Just Jo!

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….when you step on the edge of the cat’s litter tray and it upends all over the back of your leg and the bathroom floor???
But don’t you just love it when that’s the worst thing to happen all week?
Apart from missing the last bus home when you’ve got four girlies in tow??
Which is what happened last Friday after a lovely day out at Castle Drogo with one of our groups.
And very nice it was to see people I haven’t seen in a while. Although, as I was being responsible for children other than my own, I didn’t get much of a chance to chat, because every now and then I can actually be quite sensible….

Love this one, although I got woefully left behind.

And just after this is when we missed the bus. Not so much ‘missed’ as much as Stagecoach suddenly deciding that they were going to stop running the bus. A bus we’ve caught countless times coming home from Chagford after seeing Olivia’s grandparents.
The girls kept me entertained though….

After witnessing a quite spectacular sunset, not that the girls were overly impressed….

….we wandered up to Drewsteignton to partake of liquid refreshments and await our lift home.
A bit of a late night, followed by what was supposed to be an early start the next day. But we overslept and it was far too hot and humid to be rushing about, so plans got changed. Fortunately we’ve got very accommodating friends who are very lovely!
Instead of going to Newton Abbot to visit a World Music Festival (which by all accounts wasn’t as good as hoped), we got the train straight to Totnes, then got a steam train. Which pleased Olivia no end, because she’s suddenly Harry Potter mad and kept saying it was just like the Hogwart’s Express. Repeatedly.

We met up with our friends down by the river….

Then it was back to their’s, a lovely meal, chatting and staying the night, followed by a day up on Dartmoor….

We could quite easily have spent much, much longer there (including more shared food at our friends house!), but we really had to get back for Olivia to get an early night. She was very tired. She’s not good when she’s tired. In a whiney, moany, tearful not good way when she’s tired. She proved my point when I said we really had to get home, she wailed. So did B. Yes, I managed to make two girls cry that day!
But she needed her sleep!
For this!
Windsurfing!
Another one of the activities that yours truly has organised.

A very successful day, very much enjoyed!
After she’d finished, we did a bit of shopping. A new tent. One of life’s essentials.
It is! Honest!
We discovered on our last camping trip, that our tent wasn’t quite big enough. We had to put our bag in a friends tent. See? We needed a bigger tent!
And on Tuesday, I needed a new phone. I did! Honest!
Especially one with a camera!
Which I had to test out while we were seeing our friend Di and checking up on her allotment….

I like my new phone almost as much as my new camera!
A Sony Ericsson, but go to Phones 4 U, so much cheaper than Amazon!

Big news last night was that Adam found out he did very well in his trip up to London last week.

Can you read it? He’s practically got the job! So he’s a happy little camper. Except you’d never catch him in a tent. Ever!
But we (as in the girlies of this household) tested out our new tent this morning….pleased to say, it works! Which is jolly good as we’re going camping again very soon.

What other news?
Ooh yeah! We saw one of Olivia’s school friends while at the river on Monday. Except he’s not a ’school’ friend any longer! They’ve taken the plunge and he’s now being home educated! Yay! Perhaps all my ’selling’ has paid off! So we’re looking forward to seeing lots more of them.
And the kitchen? Yep, lady from the council came. I’m having pale cream flooring, beech units, very dark blue marble worktops, white tiles and I’ve got a funny feeling I’ll be providing the white paint for the walls, ‘cos they don’t do white. It will be taking three weeks (give or take a few days), but they’re taking everything right back to bare floor and bricks. New wiring, new plumbing, everything.
No idea when of course….
But like I said, do I care?
Absolutely not! Oh life is indeed good!!
And today (or yesterday, now that I’ve seen what the time is), seeing as my new phone is on the Orange network, it’s (it was) Orange Wednesday. So we went to Vue to see The Simpson’s Movie. Buy one, get one free. So I was assuming I’d pay for an adult and Olivia would be free as she’s a child and therefore cheaper than me. But no! I am apparently cheap! Shut up! I got in free! I’ll make Olivia pay next time then!
And Olivia started back at drama. And very happy she was to see all her friends again. Athough, as some of them pointed out, they have seen her over the summer holiday….
Oh yeah, and I’ve booked our tickets for the Tutankhamun exhibition in London. The second week of December. Maybe Adam will put us up overnight. Or not….

Apart from the truly horrible news about Laura, things are much better here.
We (as in Olivia and yours truly) have set up our own Flickr group. Mainly at Olivia’s insistence, but I must admit to having a bit of fun with it too.
I’ve remembered to put up a photo of Olivia’s play, it’s just unfortunate that the day she did it, I really wasn’t in the mood to be faffing around posting photos. So here’s one of her big scene….

I’m also allowed to finally post a photo of Olivia’s stone age scene ‘cos it’s now finished….

We made a flying visit to group on Wednesday. There was another workshop at the museum the same day. Animals in Native American art, so we got to make totems. But first we had to say hello to this beast….

We had one of Olivia’s drama friends with us, who took part in the totem making but refused point blank to go anywhere near the snake.
She came back to our house after and set Olivia up with her own Bebo account. Because Olivia really doesn’t spend enough time on the ‘puter.

I’ve had a birthday, so I’m now older than I was. Whoop de doo. It was going to be postponed ’til next week because we’re all skint. But both the kids took it in turns to make me cups of tea in the morning. Then Olivia disappeared off on a Guides day out, leaving me with the pleasurable company of Adam for most of the day, ’til he disappeared off to work. I had a bath. A long one. With lots of bubbles.
Then Lisa treated me to a lovely night out. Tapas meal, then a club with lots of alcohol.
And a very nice barman, who made the mistake of almost falling onto our table. He was very lucky to escape our clutches!
‘Twas a very lovely night indeed, thanks Lisa!
And my birthday’s not over yet, as Adam is treating us to a meal out somewhere after he gets paid, which is on Friday. But he won’t be here that day. He’ll be up in London being interviewed by Richard Branson. Sort of.
Anyway, I digress, got home at 1:30, then woke up completely and couldn’t get to sleep ’til gone three. Which was not good, as we had to be up early the next day in order to catch a train. We were heading back down to Totnes to be picked up for a drive to Spitchwick, on the edge of Dartmoor. A birthday picnic, not mine, a little friend who is now the grand old age of three. Although I did get Happy Birthday sung ‘at’ me.

We saw ponies too! Well, it is Dartmoor….

One of those truly lovely and relaxed days with friends, plenty of food, plenty of chatting, plenty of giggling….
More pics here.

Boring food shop and bill paying day on Monday so we’ll gloss over that.
But we had another lovely day out yesterday.
Lisa picked Olivia up and I got the bus. Which meant that I obviously got there hours after Lisa and her sister.
Where?
The Amazing Maize Maze at Bickleigh. A gloriously hot sunny day. Picnic first, ride round on go-karts, then the maze. The girls had to find brass rubbings hidden in the maze. The brass rubbings all joined up to spell out “Sir Robert Baden Powell Chief Scout of the world Be Prepared”.

My personal fave from the day….

It turned into a very hot day, not helped by the fact that the last rubbing was incredibly elusive. I’m sure someone kept moving it. But, after purchasing ice lollies, we headed back into the maze determined not to let it beat us! Yay! We found it! Then there was the obligatory paddling to be done.

Lisa took all the girls home. And I missed the bus by seconds.
The driver shrugged apologetically as he pulled away….
Not too concerned though, there is a jolly nice pub across the road.
I took some pics in the garden while supping me shandy….

More pics from the day here.
Yes, another one of them lovely days.

This morning we’ve had a visit from the council man to do the annual gas check. The fire is never used, except as a display area for Olivia’s arty crafty bits and pieces, so we had to clear it off for him. I happened to mention that we never use it and he asked if I wanted it taken away. Ooh! Yes please! So we have a little bit more room in the sitting room now, which will be occupied by a bookcase (currently residing in Olivia’s room) as soon as another council man has bricked up the hole and replastered.
But…. but…. but…. the bestest news is that Adam wasn’t winding me up about the kitchen!!
There is a lady coming this very afternoon to go over colour options with me . Yay!!! Blokey this morning said they take about three weeks to fit it, which means no kitchen for the duration. Do I care? Not a blinkin’ sausage!
And I had a lovely card from my mum and stepdad with a big fat cheque in it.
Adam’s gone to pay it in for me, ‘cos I’m not stepping outside the house, just in case I miss the council ladyand my new kitchen is delayed.

So little to blog about!
It’s a case of, drop Olivia off, meet friends (sans children!), pick Olivia up, come home.
Except yesterday was a bit different in that I rushed home to make a whole load of sosmix rolls and then went out to meet me friend.
Today’s different as well because Adam had another early morning dental appointment and then went straight to work. So that meant there was no one in the house at all. Except Maisy. Who’s not exactly ‘in your face’. And tends to just open one eye to look at me before rolling over to get more comfortable. But anyway, I repeat, the house is empty!! Completely and utterly so!! (Except for Maisy)
Oh what to do with myself??
So I’ve had me bath and now I’ve got the tedious task of trying to amuse myself for the rest of the afternoon. Olivia doesn’t finish ’til 7 tonight (dress rehearsals, dahling), so I’ve got over six hours on me tod!
Do I go and read in the garden?
Or do I go upstairs to watch a film?
Ooh, decisions, decisions….

Nice sunset last night by the way….
Olivia saw it and wanted to get a photo of it. I told her no. Because she’s doing the photo prompts every morning and I haven’t taken a photo in days.

Yes, I know they look identical. But they’re not. Perhaps I should do some kind of Spot The Difference Competition? How many differences can you spot?

Updated to add….
I ended up doing a bit of both. I read in the garden ’til it got too hot ( ) then cooled off upstairs watching a film. Memento. One of those that I’m going to have to watch again because my sun addled brain kept drifting away.

….thank goodness Olivia’s been more regular (in a blogging sense), I’ve got something to jog my somewhat lacking memory.

Monday I was still mourning my little Kodak. No news, so it must be having a jolly old time at British Rail’s expense.
We met friends for lunch in Rougemont Gardens. Not strictly true, we got a phonecall whilst in Sainsbury’s, so Olivia went haring off to Primark to meet them and I eventually caught up with them. Then we went for a picnic.
Then we went deep into the bowels of the museum to experience the terrors of a WWII air raid. Some wonderful (and missed) photo ops of the girls dressed up as ARP’s. Curses.
They all came back here and suddenly it was 8pm.

Tuesday morning was spent hanging out of the window, all agog, as I waited oh so patiently for my new beastie to be delivered. Back into town to buy it a snug little bag to keep it safe and warm on all our adventures to come.
The rest of the day was spent taking mindnumbingly boring photos around the house. Well, the first one isn’t so boring, quite like it actually….

That’s enough of that, methinks.
I was up ’til four in the morning playing with it. Zooming in on corners in my bedroom. Zooming in well enough to highlight the general grottiness….

Wednesday was a friend’s birthday party, so cakes were made.

Which got demolished within seconds.
Back to Lisa’s after, and a late walk home meant we got some gratuitous shots of the sunset.

Thursday….
Made another birthday card for another little friend. Can’t for the life of me think what else we did. Do remember Olivia in fits of giggles because Adam exploded baked beans over himself and the kitchen. He’d microwaved them and the lid got stuck, so when he opened it….
I really don’t think one corner of the kitchen escaped a coating of baked beans.
I stayed in my room.

Friday we were up bright and early. Ish. We headed down to Cockington to have a look around the pretty little thatched village and Cockington Court. And the Drum Inn. Because it was designed by Lutyens. The fact that it also sells a very nice pint of shandy is completely irrelevant.

Still working out the settings. And shutter speeds. And aperture. I blame the weather. Such awful lighting….
We saw Romeo and Juliet on the cricket pitch in front of the house. Jolly good it was too. The girls grabbed a picnic blanket and got as close as possible to the action. No photos because it was dark and I couldn’t see the buttons and things on the beastie.
I did, however, get this one of a speeding train at the station on the way home. Slow shutter speed. Very pleased with myself. Although I felt quite uncannily (and quite scarily too) like a train spotter.

Saturday didn’t start ’til roughly lunch time.
We needed to catch up on some sleep. My excuse, and I’m sticking to it.
Olivia suddenly had the brilliant idea to make her friend’s birthday present. Out of clay. And her birthday was the day before. So the late present she was going to get, is going to be even later while we wait for the clay to dry.
Stiil, it’s looking good so far.
Olivia wanted to paint her gargoyle (from the Cathedral workshop), so she did. Then spent hours mixing paints to get the right skin colour, then mixing paints just for the heck of it. So there are reams of paper now covered in splodges of paint. Mostly browns and greys, but a few pinks and blues too.

Notice the Saturday-not-brushed-hair?

Adam went charging off early to play footie. When he got back, I noticed some red ‘marks’ on his neck. They looked suspiciously like nibbles of some sort. I queried them and he ripped off his T-shirt to show me more of the same marks on his chest.
“Um….dearie, you haven’t mentioned a new girlfriend lately….”
“It’s not that, I got burned!”
“When??”
“The baked beans the other day.”
I confess, I sniggered. Really didn’t mean to, just couldn’t help myself.
I asked him what his friends thought and had he told them what had happened.
“Did they laugh at you?”
“No, they did call me Heinz all match though….”
Snigger snigger. I defy you not to.
Then he scarpered off for a five aside game in the afternoon. He’s dedicated that boy.

So now we’re up to yesterday. Sunday. The day before today. The day before Olivia started drama. Which meant she got steadily more excited throughout the day. To the extent of making her own rolls for packed lunch about 4 o’clock. Which is good. I suppose.
I spent ages ringing round to remind people of raft building, one of the activities I organised. Then an early bath and bed. Because we had to be up early this morning and we’re not too good at that kind of thing.
It’s been chucking it down all morning. So I’ve had a few phonecalls.
“Is it (raftbuilding) still on? Even though it’s raining?”
“As far as I know. It’s supposed to be getting brighter this afternoon anyway. Try ringing the centre and see what they say.”
It’s an outdoor centre, they only cancel if there’s a chance of killing any of the clients. Bad publicity and all that.
What do I care though??
Olivia’s in drama, I’ve got the day off!!!
Time for a trashy gossip mag in a big huge bubbly bath!

I like all things froggy.
I collect froggy things.
I needed new knickers.
We went to Primark.
They’ve got froggy knickers!
For £1.50!!
I am a happy woman!!

That was Monday. I’m sure other things happened as well, but I was too busy waving my knickers in the air.

Olivia broke two bottles of sauce in the fridge….
“It’s not my fault!”
“Um….perhaps if you opened the fridge in a normal manner, and not yank it open in the hopes of scaring any fridge monsters into complete submission, sauce bottles wouldn’t then leap out in a Hari Kari style….”
“Why are they even in the fridge anyway??”
“It says on the label, ‘Once open, refrigerate.’ I’m guessing the fridge will do a better job than the cupboard.”

We’ve also eaten things again…
Jam sandwiches.

Jam on toast.

Jam tarts. But they were eaten too quickly to get a snap.
We like our blackberry jam.
More things made with blackberries, courtesy of Smitten Kitchen via Eleanor, and then veganised quite easily.

Some of us, needless to say who mind, may possibly have been eating too many blackberries….

We’ve been attending various workshops of one kind or another….

Think the most popular with the two of us was gargoyle making and brass rubbing at the Cathedral. Especially as I got to have a go too!
Also think that was the day we made a wondrous discovery in Sainsbury’s, whilst hunting our picnic down….

Oh, ’twas indeed good!!

We found a moth in the back garden, maybe not as cute as the hedgehog, but still quite impressive none the less….

From this point on you may notice a distinct lack of pictorial reportage….

Friday, we had Lisa’s girls for the afternoon. We picked them up, stocked a picnic hamper with Lidl’s goodies ( a picnic hamper that looked remarkably like two Lidl’s plastic bags….), headed up into the hills, plonked ourselves down on a rug and stuffed ourselves silly with said feast. Then meandered down to a free fun day by way of more paddling in the panny, ’til all four girls were convinced they were being sucked dry by leeches and came squealing out.
Fun day included juggling, hoop spinning, free drinks and biscuits, throwing beanbags, building a tower, skipping, plate spinning, parachute games, oh and art, but none of the girls did that. They all had a go at building the highest tower possible out of giant dominoes to win a prize of a T-shirt. Three of them managed it. But not D. Who sulked. Because her sisters had both won one, “I never win anything! They always do!!” So Olivia donated hers in order that all three sisters would then have the same. Blimey, sign of maturity in daughter!
Nice chat with Lisa before they all scarpered off for the weekend.
Our weekend yesterday started off gloriously with a train and bus trip down to Brixham to meet up with some friends. I’d printed off another Treasure Trail (more of a murder mystery though), the first clue being right at the bus stop as we stepped off the bus. So we got going with it straight away. The trail took us past the Golden Hind, so we made a detour to step onboard. Then our friends phoned as soon as we stepped off again, so we finished the rest of the trail with them.

*** SPOILER ALERT***

Just in case you ever feel the urge to do the same trail….

Marilyn Edwards poisoned a local trawler man, Rod Fisher!!!
Awful woman….

Olivia and Elliot (he’s two) bonded big time, with Elliot holding Olivia’s hand at every opportunity and doing what ever she asked of him.
Down to the beach for a paddle and late lunch. Then up to Berry Head to watch Brixham’s Castle, which told the story of the Napoleonic Fort there. Built by a woman it was, scandalous in them days apparently. And it got a bit nippy towards the end, so Elliot sat on Olivia’s lap.
We were given a lift back to Paignton to catch the train, which was jolly decent, or we’d have had to leave the show early to get the bus in time to catch the last train home.
We got back to Exeter about 10:40 and Olivia wanted to get a photo of the pebbles that light up. She went to get the camera out of her bag….
And this is where our wonderful day went completely tits up….
She left the camera on the train!!!
On the bloody train!!!
I am seriously not amused.
So the money she’s been saving up for her own camera is now being put towards mine. Well, half of it is, because I was planning on getting a new one anyway. But that’s not the point!
Almost 600 photos on that SD card!
Thank God for Flickr is all I can say!
Except for the photos from the last two days.
So she very gently tapped on my door this morning, “I made you a cup of tea, mum.”
And made my breakfast.
And she’s hoovered all of downstairs.
Think I might even get lunch as well.

So yesterday we went blackberry picking with Lisa and the girls. The plan being to pick a few buckets full of ‘em, then heading back here to do all manner of things with them. Dyes, fruit leather, smoothies etc. I’d even spent most of the morning looking for ‘things to do with blackberries’ on the web. But the blackberry bushes most local to us weren’t playing fair, despite the rest of Exeter being inundated with the little bleeders.
So after the girls traipsed down the panny, we got home, chucked what we had managed to purloin in the smoothie maker and drank them all in one go (with water, sugar and maple syrup added). Grown ups preferred them sieved, little people liked the bits in.

Today we’ve…. d’you know what? I’m too tired for this…. too busy spending time with….for want of a better term…. ‘real’ people. Go see Olivia’s. She’s really chuffed with herself. My daughter, the mini-mogul.

And there’s photos on my Flickr. See? Over there…. A handy link that says “My Flickr photos!” How convenient is that?!
Toodle pip!

Ooh! Back again!
I’ve strict instructions to put these photos on right away….

She was very happy.
Me?
I just felt really itchy and in need of a good scratch.

Teaspoon that is.
In Olivia’s room.
With a tin mug.
She’s still camping mad and it’s as close as she can get right now.
I’m saying nothing.

Seeing as Olivia’s managed to drag herself away from the ‘puter for five seconds it gives me a chance to catch up.
She’s blogging mad (that just sounds so awfully rude!) and Flickring mad (and that sounds worsererer). Emails whizzing through the air or wherever it is they go once send has been sended. I’m just making up my own vocabulary at the moment. You may possibly have noticed.

So Saturday. Birthday party. Not Olivia’s, a friend of hers with a paddling pool and, joy of joys, a water slide too! Glee city central!
Here’s pics….

I’ve had the dubious honour of blocking my first Flickr person. Some entity favouriting people in blindfolds. My daughter included (5 photos of her in all). Oh I think not matey!! So he’s been stomped on quite resoundly. And I’m keeping a close eye on the mud bath pic, which seems to have had more than it’s fair share of ‘views’. Maybe just changing the title will be sufficient. We’ll see.

Anyways, the party was great. Lots of fun and general waterplay. We made some choccy cupcakes to take with us. We always seem to dip out on cakes at parties, so I thought we’ll not be caught out. But even more vegan cakes had been made! And a vegan pizza! And homemade houmous! In fact the majority of the food was actually vegan! They’d even got soya milk in for cups of tea. Even though I drink it black! Jellies were vegan too! And they still felt bad that they hadn’t got any Swedish Glace for us! Oh our cups did runneth over! Metaphorically. Got home at 10 o’clock and went straight to bed.

I have no idea what we did on Sunday. Yes, I know it was only yesterday.
Olivia uploaded photos and Flickred with some new friends. And….um….I read….she wrote a book review for Swallows and Amazons….um….er….and kept a close eye on her growing pet, her prize for doing spiffingly well at Bang The Drum.

Adam came home this morning, showing us lots of pics of the christening on his phone. Bless.
We left him checking emails and toddled off to town. Olivia opened her first grown up bank account. Now that she’s reached the grand old age of 11, she gets a cash card too! How excited is she??
She also took lots of photos around town. Which meant that she then spent hours uploading them to Flickr, tagging them and everything, then to her blog. And back to Flickr again to comment on her comments received.
She’d got an optics science thingy in town and First News, so she’s been reading and building a periscope. Oh, and she did some algebra and some similes in the morning too. So home-ed wise she’s covered english, maths, science, ICT, history (A bit! Look at her photos on Flickr), PSHE (opening her own account must surely qualify)….um….geography and PE (we walked around town a lot for the photo session)….yes, a quite well-rounded educational day methinks.

I’ve made another trifle with some left over chocolate sponge. So I’ll be eating the biggest half again.

And some more bits seen on Shirl’s….

You Were a Fox

A good observer, you often watch others while remaining unseen. Cunning and courageous, you also have a gentle side.

Ooh, just call me Foxy from now on!

You Are a Soy Latte

Yeah, you’ve got a bit of that healthy hippie thing going on But you’re more Kate Hudson urban bohemian than Phish groupie You’re worldly and well traveled.. and you know where to get the best coffee in town. All your experience makes you a compassionate person - and a caring girlfriend.

Ooh….spooky….!

Yay!!
I got my phone back last week and my broadband back yesterday!!!
I would have blogged yesterday, but I had 505 emails to trawl through, some grotty e-mails to send off to BT and a hundred and thirty something photos to upload to Flickr. Which was more important, because if I’m honest, I’ve missed being able to Flickr seductively a whole lot more than waffling on me blog….
I also caught up with reading blogs, but only skimming over them, and then it got to gone one in the morning, and I thought I probably wouldn’t be able to comment sensibly by that point, so I didn’t, will try to today….maybe….
So…..what have we been up to???? A whole 20 days to catch up with!
I’ve got to think back to the beginning of the month….

I rebooked windsurfing, which meant we had a walk along the river and said “Wow!” a lot as we marvelled at the river rushing along….

Fell in love with a tree (although Olivia wasn’t equally as smitten….)

Olivia had a Guides trip to Bicton where they did canoeing, den building and other stuff. Lisa’s girls came back here after, so I put on a few DVDs (Monster House and Over The Hedge) and made a big bowl of popcorn. Think the microwave did most of the work though.

Went to Totnes for an Historical Visit, which included a visit to the castle (duh!) and a Treasure Trail around the town….

A very lovely day out with friends. About halfway round the trail, there was only the two of us and Hannah’s family left, which meant we got time for a proper good chat and half a shandy down on the Plains. More photos here.

Spent another Saturday afternoon with friends, but the weather was oh so much better, so we went to the park and watched the kids bashing each other with tennis rackets….

Adam helped a friend celebrate his 18th birthday in Exmouth and spent quite some time in the bathroom when he got home. Almost gave me heart failure when I came down for a wee in the early hours to find him sitting on the edge of the bath.
He felt somewhat sorry for himself the next day, as he went to the shop, he said “If I’m not back in ten minutes, call an ambulance….” Hee hee. I can laugh because it’s by far from a regular occurrence. Once every three or four months? If that. Which I think for an 18 year old isn’t bad at all.

We had a group trip to The Rock Centre, a climbing/abseiling/caving/camping wonderland. The kids only did the first two though, with a bit of zip wire and Tyrolean thrown in for good measure.

So much fun! We’re definitely going back, Olivia wants to go camping there too. I’d be up for that, ’specially as it’s so cheap. Oodles more pics here.

We didn’t go to pottery because I had a flat tyre. Which I didn’t realise ’til about 15 minutes into the ride. So we had to come back, and find out we didn’t have a pump at all (well, only a football one), by which time it wouldn’t have been worth going over there. so we didn’t.

We did, however, go to Exeter’s Green fair in the Bishop’s Palace garden….

We saw lots of friends there and joined the Devon Wildlife Trust. We had a long chat with the woman on the DWT stand, who was very impressed with Olivia’s knowledge of natural history (I was too, she sounded quite intelligent on more than one occasion!). The woman was so impressed she was going to ask which school Olivia went to that she knew so much, found out she’s home-educated and said “Ahh! That explains it then!” One up for home-ed methinks.
Oh yeah…. pics here.

We both cooed a lot at the sky that evening and kept snatching the camera off each other….

Hard to believe they were all taken over twenty minutes or so. We’ll conveniently forget the fact that all the wonderful colours and effects are due (more than likely) to pollution.

I had a horribly bad stomachache for a few days which meant I had to lie down and cuddle my froggy hot water bottle loads. Adam took Olivia to play tennis while I was being wimpy. He said she did OK for her first proper tennis. And Adam knows about these sporty type things, him being a fully qualified fitness instructor person.

Olivia had a birthday. Just the one. She’s 11 now. Last Wednesday (the 18th). We met her Nan in town, had lunch in La Tasca and did plenty of girly shopping for lots of clothes and shoes. Met Adam in town, who gave Olivia her birthday pressie, a very pink MP3 player. Managed to persuade her that Build A Bear is a complete rip off, and if she was just going to buy a bear would she really want to pay that much? “Um….no.”
And have you really got room for anymore cuddlies? “Um….no.”
And wouldn’t Ted get a teensy tiny bit upset and jealous if you ‘adopted’ (Adopted?! For crying out loud people! Get a life!!! Don’t even get me started on Cabbage Patch Dolls!)another teddy? “Um….yes.”
And isn’t there plenty more stuff you’d much rather have instead? “Um….yes.”

The three of us went bowling in the evening. And the two of them played lots of arcade games.

Home for trifle and National Treasure on DVD.

A very yummy trifle indeed! All vegan too. It even passed the Adam-who-won’t-eat-vegan-food-if-his-life-depended-on-it test. “‘Salright….” he mumbled.
The next day, we had the rest for breakfast, like you do. Lisa’s girls came over in the afternoon. They made cards for Brown Owl who was leaving. Two of them did. Olivia made one for herself which she is also going to post to herself. Just to see how long it takes.
They watched the rest of Over The Hedge, with the required amount of popcorn dutifully supplied. They all disappeared off for a barbecue, with the veggie and vegan having to take their own pre-cooked (by yours truly) burgers. Lisa brought them all back again for chocolate cake and “Happy Birthday to you”.

She’ll be having a proper party when the weather is slightly more predictable (just in time for her fiftieth then), because she wants to invite everyone. And my house is too small so they’d all have to be banished outside. With any luck she’ll forget she wants a party at all. Hopefully. Fingers crossed.

Almost caught up now….yay!

Friday we went on a Natural History trip to Staverton to do a bit of pond and stream dipping. Ooh looky….photos….who’da thunk??

And ooh looky again….more here.

Whizzed back to Totnes to catch the train home, only to find out it had been delayed due to ‘adverse weather conditions in other parts of the country’. Then finding out on the train just how adverse the weather had truly been. Not nice.
That evening was spent at a cocktail party. Ahem. Which gave rise to a classic quote, “I love watching Supernatural when I’m drunk, ‘cos there’s three Jensen Ackles.” I won’t say who said it, just that it wasn’t me. And there’s no photographic evidence because I purposefully left my camera at home.

So….in between all that lot, Olivia has been doing tons of workbooks, finishing her last maths one the day before her birthday. Which meant we just had to buy another one on her birthday. Because I’m evil like that. And yes, I made her carry it home too!!
We’ve got through about half the library. Olivia finally discovering the joys of Swallows and Amazons.
Olivia finished her unicorn picture at Di’s.
We’ve both had haircuts, Olivia’s built a den out in the back garden (that’ll be Swallows and Amazons then), of which I have yet to take a photo. Bad mummy moment. Oh well.
We’ve been enjoying some of Olivia’s produce from the garden, sharing carrots with Lisa and the girls, a few broadbeans, onions and peas today. I’ve got a funny feeling we won’t actually be getting an entire meal all in one go, because Olivia is eating things as soon as they’re ready straight off the plant. Hmmm…..

Yesterday was obviously spent in gleeful enjoyment of broadband (and completely ignoring anything Harry related, sorry, the more the fuss and hype about something, the more I dig my heels in and resist, I’m perverse like that) and now I have to go. Olivia is desperate for Adam to show her how to put/download/upload (whatever!) music onto her MP3 player. It’s pink don’t you know.

….has been dominated by my ear….you’ll see.

We got to group at a reasonable hour on Wednesday, me with olive oil dripping out of my ear.
Olivia had taken her kite, but didn’t fly it at all….and then asked me to carry it for the rest of the day…. “Um….don’t think so luvvie!”
The rest of Wednesday went the way of most Wednesdays, with an additional trip to the library as well.
My ear protesting most of the time.

Thursday, we stayed in ( this is where it starts to get a bit foggy). Olivia did lots of workbook stuff with minimum complaint. I’d reported the problem with the phone to BT online and got a letter from them. Not so much a letter as a final bill.
Noooooo!!!! I don’t want to leave, I want the phone sorted!!! So I sent a complaint to them online. B****y BT!!!
Lisa picked Olivia up to take her to Guides. And brought her home again. And we both went straight to bed. Me and Olivia. Not me and Lisa.
That was the night I got a half hour of sleep. Because of my ear. Which was starting to really hurt. Which wasn’t good. Especially as I was going to be taking Lisa’s girls with us on a Natural History trip to Dawlish Warren. I phoned Lisa and said I didn’t think I’d survive the train trip with four girls, so we wouldn’t be going after all.
As they were all looking forward to it, I said they could come over in the afternoon anyway, which was the original, original plan (long story), because Lisa had things to do.
We played Cluedo, in which I made the wrong accusation because I crossed off revolver instead of lead pipe.
The youngest ended up winning. Then she and Olivia had a game of Yes/No at the top of the stairs, one of the others Hama-ed and the other one drew me a picture of a happy frog because I was ill.
Lisa picked them all up and Olivia stayed the night. That night, my earache got so bad that I actually resorted to painkillers.
But at least I got three hours of sleep.
Picked Olivia up in the morning to deposit her at the Arts Centre for her art club. Spent the two hours of art club nursing a cup of tea and a glass of water, feeling very clammy, very earachey and very sick because of the pain. So when Olivia emerged, I decided that it was really time to get medical opinion and we toddled off to the NHS walk-in centre. A lovely man looked in my ear and went “Ooh! Not nice”, and gave me eardrops, told me to keep on taking the painkillers and see my doctor on Monday if it wasn’t better.
Got home, discovered I only had two Ibuprofen left, cried, and made Adam feel suitably guilty that he went off to buy me some more. By the time he got back, I was in bed where I stayed for the rest of the day, evening and night. Olivia very nobly got on with some more workbook stuff. And read. And drew Beano cartoons. And played with Polly Pocket.
Oh yeah, and we watched Dr Who, because they’re doing something Dr Who related at art club next week. Which seems highly odd to me, in the gumpf about art club it said the kids would be doing artwork inspired by exhibitions at the arts centre. Now….I might be wrong….but to the best of my knowledge, they’ve never had a Dr Who art exhibition there. May have to question that choice, unfair really as Olivia hasn’t watched any of this series, or the last one. Think she might have watched an odd episode or two in Adam’s room though. I may be in the minority here, in fact, I know I am, but don’t think I’ve missed much judging by last night’s episode (actually, I read me book most of the time). I don’t think Olivia was all that impressed either because she hasn’t mentioned it since. And if she likes something, she does tend to go on about it. A lot.
(I’ve just asked her, she sort of shrugged, “Weelll….it was all riiiight….”, yeah, like I thought, not impressed.)

(I got about four hours sleep last night, as soon as the painkillers wear off, I wake up.)
I opened yesterday’s post, another letter from BT (the Debt Recovery Unit no less), demanding ‘immediate’ payment for the final bill. The bill that I recieved two days before. The bill that wasn’t actually necessary, because I’m not actually ending my contract with them. A contract that I am now considering ending. So I’ve sent another email complaint (because I can’t phone the helpline number they so thoughtfully provide),….watch this space….
And at the risk of repeating myself….b****y BT.
But I read something about Mercury Retrograde this morning….ahh….that explains it all then!

Olivia has spent the morning finishing off the red in her friend’s Hama design, and building a Lego Labyrinth, which meant she’s had to get out some of the Ancient Greece resources and have a read through of them (think she might have been just looking at the pictures though!)
Right, the painkillers are starting to wear off and I need to go lie down with the eardrops.
Before I go, I saw this over on Shirl’s….

Your Brain’s Pattern

You’re a simple thinker, and this is actually a very good thing. You don’t complicate matters when you don’t have to. You look for the simplest explanation or solution, and you go with that. As a result, your mind is uncluttered and free of stress.

Ummm….s’pose so….I do so like a simple, stress free life….

Oh, and our next camping trip is all sorted…. South Wales at the beginning of August. Yay!!