Life is a Highway - it’s the journey, not the destination

It is lovely havign one I have to say!! (I will shut up about it soon, maybe…) It’s been gorgeous today so we’ve been outside loads, stuck the blanket outside and kids have just run riot really. They did want to do some “learning”, mammals were the order of the day so I found Marcus an Usborne book about animals. Actually it was one of those books where you have to find so many animals in a page. He decided he wanted to draw something and found the sea life page. He did rather a good drawing of it all, with lots of conversations about the different animals too. Bit of a touch on reptiles and amphibians. He doesn’t know much about them so that might be something to look at soon.

In the afternoon we walked up to the post office and back via the playpark. Marcus did his normal trick of spotting some boys (school kicking out time) and joining in with their play as if he’d known them all their lives. They did get a bit mental though, Marcus couldn’t keep up with them!!

We planted some sunflower seeds in the garden today, I was good and let the kids do something Then we made a bird scarer, also known as hanging old cd’s from the tree in the middle of the patch. Dunno if it will work. Have come to the conclusion that the trees are nothing to get excited about, I did have some hopes for fruit (ha!) but nope. One against the wall is an elder I think (dunno why I thought it was kind of trained against the wall, it soooo isn’t!!!) and no idea of the small one in the middle. I reckon it’s a sapling that may have just grown there on it’s own. I daren’t cut it down though, it’s bigger than me!! Maybe next year. Slightly worried about possible frost overnight here so we’ve wrapped up all the fragile stuff. Hopefully not dead tomorrow!! Am thinking about doing a gardening blog since it’s coming along well (famous last words), shall see if I get chance.

thanks Cosmic Supply Company (or whoever does the weather ) Managed to get the tent up today, it was really easy so I was surprised at that. Can’t have taken longer than 30 mins I don’t think. Obviously I didn’t peg it all out, I’m hoping some kind soul will help me do that at Kessingland as I am so rubbish at sorting guy ropes and all that stuff!! Anyway have sent the weather south to those who asked for it, please send it south east towards lowestoft in time for camp!!

Today was spent mostly outside doing the tent, doing some gardening and then taking down the tent. No education, just plenty of fresh air

for some nice dry calm weather in the next week? Just half a day would be enough. I still haven’t tried out our tent and Kessingland is creeping up!!! (no where near ready!!)

childrens tv personality spotted After last years Dick and Dom spotting we did another today - Blue Peter’s Matt Baker!!

We went off the the Bark in the Park event in Glasgow today which was organised by Blue Peter in aid of Guide Dogs. The kids did a 3 mile sponsored ‘dog’ walk and did really well to go round it, just a bit of whinging On the way round we spotted Matt from Blue Peter and said hi to him. Kid so excited by that! They had some toy dogs which they dragged round and got so many smiles and encouraging looks from others. A lot cleaner than a real dog!! On completing it they got a special Blue Peter dog tag and a certificate, Marcus has been harping on about getting a BP badge for ages so I think this might pacify him for a while!

After the walk we looked round the event which had singers, dog agility shows and guide dog demonstrations. Got a bit soaked at one point, but not too bad! Had a really nice day overall and now the kids have come back and want to do more for charity - got to be a good thing!!

I have photos so I’ll try and upload them soon.

It’s weird to think how much they are growing up right now. They seem to have completely graduated from the Cbeebies age iykwim. It’s CBBC all the way and watching other stuff like Doctor Who that gets them now. I am enjoying it though, much more interesting than the toddler stage.

Curious George today which we all enjoyed. Alex sat throughout all of the film without whinging so that’s the first year ever!!! Only thing that annoyed me was that George didn’t have a tail when he was supposed to be a monkey - or is that nit picking??

Rest of the day has been awful so not even going there, kids in bed early now so going to enjoy my evening

I know I should be doing this in my study blog, but never mind. Finally done my assignment. It’s due Friday so if I post tomorrow then that’s fine. Actually once I realised what the question was asking me I didn’t mind it at all!! Let’s hope it gets a good mark. Religion next I think which I’m lookign forward to.

Oh and looking forward to my LOTR fix tomorrow night as a treat too!!

Home education blog may or may not be resumed shortly Contemplating renaming this blog “the many fantasies of Firsty McStub” or similar….

when I’m on the forums for my OU course that everyone else is hating this assignment too!!! I’m sticking in there but I’m really struggling with it all. Have tonight and tomorrow to finish it.

Heather - thanks for the comment, been thinking about having it substituted but the tma guides say to submit something even if it’s complete tripe (that’ll be mine then) as it’s better than not submitting at all. We shall see anyway.

SB better be worth the wait I tell ya….

I’m so grumpy today - might lock the kids in a sound proof room for a bit for their own safety….

that we were sueing the Alliance and Leicester recently. Basically lots of info here - we were reclaiming unfair penalty charges from overdrafts and unpaid direct debits etc. The total amount came to just over £900. They didn’t give it back straight away so we filed our small court claim and this morning we received a cheque for the total amount plus interest plus our court fee so a total of over £1100 this morning!!! Really happy - charges have been on of the reasons my financial state was so bad - of course not the *only* reason, but it really didn’t help. We’ll now be able to pay off our overdraft and the gas bill!! Plus have some to spare. And then we’ll get started on my account!

I’m feeling much more positive tonight after a mammoth 3 hour study session (which is actually what I should do most days but I never do - maybe that’s my problem??). Nearly caught up with the course material at least, then I just need to concentrate on the assignment.

If I can get it all done on time I’m going to reward myself with an evening of Sean Bean loveliness…. mmmmm…. Oh and maybe even some chocolate

Thanks all for the input, support and advice.

p.s. e-mail playing up in case anyone trying to get hold of me - grrrr.