Stiff in all the Wrong Places

Today I took my car to the garage to have the wash-wipe and the headlight flash looked at. Neither bits were working - not good if you have a dirty windscreen or need to flash someone.

From the garage I walked down to the Co-op and then home. At lunchtime the garage phoned to say the car was ready so I dragged D with me for the walk back.

All in all I must have walked between 4 and 5 miles today. AND I KNOW ALL ABOUT IT!

Of course the hot tub was emptied and refilled yesterday and it's being a bit awkward about balancing. Fingers crossed it's sorted for later.

More Rain and Other Random Thoughts

Yesterday wasn't too cold, unlike the rest of the week. It was fairly sunny with a breeze - ideal to hang washing out in but I didn't have any to do.

Today it's raining and windy. Today I have some washing to do. It figures!

Yesterday I felt fine with just a slight sniffle. Today I feel out of synch with the world. Is it another cold, or is it my nose is fed up of being squirted with Flixonase? The darn stuff only works for 30 minutes at most then I'm back to snuffly. Maybe it's not an allergy, maybe I do have a chronic sinus problem. Maybe I'm just going insane instead.

I'm still getting my words a bit jumbled. It causes a bit of hilarity and some confusion, especially when I am trying to explain something to K. Alzheimers or early senile dementia?

Life goes on

Have I really not posted since Saturday?! Must be all that chocolate addling my brain.

Nothing much has happened since then. I have threatened to spring-clean the bedroom over the upcoming 'Easter' break (stupid idea to give us a long weekend, two weeks back then two weeks off) and have suggested A might like to put up the wallpaper we chose for in there over 5 years ago!

I've lectured the kids on the fact that pocket money/allowance is not a right. The chores that they are given to do have to be done properly - the FIRST time - in order to merit reward. If they wish to keep their current income levels they need to apply themselves to household tasks willingly, promptly, correctly, and preferably without nagging. Yeah, right! They're teenagers. Methinks a few weeks of being unable to fund activities might concentrate their minds a little, though K's only real expense is her phone and she can make £10 credit last her 2 - 3 months. We will see.

Spreading his wings

D has just got back from spending an afternoon in Portsmouth. Up until now his wanderings have taken him as far as Southampton on Sundays to play Warhammer at Games Workshop. Today he's been wandering the shops with a few friends from our local Home Education group. I think plans are afoot to do it again.

Some of you might think "So what. He's 16." D is not your typical teenager. Since he came out of school he has been wary of people his own age (isn't bullying wonderful!), so this is a milestone for him. And I'm proud of him.

Am I Getting Better........

.......or is this just a bit of good appetite before the return of the 'bleurghs'? Last night I managed to eat some curry! First time in ages. I used some pre-cooked beef (topside), a couple of dollops of home-made curry paste, chickpeas, butter beans, spinach, peas and tomatoes. It was lovely and I cleared my plate. As usual I made too much so the rest went in the fridge for tonight. When the time came I didn't fancy it so A ate it. He added some Madras paste to give it a bit more zing. The smell really turned my stomach, but not enough to put me off two slices of said beef and chips.

The nasal spray the GP gave me works for about an hour. After that I don't notice any difference in the snuffliness of my nose. Today I had to weaken my tea even further because it tasted too strong. It's now so weak you can see the bottom of my pint mug through it! Tonight I have given up and returned to weak hot juice. The kids have been threatened to leave my bottle alone - they have other flavours in the cupboard that I don't like.

Mummy Kudos

I am riding the wave of love being showered on me by my family. The reason for their undying - at least for the next hour - devotion? I spent the afternoon in the kitchen turning cooking chocolate into wonderful food.

I made a standard Victoria sponge, filled with chocolate butter icing and topped with chocolate icing. There's now half of it left. We have yet to properly taste the Double Chocolate Hot Cross Buns, though ours are triple chocolate. I got the recipe from the latest Sainsbury magazine - the one with the yummy chocolate cake on the front. We don't like currants/raisins/sultanas so the shop-bought ones are no good to us. I'll let you know in the next few days how good these are.

What's Yours Mean?

What Lisa Means

You are relaxed, chill, and very likely to go with the flow. You are light hearted and accepting. You don't get worked up easily. Well adjusted and incredibly happy, many people wonder what your secret to life is. You tend to be pretty tightly wound. It's easy to get you excited... which can be a good or bad thing. You have a lot of enthusiasm, but it fades rather quickly. You don't stick with any one thing for very long. You have the drive to accomplish a lot in a short amount of time. Your biggest problem is making sure you finish the projects you start. You are the total package - suave, sexy, smart, and strong. You have the whole world under your spell, and you can influence almost everyone you know. You don't always resist your urges to crush the weak. Just remember, they don't have as much going for them as you do. You are usually the best at everything ... you strive for perfection. You are confident, authoritative, and aggressive. You have the classic "Type A" personality.

What's" Your Name's Hidden Meaning?

For Sale - One Body

Reasonable condition. One careless, oops I mean careful, owner. Plenty of miles left on the clock (I hope). Regular maintenance required to keep running.

For the last 6 months or so I've been under the weather. It all started with an outbreak of catarrh in September which left me with a smoker's cough and retching first thing in a morning for a few weeks. I wasn't ill for more than a couple of days and, seeing as how I knew other people similarly afflicted, didn't think much of it - apart from no longer being able to drink tea with milk in it. I managed to shake that off only for it to return a couple of weeks later - more catarrh, sneezing, snuffling. Again, others were up and down with colds so it never bothered me. And so it has continued all winter - never quite shaking off one set of sniffles before the next lot started. Occassionally I have needed Beechams Capsules or Eucalyptus Oil but not that often.

During this time my digestive system has joined in. Now I'm a curry girl at heart so you can imagine how I've been feeling when the smell of curry makes me want to throw up. Poor A is beginning to think I'm passing judgement on his culinary prowess (wonderful), as more often than not I look at what is being cooked and turn away saying "I can't eat that".

And before anyone mentions pregnancy, forget it - it's not physically possible. Mind you it would explain the constant slighlty nauseous feelings.

I went to see the GP today fully expecting the usual litany of "lose weight and take more exercise" - that seems to be the cure for everything these days. I have a nasal spray to convince the catarrh to take a hike. He also thinks the catarrh is what is upsetting my stomach and taste buds - fingers crossed. However, to make sure all the bases are covered, I've also got to visit the dracula squad (aka blood taking clinic) to donate an armful (4 tubes). He's getting my cholesterol levels checked whilst the needle's in place (bless him!). Oh, and it's a fasting test so nothing to eat or drink apart from water from 10.30pm the previous evening till after they've got their deposit.

And I HATE NEEDLES, so cue much feeling faint during and immediately after the whole procedure. My veins seem to pick up on my anxiety and bury themselves deep in my arm. Last time I had a blood test it took a couple of gos in each arm before they hit paydirt!

So what am I bid for this pile of flesh and bones?

Sporting Widowhood

For the last few weekends A's time has been taken up watching the Six Nations (rugby) - not just the England matches either. This means that any little chores or going outs have had to be fitted in round the TV schedule. Yesterday I asked for the TV from 5pm so I could watch the highlights of the cricket - New Zealand v England. At 5.10 I wandered into the living room to find A watching Wales v France (I think, they were in blue), so I wandered back out again and into the study to check e-mail, write some blog posts, and play Civ 4. Apparently I should have announced my presence as I could then have had the TV.

No sooner is the Six Nations finished than F1 starts! Now I don't mind watching that, up to a point. A likes to listen to all the innane chatter, you know the sort of thing "How do you think Lewis Hamilton will feel if he gets on the front row of the grid today?" mindless stuff that seems to be the height of serious reporting today. I like to get to the action and don't sit down till the grid has formed up. So anything I want to plan for us to do at the weekend will have to fit in round the F1. The things I do for a quiet life ;-)

Then of course there's the occasional ten-pin bowling competition that A takes D to. A has ten-pin coaching/instructing qualifications and is to be found most Saturday mornings down at the local alley helping the Youth Bowling Club. Our county association has a YBC tournament that happens every month or so at various venues. Then there's the South of England competition (January-ish), the Nationals (May), plus any others the club sees fit to enter.

Any weekend that has a bowling tournament AND F1 is a complete disaster as that just leaves Saturday afternoon to get anything done.

Yet I'm not complaining, not too loudly anyway. He's not down the pub every night, not working 12 hour days (fingers crossed it stays that way too), and he is very attentive at all other times - once I've nagged him half a dozen times about something that needs doing.

I wouldn't trade him in for the world.

A sad indictment on our society

Julia Hollander has been in the media recently.

http://www.lifeandhealth.guardian.co.uk/health/story/0,,2263328,00.html

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/india_knight/article3511898.ece


I am not going to get into a debate on the rights and wrongs of what she did. There is enough of that out there on the web as it is. My gripe is that the social services find endless ways to deny help to parents of severely disabled children - there have been enough sad stories in the news in recent years of parents at the end of their tether killing their children and, quite often, themselves - yet when that same child is placed with a foster family they are queuing up with whatever is needed. If the social services can provide and fund the services to the foster family then they should do the same for the parents. It beggars belief that in a caring, developed nation such as ours that this is the logic applied by the organisation set up to watch over the most vulnerable in our society.

Back to what passes as normal here

I've been a bit under the weather for the last couple of days but am back to my usual chaotic self today. I blame Thursdays. Not any particular one, but ALL of them. Thursday is the day that our local Home Education group runs its Maths and English GCSE sessions, and I encourage two of the Maths students. I use the word encourage because I am not a qualified teacher and I do not teach in the traditional way. My role, as I see it, is to explain what isn't understood, remind them of deadlines for exam entries and coursework submission, and check their coursework, make observations on its suitability and content, and just generally crack the whip. If they don't hand in work for me to look at then I assume that all is well. I do check on what they're doing and comment accordingly. It's not onerous or time-consuming, yet I find myself exhausted.

My two students are very well-behaved. They just tend to find other things more interesting sometimes - like pulling silly faces at two girls who sit near by and who respond in kind. But, you know, I like them both - even though one in particular is needing some frequent whip-cracking. I really hope they both do well this summer.

Over to you

To encourage more comments - I like to see them and it shows me that people are actually reading my blog - I'm asking you all to tell me all about the famous people you have met. As in gotten close enough to speak to. I can't offer a prize for this particular audience participation post, but you never know in the future.

This is mine. OK you can stop having hysterics at the hair, it was a long time ago. The man in question is Jason Connery who played Robin Hood in the TV series in the mid/late 80s. Very nice man, happy to have his photo taken.

I would have had another one this time of me with Bon Jovi but the one and only opportunity to get my hands on the gorgeous Jon was scuppered by some morons making death threats. This caused all backstage passes to be declared void. I was somewhat upset, as you can imagine. Again this was back in the 80s.

About 5 years ago A and I were in London for a few days R & R without the kids. We were walking through Leicester Square in the driving rain when we bumped, quite literally, into Maurice Green the US 100m sprinter - think he's retired now. This was in the August a few days before the big Crystal Palace Grand Prix when he was going head to head against Dwain Chambers - in the days before we knew that Dwain's performances were chemically enhanced. Dwain beat him just as we told Maurice he would.

So dear readers, who have you met? Over to you.

It's done! And other educational ramblings

At last! All the coursework for the upcoming exams in May/June went in the post this afternoon. We are all feeling light-headed and very silly, and very relieved of course.

I always thought that coursework would give my two the chance to get some marks squirreled away before the exam proper. It's worth an average of about 20-30%, though in ICT it is much more (60+%). Instead it is the source of much head-banging (by me), tears and tantrums (by K), and leaving everything to the last minute (by D & K). D got his tears and tantrums out the way two years ago when he did GCSEs in maths and chemistry. He still wants to leave it to the last minute but at least understands (vaguely) what is involved. All in all the stress levels in this house climbed exponentially as the March deadline approached. So tonight I will be making inroads into a bottle of wine - if any of you catch me on MSN then please excuse the wild sense of humour and awful spelling.

Getting the coursework done and marked seems to be the hardest bit of doing exams when home educated. The powers that be don't consider us 'alternatives' when tinkering with things educational. I understand that coursework is to be dropped and replaced with some sort of in-school tasks. Quite how we're supposed to manage that I don't know - makes me glad that mine will be beyond GCSEs by that time.

Next year (2009) K will be taking IGCSEs instead - in maths, chemistry and maybe physics. There are two different exam boards that offer them, Edexcel International and Cambridge International. There are more exam venues that sit the Edexcel version. The difficulty lies in finding somewhere willing to accept you as a private candidate. We've been quite lucky there. A secondary school in Portsmouth will happily accept private candidates for GCSE. However my two are doing the Cambridge IGCSE for English and my options are tiny. There are very few places in the UK that do them so we're invading Bristol on two Friday afternoons in May.

My friend B keeps telling me to just skip this stage and go straight on to Open University. It certainly hasn't held her 3 boys back to have no GCSEs. One of them is off to university! I know she's right but part of me just can't let go of the traditional mentality. D has done and passed an OU short course but I don't think K is quite ready to try them yet. We may give one a go later in the year.

More Wind

Just when I thought it was safe to venture out again the strong winds are back. On the upside it's also clear blue skies and sunshine, but probably not a good day to hang washing out - not unless I want to be fetching it back from Portsmouth.

According to the weather forecasters the worst of the weather is supposed to be further north this time, so all of you who live north of Oxford (ish) batten down your hatches and make sure you have plenty of buckets for the leaks.

After the Lord Mayor's Show

On Tuesday evenings at least one member of the family bowls in a league. The last two times I took part I did really well, getting 200 one week and 190 the next week. My average is mid-130s or thereabouts so, as you can imagine, I was over the moon.

Last night I went to the bowling alley ready to do something like that again. Silly me! Normal service was resumed with a vengeance. I was lucky to get above 100 in each game. (sigh!) In my defence my brain was spinning and I couldn't settle and get into 'game mode'. It was either thinking about the coursework marathon today or the fact that I ate a large helping of toffee cheesecake and was on a sugar high. And I'm supposed to be on a diet too.

Our team lost spectacularly but it wasn't all my fault. The other team members had a bit of a stinker in the first game, then only fired intermittently for the other two games.

Think that was one night to forget.

Because he's worth it!

For over a year now our German Shepherd, Scooby, has had on/off skin problems. He's a GSD so it should be no surprise to me really, as they are prone to that sort of thing. He gets big red weals all over 'down there' and the skin goes dark brown and leathery looking. When it's bad he licks at it a lot.

Scooby has had lots of doses of antibiotics - the spots can get infected if his licking is too vigorous - and no matter which brand he has they affect his appetite. He goes right off his food, which isn't a good thing as some of his medications for his arthritis and dysplasia get put on his food. So he's not been getting enough of them either, with the knock-on effect that he's a little more ungainly when walking.

Two and a half weeks ago I took him to the vet as this rash was back and it was really bad! It seemed to have appeared almost overnight. Since then he's been on more antibiotics and will need to be on them for at least another week and a half. These tablets alone are costing me £145! I already spend about £100 per month on his other must-have medications and the insurance will no longer pay out for them. We've reached our funding limit for that condition, £4000, as two years ago Scooby had a vertebra removed as it was degenerating and pinching on his spinal column.

This morning I was checking him over and noticed a new crop of spots. The rest of the skin in that area was healing nicely so it was back to the vet. Now I have to administer Fuciderm cream, Hibiscrub, and OTC anti-histamines. If that little lot fails to settle it Scooby will have to go to the main vet hospital and have some tests for allergens. This will mean him having an anaesthetic, and at his age (9) it comes with risks. (sigh!) Then he can have some whizz-bang medicine which is known to help allergic skin conditions. He will need it for at least a month and it costs £400+ per month! What's the betting that skin problems will become excluded once his policy renews in November. And I can't even change insurance companies because they'll just exclude anything we've already claimed for anyway. Aaarrrgghhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

But he's cute and adorable, and worth every penny.

My love/hate relationship with the sun

Those of you who know me know that I have a UV intolerance. This means that once the sun's rays get to a certain strength my forearms and hands come out in tiny red raised spots. If I overdo it outside - and we're not talking more than 5 minutes at the height of summer - then they itch like anything! The dermatology department has diagnosed Polymorphic Light Eruption or PLE/PMLE. Last year the rash started in mid-March and lasted till mid-October, even with all that cloudy wet weather we had.

For the past 5 weeks I have been going to the local hospital for desensitisation treatment. This means I get to spend 30 - 45 seconds in a medically controlled sun-bed that emits UVB frequency lightwaves. Today was my last session and I can't say that I'll miss it. Certain bits of my body that are never normally exposed to daylight have reacted quite well, no itch fortunately, but plenty of spots. Yet the arms and hands that are normally the problem haven't reacted at all. Here's hoping that this means that they have been desensitised and I'll be able to hang my own washing out on the line this summer. I'm fortunate that both D and K are willing and able to do this for me when I'm suffering. A is at work and excused.

To add insult to all of this I also have Dysplastic Naevus Syndrome. This is where I have several moles that are 1cm+ in diameter. The syndrome increases my chances of getting malignant melanoma, and of all the skin cancers out there this is the least nice.

I also have issues with lots of skincare products, particularly when they come into contact with my face - and if they're on my hands they're going to get on my face. My face goes red, hot, itchy, sore, and my eyes start to run. For this reason the only thing I use on my face is tap water - no make-up, no cleanser, no moisturiser, no soap, no suncream. I've tried all the sensitive/hypoallergenic stuff but it still upsets me. Fingers crossed the hospital doesn't move my appointments for patch-testing again. They've already moved from February to April to June. Any later and that'll be another year of lurking indoors.

I'm supposed to bath myself in suncream before I go out to try and stop the PLE and a rogue mole. It's just not practical to slap it on my hands before hanging out any washing as it gets all over the washing. So I don't bother with it at all. Instead I try to wear long-sleeved/long-legged garments and a big hat. It's not a lot of fun when the temperatures rise.

I live near the sea, I have a beautiful garden to sit in, sunny days give me a lift, yet I am more or less housebound in summer. I have to plan my forays out with military precision. Friends are very good. They make sure there is a seat in the shade if we all go out together. It's not always enough as I often feel wiped out the next day as well as spotty.

I'm not asking to be able to sunbathe for hours at a time. I'd just like to be able to function normally.

No Major Damage

So far so good. There's no major damage here from the wind. By bedtime last night the wind and rain were starting up. Between them they managed to wake me up frequently during the night - did I tell you I get grouchy if I don't get my 8 hours sleep? - and then just as A was in the bathroom getting ready for work the power went off - and on, and off, and on. He decided not to risk shaving just in case it went off for longer. I found it quite funny to think of him at work with half a smooth face and half a fuzzy face.

I went over to Lymington to see B. Fortunately the trees on my route decided to stay in place so I arrived in one piece with nerves intact. My hands were a bit achy from gripping the wheel though. B and I had lunch, or rather I ate while she had coffee, and put the world to rights. We wandered round the supermarket, had more drink, and made our ways home.

The wind is beginning to get up again so I expect I'll be in for another disturbed night. Don't you feel sorry for all those people I have to meet tomorrow ;-) ?

We have man flu

D was snuffly yesterday but said he felt ok. This morning he is full of cold and has gone back to bed. Let's hope this passes quickly as he's got to get his Geography coursework in the post this week. He is well-trained though. No lying around the house moaning and groaning. If he's that ill he has to stay in bed.

It's only in the last year or so that he has been able to take tablets. Before that it was Calpol, and it takes a lot of Calpol to medicate a teenager.

Looks like I'll need a hat

My little brother's getting married. His girlfriend proposed to him on 29th Feb, by sending a bunch of roses to his office - with a card in asking him to marry her! Ten out of ten for a sweeping romantic gesture. I got proposed to outside a jewellers - jealous?! me?! They've been together for 9 years now and have 2 children.

My brother always said he was never getting married and never having kids. I can't remember if he also said he was never leaving home either. So brother dear I shan't be asking you to pick my lottery numbers.

I told my two this morning. K said "Oh great! I get to have a new dress. I don't have to wear high heels, do I?" I assured her that heels were optional. Then I told D that he'd need something nice to wear. "A nice pair of jeans will do," he said. "Err, actually I was thinking more along the lines of a suit, shirt, tie, proper shoes, you know?" There was the sound of wimpering from under the duvet - the lazy child was still in bed - followed by a "But Mum!". "D, you are 16 now. You have to dress more grown up. You are NOT going to your Uncle's wedding in jeans and a t-shirt." My son adores Umbro sports trousers and would happily go in those. I can forsee an interesting few months ahead.

I'd like to wish them both the best. Welcome to the Mad House, Sarah.

Incoming Storm

According to the Met. Office there's a big winter storm heading our way. Oh goody! (Note the heavy sarcasm). Why is it that whenever I have something good to look forward to something intervenes. Tomorrow is the last day of my narrowband UVB photo-desensitisation and to celebrate I'm supposed to be meeting some friends for lunch at Croydon IKEA, but because of the storm it's been cancelled. The last time I was supposed to get together with these friends it was shortly after the July bombings in London - it got cancelled then too. Hmmmm, wonder if it's down to the fact that I'm invited. Maybe next time I'll say "No, sorry I'm busy," and then turn up anyway.

Looks like I'll be having a stressful day helping K finish her Biology coursework instead. Coursework has to be the biggest bugbear of home education, so much so that I'm going to devote a post to it one day (when I can summon up the energy after this coming week's marathon efforts).

Or I could bury my head in the sand and go and do lunch with B in the New Forest instead. But if the wind gets up like they're promising then maybe driving somewhere with lots of trees isn't a great idea either.

Decisions, decisions.