but she wasn't looking at all scraggy today - to the contrary she was looking rather cute in her own kind of way.

Craig bought her from a rescue shelter years before he met me. He couldn't afford a posh car and was no good at etching so he used to invite ladies round to see his cat.

She's tiny. Craig calls her a bonsai cat. We think that perhaps she was hungry and malnourished as a kitten and that stunted her growth. Craig didn't have his nasty smokey habit back then which is just as well otherwise he may now be coming under attack for stunting his cat's growth through passive smoking! In fairness he's not at all to blame as she was older when he rescued her.

She's a real character. I can still recall quite clearly the first time my parents met Craig's parents. It was one of those things - it seemed like a good idea while sitting in my office at work to call the folks and invite them round for a barbecue that night. As if that in itself wasn't bad enough I hadn't even thought on about the fact that we didn't have a garden - just a bit of yard near the bin. As we all stood around burning dead flesh together and attempting to make polite conversation I noticed that my Dad had come with one shoe on and one slipper on. I was mortified and couldn't help but wonder what my in-laws-to-be would think. Thankfully Diesel came to the rescue. She prowled that yard wall commando style and quick as a flash swiped a piece of sizzling cow hide. No one saw her do it the first couple of times and we were all intrigued. It created quite a diversion from my Dad's odd footwear.

We don't know for certain how old she is. That's so often the case with rescue animals. We do think she could be knocking on for very late teens, rapidly approaching twenty perhaps.

She lives in the Nannexe and I think she's Nana's favourite indoor pet. She's been with Nana since I was pregnant with Miles. She just went for a holiday to give me a break from constantly vacuuming cat hair in late pregnancy (as said earlier she's a very scraggy cat) however, while she was there one of Craig's extremely irritating habits stopped. Prior to that it was a standing joke in our house that he should audition for a brass band. His nose was like a trombone. Once Diesel had gone though things really improved on the trombone front and consequently she has lived with Nana ever since - surrounded by her chums Woo Woo and Willie.

Things that made me smile

Lots of little things have happened in recent weeks that I keep meaning to mention but have forgotten. So many things that have made me smile and that I wanted to share;

The fact that a good friend swallowed her pride in the local newsagent and bought one of those really cheap trashy magazines because she noticed on the cover that it had an article in about hens having sex changes and thought I might like it.

The joy (both the children's and mine) when in the midst of a busy and tiring time friends spent well over an hour teaching the children how to make shortbread while I got to sit down, chat and have a cuppa.

The fact that I have finally managed to find the time to fill in my new address book. A gift from a good friend. A beautiful, arty book full of words of wisdom and great drawings.

The excitement of planning Valentines celebrations with Hermione and thinking of romantic times with Craig. Thinking of when we got married all those years ago and promising myself that even if we never go back there to stay we must at least go for afternoon tea.....

Making our last 'thank you' call today for the beautiful gifts the children received over Christmas time. It plays on my mind when I've not managed to catch up with folks to say thanks.

Emailing a friend today who I've not seen properly in years to arrange for her to come round for cake and a cuppa at the end of the month. I caught up with quite a few people in 2008 that I had lost touch with and hopefully 2009 will be the same. Motherhood turned me into a bit of a recluse in the early years. I made the mistake of thinking that when I chose to rejoin the world everything would still be there waiting for me. I was wrong and learned the hard way. So pleased to be catching up with people again.

The kindness and generosity of so many people in supporting Hermione's Pound Shop. She has now had orders totalling £19 and has spent a good while today looking online at various craft ideas and supplies with a view to replenishing materials and possibly introducing new lines if she can figure out what she would like to make. I have to say the crayons have been a top seller and our kitchen table seems to be forever covered in wax and paper scraps at various stages of peeling and recycling. Never mind, she's having fun and learning lots - maintaining her order book, her accounts, writing thank you notes etc.

On the run

Crafting, shopping, French group, soft play meet up, calling on friends, going to Badgers......

I feel like I'm on the run today. Feet not touching the ground. Not quite sure if I'm on foot or horseback.

Barking feet

Please tell me it's not just me who finds this duo a bit freaky?

Good enough reason to bring on summer I'd say.

January Learning Objectives

I'm not quite as organised as I would like to be but I think I'm almost there - almost set to start this 'block' (I'm going to call it that as although I think I've just prepped till the end of the month I'll see how it goes).

Briefly our 'learning objectives', (yes I have been reading these educational sites again) for this block are as follows.

• An introduction to World War Two using classic literature, worksheets and various online resources.

• A deeper understanding of the water cycle.
• A deeper understanding of the need all living things have for water.
• An awareness of what happens to water when it freezes, condenses etc - the changing forms of a single matter.

• An awareness of water usage within the home.
  

• The role of reservoirs (and possibly a reservoir visit)
  
• An introduction to Hinduism, Judaism, Islam and Atheism.
  

• To appreciate the difference between spirituality and religion.
• Understanding, tolerance and acceptance of a broad spectrum of religious beliefs.
• A detailed look at some Old Testament Bible Stories (with particular emphasis on the story of creation - which will in time be compared and contrasted with an in depth look at the big bang theory).
• To consider the effect the introduction of photography had upon art.
• Detailed appreciation of some of the works of Claude Monet.
• To become familiar with the location, basic appearance and basic functions of many major organs of the body.
• To become familiar with the seven continents and four major oceans.
• An introduction to 'Word'. Creating a file, saving a file and opening a file.
• Something to do with China as we celebrate Chinese New Year.
• An understanding that there is more to running a shop than using all the money to spend on yourself. Looking at keeping records, planning to buy new materials, profits after material and postage costs etc.

In addition to this we will still be plodding on with our basics - maths and language. We will still be going to french group and music academy. Oh, and of course it wouldn't be life here without an abundance of crafts and cookery!

I'm hoping to do the above in a light hearted and fun way. I have made some basic resources for geography and religious studies. Below are some of the other resources that I'm really looking forward to working with.

I really like these cards which show the name, location, appearance and basic function of the major organs.

Any Blogger experts here who can tell me why this damn thing never formats properly these days?

Just clucking about

We've spent a lot of time in the garden today. Just clucking about and stuff. Trying not to think of the looming 'lesson' deadline coming on Monday. The last of the Amazon packages arrived today but I'm not entirely happy. A couple of the books are possibly a bit too detailed at this stage. Oh, then there is one which is fine but I somehow managed to order two copies not just one! I can see there being much rejigging of the plans before we start on Monday - but not tonight as we have been invited round to friends for cottage pie. Hmmm, then nothing got done last night because I was at meditation group. I'm easily lead astray. No excuses for tomorrow night!

Here's some pictures of today's outdoor messings. Hermione and Miles are totally engrossed in Lego and the fruit scones they baked this morning so I can have a sneaky day time blog!

Boing...boing...boing...

Crunchy ice

Huge squishy hen plops (adorned with sparkly frost). I so so wanted it to work out with the hens in the veg patch. You may recall that I grassed the patch and decided to keep them in there and liberate the veg instead. Well, they decimated the grass and everything in no time at all and nana thought they looked depressed because they are accustomed to more space. So, they're at large again. All things happen for a reason though and I think that if anything stops Craig from smoking, (and he must stop as I'm sure Hermione will suss him out soon), it will be the hen plops on the deck which he often slips and does himself a mischief on when he pops out in the dark for a sneaky puff. Life works in mysterious ways.

The faeries washing line

The new girls Polly and Merlin are settling well. There are a lot less scuffles with the old girls now and they have also figured out that they should go into the coop to roost - at first they just lay down in the middle of the garden.

Having a few problems with Polly though. She pecks. Fanjio her brown predecessor pecked too. I mentioned it to Craig last night and suggested that perhaps it's true what they say about redheads being feisty. He rolled his eyes as if to say - 'tell me, I married one'. Enough said. Save to say I'm strawberry blond which isn't really red and I'm not really feisty. Honest.

Craig also thought it could be because hens like shiny things and I will insist on rambling about in my pj bottoms (and nightie, ugg boots and whoevers jacket I stumble across first). Why not? It's my garden - there's no dress code and the neighbours haven't complained yet!

Hermione stroking the bunny in the newest addition to nana's funky crochet hat collection.

I don't know if our bunny is confused or pervy. Either way it's just WRONG - and I've told him so - but does he listen to me? Does he heck as like *sigh*

My time is up. Someones calling my name - which probably means the scones have all gone.

Hermione's Pound Shop

There is much excitement here today as Hermione is ready to throw open the doors of Hermione's Pound Shop.

I have encouraged and supported her in doing this as an educational project. You're never too young to learn the nuts and bolts of business in my view. Way too many people grow up thinking it's easy.

She has made all of the items herself. The only input I have had is in helping to use the iron. Everything is just a pound (plus a postage contribution) as the point of the exercise isn't to make profit - it's just to let her see how business works. Of course, the prices also reflect that the goods are handmade by a seven year old!

We are going to go to the Post Office and set up a special account for any orders she receives. She will need to work out profits having taken into account postage and material costs and budget how much to put aside to buy more materials, stamps and envelopes.

Wish us luck - and of course feel free to pop along to browse or buy. I hope this isn't one of the home ed projects I come to regret!

Edited to add on Thursday afternoon that the first order has arrived and Hermione's ecstatic!