just another morning here

I went, as usual on the first Tuesday of every month, to open up for Miscarriage Support Group, only to find that the locks had been changed. On further investigation it turned out that the organisation who had been letting me use the room have gone, and the room is now in use by someone else. They kindly let me use the space this evening (luckily, as I had people coming from an hour away!) but I can’t use it next month or any more after that. It had been a very unofficial arrangement anyway so I’m not surprised that they didn’t know about me, nor I about the changes which were obviously afoot.

So there, the decision that I’ve been wavering over for a couple of years now is out of my hands - I haven’t really got the time or energy to go chasing after another free room in the city (as if I’d find one), and to be honest, the number of people that come is minimal - sometimes not enough to call it a support group really. And I think that after 6 years of hosting it singlehandedly I’ve probably done enough. In some ways it’s a shame, because it means there is nothing like that available for people in this area, but I shall stay on the MA phone contact list and still be available that way. Can’t imagine that I’ll ever feel any less strongly about pregnancy loss and its effect on people.

So anyway, if you have landed here looking for the Exeter Miscarriage Support Group, I’m afraid it is no longer in existance, in support group form - but please do get my phone number from the Miscarriage Association and I’d still be really happy to chat.

1. Suntan
2. Have nice day with kids and friends (eat plenty of ice cream)
3. Fit in another cache if possible
4. Oh yes, the motor racing!

Will be back later to update on all of these

The girls had a ball today at Caitlin’s birthday party, another watersports day that makes them very jealous of her summer birthday!

Steve, Joe, and I did nothing interesting while they were out - went for a walk/cycle ride/geocache in the morning (dnf the cache though ) then he sat in front of sports on the tv while I simultaneously folded laundry and entertained Joe.

Girls came home, we all ate some tea, then we went on to the End of Year Orchestra Concert in Exmouth, it went really well - must say we are all glad to have a break for a while though!

At the Exmouth Pavilions - this photo was taken just before they started playing. Anna was promoted to first cello for the night as the principal is in Slovakia or somewhere like that on a DofE expedition. Josiah is invisible in the 3rd violins and Abbie is out of shot at the back with the flutes. Pleased to report that all the violinists were sitting up straight tonight, Helen! Joe’s first concert so we were trying to watch him - couldn’t see him at all as he is so small! But his bow was moving up and down at the right time so it looked as though he was keeping up!

Sorry to post yet another orchestra shot - this one mainly taken to show Russ the banners which he designed for us - they look fab Drums on the upper stage are from the Kagemusha Junior Taiko group who performed as well this evening.

Got home very late but we’d made rash promises about catching up on Dr Who so we had to honour them despite the time - feeling like a very irresponsible parent letting them all stay up until nearly midnight on a school night!

Sometimes I just can’t be bothered with twitter, the moment has passed, or I know I won’t be able to fit my sentence into 140 characters so it’s just not worth trying. Or I decide it’s just not worth wasting a text over whatever random thought I had. So here’s a collection of things I might have said this week had I got around to it.

Yesterday
Lots of people at work in a hoo-ha about the strike. I have sent off my unison application form so will be joining in with whatever strike action ends up happening.

Feet feeling very vulnerable today as I’m wearing flipflops at work, unusually. This is due to having driven not cycled because of leaving early for violin exam, and knowing that Tuesday mornings are swimming sessions. Still, it leaves toes at risk of all sorts of accidents!

Lady at Miscarriage Support Group brought in all her Fimo craft stuff to show me. She makes some lovely jewellery pieces and has offered to do a workshop for me and the girls over the summer if we can organise ourselves.

Today
Woo hoo, today is our last proper Wednesday of the term - next week we’re at the Donkey Sanctuary and the week after we’re on strike, then the Wednesday after that is the first day of the holidays!

Steve brought home the industrial carpet cleaner from work, thank goodness, the kids’ bathroom was beginning to smell like an old people’s home.

Breathed a sigh of relief to go back to Suzuki violin after a month of solid exam preparation - started book 3 tonight which was fab. Playing mainly by ear is so much easier than anything else!

I find Wimbledon so boring. Can’t decide which is worse, watching Wimbledon or watching Steve race virtual cars around virtual tracks. Not to mention listening to random Italians on PS3 headsets talking to one another throughout the race

The last orchestra rehearsal of the year was on Saturday; we have concerts next weekend and then that’s it until September. After orchestra all the kids went to the cinema to see Prince Caspian, in various combinations. Abbie and Joe went first, with a friend from orchestra who also lives round the corner so we share transport occasionally, then after the chamber rehearsal Anna went to join some school friends who were at the cinema for a birthday party. It did feel something of a milestone to leave my youngest two children at the cinema on their own - I then had a couple of hours all to myself, which was very nice

Home then to clean out guinea pigs, get some washing done, and generally relax for the evening.

On Sunday we didn’t have a morning church meeting so got a welcome lie in. Steve went off to work to catch up on some paperwork, dropping the rest of us in town. Bagged a new geocache at the station, then shopped a bit before meeting Steve and coming home for lunch. Then in the afternoon we had our piano teacher’s end of term concert to go to, followed by a late afternoon outdoor joint church meeting including a BBQ tea. Both those events happened at the kids’ school, which was good as I didn’t have to drive anywhere!

Only a few weeks left until the end of term now - and counting, I need a proper holiday, a weekend just isn’t long enough!

Steve had to answer a tie break question today, which was:

What song best represents your driving style?

Answers in a comments box below, please … and then I’ll tell you what I said. Not sure it would win the competition though! You can do what song best represents Steve’s driving style and then another song for your own driving style if you like, as I suspect they might be different

And so another week rushes by. Lots of coughs and sneezes here this week as well as our fair share of sore throats. Oh, and a near-death experience of flu for the man among us, obviously a mere cold isn’t good enough for him

On Tuesday Abigail had a special trip up to an event at the University; from what I gather it was a Devon County event for schools to do with generally being green and environmental issues. [yes, I am informed - a Travelwise Schools' Event.] She and three other friends from their school Environmental Group got to go - lunch was laid on, so that was a treat. She enjoyed herself so much that she forgot to come home after school and visited the book fair instead, spending someone else’s money in the process!

Needless to say, Come Straight Home Unless We Have Arranged Otherwise has been added to the ever evolving list of after school ‘guidelines’ for the kids, along with Don’t Light Candles Unless An Adult Is There, and Raiding Of The Snack Box Prohibited Until Mummy Gets Home. I have been somewhat surprised at the mischief that can happen in the 10 minutes between when they get home and when I get home!

All of this week Anna has been madly doing last minute rehearsals for her Year 6 Play - Roger Ravenbeard, Scourge of the Oceans. Performances began with dress rehearsals in front of other classes on Wednesday, then they had two real performances on Thursday, and the final one on Friday night. Anna was playing Mrs Ravenbeard, Roger’s mother, and was on stage almost all the time. She did really well and we enjoyed watching the final performance, not to mention the takeaway with Grandma and Grandpa afterwards.

Not much to report on Josiah I don’t think … still working hard on music exam stuff, and he received multiple compliments from his accompanist at our rehearsal on Wednesday, so that was encouraging.
Steve and I not up to much other than work either; he’s been working on Gran Turismo racing and not improving all that much.
I’ve been trying to keep up with housework (constant battle! think I’ve caught up a bit tis week but it won’t last long!), and attempting to fit the odd cache in here and there.