Friday!

Whew...that's another week over and done with. Things have calmed down now, we are leaving the house thing in the hands of fate. Worrying about it won't change it. It'll either go through this week before the offer runs out on the 6th, or it won't. It's out of our hands. I don't really want to buy this place, too much needs to be done to it. I can see that it puts us on to a path where we can buy a bigger house a few years down the line, but I want to move away now and if the mortgage goes through we are stuck here. I'd be happier walking away and renting for the rest of my life, if it got me out of here sooner, but Pete has a thing about us having property to leave to the kids.
I finally get to go Christmas shopping tomorrow. I am irrationally excited. I've also nearly got all my Secret Santa and Gift Exchange stuff ready to go next week. I am itching to get the tree up too, but I have to buy a new one first! I threw our ratty old tree out last year. It had served us well, it only cost £20 and had lasted 6 years, but it was looking a bit threadbare.

More stress

I have to apologise for missing my Musical Monday post again, I'm having a crappy week and can't think of anything. Our mortgage was due to complete yesterday and we think the broker is up to something dodgy as it's being held up.
We have a mortgage company, a solicitor, the council(whom we are buying from), and this Right to Buy broker. We've been trying to call the broker since Friday with no luck(dodgy?), then we called the Council today and they said that it hadn't completed by their records. Then, we cut out the middle man and called the mortgage company directly, who said that the funds had transferred. Then finally the broker called us and said the mortgage company(who we'd just spoken to) had withdrawn the mortgage, but, they could provide us with another one which would be a higher payment every month, but we couldn't borrow any extra on top to renovate. Why would the mortgage company tell us the funds had been released if they'd changed their minds? Hmmmmm. Anyway, Pete was so pissed off he started throwing things and stormed off. I wanted to murder him for being an arse in front of the kids. We have no idea what is going on. Bugger. :(

Grrrrrrrr

I can't stand it anymore, I just want to escape to somewhere where we won't be bothered by all the arseholes out there. A hut in the mountains or something. Well, maybe not that remote, but you know what I mean. When we are left to our own devices and it's just us, or a handful of our friends, we are so happy. The only time we have any problems, ever, it's outside influences.
Friday night I was getting ready to go out, just about to jump in the bath, when Ryan comes pelting in shouting for me to phone the police as his friend Matt had been attacked. Apparently, a few days ago Matt asked these lads that have been giving Ryan grief for ages to leave him alone(the ones whose parents houses we had to go to a few weeks back). He wasn't nasty, he's a lot bigger than Ryan and a bit older, and he just said they were being unfair as Ryan hasn't done anything wrong. So, they decided to get their older brothers to attack him with an iron bar. The police came to us, we went round to Matt's(where he was OK, just covered in welts where they had whacked him). he didn't want to press charges, he was worried about repercussions on us and them, but the police said they had to anyway and he had no choice. I felt bad for phoning the police and basically forcing him, but you can't let people get away with this stuff. The police said they'd be arresting the lad over it, they could have killed Matt.

I'm at the end of my tether, seriously. It isn't just here where I live, it's everywhere. You can't do anything to fight it, the police are powerless really. If there are any of you out there with little kids reading this, be very very afraid for their future. You can't protect them, even if you raise them right and teach them right from wrong, and steer them in the right direction. Our kids keep their heads down, don't ever cause trouble or get into fights. They hang around with a nice group of kids, but the horrible ones will be there waiting to attack them and bully them. :(

Countdown to Christmas

It's only about 33 days to go now, I'm itching to put the tree up! I am also desperate to go Christmas shopping, I can't wait much longer. I'm normally half way there by now, and I haven't even started. Pete gets paid in a week, so I'm counting down the days til my shopping session.

We've had issues in the past with Isobel and school, the two just don't mix. Lately, she's shown signs of being ready, and as she starts at the local Infant/nursery after Christmas it's a good thing. We had her first look round last week and she really enjoyed it. We were supposed to go back this week and I was to leave her alone in the class for an hour while the parents had an intake meeting in the hall. I thought it was today, so she got all excited, and when we arrived it was yesterday! I felt terrible. :( I just hope her enthusiasm lasts until January.

I've just been preparing some work for Ryan tomorrow to do while I'm at work, and there are so many resources on the Internet. I feel like there is so much to learn about and not enough time. I'm glad most of it is free, it's saving me a fortune. I've just sorted out some geography work on rivers and erosion with a quiz at the end, and a project on water resources in the third world. He's got maths to do and an art project to finish too, so that should keep him busy. He started his badminton coaching this week, there is only four of them at the moment(it's a new class), but that means more coaching time per pupil. The coach is an ex-England player, and she said he has real potential. He beat the other 3 players in every game. He's only played it once before at school and loved it, so I'm pleased that she saw something in him worth working on.

Aching

Having only just recovered from Friday nights frivolities(I'm seriously getting too old for this), I am now dreading the coming weekend because we are visiting the same nightclub, which is crap, and I will be forced to drink the same drinks to drown out the music. Bluergh!

Today I was supposed to clear the garden after the frost finally finished off the last vestiges of green, but I couldn't be bothered. I was also supposed to be making apple crumble with some windfall apples, but again, I couldn't be bothered. I did, however, get lots done with Ryan. We did an hour of maths, some biology assessments(which told me that although he was in a top set at school and attaining level 6, he actually knows very little), and we spent almost two hours writing an essay on the book he just finished, Tulip Touch by Anne Fine. I read it myself this morning(in an hour, was very impressed with myself!), so I could understand where his essay was going. It was a good little book. I think a trip to the library may be in order tomorrow as it was nice and peaceful when he had his nose stuck in that book.

Anyway, on to the title of this post, I am aching. Not a fluey aching, but a bad back kind of aching. I've had a niggle in my pelvis/back since having Taylor, but it's never warranted a trip to the doctors so I've ignored it. Two weeks ago(or was it three?), something went twang and it's been giving me grief ever since. It feels like a cartilage problem, I can feel grinding going on, and I am a bit worried as osteoarthritis in the hip runs in my family. I'll have to stop procrastinating about it and make an appointment. Add that to the fact that my blood sugar keeps dropping way too low(my diabetic boss gave me the old finger prick test and proved it, my level was a 3 and should be a 4/5), and my tendonitis in my shoulder is preventing me from doing normal everyday things like ironing without pain, I'm feeling pretty old and creaky.

I'm not even thirty yet, and I'm ready for the scrapheap!

Lord of the Rings

We went to see The Lord Of The Rings musical at Drury Lane Theatre on Thursday, with my work. I took Ryan and my Mum with me, Ryan got a spare ticket due to a cancellation at the last minute, and seeing as it's quite educational going to the theatre, I thought it would benefit him.

The show itself is spectacular, the music, singing, costumes, effects, audience participation...I could go on and on. It was quite simply one of the best shows I've seen. I adored Galadriel in it, and if you watch the clip here called
Lothlórien, you'll see why. She had an amazing voice.

I only had one complaint. Most musicals and plays I've seen, they build up the characters so that you actually care about them. You want them to succeed, to fall in love, to win whatever battle it is they are fighting. I always cry at some point in the theatre, and I just didn't with this. It was all so rushed, understandably the perils of squeezing so much into such a short space of time, so that I just didn't care whether Aragorn and Arwen got to live happily ever after, or not. I wasn't bothered when Sam married Rosie at the end. A shame, but it didn't make it any less enjoyable, it was just different to other shows that pull at the heart strings. It was more of a spectacle, and all in all very enjoyable. I don't suppose I'll ever see anything else quite like it.

Yuk!

Hungover. Still drunk. Some random man bought me and my friends a bottle of Moet. My friends didn't like it so I drank the lot. Room still spinning...

Feeling Positive

I felt like we had a really productive day yesterday. We've paid for an online maths tutorial, it covers all the year 9 work so that Ryan won't be missing out on anything, even if we are teaching him on paper too. Meleto are supposed to be releasing a science and english one too soon, it's well worth paying for(it works out at 25p a lesson or something). If any other home learning people see this and sign up, put me down as your referral(Claire Lane), as I get rewards!. We did that for an hour in the morning, even I learnt something, it was fab. Then we did an hour of english, retrieving facts from text. Then we did almost two hours of art, we started a project on vanishing points and perspective. This afternoon we watched the second part of the plant biology program and I set some more questions to make sure he is listening. All in all we got loads done. Today I'm taking Isobel to her school induction for two hours, so he needs to work alone. He's on his paper round at the moment, but I'm going to get him to read two chapters of his english reading book, then do some science modules on the PC.
Isobel is so excited about seeing her school today, which is a big change from the girl who hated it last April when we tried her at a local pre-school. I hope she keeps up the enthusiasm.

Rushed off my feet

I'm struggling to find time to come on here this week, I'm sure things will settle down soon. It's all change in our house right now.
We got confirmation that Isobel will be going to the school attached to Taylor's, so we are pleased with that. We have to go for a wander round on Wednesday, she seems quite excited. I wonder how long that will last!

I started home schooling Ryan today, and we've done loads. He said he's learned more today than in a week at school, so that's a positive. He did two modules of a science program on the PC this morning, about copper extraction and materials. Then we started a history project on the Spanish Armada, and started some work on poetry. Then we watched a program about seed transportation and I set him some questions afterwards. I popped down the town to get him some books from the library today, and while I was down there got some more art supplies and a chemistry set. He hasn't been able to do any experiments in science for about 18 months because of the classes bad behaviour, so we should have fun learning at home with that. It's been a good day really. I've ordered a huge bundle of books from Amazon, so when they arrive we can really get on with it.

We went to see my Dad and Pauline on Saturday, we had a lovely time but I felt a bit out of sorts all day, not quite with it, which has since been explained. I came down with a really bad cold on Saturday evening. I have since lost my voice, which everyone thinks is hilarious, and a bit of a bonus for everyone really as I talk too much. We took the kids down to the park, then on the way back they treated us to a Chinese. Isobel was extremely hard work(why is it I've got two children that were angels for eating out as little 'uns, but this third one is awful?), and I spent the whole meal trying to keep her quiet, get her to sit still etc. They gave us our wedding present, which I was extremely nervous about, and it ended up being fantastic! Why they had to leave me hanging like this for months and months I'll never know, if they couldn't afford it they should've just said, but it's done now and will come in handy. It is very much appreciated.

My friend Clairebear came over on Saturday night and we drank too much and watched crap on TV. She has finally met a decent bloke who looks after her, and it was nice to not be a shoulder to lean on and listen to her be upset about another arsehole who was ruining her life. It seems like she has finally caught a good one.

So that is all we've been up to really. Thankfully I feel a little more human today. I finally gave in yesterday and took some sinus medication to clear my head. I try to avoid it as it makes me hallucinate come bedtime. As I fell asleep so early(7.30pm) before the tablets actually kicked in, I just had awful dreams instead. Something to do with aliens that landed and liked to eat human fetuses. Not nice. I think I'll stick with my original thought and suffer the headache tonight.

Musical Monday #25

I'm not sure if this is in the charts, probably as I hear it quite a lot. It's just really catchy.

Ida Corr vs Fedde Le Grande ~ Let me think about it

Flooding

Look at this flood warning, it looks really scary! I hope it isn't too serious. I'm supposed to be seeing my Dad & Pauline in Maldon on Saturday.

Today we found out that there are no spaces in any schools for Ryan, so as it stands right now he's being home schooled. It's something we've talked about before and I'm happy to do it. We have the advisers from the local authority coming round next week. The schools don't have waiting lists, you have to call them once a month to see if they have spaces, so until then I'll be cracking the whip at home.

Taylor had his open evening tonight at school, he's above average for reading, writing and spelling, and average for maths, which we are so pleased with.

What a life

I wish I was a cat.







That is all.

Schools

It's been a school themed day.

We had to go to Ryan's school this morning for a meeting with the deputy head, as he got quite badly beaten up yesterday by the boys on the football team that were bullying him before half term. Last time, Ryan's form tutor took three days to even contact us about it, and when she did she was rude to me, and then nothing was done to rectify it. It's got much worse now, and the boys will be put into isolation and excluded for a week, but then what? I don't feel we should be giving them a third chance to try and sort it out. At what cost? What if the beating is more severe next time? The deputy was trying the force Ryan to say he was coming back into school, and he stood up for himself and said he was too scared and he won't be coming back. My main concern is that if we give it another chance, and six months down the line we end up in this situation again and have to move him then, he will have even less time to settle down before his exams start. We have said enough is enough, and pulled him out. Thankfully I called a school a few miles away and he has a lot of friends already there as he has played for Wickford Town Football Club for two years, and most of his team mates attend the school. His friend who lives locally also goes there. Now is the optimum time to move him and allow him to settle down before the pressure of exams start, and having a small social circle already in place there would only be a good thing.

Then, I called to find out about Isobel's school place, and the school is over subscribed and she might not get in. She has a good chance, having a sibling at the school already, but I've had to contact another school nursery just in case.

It's all fun and games!

Musical Monday #24

This is a classic clubbing tune, it just makes me want to go out and have a good dance.

Rui Da Silva ~ Touch Me

Jimmy's Farm

On Saturday we went to Jimmy's Farm(it's featured in a TV series). They have a farmers market the first Saturday of the month and we fancied having a look round. We spent far too much money, but that is what we set out to do and the food is delicious. We bought some pheasant(had it for Sunday lunch today), some sausages and honey produced on the farm, cakes, local cider and some handmade chocolates.

In true Laney style I fell in love with the derelict farmhouse.



Feeding the ducks...


...and the chickens




We went for a walk in the woods and kept eating all the chestnuts off the floor. They're nicer roasted, but what the hell. We were all happily munching away until Taylor got a bad one. We all seemed less keen after that!





In the playground;



Finally, we got to meet Dolly, who if you watch the TV series you will know is the star of the show. He was a volunteer at the farm(although I believe he is now paid, and rightly so!). He is just as eccentric and enthusiastic about the place in real life as on the TV. We chatted about Guinea Pigs(they have a huge Guinea Pig Village there), and about his love of wild birds. He was just so excited to talk to us about what he loves doing, the atmosphere in the place is infectious and we all came away smiling.


And lastly, three day old piglets;

Halloween

It's been a busy old week here. I met a work colleague for a coffee in town early on Tuesday morning, Isobel was so well behaved we were able to sit in a cafe for two hours having a chat. The pound I spent on that sticker book was money well spent! It was nice to catch up with her as she left our office for another department last November.

Wednesday was obviously Halloween, or Samhain for the other Pagans out there, so that brought with it the usual flurry of activity. I was gutted this year as I couldn't find a pumpkin anywhere. That was the first year in about 10 years that I haven't had one, it felt weird. The photo to the right is a few years old now. I'm temped to still buy one and carve it, just so I feel like I haven't missed out! We fancied a change so went to Jane's to do the trick or treating, and I was shocked at how much trouble they get where she lives. There were groups of boys with their hoods up lobbing eggs at everyone, they seemed to be everywhere, and the police were out in force. I've never seen that where we are.

My vampire and witch.





Last night Ryan came running in like a bat out of hell for the 3rd time this week saying that he had two lads after him. These two boys are part of his crowd of friends, and are bullies. They change their minds about who is to be beaten up every week, and this time around it's Ryan and another lads turn. The other lads parents are now banning him from leaving the house, as they are so sick of it. The bullies threatened to kick Ryan's face in last night, so we decided we'd had enough, and Pete and I went wandering around the estate for about an hour looking for them. We had no luck, so on we went to the parents.

We appeared to have some success with the first house, where we spoke to the stepdad, who made all the right noises and said he'd be punished and grounded when he got in etc. The second one's mother was clearly struggling with her son, the father doesn't live there anymore and she didn't even really tell him off, but did send him round to our house to apologise. He walked back with us and Pete gave him a talking to as he obviously needed one and wasn't going to get it at home. He didn't even apologise when he got to our house, so Pete shouted at him again to look up and get on with it, and he halfheartedly did. The first lad then turned up on the doorstep with his Mum about ten minutes later to apologise to Ryan, and he actually looked like he meant it. His Mum was all apologetic and said he wouldn't be coming out for a while or be hanging around with the other lad anymore.

Imagine my surprise tonight then, when I see the pair of them together up the shop. No wonder they behave like arseholes when their parents give in like that. If any of my kids were threatening others their feet wouldn't touch the ground. They would've been grounded and had Christmas taken away. Idiots. The parents deserve everything they get.