There's a theme here.......

......and it appears to be lack of time to blog!!
So what have I been doing since I last wrote?

Well, we managed to get the £40.00 worth of Pizza credit eaten, which was nice! Our friends came over on Red Nose day and we demolished it then. Many thanks to them, once again for our lovely presents from the USA.

Saturday saw us trekking to Birmingham, for a day out at the Science Museum. Enjoyed by all, although dh did scarper half way through the day to meet up with his friend, (but we had pre-arranged that) So went round some of it with just my friend and the kids. We did a split, so ss could do the Lego robot thing with my friend. I got to do Kid City with the girls, who loved it and could have stayed there all day.

Do-nuts called however, so I dragged everyone to Krispy Kreme Do-nuts (thankfully for my waistline they're an hours drive away!) So we brought 12, got 12 free thanks to my friends student discount! and then due to friends tall, blonde, slim ability to chat up random blokes behind the counter, we got another 6 free! plus the kids had blagged two whilst in line, so we were heaving with sugary fatness.

Met dh and his mate back at the museum. Pizza hut was selected as the venue for tea. This didn't go down well with dd2, who was starving/wanted to run around too, so I spent some of the evening walking around with her outside, at which point she stuck her finger into some, horrible persons spit.......... I just about got it before she put it in her mouth. Lots of wet wipes later, I was happier, dd2 obviously, didn't care. Que me gibbering about it for the rest of the evening. My mind was put at rest on Sunday tho, as friend, who is nearly a qualified Dr, assured me she'd looked it up and all risk was minimal. The things kids do!

I wasn't overly happy with Pizza huts quality of food that night either, as I wanted pasta, they had none........so the Pizza I ordered, sadly did not conform to Domino's standards, and arrived half burnt (I like my pepperoni none crispy), sigh. Then with dd2 kicking off again, I spent the next half hour, walking her around outside in the buggy (no more spit incidents please!) whilst everyone else ate desert inside (my waist line didn't need it anyway!!)

Sunday woke me up at the sprightly hour of 7am, so I stuck my head back under the covers as it was mothers day. Dh begrudgingly got up, particularly as he'd also got up twice (I love mothers day!!) The kids and dh pounced on me at 7.30, with 7 cards (some homemade) the Mothers Handbook, Gordon Ramsey's latest cookbook and a pen and notepad, awwww, oh and Izzy's latest painted plate!! Checked out the weather, ummm snow!! Did I say spring had sprung, March for you, in like a lamb, out like a lion.
We scoffed breakfast and headed for Great grandma's. Once we'd picked her up, popped to Carolines to grab the post, and examine the fence (it belonged to the bottom neighbours and they've fixed it, hurrah!) and then onto Grandmas.

One toilet break later, we trekked to Spalding in Lincolnonshire, for a day of shopping (outlet mall) and a bash in the play centre. Happy everyone tho, so that's what counts, I even managed to get a new bra in my size in the M&S outlet!! woooo hoooooooo
McArthur Glen take note, get some soft play at your outlet malls!

Monday was spent with the kids at nursery and after the trek to Leeds to drop off ss I layered up (snow) and sorted out the garage, I now know where things are! Can reach the fuse box when required and have a pile of kit in the kitchen, which I'm slowly washing and mending!!
Hectic, moi?!

Pizza curse?

I think we have a Pizza curse. Its been growing for a while. Now I know you're thinking I'm going a bit mad, but let me explain.

Before Xmas we had friends around for the night. As is customary in these cases, we brought the obligatory booze (as did they!) , We also offered them a choice of food. Curry, Chinese or Pizza. They opted for the latter. So being in the sticks, we ordered from our local none branded Pizza place.
'It'll be with you in 3/4 of an hour' chimed the chap on the phone.
We continued to drink, 3/4 of an hour came and went. I rang back.
'Oh sorry, we are cooking it right now, it will be with you in half an hour' Still sounding sincere, and we're not quite starving yet, so all OK.
We leave it for a further half an hour, just to be on the safe side.
'Hello, blah blah Pizza'
'So this Pizza I ordered an hour and 3/4 ago' Stern tone of voice
'Oh, ah, yesssss, there's been a problem with the delivery person, but its definitely on its way, will be with you in 15 min's'
To cut a long story short, it took another hour and 15 min's and a bicker over reduced payment with the delivery guy for us to get our Pizza. So we decided never to order from there again.

We had a void in our takeaway choice.....all was looking bleak, until, suddenly, from out of the blue, a leaflet was sent by the Gods. Opening offers, Pizza chain store (who advertise often on TV) opening soon in the next town over, will deliver to you!

All started well, dh was delighted, all his culinary needs, (bar the lack of decent American do-nut shop) we're being met on a Saturday night. Similarly the kids were impressed to, as was I, hurrah! a night off cooking! Then, for no apparent reason, things started to go wrong. Maybe its a low wage problem? Being frequent customers however, the management straight away sent us a free pizza of our choice. This was the first week the order got delivered late (without us complaining) it also came with a grovelling apology, in writing. We were happy. The following week, the order came an hour late again..... this time with two deserts, a bottle of coke and an additional pizza, again without our complaining. Again we were happy. This weekend however it totally went to pot.

Dh's friend is here. We order Pizza at 7.20pm. We have a drink. I put salad on my plate, as a girl does. Wait for pizza, chat n watch TV. The programme we're watching finishes. I say to dh, chase the Pizza, he says no, it's fine. Half an hour later, he chases the pizza, which is on its way, on oven has broken down. A further half hour later, they think they have already delivered it, but as they haven't, we are awarded £25.00 credit. Our pizza will be with us shortly. We wait. I eat my salad. We wait some more. At 10pm I crack, against the wishes of dh, I go an phone them again. They're really sorry, they really do think they have sent it out for delivery. As I obviously haven't got it, (am doing pathetic girly starvation noises down the phone) They whack our credit up to £40.00, say very, very, sorry, it'll be with us soon. At 10.50, finally it arrives, with a delivery girl we have seen before and another bottle of coke as an apology. We pounce upon the holy grail, its feeding time at the zoo. Ten minutes later, the boxes are clean, we are stated.

The question remains though. If we attempt to use our credit, will it be delivered the same day? Should we order a day in advance, to be sure? or just accept our cursed Pizza fate and give up? surely buying from the store is cheaper anyway and not that much more work. I'm wondering what we need to do to break the pizza curse?

Spring has sprung

I do believe so anyway! spent a nice hour tinkering in the garden yesterday (Thursday), gaw'd I sound like my mother! but dd2 was asleep and the sun was so inviting, that I couldn't help but go outside. The only problem was when I got out there I noticed all the damn bind weed in my 'herb garden'. Ok so its 5 Herbs, but its a start! oh and one of those might not have survived the winter, but we shall see.......anyway its all gone now, along with a few dandelions that had tried to set themselves as well. Death to all invading weeds says I.

I'd dragged my mother and the kids to the garden centre on Wed lunchtime to a) eat, b) look at the fish, cause the kids like them and next doors are still under their winter cover c) Get some anti cat plants, because someones moggy keeps pooing on our lawn. Why when it can go in the border, I have no idea. I am not happy about it. Anyway long story short, cat plants annual, so none available yet, bah! think I will invest in an electrical device, courtesy of Argos, which assures me once fitted (electrics in the garden a pain, but in this case worth it) no moggies in sight. No poo for the kids to tread in or try to eat. Mind you the plants are cheaper.....hmmmmmmmm........Due to toxoplasmosis hazard for the young ones, electrics win.
Which reminds me, I must ring up to sort single jabs for dd2.

I digress! so whilst at the garden centre I end up coming home with rather more than I intended, ahem. 1 x Rhodedendrum, which so the label assures me is a smaller version than normal. This is now filling a nice gap on the back fence, starting to turn the space a bit pink. This is good, as dh accidently killed off most of the clematis up there last year, when he sprayed it with fence stain. Men. I also grabbed a pack of 6 Heathers, these are also now filling a few gaps in the borders. My aim is to get the garden looking vaguely mature, so when we sell in, hopefully 2 years, it will look nice to viewers. Yet not hard to maintain. (If you know me, you will know I've been trying to get us to move house for the last few years! I'm not a new house girl and I like the country!)

I've dug the rocking snail out, pulled the playhouse, that Santa delivered, back onto the decking. Once I'm sure there will be no more wind for a few months, I'll re attach the roof. In the meantime it stays off, so it doesn't do a Dorothy. Just the slide to re errect. Then I get to clean the lot, oh joy! What I wouldn't give for a power hose.

Its all looking good out there now. Daffodils are coming up, crocus' and snowdrops already abound. I like spring, It gives me a warm happy glow. Now where did I put that wasp collecting jar?

Stalker?

Help, I've grown a stalker.......of sorts anyway! Its my own fault, I shouldn't be nice to old ladies.

The one lady in question is a neighbour of mine. I hope if she ever reads this, she doesn't get offended, as she did get broadband yesterday, so is perfectly internet savvy. However she may wish to question her behaviour......

This all started a while back, when I held a Virgin Vie party and invited the whole close. They obviously didn't all turn up, as they never do for these things, but I was very grateful to those who did, we had a nice night and I did ok out of it. In return I recently vaguely agreed to attend her daughters Pampered Chef party, but now it appears their organising the whole bloomin thing around me!

She collared me in the street several times last week, asking what dates I was free. Then she came over saturday, when I was out and grabbed dh about it, he fielded her questions and told her I'd be back in touch later. Laughing as he explained to me he thought they were organising it around me. I told him not to be so stupid, as I thought her daughter would know lots of people already, surely I'm just another body to make up the numbers?

Oh no.....Yesterday morning, Monday, she turned up at my doorstep, after I had just walked in the door from dropping the kids at nursery. I'd just seated myself joyously on the loo (bearing in mind, my poor bladder had just had a trip down the M1 from Leeds in a rather full capacity. We'd also been via the nursery) So I had to shout her to wait a minute, which she duely did. We then conversed for about 15 minutes, I got my diary out, as she wanted to know when I was free for said party, as the discussions we'd had last week, hadn't yeild'd any suitable dates. She then proceeded to phone me, no less than six times during the day, to confirm or deny suitable dates with her daughter. Surely if your organising one of these things, you wouldn't normally do this with someone you hardly know?

So you can understand why I say I seem to have a stalker of sorts on my hands, or maybe she's just a savvy older lady, out to make a cut, from her daughters evening party! (I daren't tell her I'm skint!)

A Message from the Gods?

Maybe it was a message from the Gods? maybe the intended target was the car? was I occupying the wrong bit of time and space? or was it intentional? I've heard its good luck?! but it sure didn't feel that way.....only one thing is for certain, I'll never know the exact answer, as to why that damn bird, poo'd on my head this morning! as I was putting dd2 back into her car seat outside Mc Donalds.

Let me explain......We have a McDonalds breakfast on a Monday every other week, as I have to take Stepson back to school (he lives approx 55miles away from us) and we have to beat the dredded traffic que into Leeds, a feat in itself. The only place open for breakfast in his locality at 7.30am is the dreaded McD's, trust me I've tried to find somewhere else and failed, miserably. So there we were all four of us (my saint of a friend who usually drops off dd1 at pre-school is away) clambering back into the car, after a feast of McMuffins with Jam and Porridge (see you can get an ok'ish breakfast there!) when I felt the splat of doom on my head.

Stupidly I reached up to check and put my hand in it, 'sigh'. This then meant that the next 5 minutes were spent with me dancing around the outside of the car, shaking off the excess, whilst the kids roard with laughter inside. Luckily I had wetwipes in the nappy bag on the front seat, so at least I could clean myself up, as best I could, before turning up at the school gates.

Oh the joys of a Monday morning.

Always on the run

Certainly seems that way these days!

So one at pre-school, one having a morning nap, that's the kids sorted for now. So where was I? ah yes, my mission for the year. To re-create some sort of post baby life for me!
I've decided that apart from helping dh to run our business http://www.shardslrp.com/, trying my hand at freelance writing, something I've not ventured into for many a year now, is where I'm heading.....so watch this space!

In the meantime the cunning plan for today is to escape around to a friends house, for lunch with a bunch of kids, so they entertain themselves, giving us adults a chance to have a natter! does this mean I'm a yummy mummy??? hardly don't think I'm rich enough for one thing......does mean more hands make light work of dinner though.
I don't suppose this helps with my new freelance writing career though? but how do you manage to work and have kids, when your the one 'looking after' them........I feel some late nights and early mornings may be called for in a working capacity, not changing wet beds/dirty nappies, or feeding screaming kids.
I guess this blog is a start eh! if nothing else a quick twitter to whomever is reading (cups hands and shouts) 'Hello out there' sure gets you in the right frame of mind......oh drat, time to go and pick up the eldest again! the best laid plans.........