![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
skippys_s's journalLog in Create a LiveJournal Account Learn more
| You are viewing skippys_s's journal Log in Create a LiveJournal Account Learn more | Explore LJ Culture Entertainment Life Music News & Politics Technology |
 | |||
|
Do you ever have one of those days where you just look back and think did that really happen??!! Despite praying for the phone call, we went off to DS's football match in torrential rain and wind. When we arrived, we discovered that the match after ours was cancelled as we (I say we, I mean the boys) would churn up the pitch making it unplayable afterwards. Spent 45 mins standing under a tin roof with no sides in my very attractive waterproof trousers before dashing off to March to take DD to her second birthday party of the weekend. Children cost you a fortune one way or another. Last weekend it was football subs, stuff for DD's forthcoming own party (a T-shirt decorating one) and new trainers for DS. This week it was 2 birthday presents plus petrol for the 50 mile round trip and football subs. DS came home in a strop from the 9-0 defeat, which I of course made worse by unreasonably asking him to have a shower as he was soaked through and muddy as a pig. Upon collecting DD, I made the snap decision to go to the local garden centre in town since I had time for once, probably the only time before Xmas, to get some new plants for my parents' present from my brother an myself (his dazzling idea) for their conservatory to replace the manky ones which have been there 15 years. Having picked the ones I wanted and agreeing the price with bruv on the phone, I told kids to stay in the greenhouse with the low trolley/cart by desired plants whilst I went to counter to ask for assistance lifting them out. A very nice lady followed me back to find DD standing in the trolley with her foot stuck out of her new party sandals (my mum ha only bought her on Wednesday) covered in mud, squawking at DS that he'd "told" her to do it. Have you ever had to as calm as you like whilst wishing secretly in your head that you could kill someone? Or in my case, 2 people. I paid. The lady and another boy help us out to the car. I suddenly think - oooh big plants, smallish car. I discovered the back seats of my car split to fold down, which my mother told me they didn't do. Bonus. Flaw - I had to rapidly remove parcel shelf; discover the scooter I have bought for DD's birthday is still in the boot cos I forgot to take it out and hide it, and that we can't get the plants in the car. Shit. So I had to take kids back into town to great-grandparents (in-law) and when I get there, DS is being a pain, I'm embarrassed and trying to hurry to get back to shop and I jarred my wrist on the gate which unbeknownst to me was locked. I race back to the garden centre, finally get the plants in my car, but with my seat as far forward as it will go so I have to drive with my knees round my ears, and make a joke of my new years resolution to be think before we buy. They probably thought I was a right twat. I got home all the while aware that I've somehow got to get these over in secret to Wisbech and it'll have to be when the kids aren't with me. So not hidden on Christmas Eve as planned then. As I'm thinking I'll take them to my grandparents the week before the big X before picking kids up from mums when she has them whilst I'm working, and tell my brother I've done my bit, and when he comes home for Christmas, as it was his idea, he can go and get them from grandparents and hide them in the shed until Christmas......... I was so busy grumbling to myself that I got quite a shock when I turned around and saw this big white shaved dog (I don't know the breed but it looked scary) staring at my bottom. I jumped and made a squeak tried to walk/run back to the house until it went away, it started following me and barking. Aaarrggghhh. I didn't know where it came from, so I stood and watched from my kitchen window as it sniffed my front grass and piddled up my car wheel. I'm OK with dogs, but only if I know they're friendly and this one was loose, big and had already barked at me, so I wasn't going anywhere until I was sure it was gone. This was a good half an hour. After making sure the coast was clear, I hefted them into my conservatory, although I'll have to move them next week to hide them a) form Mum when she brings b) her dog round to stay (I like her dog). I had a super struggle trying to get the parcel shelf back into the car, before arriving to get the kids and find DD had been holed up in the loo, constipated as you like. Deep joy. Once home, I had a 90 minute ironing spectacle. I had bought myself a new iron this week, but I still wasn't impressed. Thus ends my tale of woe. Tum te tum. Skippy xx
|
|||
| |
|
DS's first football match today. They only lost 0-12. I say only cos last match it was 13-0 apparently. Oh well things can only improve eh?! |
|
| |
|
It's raining buckets and I'm stuck indoors, home from work for 2 days now because the kids are poorly :o( Still, I don't really get on the old pc much anymore as my life is filled with work, being a child taxi and housework - yes it really has come to this. So what can I tell you? Had a nice day at Anglesey Abbey on Saturday. It was my Mum's birthday. Mum & I got in free because she is a National Trust volunteer and she has a membership card. DD is 5 so we only had to pay for DS. I bought her lunch and got a 10% discount with her volunteers card - bargin! (not that I'm cheap or owt). My grandparents also turned up so we spent time with them walking round the gardens. I love the colours this time of year. Skippy xx |
|
| |||
|
I'm a little excited. I just booked a holiday. To Disneyland Paris. Where we're going is not of excitement to me (well maybe a little bit ;oD). What's really exciting is that it will be a surprise for Christmas for DD and DS, both of whom are desperate to go on an aeroplane, and DD to see the princesses. My dad gave me a bit of money out of a distant great aunt's will and I thought sod it, why not? So we're going next February - with Maz and Eleanor!!
|
|||
| |
|
Th fridge saga
For a couple of weeks now, things in the freezer have become a little less frozen on more than one occasion due to little people getting lollies out and not closing the door properly. So last week, when I went out take bread out of the freezer for sandwiches, and found it chilly rather than frozen, I assumed it had happened again. But it happened every morning and I began to suspect it was actually the freezer that had broken. Boo. When I think of it though, it was in the first house we moved into 9 years ago as the man who sold it to us was oversees and had rented it out previously. So we inherited a fridge/freezer so it's not bad for 9+ years, I reasoned. Asked Mum what she did with her old one when she got rid of it earlier this year. She said the council will take it away (for a fee natch) but you have to have it on the boundary of your property by 7am. Eeeek that's a fair way for me on my own to drag it and you'd have to have it out the night before in reality which I wouldn't be keen on. Anyhew, Tuesday, I get the milk out of the fridge for first day back at school brekkie and it looks odd. I sniff it, it smells ewwwwww. I pour it down the plug hole, it's solid. Cue mass panic call to Tescos Direct to order new fridge/freezer I'd earmarked. "Do you deliver on Saturdays?" I pleaded hopefully as I have little leave left at work and don't want to waste it on waiting in for a delivery. "Yes, we can do it this Saturday. Would you like the installation and scrap removal service?" asks the nice man on the other end. "Oooh yes please". I am VERY happy and contentedly buy a mini fridge to keep the milk in until then and make do with everything else being slightly chilled for the rest of the week. Yesterday (the chosen Saturday), the men call an hour before as agreed so I can get all my stuff into cool bags. I am slightly puzzled when they immediately bring the new fridge in before removing the old one. They put the new arrival down, say, "don't plug it in for 4 hours then make ottleave. "Errr aren't you going to unpack it and take the old one away?" I ask nervously. "Not on our paperwork, love." "But I ordered it!!!!!!!" "Sorry, we can't do anything that's not on our paperwork, it's against the law." I persuaded them to at least move the old one out of it's space so I can put new one. They put it outside my front door for me (how attractive). Once they were gone, I was straight on the phone. "You're right Mrs Staveley-Smith, you have paid for that package, I've checked with the delivery company and they confirmed it, they will try and get hold of the drivers and get them to come back to you. They'll phone to let you know when they get hold of them." After the 4 hours of letting it stand, I thought, this is ridiculous, I need my fridge, my food is getting warm, I can't wait until potentially 7pm for these idiots to turn up. So, with the help of DD, I got all the packaging off, even underneath which took an age of me lifting and her edging under to get the polystyrene out. Within 2 hours it was cold and the food was in. Packaging everywhere. It was just as well we did, because there was nothing heard from the delivery company. So this morning I rang up and got the "extra" service refunded. I may as well get the thing taken away myself. Fuming. DS has changed the pointer on the pc screen to a cross face. It is driving me nuts but pin points how I am feeling. Skippy xx |
|
| |
|
2/2
So the V festival in Chelmsford. Weather forecast in the week leading up to it hadn't looked too bad considering the summer we'd had. Oh what a gullible soul. I went with my two superstar friends Maz & Kath, Maz no longer being the festival virgin she was last year and Kath a veteran of Glastonbury. We set off early to get there at 12 noon when the camp site opened to nab a good spot. Or at least that was the plan. We queued in the car for an hour and a half and by the time we got in, it was already packed. We headed off the beaten track and ended up with a pretty good spot, up against a fence (leaving the obligatory 3 meters for fire safety as measured with an official man whose stick was really getting him above himself). Perfect, away from the path and everyone walking past we thought. What we hadn't banked on was the steady stream of men (excuse the pun) shamelessly peeing up against said barrier blatantly a few feet from us sat outside our tents because they couldn't be arsed to queue for the loos. Talking of queues I have never spent so much time standing in line [with Maz, whose new hobby is complaining about queuing] in my life. 2 hours to get a wrist band so we could get back to the car to get the rest of out stuff once our tents were pitched. - that's a new one. This was valuable time of my life which I could've spent drinking wine. I also managed to get a little artyness done, just background watercolours, but I was very happy with them. We had a little luck upon entering the arena on Saturday. We were camped near the [Channel] 4music stage which is the 2nd stage. So the first thing we do after using the loos, as they haven't been used as much inside the gates, is have a browse round the stalls then get something to eat. The first people on stage are the winners of a new band competition. Kath asked me who was on after them and I saw it was someone I'd never heard of and wondered why so many people were cheering them coming on. Then I think, why are they playing Foo Fighters songs, can they not do their own material? Then I look at the big screens and think, their drummer even looks like the Foo Fighters drummer. THEN it dawns on me that it IS the Foo Fighters. They were playing a short set as Amy Winehouse had pulled out, and everyone else was bumped up the bill. So we sat and ate our lunch and listened to them, sitting really close. Amazing!!!!!! So, here is a list of bands I saw:- Foo Fighters * Editors * Paolo Nutini * Kanye West * Pink * Snow Patrol * Foo Fighters * Goo Goo Dolls * James Morrison * Cherry Ghost * KT Tunstall * The Fratellis* Mika * Lily Allen * Manic Street Preachers * The Killers * Basement Jaxx* Now, I don't think that's bad for £120 considering it costs £25 to go and see a band these days. And yes, it did rain. Overnight we had quite a bit of rain. It hammered it down on both mornings before we went out into the arena. Watching the Foo Fighters, you could see the mist of drizzle in the light show, but it was really rather pretty. Then the worst bit we got caught in was for the Killers. I had by hood pulled tight round my face and I had water dripping off my nose very attractively, but I just took the mindset that it was only water and I was gonna bloody enjoy myself as when was I likely to see the Killers live again?! It was particularly muddy on Sunday, but I had my superbly sexy waterproof trousers to protect me, so I was well away ;o) Oh dear, now I am in my time honoured post festival slump! but good news - today I managed to buy tickets for next year. Only 360 days to go then... Skippy xx |
|
| |
|
1/2
I thought I'd do a bit of catching up and am going to start with my week off work. Had a really super time. I got so much done and going back to the office today has really made me appreciate how nice and relaxing it was to have a break. Starting off all that way back in time with Saturday, we had a day at the sea side :o) I'm not a big one for the beach - sand just generally pisses me off, but we managed to have a great time, in that I laid on a blanket and slept for 2 hours whilst the kids went in the sea. We had chips for tea, followed by £1 each in the arcades ( I really must watch my generosity ;oP), a yummy ice cream - sugar cones rule supreme - finishing with another £1 in the arcades. I know, mad aren't I?! Can you believe DS & DD actually won more statistically with £2 than they did on £10 at Easter on holiday. Sunday - we went to the University Botanical Gardens in Cambridge, cos it was cheap. We had a picnic and then once again, I slept on a blanket and DD & DS ran about and generally terrorised everyone. At one point, they were across a lawn by a fountain and I could see them balancing on the ledge round a fountain. Next thing I know I think I can see them in the fountain, and I can see several people sitting on benches round the fountain and can just imagine them thinking what little yobs, I wonder who's irresponsibly in charge of them? but as I have all the bags and shoes, I cannot run across and yell so I make motions not dissimilar to Ricky Gervais' infamous dance, signalling them to get out and come here. When they finally do, I tell them off, but as I'm doing so I see they have money in their hands. Where did you get that from? I ask. Of course the little tinkers have picked it out of the fountain!! Cue me dying a thousand deaths of embarrassment. The rest of the week, we spent: going to the dentists (where I wimped out of having a scale and polish - honestly!), went to see the Simpsons Movie, went swimming, had a major (just call me Vicky B) clean of the house, and went to buy the school uniform - just a quick £110 then. DS has size 4 shoes - agghh he's only 9! Thus ends part 1, tune in to see me at V in part 2! Skippy xx |
|
| |||
|
I now have a week off work and V is on Friday! Haven't go much planned but we may have inpromptue days out depending on the weather! Skippy xx
|
|||
| |||
|
Yesterday, I bought a waterproof jacket and trousers and self-inflating mattress in preparation for V. Unfortunately, I can't work out how to de-flate it. Does anyone have any ideas?! DD and I were poorly today and spent the whole day on the sofa. DD has a headache and temperature and I feel achey and nauseous :o(. I can't remember the last time I ate so little. Hope we are better for tomorrow. Skippy xx
|
|||
| |||
|
The last day of school term. I came home from work to pick the children up, to learn that DD has won a cup for being the best child in her class! The best what I do not know, but only one person from each class won a prize and she got it for hers. I am so proud! She was also given a small cuddly dog, which ironically, she has called Tiddles! Skippy xx
|
|||
| |
|
When I collected DS from grandparents-in-law after work yesterday, he hadn't had any lunch or tea and had been in sick bay at school all afternoon. Why did the school not just call me and ask me to fetch him? Apparently they told him that he was "Too young to have migrains". What BS. So today I have been off work with him. Calpol did no good, and the chemist told me she couldn't sell me anything stronger than that or ibuprofen, so we are trying that now, but so far no effect. So today, I got to go to the supermarket, do 2 weeks worth of ironing, cut the grass and do the housework. Deep joy but at least I've got it done. I was meant to be going to a Pampered Chef party tonight, but never mind. DD got her level 2 at swimming tonight so she is dead chuffed. When I went to give blood on Monday night, they wouldn't let me because my finger prick test showed I was anemic. Part of me was relieved as I usually go faint, but the other half was annoyed as I'd eaten crap (ie bread and chocolate) all day to keep my blood sugar up. The nurse asked if I had been feeling tired recently, and me full of beans told her yes, yesterday I had been to the Wimbledon Men's finals so I hadn't had much sleep. She looked suitably unimpressed and said that was probably me making me tired, rather than a lack of iron. Ho hum. Does the excitement ever end round here? Skippy xx |
|
| |||
|
WIMBLEDON REVIEW
|
|||
| |||
|
Yay! Sun! Today we went dog-sitting at Mum's whilst my parents attended a family party. It was the Rose Fair carnival in Wisbech. The road where M&D live is the one in which the floats start from, so the road was closed. This meant we had to go park in the newly transformed convent grounds which my dad and uncle have turned into apartments. It's just a short walk from the house. So we went and watched the parade from Dad's office's window. There were plenty of floats, so great to see and reminded me of when my brother and I were young and we used to go on the float every year (one time I was even the Rose Queen's attendant when I was about 8! DS said he couldn't believe I could be allowed to do such a thing the cheeky devil) Mum's school won best in the parade. The theme this year was heros - very interesting interpretations! We also did some Grandma-sitting, and took her round some shopping that my brother had done for her. She was woken up by us, so I had to regale the Wimbledon ladies' final to her (More on Wimbledon tomorrow after our visit :oD) and then the kids took over the attention. It seems like such a long while since I have had any art time, since I started my new job, but last night and finishing off this evening, ( Read more... ) Bit too excited to sleep but need to really - big day ahead tomorrow! Skippy xx
|
|||
| |
|
A group effort cleaning the house this morning, followed by Shrek at the cinema and tea at Frankie and Bennies. What a lovely family day :oD |
|
| |
|
Another wet day. We went to Mum's school's summer fayre. Which was indoors. DS & DD spent £10 quicker than it took me to earn it. Left them with Mum, Dad picked me up and took me over to the hospital to visit Grandma. She reckons she will be home on Monday. Remains to be seen, but she does look a hell of a lot better. On a different note, does anyone know how to get rid of a "messenger service" - a grey box which keeps popping up ever since I re-installed the pc - telling me there are 55 critical system errors and to go to this web site and register, download the program and then it will be fixed. I don't think so, but I can't get rid of it, and it is seriously pissing me off when it appears every 2 minutes! Thank You Skippy xx |
|
| |
|
Wow. Two fire drills in one afternoon. What a thrilling Friday afternoon! Plus a belgian bun for afternoon tea and takeaway pizza for tea! Oh yummy (and big tummy ;op) Here is a card I made for my poorly friend Maz who has slipped a disc and has been signed off work for two weeks ( pic ) Get well soon Maz! Skippy xx |
|
| |
|
As I walked through the school gates this morning, I checked and low and behold, the other gate which was open yesterday, also has a bent bolt, so I think I'm off the hook. YAY! *sigh of relief* |
|
| |||
|
Monday is going so well. I wasn't up late or anything, but it was crowded at school and I couldn't park where I usually do. Because of this, I had to go into the school car park and turn round after dropping the kids off. Out of nowhere, I was suddenly dragging the gate that was closed along with my car which had got caught on my wing mirror?! I do not know how that happened. I was not going fast. I was not close to them. Or so I thought. I must've been, because the one which was closed was forced open by my poor little car. You know when something seems to be happening in slow motion? Well for what seemed like hours, all I could hear was the sound of metal scraping. It was either my car's side or the metal bolt which held the gate in place, ie bolted into the ground to keep it closed, scraping across the tarmac. And everyone's eyes on me. Thank god the kids weren't with me, or they would be spouting it to everyman and his dog. I parked and got out to survey the damage. I have a dent and scrape on my passenger door. The bolt on the gate was bent. Now was that already done, or was it me? I felt it didn't do it that hard. And now I have to go into school to own up incase it was me. How much does repairing a [big] metal gate cost? Oh big bums. Then I had a good cry about it on the way to work, along with the fact that my grandma is having the cancer cut out of her bowel today. Except I don't now what time because my dad didn't find out. So i am worrying all day. And this morning the children received a card from her thanking them for the cards they made and sent her last weekend. It said how lovely they were, how much she appreciated it and how much she loved them. And the last sentence was about her going into hospital but she knew the doctors would make her better. And it was really spooky that it arrived today. And I feel horrible. Roll on the rest of the week. Skippy xx
|
|||
| |
|
Had a whopping good quiz night at the library on Wednesday. there were 14 teams (the most we'd ever had) about 80 or so people and we made £190 for the Community Archive Group www.ccan.co.uk There was only one dodgy question out of 99 so I think I did pretty well (apparently men and women have different number of ribs). Anyhow, people kept coming up and telling me what a good time they'd had. The Community Archive Group gave me a bottle of Martini to thank me for organising and hosting it all :o) It has also been a very busy week at work so I am pooped. Had a course on Wednesday so I can now do purchasing orders once I am set up on the system next week. Got my appraisal on Tuesday, hopefully I haven't done much wrong in a month! I actually managed to make 2 chunky book pages last night, that's all the art I've managed since I've started my new job! ( see here ) Skippy xx |
|
| |||
|
It seems a while since I last had a long rambling post. This weekend I did quite a bit, and I have also been doing a lot of thinking. I don't know if this is good(!) Had to get up early on Saturday to go to PC world and get the laptop sorted. I was in there like 5 minutes. The guy said I had to insert one of the CD ROMs I'd found, press a key and that was it. He wouldn't start it off for me because he said that if the laptop ran out of power it would go very wrong, so I had to get him to write it all down for me. It took me 4 hours to re-install everything. I lost everything on there. A few photos, scans and music, which was ok, but I have lost ALL my emails and contacts from Outlook Express and because I just click on a contact when I want to email someone, I now can't because I don't know their email address! So if I should have your email addy, then contact me!! Apart from that, this re-set up has obviously got rid of all the old junk, so the pc goes a LOT quicker, which is cool. So, after PC world, we went to Mum's. Dad looked after the kids whilst Mum and I went round to see my grandma (Dad's mum) who I don't see very often. This grandma is who I am supposed to be like (all my bad points seem to stem from her!) She has lived on her own in a big old house since my grandad (who was 13 years older than her) died. She (like me) is happy with her own company. I tend to write to her more than see or speak to her. She is very bloody minded and set in her ways, plus intelligent and definitely old school. As her only granddaughter for a long time (before any of my girl cousins were born until I was 14) we have a special relationship, as I said, we are very alike without feeling the need to be in contact, it is an understanding that we both respect. Anyway, the reason we went round was because when Grandma wrote to me last week, she told me tht she had a picture for my wall. She wanted to see Mum, because she is going into hospital, and despite being a fiercely private and independent person, she had to accept she needs help now and wanted to show Mum where her spare clothes were for taking into hospital. This is because she had been feeling unwell since Christmas, and this week it has been diagnosed as bowel cancer. Because it has taken a while for it to be diagnosed and she has been [relatively] well, she has been bleeding internally which has been feeding the tumor. She was having an x-ray today to see if it's spread to her liver. Then once they have established this, she will have an operation in a week or so to try to remove the cancer and then undergo treatment. At 78 and with health problems including heart trouble, I am very worried about it all. I haven't been able to stop thinking about how I'd feel if I were her. I know she misses my grandad terribly, she has pictures of him all over the house and he was a terrific gentleman. I know she likes to be on her own, and can be a recluse for days on end, but I hate to think of her by herself if anything happened. I have been thinking about it all a great deal. The picture that was for me, is from my great aunt. It is a hanging of incredibly intricate needle-worked flowers, done by my great-grandmother who was a great talent. It was originally on an evening bag she gave my great-aunt (her daughter) for her 21st birthday, (1931),and when the bag wore out, she had it framed. I have already hung it up in my hall. It is a family heirloom and I have instructions to pass it on to DD. I wish I could scan it in to show you, but it is sealed so the glass will distort the scan. Awful weather all weekend. Today, I got soaked once going (with an umbrella) from work to car. I dried out using the heater on full blast on the way back, only to get soaked again once I got to school. We got changed and I then had to deliver some Avon and take the car into the garage for it's MOT and walk around town, including going into the library to make plans with Maz for the quiz night I am hosting on Wednesday night. So far there are 13 teams entered so about 80 people :oO It is only Monday and I am knackered! Oh before I go - "Britain's got Talent" - yay! I am so glad Paul Potts won, he deserved it. But what do i watch now?! ;o) Off to try and recover more email addresses. Skippy xx
|
|||
crazy
excited
happy
sick
crappy