just another morning here

We’ve done even less today!

Steve and the girls went into the village for haircuts so they’re all looking neat and tidy, which is good. Josiah and I have read books, played computer games (he spent hours on Ratchet & Clank – A Crack in Time that he bought in a second hand games shop yesterday, while I completed Angry Birds!), and that’s about it. The others joined in when they got home. We stopped for lunch, and a bit of music practice, but not a lot else! In our defence, it has been chucking down with rain all day – so it felt lovely and cosy to light a fire and just sit around together.

The children made sure everything was finished by 5.15pm for the Sarah Jane Adventures, then after that we’re having Anna’s dinner: Potato skins as a starter, then lasagne, then baked bananas with mini mars bars for pudding. A bit carb heavy, that menu, but I’m not going to complain too much

Tonight … well, there’s Angry Birds Halloween waiting for me – and a few more Pocket Frogs to breed!

I may get slightly embarrassed by how little we did today. We got up – late. I woke early to hear the cats racing around together, so got up and (because they were both there – until then we’d only seen one of them!) fed them. Went back to bed and played iPhone games until my battery went flat The kids were up and faffing around by this time, and we had breakfast in phases, said good morning to the chickens, that sort of thing.

After lunch we headed into town for a spot of shopping. Stroud is clearly not known for its retail opportunities, but it was good enough for us. The girls both wanted boots which they found in New Look, and Josiah needed new clothes all round, since he literally only had a couple of scrappy t-shirts and some tracksuit bottoms! Admittedly he does spend more time in school uniform than anything else but at least he now owns a pair of jeans, a shirt, and a fleece that all fit! We bought books to read this week, and generally ambled around. Oh, and went bowling (well, they did – I watched – decided that if a family ticket was for 4 people I was just as happy watching!).

That’s it. Still feel exhausted after doing very little but I guess it’s just that ‘unwinding’ thing – so glad we are away from home as I know we would never have managed to be ‘on holiday’ if we’d stayed at home! Anyway. We came back for the new Sarah Jane Adventures, curry for dinner (my meal today), and are now settling down to watch a film.

We left home yesterday around 5pm having met the Rubbish Parents, along with their Lovely Children, and swapped keys etc. at our house. Steve has met them before but I hadn’t – someone asked me which website we’d originally met on and I couldn’t remember for the life of me! Anyway really nice to meet briefly in real life, say hello to the children, introduce them to our guinea pigs etc. then had a quick cuppa and left them to it. We stopped at Cribbs Causeway for dinner because we felt lazy – then arrived at their house around 8pm. Immediately felt at home though I think we got the better deal – their house is much bigger than ours! There’s pretty much the same stuff in it though so I’m hoping they’re feeling at home too.

Decided that we’d save the X Factor for the morning, so the kids just got into pyjamas and went to bed – the novelty of staying in someone else’s bedroom made it interesting enough! Steve and I watched TV and drank wine and surfed the net (Steve won a laptop at a motor trade show the other day!). Not very different to being at home but somehow just felt more relaxed!

Today we had a very laid back morning. Woke up with Steve declaring that we absolutely must get a memory foam mattress topper because he had the best night’s sleep ever. I’m now worried that the Rubbish Parents may have a week of terrible sleep without it The missing cat turned up for breakfast and promptly disappeared again- we’re obviously very scary. Abbie and I went to say good morning to the chickens and make sure they had enough food/water – a novelty we’ll enjoy for a week. Abbie is in her element looking after the animals

We watched X Factor (I worked a bit), then went out supposedly to Sainsbury’s in Stroud. However, there wasn’t a single space in the car park, so we abandoned that plan – the whole town was a clogged up with diversions etc all over the place due to a half marathon going on, so we ended up in Waitrose in Cirencester instead. Had lunch there, then came up with a plan for the shopping. We’re here for five days so I asked each person to come up with a meal to cook, shop for it, then they will cook it (and the rest of us will clear up). Sounded like a great plan but it ended up being an expensive week’s shopping – and I guarantee that I’ll end up having to help with Anna’s! The children enjoyed it though and I’m looking forward to eating their meals.

Came home after that and Steve retired to watch the Grand Prix, while I have read my book, faffed around online (ECO stuff), and said ‘ssshhh’ to the children a lot – they are playing board games very noisily! Music practice will happen, briefly, then I’m guessing we’ll have an afternoon nap/film. I’m so tired I could sleep for an hour out of every three, I think.

Tonight is Josiah’s meal: Cheese & Crackers with Grapes, Spaghetti with Tomato Sauce, then Fresh Cream Eclairs for dessert. That will be followed by X Factor and bed!

We happened to be passing Devon Strings today so popped in to see if there was any update on the new cello – and it was out on the workbench! Rebecca was in the middle of some very delicate work around the edges.

It is also going to be treated to a clean – 100 years worth of dust inside, it was filthy! Still on a German name hunt, any suggestions?

In other news this week: my sister came to stay, which was lovely, even if we didn’t see *that* much of her. We had new doors fitted front and back – very exciting but no photo yet as the dratted door people left us with silver knocker and letterbox but a gold door handle – we’re getting that changed!

Yesterday the girls both went out for a Wind Group rehearsal, then Anna had a theory lesson. Josiah went to play with his friend up the road, and Abbie stayed at home and vacuumed the hallway after the door fitters had gone. Oh, and friends from church came for tea.

Haircuts all round this afternoon, and now more friends are here for tea and a film afterwards. It’s been a good week, especially helped by Josiah having a brilliant attitude towards music practices every day (these are usually Big Fallout times)! Plenty to do but lots of space either side, so everyone’s been happy.