happy birthday...

....to my little JodiePie, a big 11 today :-)

...notice how I've nicked the blackbird? Don't tell Thomas Owen Knowles...he'll never notice....

blackbird

Loved the Day Rover on Saturday. Don't think the kids get the bus enough though...they kept asking why it was stopping!
Went to Harewood House on Sunday with the other half and the little people. (I know...we always go there. We've got a Harewood card ok, gotta make use of it!)
How brill is this picture of a blackbird I found on the bird drawing display! Well done Thomas Owen Knowles...whoever you are!

day rover

Tomorrow me and my sis and four out of five of our children are going on a Day Rover.
Translation for people who don't live where I live... we pay £9.50 and can go anywhere we like in West Yorkshire -on buses and trains- all day long... or till we get bored.... or till the kids get too annoying and we have to shout a lot and come home....
We're going to Ilkley.
We're getting lunch from M&S and eating in the park.
The sun will be shining.
The kids will be well behaved and appreciative.
Lovely lovely.

spellings

My priority on our walk to school is for the little man to learn his spellings 'cos it's literally the only time in the week we have to do this mundane (and frankly impossible) task.
The little man's priority on our walk to school is to find the biggest piece of tree he can and drag it behind him, paying particular attention to splashing it through puddles and mud.

dodgy boiler

Our boiler is knackered. It's never been brilliant. But now when you put the heating on it cuts out after 20 minutes. It's been like that for a while but I've ignored it 'cos it was summer and if I was cold I just put another jumper on.
Peter the Heater fixed it for us last year. Said it was the thermostat. Put a new one on.
Gonna have to ring him again. 
Hope we can get away with another new bit and don't need to get a new boiler 'cos I really don't want to have to fork out for a new one....I'll just put 10 jumpers on and reset it every 20 minutes thanks all the same...

more new shoes

The lovely people at ASOS emailed me to say I could have 20% off yesterday. 

Not wishing to appear rude I quickly tapped away and ordered a new top for Friday night.

And not wishing to stop there I ordered some rather lovely patent black brogues which will look very nifty with everything I wear and make me look like Alexa Chung.

They arrived today.

The other half hates them.

He said "You're not wearing them when you go out with me!"

Like someone's Dad!

What does he know about fashion anyway? He still wears a top he had when I first met him. Thirteen years ago!

technical difficulties

I was having a super-good time faffing about on Pinterest. I added loads of new pins. Very satisfied....till I had a proper look.
For some reason half of them don't show the picture I pinned but an ugly question mark in a blue box. Then when you look at my boards there are some random pics that I would never pin in a million years. Like beautiful women wearing sunglasses and flowers on their heads. I pin cute bears, not beautiful women!
What's going on there then? The Pinterest ghostie is having a laugh I think. I've shut it down 'cos it's annoying me. Big style.

bag packer

Yesterday me and the little man packed bags in Tesco to raise money for his football team. 
Actually, I packed the bags. And if there was a Tesco Super Fabulous Customer Service Award 10 September 2011 I would have won it.
Alf, on the other hand, wouldn't.
But to be fair he wasn't really tall enough to see into the bags ...so he didn't do bad, considering.

tango-ed

The other day my friend's 13 year old son decided to spruce himself up a bit in time to go back to school. He nicked her fake tan and started to apply. Liberally. And when it didn't seem to show up much he applied some more. And some more. Half a bottle to be precise. On his face and on his arms. 
Four hours later he was very orange and very streaky!
But he still denied nicking the fake tan.
Then he got in the bath for two hours.
Oh how we laughed!

back to normal...

Ok little people, you've been much fun, we've had a laugh and a lie in.....but that's enough now.
Get back to school!
I need some peace and quiet and I need to work for more than 3 hours in a row!

o m g !!!

So yesterday the other half was in charge of the little people for only the second time in six and a half weeks of no school. And what happened? 
The little man fell in the canal!
With his brand new bike!
Don't worry, he was fished out. He is safe and well.
They had to flag down a passing barge to borrow a pole. The other half fished out the bike from the bottom of the canal.
So all is well.
No problem at all.
No fuss required.