The Survival Family

Busy, busy, busy...

2011-10-10T19:06:00.000+01:00

There really is never a dull moment here! There is always something happening or changing and just when you think you cannot simply fit anything more in, it all goes and gets just a little more chaotic!!
Or is it just us? If nothing is happening, it means we are all asleep!
With two boys in school it feels like the day is so short and although people always think that with the kids at school you will have more time, it just isn't true!!!
So what has been going on here??
Two small boys in school. It seems to be getting easier on that front, although a fabulous expression I read on one of our local Home Ed groups springs to mind. Boiling the frogs. I won't explain it here....google it!!!
One eldest boy in college this week. It will be his first day in an English educational establishment since April 2007!!!
And one 14 year old who seems to finally be emerging from his Neanderthal man phase and is almost back in the land of humanity! He has started making nets for ferreting to sell on Ebay and has already sold 4 sets!!! The dreaded paper round may soon be a thing of the past, thank goodness. Its a real bone of contention for both of us.
We have also bought a wood lathe....it has only been here a week and he can make beautifully turned pieces of wood that resemble chair legs and such like already! He made a matching pair of door knobs for the rabbit hutch (lol) and a lovely little goblet.
(Photo to follow here when i find my cable for my phone)
We have money making plans for this skill too, and have just started him off with a blog...see my side bar for The Nifty Knotter!
Rob has got his first proper commission for the framing business this week and so we are busy planning that, as it is not a standard picture framing job!
I have been busy crafting in between my shifts at work and hope to have a stall at a Christmas gift fair or two. Eeeek! It is all very scary! but also exciting!
Rob and David are also planning gift boxed wands, with a few pre made frames for those family photos for Christmas. Commissions for portrait drawings are also welcomed!
But do we think versatility is a good thing? Or should we be specialising?!!! We shall see.

Autumn is upon us.

2011-09-20T09:49:00.000+01:00

As i walked the dogs this morning around the local reservoir, I couldn't help but notice a large flock of Canada geese. They were all honking and jostling on what little water there is left after the summer. The resident swans were none to pleased with their prescence, and one swan in particular kept running across the water, like they do before they take off in to the air, and flapping its wings at them whilst hissing and honking itself. Rather brave I felt as there must have been well over a hundred geese in that corner.
I usually see the heron on my morning walk but not today. Too much noise I guess, from these other large birds.
And so, here I am at home thinking about putting together an Autumn season table and thinking about how different life is now.
The two youngest boys are in school still.....which I can only liken to a rollar coaster ride, and Tom has officially started his apprenticeship in a 4x4 garage in the nearest town. He will attend his first day of college in the next couple of weeks.
So it has just been me and Jonathan at home for the last few month,(summer holidays being the exception) and it has been mighty strange. Not a situation that I have found easy to get used to, or indeed accept readily.
All is about to change again here though, with Rob leaving full time work and us both attempting part time jobs again, with a view to setting up our own business in the near future. More on all that another time.
I intend to begin posting again regularly, because we do still do stuff worth sharing in blogland; its just that I haven't felt like it for a while!
Looking forward to catching up with some craftiness now that the season is changing too!

Wonderwool...

2011-04-13T16:08:00.003+01:00

was totally wonderful!!!
But oddly enough this lady's creations were what I will remember most.
Please take a moment to look at them using the above link. Her stand totally overwhelmed me xx

I seem to be paddling up the rapids at the moment...

2011-04-04T20:27:00.002+01:00

... but at least I still have my paddle.

Sewing Saturday

2011-03-05T16:44:00.007Z

Today I had one poorly wee man with chicken pox to look after and entertain and one highly stressed boy to talk to and spend time with.
So after discussing the stresses and pressure he was feeling we started a list of things that he wanted to make.
We started off with a plan to make a knife modelled from air drying clay, while Will played with the plasticine. This has been put to one side to dry before possibly painting.
One of the other things was a medicine pouch and knife case, Torak style.
Now I just happened to have bought some off cuts of suede from the international history fair I went to last autumn. I had such a 'make' in mind I guess.
This is the suede with the holes punched all round the edges.

This is David doing the over sewing with string and a large bodkin.

This is the sewing of the knife case.

And the finishes articles...

including one I made for Will.

Sew that was both the boys looked after and entertained ;-)

Some felty creativeness.

2011-03-03T13:42:00.005Z

Mother Nature and a root baby....I need to make at least one more as Will keeps reminding me, but as this one looks like it would be more at home on the set of The Sound of Music than our season corner, I have started to make something else!

These fishes are for Will to use when he is being Ray Mears. They are almost done. Stitched and stuffed, just awaiting some details on the fins and tail, I think.
And this little fellow....

I really like him. He started off as possible Torak figure but has more of a look of Windy Miller about him, don't you think?!! I'm not sure whether to give him a face and hair. I quite like the simplicity of him.

I'm going to do a cloaked figure next, I think.

This is Will playing with the Plasticine the other day after we attempted to make a roundhouse and tried using the plasticine to hold the sticks in place. lol. Will has spent quite a lot of time playing with this over half term.

This is the day we crossed over the enemy lines and went to a Home Ed group visit. It was freezing. It was misty. Will and I were both still quite very pooorly but we were all desperate to go. It is an Iron Age roundhouse built on an old original site not too far (!!!!!) from where we live in Northamptonshire.

The children got a chance to do some daubing on the walls. It was so cold!! The clay was hard to manipulate and the muddy ground made it difficult to walk around.

But David did a small but perfectly smooth patch so that he could return and say that he helped.

They also had a go at stamping an Iron Age coin using the method of the era and there was a lovely lady who told the story of the Hallaton Treasure. Will and David were captivated. Story telling is so fantastic. It is such a shame that it is a rarity.
David had a great time playing in the huge playground there with the other HE'ers. It was difficult to drag him away.
And so they are back to school this week and I am struggling to get any kind of rhythm to my days. They are more of a topsy turvy mix than usual. It is all so wierd.
Still, there's always sock knitting for comfort and familiarity!

Humbled beyond words.

2011-02-26T08:55:00.006Z

I have many other things to blog about but this makes evrything else just pale into insignificance.
This beautiful little man arrived Earthside yesterday morning into my hands.
Well done Han, you were brilliant!!! And thank you so much for allowing me the privelege xx

Madder.....

2011-02-16T10:24:00.004Z

than a hatter!

My socks that I have finally finished from the beautiful hand dyed wool that BMF brought back from Scotland for me. Hand dyed with rubia tinctorium, otherwise known as madder. How appropriate!!

A week ago today....

2011-02-15T12:47:00.006Z

at this very moment, I was lying on the grassy patch at the top of the hill in a local woodland counting ladybirds with William.

The two younger boys were not at school as they were both still recovering from colds. So we took advantage of it and went to the woods.
The bigger boys were all playing on the rope swings and all getting on so well. The sun was shining. It was gloriously warm and the boys had all taken off their jumpers. They were inventing games and testing their strength. At one point they were almost inventing a new olympic sport....synchronised swinging!

Tom came over to me at one point and said how lovely it all was. Just like when we first started Home Education. I was thinking the very same thing.

Then they went off in search of a longer branch to hook down the other swing that someone with a Health and Safety issue, had looped up in the tree!

The peace and quiet was wonderful. It was one of those perfect moments.
I was totally happy.

And then it happened.

Tom came walking over with a very white face and clutching one hand with the other. He had caught his thumb with the folding saw and pretty much ripped the nail right off. It was torn down one side and all across the bottom, but hinged along the other side.

Whoosh. Back to reality with a jolt.

The time has come....

2011-01-22T14:10:00.005Z

to update the blog.
I received a lovely email from a good friend today and her kindness has warmed the soul! I don't even want to think about how long it has been since I have posted on here properly but then the last few months have been a complete blur.
David has settled in fairly well into the routine of going to school. He has had fewer days of procrastination and only a couple of point blank refusals, so I guess you could say it is going well. But then compared to his previous attempts, that wouldn't be difficult!!!!
He has made lots of friends, had a school photograph taken, took part in the school play despite having to wear an exceptionally tall chef hat which he felt very silly wearing (we all thought he looked rather cool, a little like Linguini from Ratatouille!!) and is now doing an after school cooking club. Yesterday they made scones!!! Funny how it is seen by school as such an amazing thing to do for the children, yet here it is a normal part of life!!! The teachers really are doing their best to make it as less stressful for him as possible and no pressure is being put on him. It cannot be easy for him to cope in a situation where reading and writing is of paramount importance yet not be able to do either. They are obviously assessing him on that score and putting together some kind of plan of action.
In an attempt to perhaps make the whole school attendance thing feel normal, Will has started going too. This was a very difficult decision to make and only time will tell if it is the right one. He has been going 2 weeks. The first week was extremely difficult as he was not happy being left despite enjoying the time he was spending there. Ring any bells? Sound familiar?
But then we started to take him in slightly earlier than the other children and settling him down with a book before the other children came in to the classroom. It is a very small class, only 22 which is Reception. Year 1 and 2 combined. The teacher has two teenage sons and the Teaching assistant has a son of Will's age too, so from my point of view it couldn't be a better opportunity!
So this past week he has been looking forward to going and has stayed for 3 afternoons, before succumbing to a sickness bug yesterday and now seems to have a cold!!!
Oh the joys of school!!!!
So it is all change here. Again. Nothing seems to stay the same for more than a few months here. It is hard to keep up and any thoughts of any kind of routine or 'normal' habits is impossible.
It is all I can do to keep things going without too many casualties along the way!!!!

Christmas was very enjoyable and we spent lots of time playing with Lego and doing puzzles.There weren't too many handmade gifts this year with the exception of the ones we made for relatives and posted just in the nick of time. Soaps,lip balm, biscuits and hand painted wooden tree decorations, this year.
I had a bit of a run on the sewing machine before christmas. It started with David needing some chef trousers for the school play...I had an old cot sheet in the loft that was blue and white checks which was just the thing!! I used some pyjama bottoms as a rough pattern ( I laid them on top of the folded material and cut around them allowing an inch for a seam allowance!!!!) and adjusted the length when David got home from school. They were a great fit and he now uses them as pyjama bottoms! I also ran up a couple of aprons for the boys from some old tea towels. David had one that tied around his waist and Will had one that hooked over hid head too.

Then I made some bags from some material that granny sent up from Cornwall a while ago. They were all one offs as far as size and shape went, but I was fairly pleased with them.

This led on to a felt crown for Will that was from some off cuts of felt that Tom had salvaged from Cubs I think. It made it quite a long drawn out job, but it was free!!
And then, I finally got round to making some christmas bunting from some material I had bought a while ago. I used it for jam jar covers a few years ago and it was perfect for the job with a few plain ones in between the christmas patterns.
I did manage finally to knit Rob his pair of socks...he got one wrapped up for his birthday but the second one was a few days belated!!!

Tom was 16 on the 23rd Dec and we all went bowling and to Pizza Hut (at his request) to celebrate. Kim came too and survived the excess of testosterone quite well I think!!! LOL Pizza Hut with that lot is quite an expeience, I can tell you! It's that darn Ice Cream factory that does it!!!!
It was really good to get out for his birthday because he does not find it easy having it so close to christmas. People tend to forget that a birthday is more important than christmas and tend to either lump the two together or forget it entirely. We bought Tom a Zippo lighter (not to encourage him to smoke!!!) for his birthday and I had it engraved, so that hopefully he will always remeber at least one birthday in his life as extra special.
Kim was also over for New Years, which made a nice change. We have never really 'done' New Years as a family,(and I'm not totally sure we made much fuss about it this year either!!!) so it was good to perhaps try something different. I just wish our living room was bigger!!!

So, with a New Year in mind, I do not doubt that this year will be any more normal or less boring than any other. There will be just as many challenges and changes as this year, but as I look ahead I can say that this year I am not frightened of meeting them head on. I have well and truly kicked the Black Dog (not literally you understand! I would never kick our little Annie!) and can say that I have been depression free for a year. Now to grow in strength and never end up back there again.

So here is to 2011. Happy New Year everyone!

The sweetest gift xx

2011-01-10T12:48:00.000Z

Letting go.

2010-12-02T13:11:00.004Z

At what point do I finally say that I Home Educate three of my four sons?
At what point do I change our description in the sidebar of our family?
At what point do I not feel the responsilbilty of David's 'education'?
At what point will I feel reassured that this is the right thing for him?

He gets up just after eight, gets dressed, eats breakfast, brushes his teeth, feeds the rabbit and goes to school.
I pick him up from school at half past three and we drive home. I usually attempt to ask him what he has been doing that day, but I am greeted with a blank, tired look and he says, I don't know, I can't remember. I resist the urge to say, but you must!!!!, and instead prompt him with the little infomation I know about his day. In numeracy? What did you you do for maths today? What about Literacy? Did you do any reading or writing today? And after lunch? Did you practice the play today?
Then, once home (it takes only 5 minutes in the car but virtually impossible to walk) he slopes off to play on the computer or watch something on iPlayer, or goes out to play or round his friends house.
And thats about it. I feed him and read before bed but the contact that I have with him now is minimal. I take him to swimming club and we talk in the car, but essentially I have less than 2 hours contact with him a day.
He seems ok. He seems happy enough. Except on the mornings when he doesn't really want to go, or on the days when I pick him up and he is more deflated than usual. Reasons for the exceptionally low mood is usually one of five options.
1. It is too hot in the classroom.
2. He has a headache.
3. He's fed up of the other boys messing around and not doing as they are told.
4. It's boring.
5. He hates not being able to read and going in to another class for maths.

And then I have the day when he came out and said that he wished he hadn't asked to go back, and didn't want to go tomorrow.
Or the morning that he got knocked over by the dogs and got all muddy and his mood dropped to the floor.
Or the morning when his friend's mum forgot to pick him up, and he was going to be late, and he stood there an ddefiantly said he wasn't going.
Deja vue.
But so far, it hasn't taken much for me to turn it around and remind him that it was his choice to go, and some days he does enjoy it, and he has been given an amazing opportunity by the head teacher in a lovely little school and she really does have his best interests at heart, and it is unlikely that he will get this opportunity again. I tell him that he has to give it his best shot, otherwise he will always be left wondering.
But inside I am in turmoil. Inside I am screaming. Inside I want to tell him what I really think.
But I don't.
He has to work this out for himself.

Winter is most definitely here.

2010-11-20T08:43:00.004Z

I have been walking the dogs on my own most mornings after dropping David at school. It has been a much needed time and space for me. Not to mention the physical excercise! Last Monday was so beautiful I couldn't resist taking lost of pictures of the frost, sunshine and the mist creeping across the reservoir.....

Then on Tuesday it was a complete change. Still cold, but hardly any view at all. Just the fog obscuring the view across the water and the sun trying to shine through the cloud cover and creating dramatic and dark images.

Winter is most definitely here.

A whole month has passed.......

2010-11-09T19:39:00.003Z

and the season table is nearly ready for this little chap that I made a few weeks ago.

and just in time for halloween, Tom found this poor wee little fellow....

He is a Natterers bat and apparently not very common according to the Waraickshire Bat Group that we reported our find to. The man was very pleased to come and collect it as they don't have a specimen of this type.

A lovely sunny walk in the woods. We have been doing a lot of this recently, but on this day there were some lovely views of the sun through the trees.

So what else have we been doing?

Well, David did a distance swim with the club a few weeks back and he swam 56 lengths in 50 mins!!! 1400m!!! Thats nearly a mile!! I find it quite amazing, seeing as I struggle to do 30 in an hour!

He has also been away on cub camp, except they didn't camp, they went to Bristol and stayed in a youth hostel. He had a lovely time despite initial nerves.

And then the day after he came home, he decided he wanted to give school another try!!!! And in less than 2 hours of the conversation, we were visiting a lovely little village school, with a lovely head mistress who took an instant liking to him and asked him if he would like to stay that afternoon. And so he did!!!

He has settled in well, as he already has lots of friends there from cubs. He is coming out smiling and going in willingly.
We are on day 6 today I think, so I'm not holding my breath. Although I guess it was two and a half years ago that he tried before and that was at the school of inflexibility! We shall see. The honeymoon period is not yet over, so I'll not be changing the sidebar description of us just yet ;-)

A fragrant and colourful Saturday.

2010-10-09T16:32:00.002+01:00

This morning we went for a walk in the woods and spotted fungi all the way around as is usual for this time of year.
There are just so many this year, presumably because it has been so warm and wet recently. The colours of the fungi range from some beautiful pastel rose pink, to creamy yellow, sea green and almost lilac to grey, ochre and the wonderful speckled effect of the parasol mushrooms. We also saw a stinkhorn in all its white and dark green glory and a whole trail of curvy, funnel type ones in light brown.
Then home to put a couple of tops that i haven't been wearing because of the stark white/cream colour of them. I chose a terracotta brown from the local hardware shop. Ok, so it isn't a natural dye, but at least I bought it locally!!
Well, needless to say, as I should have well known, that as there may have been slightly more than the weight if material reccomended, they turned out salmon pink!!!! Oh help!!!!
At least the other projects that David and I have been working on have turned out the right colour....purple and amber, with wonderful fragrances of lavender, sandlewood and honey.
The house smells lovely. But the washing machine is on again :-( with my attempt to rectify my ridiculous error! Dark brown dye this time....fingers crossed!!!

Because there are times that only blogging about the good things will make you feel better.

2010-10-04T14:38:00.007+01:00

Will on our walk this morning. We snuck out with the dogs by ourselves to walk around the reservoir. It was lovely being just the two of us. We don't often get the chance.

These are sitting beside me right now on the table. Hazel wood threading blocks and buttons. Cut and drilled by Jonathan, sanded by myself and David and oiled by me with a little help from Will.

A rainy morning spent doing puzzles on my bed under the watchful eye of the cat. He likes to oversee these things!

Wooden pieces with lovely pictures. Will did the whole boxful. About 12 in total, I think.
Ok, so this next one isn't wooden, but it's great isn't it? Hands up, who remembers 'Ivor the Engine'? Didn't he have a little dragon that lived in the funnel?

And these. Compare bears. I bought them last year and they get played with quite regularly. Will loves to line them up!

And some fungi pictures. I love fungi and can't resist taking photos of them. Like noone has ever done that before! The first two are the ears that Will found on a trunk. Remarkably like the BFG I thought. The same type as the mouse ears we found last autumn but a different shape for some reason?

And look at the vein like markings when the sun is shining through it!

Jonathan's brain fungus.....hmm, slightly smaller than last year. Should I be worried? Maybe I should inform the LEA? What do you think?!

David and Will doing cave paintings in front of the fire on another grey day. See? Rainy days are definitely good for some things!!

This picture isn't quite so good but it holds the memory of a lovely walk with David one Saturday morning not so long ago. It is a beautiful big oak that has lost a branch in the wind. And what a branch!!!

And David's ladybirds he found on yet a different walk. I've never seen so many in one place like that before! Any ideas why?

So I can push those negative thoughts that keep crowding my head space out of the way, so that these good ones have room to spread out, because there are many. Its just that the negative ones are so much more powerful and strong.

A couple of funnies.....

2010-09-23T12:22:00.009+01:00

Just love this one!!!

I suppose one could have argued that they were not yet passengers, but we had actually bought our tickets at this point.

I don't think our little Louis is a rule breaker like the rest of us!!!

And this? I just couldn't help myself!!!

Den building at WEHEC

2010-09-23T12:05:00.004+01:00

A few pictures of the den building that Tom and Jon took part in at Home Ed camp in Wales with Paul. I'm not sure who took them. He also took them on a bat walk and did some small mammal trapping, and so he had the pleasure of the company of all my boys at some time or other during the time he was there!!

A few pictures from our holidays in Wales.

2010-09-23T10:57:00.020+01:00

I didn't actually take many photos while we were away, as we seemed to be actively doing things and my camera or phone was always somewhere that I wasn't, but there are a few.
This first one is the labyrinth made with stones and branches in the afternoon, and then tea lights in jars to light the way in the evening. The centre piece was a beautiful wigwam shape made from willow and covered with some kind of tisue paper I think. It was lovely. We all walked the labyrinth while singing an earth song. Beautiful.

David and Louis walking in the river. This was our regular walk for the dogs while at HE camp. Usually twice a day at least! So gloriously peaceful and beautiful.

Will on the stepping stones having a little taste of the water. This year he could do the stepping stones by himself after the first few times, whereas last year he needed almost lifting from one to the other!

This is Will on the bridge in the village (hamlet). We always stopped here for him to drop pebbles in, and to watch the ripples and waterfalls over the big rocks. He loved the way the sun light flickered on the water.

Will's felted hair piece!! lol

Will and his jellyfish made from an old bottle and cut up plastic bags. He also made a fish to his own design the next day. The very lovely ladies from CLAS (Creative Learning And Support from North Wales) lent us the things he needed to make it back at our tent.

We stopped in Llandovry for lunch on the way back. The boys instinctively all got on the four seater roundabout. It was lovely to see.

Daddy managed a spot of painting at the bunkhouse. Will of course wanted to join in.

Our miners...
Will..

Jonathan..

Tom...

and David.

This is Big Pit where they went down the mine shaft. The full 90 metres!!! Even Will!!! I stayed on the surface as I have a habit of passing out if I go underground!!

And these have to be the biggest puffballs I have ever seen!!!!!

And this is the one indulgent photo that has to be linked to this post here. They saw Hadrians Wall and we saw....

I think it was probably more impressive. It was a garden wall about 20 feet high!!! We walked along it on a footpath in the middle of nowhere. Very imposing.

More photos later, just as soon as I find the camera lead!!

We have returned......

2010-09-14T08:21:00.003+01:00

from beautiful sunny(mostly), mountainous Wales with its rocks and rivers and waterfalls, to grey skies and flat landscapes.

to a mountain of washing, so big that I just simply do not know where to begin.

to a very untidy house...did I really leave it like this? oh yes, thats how we live. I forgot. Impossible to live any other way with all these boys around the place!

to a lovely little parcel. 2 sweet boxes inside another box. The contents carefully packaged in that straw like stuff. Not telling you what is in there, it will spoil surprises for certain people, who may or may not be reading.

to chickens, seperated into two runs before we left so that there would be no scuffling, all jumbled up like a pick'n'mix!!!!

to a nerve racking trial for David for the local swimming club, which was a success!! Despite not having any Speedo style trunks and having to buy them last minute and then realising while waiting on poolside that he had indeed, forgotten his goggles!!! None available to buy at reception (did you ever hear such a thing?!!!) but luckily the secretary of the club had a spare pair in her bag! Phew.

to some ripe tomatoes and a number of cucumbers almost ready in the garden.

to the pre course module for my Doula course in October!! Nerves rattling as I type!

to normal, everyday life at which I am not so good.

I will survive.

Off to Wales...

2010-08-28T19:49:00.002+01:00

yay!!!!!
The second Home Ed camp this year and a week for the Survival Family to regenerate.
See you all in a fortnight or so xx

Softly, softly.

2010-08-20T10:12:00.006+01:00

Last week, we went to visit this lovely Alpaca farm. It isn't too far from us and I have a sneaking suspicion we will be visiting there quite regularly from now on!! The wool is so lovely and soft and the colours are just gorgeous.
The lady in the shop was lovely and spent time talking to David and answering his questions. She helped me to find some wool for a couple of little projects and then directed us to the nusery field where we saw some baby alpacas.

Aren't they cute?

I wonder which alapaca donated the fleece for these?

I'm sure it wasn't this little fellow, as he was less than an hour old!!!!

Hot pursuit

2010-08-14T07:54:00.008+01:00

Twice yesterday I was pursued by a hornet.
Both times were self inflicted.

The first time was in the morning walking in the woods with the boys and dogs. There is a wooden watch tower and David ran ahead to climb up into it as usual. I'm sure there is a sign that advises against it for safety reasons but that has never stopped us before. This time however, he didn't reach the top step and came running back towards us shouting that there was a wasps nest.
So , what does any self respecting home educating mother of four boys do??
Yes you've guessed it!
I went as close as I could to try and take pictures with my phone.
Isn't that what you would've done?
Oh. I see.
Well, being fairly challenged in the height department, Jonathan decided that he could climb to the second step and get a picture of the nest. So he did, although he zoomed in a little too far, and the resulting picture isn't of a quality I would put here.
The hornets, for that is what they were didn't seem to bothered by our attention, and there were only a couple flying around the top of the tower. Until we turned our back to walk away!!!!!!!
One of them came after me in hot pursuit!!!! I heard the buzzing noise come closer and then stop. It didn't carry on over my head and away, it just kept buzzing! Right at the back of my head!!!!! I shook my head a few times to try to get it to leave me alone but it just kept on buzzing!
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!!
Tom had Will on his shoulders some way away and he and David started walking further ahead, but Jon was behind me and could see it on my hood!!!

I was petrified, but I quickly managed to pull my fleecy jacket off over my head and dumped it on the floor. Then I felt really vulnerable because my arms and neck were exposed.
Jonathan, my hero, stood on the hood to kill it and then we picked up my jacket and got far enough away to feel safe.
Phew. I was shaking like a leaf.

Scary looking beasts aren't they?!! We could see that it had latched on to my hood with its jaws which is why I couldn't shake it off.
And this what good old Wiki has to say about them....

Hornets, like many social wasps, can mobilize the entire nest to sting in defense, which is highly dangerous to humans. The hornet alarm pheromone is used to raise alarm of nest attack and to identify prey, such as bees. It is not advisable to kill a hornet anywhere near a nest, as the distress signal can trigger the entire nest to attack. Materials that come in contact with pheromone, such as clothes, skin, dead prey, or hornets, must be removed from the vicinity of the hornets nest. Perfumes and other volatile chemicals can be falsely identified as pheromone by the hornets and trigger an attack.
As in all stinging wasps, hornets can sting multiple times; they do not die after stinging a human as is typical for a worker honey bee, as a hornet's sting is not barbed. They can also bite and sting at the same time.

How lucky were we?????!!!
The nest was a work of art though. A proper ball of grey papery like substance. Fascinating. I just wish we had some good photos to make the scary experience worthwhile!

If you look carefully to the top right of the wooden tower you can see a little dark shape. Well, that is the hornet!!! I think he was camera shy!!!

And the second time yesterday???

Towing Tom's car(aka The Hornet) to this weekend's off road event!
It was a scary experience too I can tell you. Our car is lifted slightly and also has big chunky tyres on it which I think unbalanced the trailer slightly. That coupled with the wet roads made it quite nerve racking!
At least there was no danger of getting stung though. And in this case slow and steady was definitely the key.

Although the worst of this one is that I have to tow it home tomorrow!!!

Rambling today.

2010-08-04T18:40:00.002+01:00

Strange day today.
I woke up with a stiff neck, shoulder pain and a headache to boot. I slept badly or rather I slept in a bad position I guess and dreamt alot of wierd stuff. Never good.
So instead of heading off this morning to see our friends for fun and frolics, I was stuck with the grey skies and drizzle as the view from my window.
Will spent the morning drawing and colouring on my bed, while i dipped into a book my good frind Han has lent me.
Birth Reborn by Michel Odent

I was left feeling choked up about my first birth experience, feeling grateful for my second and so lucky to have had the third and fourth in the most natural way that I thought possible.

It also left me feeling that if only I'd have known then what I know now, and that after my most wonderful and humbling experience last July, that more women should have access to the support and knowledge that is out there. Han had accessed a whole lot of resources using the web which enabled her to achieve her home birth after a disasterous first birth experience.

And then there is my neighbour who has just given birth to a big,bonny,baby boy and having talked about breastfeeding during her pregnancy has already succumbed to the I'm not producing enough mentality. He's only 2 days old! Her milk will not have come in yet. She's 'supplimenting' him with bottles for goodness sake. Already. Where is her support?
I know you can lead a horse to water but you can't make them drink, but is that not what is wrong with our society now. They do 'sex education' in schools and I know some offer child development GCSE but where is the teaching of what should be the norm?

Which brings me back to the Doula thing again.
In the absence of mothers and aunties and neighbours and close friends and communities, is this a viable option?

Where did July go?

2010-08-02T08:38:00.011+01:00

So here we are. August already.
I haven't posted any pics from Hesfes because I realised that the only one I have is this one!

This is Will in his pirate bandana, his Hesfes t-shirt and sporting the friendship 'bracelet' I made for him!! Not sure its supposed to be worn as a garter, but hey ho!!

We were all too busy enjoying ourselves to take pics I think.

Oh there's the basket I made at one of the workshops.

And a face cloth I knitted for a friend in the quiet moments.

A few pictures taken in the days after our return....

Blacky playing dominoes.

And a few pictures in the woods..
a chair made out of a tree trunk.

A new bench that has been made out of naturally shaped planks. Not sure why Will is holding his nose....

Maybe its because of the stinkhorn?

The beautiful moth that we found in the bathroom. I think it is a hawk moth and is one of those ones that feeds on the privet as a ctaerpillar with a horn at one end.

Will's little scribbling that turned out to look a little like a .....

A science lesson... Experiment to show the effect of neon blue dye on Tom's hair, after stripping it of its natural dark brown shade with peroxide!!!

And last but not least, the marshmallow making with my new jam thermometer!

You'll notice the lack of pictures of the finished product!!! Lovely soft, pink marshmallow squares. Devoured in a matter of minutes!!!!

Not exactly HesFes pics ....

2010-07-20T11:16:00.006+01:00

more like slug fest!!!!!!
This is what we saw this morning on our dog walk.

2 slugs intertwined hanging from a very small Hawthorn bush growing on the side of the footpath around our local reservoir. One assumes that they were mating. It was the most fascinating thing to watch. I have never seen anything like it before! It was, most bizarrely, very beautiful, although I do not think my camera does the scene justice at all.

Learning truly does happen everywhere.

Just found this on good old You Tube.

Oh why, oh why?

2010-07-19T08:22:00.003+01:00

Is settling in at home after a camping trip so difficult for me?
I know there are several people that couldn't wait to get home from HESFES for various reasons, but not me.
I am the same after every camping trip, I think.
I have no desire to leave my canvas living accommodation and swap it for the square bricks and mortar that I am in now.
In fact more so the last two times than any other. The bell tent is so lovely, and the weather has been really good that I contemplated loading the car again this morning to whizz off to The Lakes or somewhere.
Yes. Already.
But instead, I am off to visit a needy friend, and then come back to try to finish sorting out what needs to be sorted.
Why do we have so much stuff?
Why can't we live like that all summer?
Why do I love the minimal living so much?

Although I would miss my books and wool :-)

Will post a bit about Hesfes later xx

Off to HESFES...

2010-07-09T19:20:00.001+01:00

see you next week!

Holiday!!

2010-07-05T08:53:00.012+01:00

Its taken me a while to get round to posting about our week in Derbyshire. So much to sort out when we got home on Wednesday and then we were off to County Scout Camp on Friday!!!
I'm totally exhausted but loved every minute of it. William and David came too and Tom was there as an Explorer rather than his Young Leader role.
It was unbelievably hot and sunny, with loads of different activities for the kids including many different crafts, archery, inflatable slide and Zorbs (human hamster balls!),water sports and a Back to Basics section. Tremendous fun. Something for everyone!
I had a great time as part of the leader team and made some great new friends.
Now its home for a few days befroe we are off to HESFES so I thought I'd better get around to posting some of the pics from holiday.
We stayed at an old familiar campsite. A small one with no facilities to speak of a few miles from Matlock Bath.
It is owned by different people than when we last stayed 5 years ago, and they were lovely. They brought the place alive for me. It was an old couple before and they kept themselves very much to themselves, but Helen was a real feature of the holiday, especially for me! We seemed to hit it off and spent quite a bit of time chatting about things (more about that another time) and it felt as if I had known for years!
The campsite has beautiful views and is one of the reasons why I love it so much.....

And I came home to pick these....
starwberries, potatoes, some broad beans and even a couple of pea pods despite the sparrow population doing all the they can to prevent there being a pea harvest at all!!!

One giant strawberry ....
And a pot of home made strawberry jam!!! YUMMY!

Right, off to do the washing and such like before it decides to rain xx

Off on holiday....

2010-06-22T16:41:00.002+01:00

and hope to revive my enthusiasm and creativity.
See you all soon xx

Home Ed is still going on...somewhere!

2010-05-31T16:25:00.007+01:00

Ok, this is purely a pictorial post to catch up with a few things that have been going on around here whilst I've not been blogging.
The wizard robes that I have talked about so much!
Two of Jon's beautiful fish he caught whilst we were camping last week.
Tom and Jon changed the diff on the Vitara as a team and consequently they both went on an off roading weekend together!!!! And yes that is a photo of the truck flying!!!!!
William painting some garden chairs for my friend just after I helped her to move house.
Home grown mushroom with blurry pic to show the size as Will is holding it!!!!
Playdough bugs and the real thing....but which is which?!!!
First ever radishes grown in our garden. Everything else is going well except as usual, the beetroot which have been slurped up by the slugs!!!
And rhubarb leaves being used as antlers!!

2010-05-26T21:42:00.005+01:00

'They say a summer storm clears the air, and that may be true, but a real storm turns things so about, that they can't be set back the way they were.'

I watched an episode from series one of Lark Rise to Candleford this evening, whilst knitting, and this was the opening and closing saying.

Questions

2010-04-25T08:11:00.002+01:00

So many questions in this house.

What keeps the floor up upstairs?

How does the sky stay there?

What would happen if the sun didn't come out?

Are there really aliens?

Where does the water go when it goes down the sink?

How do those plants grow in the water?

Why can the cockerel live with the chickens and Louis share a bed with Annie, but Merlin can't live with Sandy?

And other such gems!

And yet more news......

2010-04-14T17:15:00.008+01:00

Two posts in one day eh?!! Actually in one evening!!!! So please scroll down to catch up with everything else we have been up to!
On Bank Holiday Monday we went to Kelmarsh Country Fair. We had intended to take the two dogs but as I woke up feeling a little under the weather, throat wise, i decided against it. Which was probably just as well really.
There was so much to see.
The working dog arena was obviously very interesting especially the chap with the working cocker spaniels. He had two little ten week old puppies that he was teaching to fetch and then a few just over a year old (about Louis' age) that were doing so brilliantly, it made Louis look unruly!!! Which he isn't. It's just that he is a family pet, not a working dog, but it showed that he has the potential to be a good gun dog if we so wished, as he has all the good characteistics that th eman was talking about.
My favourite part of the show was the rope worker, John Kemp. He was amazing! The stuff he made was brilliant and he was really funny too. The sign outside his tent said,'John Kemp, ropeworker and complete knotter'!!!!
And he was! I just wondered how many people walked past his tent, or even went into it without recognising it as a joke!
He was making net bags while we were there, and he some lovely canvas pokes on display that he made. They were £15 and he said they took him about 45 mins or so to make. Brilliant. He had rope dog leads, table mats, floor mats and he also makes knives.
But the best thing he made? It was a fabulous canvas bucket with a wooden base. The stitching was just so perfect and it was just so beautifully made. He said it took him a day to make one of those, and so for obvious reasons were not for sale unless you had LOTS of money to burn! Which we do not. So I am trying to convince him to do me a tutorial!!!!
Next door to him was a wood turner making bowls, which was equally as fascinating but not as entertaining! He had some lovely bits for sale, but I have a Jonathan and a Rob, and so will not buy one until I am sure I cannot make a bowl maker out of one of them!!
There were birds of prey and an unusual animal stand. David was enthralled by the Boa Constrictor, scorpion, hissing cockroaches and the gecko. We spent a long while there while he asked questions. My favourite there? The pygmy goats of course!!!
The day inspired a few books from the library last week....
Knots and ropework
Bags
Long netting and net making
Lost crafts
Kids costumes
Renewable energy...as always!!

The knots and ropework is of course interesting, but it wasn't the one that I really wanted. Why is it that all the books I want are never in the library? Only available on Amazon or the like? Typical, but some things to have a go at never the less.
The bags book has some interesing ideas for bags. No canvas pokes or buckets LOL None in there that I would actually make but a few ideas I could poach for my own designs. I like the knitted bags but I am not sure about their longevity for little boys!! So I have ideas for using old jeans...watch this space!
The kids costumes was full of fairy outfits and pirates, furry animal costumes and nativity play robes. Which is about the only bit (bizarrely!!) that was of any use!!!

I'm halfway through a pair of socks, I have just finished a bag for granny like the one I made for Eve and I have made another waldorf first doll for a friend whose first baby was born last Thursday.
BUT.....
I bought the material for David's wizarding robe a few weeks ago now and hadn't got around to starting it. Its a little scary! I had the idea. Drew up some rough plans and got excited, as it seemed a fairly simple concept. Then I bought the material and reality kicked in!!!
The plans look like this.....

But I eventually took the plunge after reading the kids costumes book. I made a pattern from the wallpaper that Will uses on his easel for painting, and just went for it!!! I cut out the material, pinned it together and tacked it. And then Tom fetched this down from the loft!

It isn't perfect. It isn't quite finished (button and badge to go) but it does resemble a robe and I am secretly very pleased with it. Well, maybe not so secretly now!!!!
I'll try to post a photo as soon as I finish it and can get David to model for me!!

William has been painting while tea was cooking.....

It's Annie!!!! Can you tell?

And I say while tea was cooking, but actually it was Jonathan who cooked tea in the end. He wanted sausages and I hate frying.

LOL!!!!!!!!!

Tom is away at the moment. He left on Friday night last week to go to Holland with Explorers. They are cycling across the country on their own, with their leaders driving support vehicles and meeting them at each checkpoint!!! They have to gather information along th eway from various places to put together a presentation when they get back. It is part of their Explorer belt wawrd. So exciting and a wonderful opportunity. He had to get some sponsors to help fund the trip and a fair amount of that came from his off road forum friends. We had some Euros left over from a holiday to France in 2004 and so he had some spending money too!
I am keeping up with their progress on twitter and hope to plot a map with his route to show that younger ones where he has been. I might try to post it on here if I can!!!
David had a different swimming teacher last week. A young man. David was very apprehensive at first as he had not had a male teacher before, but he soon got used to him and had the best lesson ever in the end!!! He has been struggling with his butterfly stroke for a good few months now. He just can't seem to get it right. This young man obviously explained it differently, and in one lesson he had pretty much got it!!!!
I was thrilled and David was buzzing afterwards! I spoke to the young man to thank him and he said that David was a natural at butterfly, and that he should know, because he's a flyer!!! It took me a few moments to work out what that meant, but eventually the penny droppped!! So needless to say, David would like to change teachers now. Progress is being made, folks, progress is being made.

Some of the things we have been up to!!

2010-04-14T16:05:00.006+01:00

So here we have the first little mushrooms appearing on the surface of the compost in our mushroom kit.

Now, for someone who does not really like to eat mushrooms, at all, I have got ridiculously excited over these. I love fungi of all sorts as this post will remind you. I like nothing more than to go on a fungi spotting walk in the woods in autumn. I even fancy the idea of being able to identify the edible ones and cook them. But eat them? Oh no, not me! I'll leave that to Rob, David and Will.

This envelope arrived in the post earlier this week from the BBC Dig In website. Just after we had finished sowing all the seeds in the garden and the seedlings starting to come up in the 'greenhouse'!! Still, I daresay we'll find room for some more! I've never been one to say no to a freebie, and there is talk of a seedling swap going on with our HE group, so......

This is Will making soup in the garden, making the most of the sunny weather we have been having. Off and on!!!

Rob and I bought this in a charity shop before christmas and as luck would have it, Will disturbed an ants nest in the garden on Saturday, so we hurriedly collected as many as possible and put it together.

And this is the activity after only a few days!!!

Such busy little creatures, aren't they. Will and David have been fascinated by them, and as they are currently living in th ekitchen, we are all interested in their progress!

And this is the beautiful chicken pie that I made the other day without using any kind of recipe!! I just used some pre cooked chicken, some frozen peas and some gravy, and voila!! It very closely resembles a frozen chicken pie that used to be Jonathan's favourite a few years ago, and so it could be called a success!! Despite there being a little too much pastry!

This is Humphrey.... one of the cockerels that came from our friends house the other weekend. It is his friend, Sid vicious that is in the pie!!!! He was despatched by our own Jonny boy and myself not long after they arrived here. Our first. Humphrey is currently in remand. Or death row. Not really sure which. I quite like him. He has a pleasant disposition and is very handsome. Just far too big to be let loose on our girls. I am hoping that another friend of ours will want him, as he lost his over the winter to the fox. We shall see.

And here is Annie, sleeping with her head in the dog bowls! I think it is because the sun is shining there so they are warm, but it could be that she has a one track mind!!!!

This is one of the sheep we saw on the way down to the allotment the other day. Sun shining, lambs and daffodils. What could be more spring like?

And this is us on the way there. Well, it is Jonathan pushing Will and Annie in the wheelbarrow, and Tom carrying the tray of chitted potatoes!!

William's cress head.

and William with Charlie in his sling! Will's own idea just a little help from mum to get it to sit right!

There is more to catch up on, but I've got to do tea, so it'll have to wait until tomorrow now.

So much to blog about but...

2010-04-13T20:38:00.003+01:00

not in the mood. Sorry!

I just had to post this

"Nothing has a stronger influence on children, than the unlived lives of their parents"

Carl Jung

I 'stole' it from this blog. I hope she won't mind. I just found it so absolutely, completely and utterly TRUE!!!

OH YES!!!!!

2010-04-08T18:35:00.002+01:00

Please read this press release, and breathe easy, for now xx

Its been a whirlwind of a week!!

2010-04-03T07:15:00.011+01:00

It starts with the ending of our auction on Ebay for my beautiful VW Passat on Saturday. The highest bids were much more than we had anticiapted and so it made the sale a little less painful. I did love that car so.
Three very tall polish chaps came to collect it on Sunday, after we had taken Kim home and had a walk along the canal. Why do they always come 'en masse'? I find it quite unnerving, especially as Tom was not around and they seemed to be trying to haggle. Ugh. Rob went off with them for a test drive...a test drive? If they wanted a test drive they should have come and viewed it before the auction ended!! Don't they know you bid to buy and not to view? The car was as described, us being honest folks and the deal was eventually completed.
And that after the clocks went forward and we were all feeling a little out of sorts!!!
Monday we had some HE friends over and managed to get out for a walk despite the rain. They brought with them a magnificent cockeral called Charlie which we were going to rehome for possible breeding purposes and this.....

I have wanted a stock pot like this for ages and my friend found one at her local swap shop. Luckily the lid wasn't the right size for her one, so she passed it on to me!!!! Yay!!!! It was put into service the very next day with vegetable soup. Yum!

Tuesday was spent knitting these...
a seed stitch face cloth...

and a soap sack...

for my friends birthday the following day!!

David had a creative moment and drew this....

We'd been listening to Raymond Briggs' 'The Man' and I think the whole fairy description sparked it off!
Then Wednesday was a little more hectic. I went swimming with a friend at a local private pool....very nice!! I went back to hers for a very civilised cup of tea and a chin wag, child free!!!!
Then when I got home we realised that the 'moon buggy' had not only run out of Tax that day but of MOT the day before and we needed to do something about it desperately!!! The local garage was all booked up until after easter so we thought about alternatives. My suggestion was to look for a Discovery a little sooner than we had planned, rather than spend the money and energy on a car that I really did not like!!!!!!
And as usual, fate had a hand in our life. A disco that we had been watching on Ebay was due to finish that afternoon, and as Rob was looking at it with Tom, Tom realised that it was osmeone he knew from his off roading forum!! So we called him, struck a deal and arranged to pick it up later!!
Rob and Tom whizzed off into town to get some money (that we don't really have!!!) to top up the money from the Passat deal, and we were in business!!!!
Tom and I went off to fetch it that evening. And here it is....

A vehicle worthy of the title 'Survival Family Vehicle'. I have nicknamed it Disco Diva because of the lights, but really I am just so pleased to have it, I don't care what it is called!!!

Thursday saw us out and about in the new car going to the woods with the dog, and then in the evening I went out with a couple of friends to the cinema.
Tom finished his IGCSE English assignment whilst babysitting for my firnds children that night and I think he has made a fabulous job of the creative writing task. This is a boy who has not done ANY thing of the sort for about 4 years!!!! Lets just hope the momentum keeps up for the other 9 assignments!!!!!
Yesterday, saw the sale of our Moon Buggy! Rob listed it on Ebay the night before and by 9 o'clock we had a call from someone local who wanted to have a look. By lunchtime had been paid for and taken away! Fastest sale ever!!!! Thank god it has gone. I really did not like that car, not one little bit, despite it being so very reliable and spacious inside. It was ugly and annoying. I am so glad it has found a new home.
William talked to granny for over an hour on the webcam while I made a start on the boys Easter eggs. A slow process but I just can't bring myself to spend that much money on such a small amount of chocolate and such a HUGE amount of packaging!! Goes against the grain somewhat.
And here are the doggies asleep TOGETHER on the sofa last night!!!

This is following about an hour of play fighting during which I wasn't sure if I should have been intervening or not!!!

This is Will's house and garden, with garage that he made all by himself the other day...

and this is David's spider made from Lego..

And today? I'm off to take Tom to Kim's and then to collect a lonely chicken from a friend that has lost her others to a dog and then on to another friend's to pick up some unwanted cockerals before he goes on holiday later on. Jon has an exciting afternoon ahead of him!!! They are very large Buff Orpingtons and are, unfortunately destined for dinner.
I also have to go down the field to feed the sheep and check on them. Their owner is away on holiday and we are looking after the girls that are due to lamb sometime next week he thinks!!!

All go here!!!

This is me bumping a previous post....

2010-03-29T18:25:00.003+01:00

because people seem to have missed the previous one about Annie, entitled 'Ok. It's confession time!'

Annie's days out...

2010-03-29T08:28:00.003+01:00

so far she has been to the vets for her first jab, a walk at our local woods inside mine and Jonathan's coats, to the power station for a HE trip (more about that later!) and a walk down the canal inside my coat. She has been admired and is loved by all and having a new baby in the house is proving to be less hassle than I thought. Well, so far at least!
I love these pictures!!
Annie, aka Digby!!

LOL
She's wearing an old sock with holes cut in for her legs!!!
I did start knitting a dog coat but it looked a little small and I need to start over. Ugh.
We've got visitors today, and no food in the house so I'd best be off to rustle something up!!!

Ok. It's confession time.

2010-03-23T15:01:00.013Z

Instead of blogging about this....

Or this....

Hand knitted pressie for this little girl.

or about planting these....

or these....

Or about the planting of the potatoes down the allotment, or the trip to an FAI farm yesterday
We have been unashamedly playing with this!!!

I just don't know how she got here!!! Honest!!
It wasn't planned. Well, not completely anyway, and I can honestly say I was egged on by a few other members of the household!!! I didn't even drive there so Rob was definitely in on it!!!
I do not take full responsibility for the extra chaos we have probably brought upon ourselves, into our already chaotic home,
but DARN, she's cute, huh?!!!

This is Annie. A 9 week old Cocker spaniel. A companion for Louis and an early birthday pressie for me...well, that is how Rob justified it anyway!!!
She is settling in well and Louis and her are forging a good relationship. They aren't sharing a bed yet, but I don't think it will be long before she is able to snuggle up next to him at night.

So confession is over. Its out in the open. I am a Animaholic!!!!

But on the flip side....

2010-03-18T19:29:00.003Z

having teenage sons means that...

I never have to struggle to carry anything heavy (unless I want to!!!).

I can leave them in charge of bread dough or cakes in the oven knowing that they can check to see if they are cooked before getting them out.

I can text my 13 yr old boy and ask how many stitches there are around the top of his phone sock and get the correct answer!!!

I'm never short of volunteers for a trip to the tip!!

I can leave them at home knowing that they can feed themselves and look after the animals adequately, without having to leave step by step instructions.

they can go down to the local shop and do a good job of buying the right things or making an executive decision if the required item isn't in stock.

my eldest son can use a washing machine.

we can all have a good laugh and a joke together.

I'll never be short of a pair of boots to stick on just to slop down the garden in!!!

I don't always have to take everyone with me to run an errand.

I don't always have to be the one to run an errand!!!

It isn't all bad, see!!!

You know you live in a house full of boys when.....

2010-03-18T18:04:00.006Z

you go to the bathroom and it is all steamed up. Window closed. Bath mat screwed up in a ball on the floor. Shower curtain all scrunched up in the corner so it can develop a good healthy mould covering. Swarfega tub still open on the side.....he used Swarfega in the shower????????

you look down the mud infested garden ( it is acually dry today though) and see newspaper strewn all across the 'lawn' and a dog poo in the middle of the path, and your 13 yr old hammering away in the shed at the obottom. I mean did he actually see it and step over it, or is he really that lucky?!!

Your eldest son gets out of the shower after a god half an hour (don't tell the energy police!!!), and still has a black neck from a day grinding and welding!!! And I mean BLACK.
To be fair he actually has showered, because he has scouts this evening, and I guess the necker will cover the unwashed section!!!

your teenage son comes home from the park last night with a dead pigeon he had shot with his catapault. One hit. Falls from branch to ground. THUD

you come home from taking your 9 yr old son to his swimming lesson to the sight of your teenage son squashing his face against the dining room window, in some form of greeting!

there is more mud in the kitchen than in the boot room.

the hand towel in the bathroom has a blackened section just about where everyone dries their hands! How can they leave a dirty mark if they have been washed?!!!!

you go into the kitchen after the boys have had breakfast and the butter and jam are both on the worktop with no lids on, the bread board and surrounding area is covered with bread crumbs, there is a ring of milk on the side and a light sprinkling of sugar enough for two cups of tea!!

the weetabix box that you checked was in the cupboard for breakfast the following morning is in fact, empty.

there is a carton of fruit juice in the fridge, but when you pour it out, it would barely fill an egg cup!!!

you can't remember what colour the soap was when you bought it....can you actually buy black soap?!!!

there are umpteen pairs of boots and shoes lying around by the back door all about the size of a small canoe!!!

tidying their room means putting all the items of clothing that are covering the floor, doing a really bad impression of a carpet, into the washing basket.

you ALWAYS have a washing pile the size of Mount Everest.

An assortment of things.

2010-03-16T17:51:00.012Z

This post is going to be an odd assortment of bits and bobs, I think. I can tell, because even now, as I am typing, I have no real idea of where this is going to go.
I just know that a post is overdue and I have a few photos to share, so I shall just make a start and see where we end up!
So firstly, a few pictures of our new member of the family. She travelled home with us last Tuesday from our friends where she wasn't really fitting in terribly well!! I think their words were unhandleable, which I am sure isn't a word!!!, and maybe even vicious was used too!! So, me being me, I lifted back the covers on her run expecting to see some kind of white sticky up eared rabbit, with pink eyes and big pointy teeth!!!
Instead I was greeted by this little lady...

Well, I say little but she is rather a large bunny and looks a little like a bear!! But she is gorgeous!!! Totally, 100% gorgeous!!
Anyway, I picked her up and she seems to really like me!!! So she is now, as you can see, happily pottering around in the garden and we are now a two rabbit family!!!
What on earth happened to my no useless pets rule? !!!
Yes, I know we could breed them to eat, but I'm really not sure we could eat such cute fuzzy bunnies.
Now if they were white with sticky up ears and pink eyes......

A few crafty makes coming up.
First up is Jonathan,s spinner (fishing tackle used for catching pike)that he made from wood and off cuts of catapault elastic!!! Ingenius!!!

This is David wielding his shield that he made himself.

His own idea (inspired by a computer game with roman soldiers), design and pretty much unaided...just a little help to work out which way to fold the tin foil around it as we only had one piece just big enough left!!
This is the handle on the reverse.

And this is a face flannel I made for Rob's mum in Cornwall.

It has a cat in the centre, just in case you couldn't tell!!! I also made some soap sacks that did turn out well in the end. I will try to get a photo of those on here but I forgot to take pictures before I posted them. Doh!!!
I have had some little labels made up to sew into my handmade things. You know the type. Like school name tapes but pretty!!
I'm thinking of setting up an Etsy shop but not sure how to go about that...maybe Ebay would be a start?
And of course, someone had a birthday didn't they!
Here he is blowing out his candles on his caterpillar!!!

He had some lovely presents...photos to follow another day! My little man is 4!!!
Oh yes, and we now have a 5 bedroom house!!
Following Tom's accident the other evening, when he fell through the high sleeper on to the top of William, he has been evicted by William to the bathroom!!!
We are currently converting it, but it makes quite a nice little cosy room for him!! Don't worry, we still have a bathroom. I haven't quite managed to convince Rob to build a compost toilet and solar shower!!!
LOL!!

Sombre thoughts this morning.....

2010-03-12T10:43:00.002Z

as we talk about the poor people whose house was destroyed by fire last night.

David and I walked to the Post Office this morning to post a couple of packages, and took a slight detour past the thatched cottage, that was.
It looks very sad this morning. No roof and as it had windows on the second floor that nestled into the roof (I can't remember what these type of windows are called...anyone?), you can almost see into the upstairs rooms. The house is set back from the road somewhat, but has another thatched cottage next to it, and also one behind it. They are so lucky that the fire was contained and did not spread.
I feel so sorry for the old couple that had to leave their house last night. We know that not much was salvaged from the building before the roof collapsed, and so my thoughts are with them. As an elderly couple they must have a lot of personal possessions that would be irreplaceable and be of sentimental and historical value. Or maybe I am assuming too much? Maybe they were not hoarders like myself and so many other people I know, but surely you cannot live somewhere that big, and be that age, without filling it with something? If not belongings, then memories.
The two older boys spent a long time last night watching the fire, and the fire engines relaying up and down the road to the local reservoir for water as the hydrants were not sufficient.
Tom was also an aid to the fire service last night by showing some of the non local fire fighters the way around to the back of the house as it is a very convoluted collection of houses.

And so we have talked about fire in the home this morning and about what you should do. We have talked about escape routes, closing doors and blocking up the bottoms of doors with clothes, the importance of getting out without worrying about personal possessions. These are, after all, in most instances unimportant and replaceable compared to human life.

So I guess, in a glass half full, as opposed to half empty, kind of way, we should be thinking how lucky the couple were to get out in time.

Today.

2010-03-11T19:06:00.006Z

Today, my 3 year old son got up at 6am (as usual!!) and then I remembered that he was no longer my 3 year old, but my 4 year old!!!!
Today, Will carefully opened his presents and cards to preserve the paper and envelopes without eally being asked to.
Today, my 9 year old son answered the phone to his granny and then helped his 4 year old brother to chat to her on the web cam.
Today, David made jelly for his brothers birthday.
Today, my two eldest sons went for a long walk together with the dog.
Today, my eldest sons went to the local shop together to buy food for lunch and post a parcel.
Today, we had an unsavoury character knock on our door, and that of our neighbour, causing me to contact our local community police officer. My eldest son went to talk to our neighbour to make sure he was ok.
Today, I took my 9 year old to his swimming lesson and his older brothers looked after Will between them.

My boys are great!!

Today, my 9 year old son went to the shop for butter and seemed to take a very long time. He came running back, dropped the butter through the cat flap and ran off to play with his friends.

Or so I thought.

A while later, I looked out of the upstairs window to call him in, and he was no where to be seen.
But there was smoke and a fireman attaching a hose to the hydrant in our road.
Tom and Jonathan went out to look for him.
But couldn't find him.
We were all very worried. There was a lot of smoke and flames in the road across from ours.
I called his friends mum... he was already on his way home.

I was very cross but relieved to see him. I shouted a little, but only because I thought he had gone to play in his friends house or gone out of the close without telling me where he was, and I was worried.
He was very upset.
And then I found out.

It was him that saw the fire when it started (a thatched cottage).
It was him and his friend that raised the alarm.
It was David who answered when the fireman asked where the nearest hydrant was.

Today, my 9 year old son was BRILLIANT!!!!

What a day, today was.

Frustration

2010-03-10T19:06:00.007Z

So, following my visit to the ENT clinic yesterday, I have been told to rest. My mind and my voice!! So I thought that I would use the day to make a few gifts to pop into the post in good time for Sunday.
No, Carolyn, thnk again. Rest? HA!!
Rob took the boys off for a walk and I set to work on a pattern for something that seemed really fitting, and wouldn't take too much time or brain power!! I finished this one in about an hour or so. Pretty isn't it?

Well, I like it.

I don't like this one though.

I started on this second one, using slightly bigger needles and doing it in the round to avoid seams. But the darn thing has nearly beaten me!!!
I have got about half way on each attempt and then either lost a stitch (which in this pattern I am not finding easy to pick up) or just got distracted by the boys and lost my place. Arrrrrgh!!!!
I have unpicked it no less than 5 times. I started again on 2 of those occaisions and still I have not finished it.
It is like a personal vendetta now. I will finish this blasted little thing if it kills me. It may not have the delicate pattern on it like the original, and it may not be as aesthetically pleasing, but it will be fit for the purpose intended, and I hope the recipient appreciates the amount of anguish it has caused!!!!
I will finish it, I will. *grimace*
Rest and relaxation. A little bit of feel good, simple knitting. Yeah, right. The NHS have no idea, do they!!!!! Even knitting causes me stress!! I haven't talked very much though and I haven't shouted once!!! I'm a good girl, I am!!!

I'll post again another day with some more cheerful pictures and thoughts!!! Honest xx

Confessions of a serial hermit...

2010-03-08T17:20:00.007Z

We have spent 4, yes 4!!!! days with other Home Educating families in the last seven, with another to come tomorrow!!!!! I mean, what is wrong with us? We seem to be on a bit of a roll!!
On Saturday, having to cancel our plans with Han for the morning, we ended up playing host to our good friends from Wales for the evening. A bit of a surprise since I didn't know they were up this way!!! They arrived with boxes of food which we prepared together, the kids all went off and did their own thing and then we ate in two sittings!!!!
And then today we saw them again and went to the woods, where we had soup and rolls, spiced fruit buns and chocolate cakes. They all played together on the rope swings, played tag through the under growth, helped the littlies along, set up a high jump with a log and searched for a missing pen knife!!

Socialisation? But what about socialisation? This is always one of the questions asked of you when you Home Educate. Today I took 8 children and one spaniel to the woods, and not once did I feel that I had taken on too much! They all played together. Paired off at times. Took it in turns to play with the youngest ones. Helped to carry the rucksacks (even after the contents had been consumed!!!) and all enjoyed each others company. And this from 8 children aged 3 to 16. 6 boys and 2 girls. There were hardly any cross words, and the few that there were, were between siblings, and perfectly usual.
Its been a grand week. I have loved visiting friends. I have loved entertaining friends and I have loved eating out in the woods. I have loved the conversations I have had with such an interesting and wonderful group of people.

PS All these photos were taken on my new phone!! I LOVE my new phone. Good photos, even has a flash and they upload really quickly!!!

Mastercrafts and Lark Rise to Candleford

2010-03-06T10:50:00.006Z

I have just watched the 3rd episode of the Mastercrafts series on iPlayer. The first was green woodworking, something that is very close to our hearts in this family. The second was thatching which is something that David has an interest in, and the 3rd was Blacksmithing. All make for interesting viewing, especially for a Home Educating family of four boys, that are very practical minded.
The message that comes through in each programme is, as we already believe, that people like to do practical things. There is something more rewarding working with a raw material and making it into something beautiful, useful and individual. It reminds me of the reason for our home educating journey here. That the boys discover what truly make sthem happy and to follow that path, rather than end up at 40 having sat at a desk job that they hate for years, and then trying to change direction. It just isn't always possible to change route later on in life. Mortgages and family commitments can prevent it, and why wait until you have muddled through life for so many years before finding out what is right for you? Why should we be unhappy and just stick at something to pay the mortgage? I don't mean not to work hard, but why shouldn't we all be able to work hard at something we enjoy?
That is the main goal for our HE journey... for the my boys find the path that is right for them.
I have also been watching Lark Rise to Candleford. I didn't see the first two series. I didn't know it existed and so would dearly love to catch up on the series on DVD (my birthday coming up next month, so you never know!!!!) as I have really enjoyed the recent episodes. Something about rural life, in its day to day simplicity that makes me crave the next installment!!!
An episode recently showed a boy being pushed in a direction that he didn't want to go, academically and work wise. It saw him rebel against it completely and he moved out to follow his desire. Only by showing love and support for his needs, were his parents able to help him decide on the right path for him. Laying down the law and giving ultimatums did not work, and was a good reminder for all of us parents of headstrong children out there!!!
We have no TV licence as the amount of rubbish out there is massive, but occaisionally I find something worth watching, which is good for the knitting projects!! Good job us women can multi task!!!
It has been a good week socially for us. Two lovely wood walks and picnics with other home educating families, saw the boys engaged in activities with children and babies of ALL ages!!!

Long may we have sunshine and good friends!!!

Bad weather and feeling poorly can be good for some things, I guess!!

2010-02-27T13:48:00.010Z

So, with the weather being so miserable here and me feeling poorly, it has been a week of crafting.
My socks are now finished and I have rellay been enjoying wearing them. So comfortable and cosy!! I have been sneakily buying some wool for me to knit up once I have worked down my list of projects! I finally understand the meaning of 'wool stash'!!!!
But instead of casting on for Rob's socks (the first priority item on my list!), I have been making these...

The wool was a little dark perhaps for the top but I'm pleased with the effect. I've never really done anything with two colours before.

This egg was made up as I went along using the same principle as the banana...turned out ok, but now they want a whole set!!!

2 sausages so far and one fried egg, also of my own design, made up as I went along. Really pleased with this!!!
And the two older boys have also been making things....not knitting but sewing.
Jonathan made this drawstring bag for his marbles from the bottom of the leg of his old camo trousers....

And Tom has re-vamped this strap for his car, by sewing a loop on to one end and a hook on the other! He wants to test it out for strength one day soon before he takes it off roading!

And this of their own free will!!! And self taught, pretty much.

Why didn't someone tell me it was pancake day!!!!!

2010-02-25T11:54:00.003Z

Is it just me, or do these things pass other people by too? It was a good few days before I realised that we had missed it. Maybe the rack with the pancake mix and lemon juice in Waitrose the previous week should've sparked something off?!!
Anyway, we had pancake day or Shrove Tuesday this week instead... Tom made the batter and between him and Jon they cooked and tossed pancakes for us all.
And then they obviously got a little bored of normal pancakes...

Tom called them Smurf pancakes!!!
I think I need to be more attentive about these special days....

Photo credits....first one of Louis was taken by William,
the first blue pancake picture and second Louis photo by David.

2010-02-23T11:03:00.004Z

I have come down with an horrific sore throat and that, coupled with my on going throat issue is actually rendering me quite pathetic!
That said, I have still made bread in my newly acquired breadmaker (Thank you Freecycle!!!!! Mine died on Saturday evening and I had been offered an almost new one and collected it within 24 hours!!! Fantastic!!!), done 3 loads of washing, made minestrone soup and cleaned the oven (yes, I know, why does it always feel so urgent when you feel so poorly?) and finished kntting my hat, and knitted most of the second one of my socks!
But, because I was so stationary yesterday, David and Will both played with the meccano in the living room and David built a fabulous digger following the set of instructions.....

And Will made this ladder to go with his fire engine. It's a portable one that they can move around easily!!!

Tom and Jon went to the farm shop for layers pellets and then Jon and David walked the dog.
We watched My Fair Lady in the afternoon in front of the fire while it snowed outside, and then David and I played cards before bed.
Jonathan made shortbread, which was enjoyed by all, and Tom took over at tea time, dishing up the jacket potatoes that I had put in the oven earlier.
So this afternoon, I am planning on finishing my sock, and then trying to decide which of the items on my long list of crafts to start next! I look at my sock wool stash and think I must start to make a dent in it, but then I look at the lovely green cotton yarn I have for face cloths and want to see them knitted up. And then of course David is wanting a balaclava like Jonathans, and Will is requesting a Waldorf baby doll....not enough hours in the day!!!
At least it is freezing cold outside and there is still snow on the ground, so I don't feel like I'm missing out on much by staying in by the fire again this afternoon. In fact, I'm relishing the excuse!!

We've gone 'Knitting Bananas'!!!

2010-02-19T16:41:00.009Z

This is Will casting on for a carrot while I am busy next to him putting the finishing touches to our little creation.
And here he is, really getting to grips with the 'knitting'!!

Yes, he is still wearing his pyjamas and is is most definitely the afternoon!!!!

Yes, this afternoon we knitted this little cheeky banana from this pattern
Tomorrow I might try the hot cross bun!!!

This roundhouse.

2010-02-13T16:53:00.009Z

People who know me, will know that I long to live in a roundhouse or a yurt or wooden house in the middle of the woods somewhere in Wales.
Obviously the logistics of this with 4 boys is somewhat horrific!!!! But maybe one day......when the country runs out of oil and food, and the government are forced to let us do such things, instead of putting ridiculous obstacles in the way of us lunatic people who want to do it!
Anyway, this morning Will and I tried to build a roundhouse with the duplo bricks but to be honest, even with Will's amazing imagination and my determination to make it work, it didn't really turn out that well.

Then David started talking about Hagrid's hut and that Lego have a set...

so we looked on their website and found the instructions to build it. We also looked on Ebay to see if we could buy one, but as we are both far too impatient, we went upsatirs and dug out all the bits from his Lego box that looked like they might be useful!!!

And this is what we made!!!!

It took a long time to find enough of the right sort of pieces and my back is aching now with bending over the floor (again!!!) for so long, but it was worth it, David is so pleased with it. I know the blue roof is a little bright, but that was the colour that we had most tiles in and it looked better in one colour, rather than a hotch potch of different greys and black. With David's knowledge of what bits we do have and me with the technical construction, we made a great team!!!!
A shame my hat didn't turn out too well.....but my loss is Will's gain!

And here's what we have made!

2010-02-12T18:53:00.006Z

No, I'm afraid I haven't already whipped up a couple of knitted bananas, although I feel like my brain is mushed up like one!
Today, I spent all day making this wee fellow under the scrutinous eye of David. He had a particular idea of what he wanted him to look like and it turned out just as he hoped! Phew!!!

He is a Peter Pan waldorf style doll, and can also double up as Robin Hood!! Most handy!!
These are the collages, inspired by what we saw on Tuesday at the Sealife Centre. David's first...

And William's...

I did a fair few of the drawings but the colours and ideas are their own.
And this is Merlin having a cuddle the other day. He looks so cute this way up...and is pretty much immobilised!!!

Knitting bug.

2010-02-11T14:05:00.006Z

Ok, it's official. I have joined the thousands of people out there who are knitting addicts!
Just seen some patterns for knitted play food and will add them to my long list of projects.
I especially like these....

Although I think I would leave out the face!!

And obviously I would need to make a whole set of these!

Anyone know where I could lay my hands on some orange wool?!!!! :-)

This one's for you Bmf.....balaclava!!!!!

2010-02-10T09:19:00.002Z

Here it is!!!!

Obviously, I have since worked out a slightly better way of doing the dividing bit between the eyes but as Jonathan is pleased, that is good enough for me. On this occaision, anyway!

Visitations.

2010-02-09T17:54:00.006Z

Day trips in this house are like buses, it seems. We don't go anywhere for weeks and then are out all day for two days in a row!!
Yesterday we visited HE friends who live a fair way away, making it necessary for it to be a day trip rather than just a pop round to see them. The weather was set to be freezing cold and not conducive to outdoor activities, so we were set to spend the day indoors with 6 children from 3 to 13! After an initial time of chaos, with much noise and running around, they all settled down and 'paired off' involved in various activities.
William was VERY happily playing with my friends daughter, aged 6, with a wooden train and car track and consequently only saw him when refreshments were required!!!! Bliss.
As for the weather? It snowed pretty much the whole time we were there, but it did not settle. A lovely day for all and I now have the addition of raspberry jam to our store cupboard!!! Yummy!
And today we ventured off to Birmingham to the Sea Life Centre as part of an organised visit by our local HE group. It was the first time we had met any of them as we rarely make it to any of the meets there, and most trips are not necessarily our 'thing'.
It was quite a long trip there, as Rob took us the 'pretty way' through the town centre!!! We had left in plenty of time and still arrived half an hour early! The journey was slower that way , easier to make wee stops and certainly more interesting!!!! There were so many fruit and veg shops with produce in plastic bowls out on tables in the streets. There were lots of people on bicycles, and so many sari shops. The models were usually without heads, and very tall and elegant, yet all the ladies we saw walking around were only small. So obviously they have the same issues in their culture as we do in ours!! Although I guess it easier to find a sari to fit, or adjust one if you are not the prerequisite size!
It was quite strange for us to drive through such a built up and busy area, in comparison to our little village. I guess for other people who live in small towns, it isn't so much of a culture shock! And even Tom, and Rob who have recently spent a fair amount of time in Northampton, probably didn't see it the same way as I, and possibly Jonathan, did. I love looking at the buildings though. The mixture of old and new together. The architecture always interests me. I love old buildings, and although I know very little about which era they were built, it doesn't stop me from wondering what life was like for the people who lived there when they were new.
I felt the same when we visited our friends yesterday, as they live in a 1930's house with lots of the original features in tact. Really lovely. It made me reminiscent of our little victorian terrace we left behind 3 years ago. I loved the fact that it was so old and that many families had lived there before, even babies born there before William. I feel sad that the thing that attracted us to that house in the first place, and what we loved about it most was now lost.
I think that is what I would like most, to return to a house that has history, character and as many original features as possible! Somewhere my beloved Rayburn would fit in!
Anyway, back to today's trip.
We all enjoyed it. We all had our own favourite bits, and as always, mine is the rays...

David loves the sharks best.

I'm not sure what he's so cross about.

This little fella was a real cutey pie! He kept picking up small pebbles with his hands and waving them around!

Will's favourite was the turtles. He said they looked like they were flying!!

And these guys were just enormous. Two rescued sea turtles. The smaller of the two weighed 30 stone!!!!

And this reminded me of David's new lampshade!

A wonderful couple of days, all be it a bit tiring....ok, so I'm knackered!!! But I came home to a little package of wool containing the ball I need to finish Jon's balaclava. I must get it finished tonight!!!

Love/hate realtionships

2010-02-05T15:09:00.003Z

Not of the human variety!!!
I was thinking more about Playmobil!
Today has seen me on my hands and knees grovelling around the floor, bending over boxes, trying to conduct a very long overdue sort of the boys Playmobil.
Now, despite the longing I have to have simplistic, waldorf, wooden toys for the boys, I happen to love Playmobil and Lego in all its guises.
But I also hate it!!!
They do have an awful lot, but them it is the accummulation of all the boys over the years...remember Tom is now 15 and we started off with a wreck of a pirate ship from a village jumble sale and a jeep with trailer and motorbikes from the village charity shop, when he was about 4 years old. They were both slightly broken with lots and lots of bits missing but it started something.
So 11 years on we now have a massive collection (but then we have no Playstation, Wii, very few computer games and no TV licence!!) of pirates including a new ship, 2 castle sets, one was second hand and one was new, circus ring,ice explorer, forest ranger, farm animals, and even a few cowboys and indians acquired from Ebay etc
I say massive but compared to other boys we know of (that go to school, I hasten to add. When do they get the time?), it is a small collection to share between two boys.
It provides hours of imaginative play, sometimes alone, sometimes together and that is not always easy with nearly a six year age gap!
I know that there are plenty of people out there who would dispute the imaginative side of the play when the little people and accessories come so complete in every little detail, but the actual playing is so imaginative.
We have used the wagon from the farm to make a covered wagon for prairie play, including cardboard canoes and teepees, the rangers are regularly planning expeditions to the North Pole and the pirates are often attacking the castles occupants!
I love the way the animals are all so smooth and rounded with movable limbs and sometimes mouths! I love the scope there is to make Zoro or Robin Hood by combining different people and I love the way that the boys narrate their own stories as they play and get lost in their own little worlds.
But, and it is a big BUT, I hate the way all the stuff gets left all over the bedroom floors as they insist they want to leave their 'little worlds' up overnight for play the following morning.
I hate the way the sets all get mixed up and then they can't find what they are looking for.
I hate the way they take hair off one man to give to another and leave him bald in the box!! or swop sword cases (there's another case for disapproval....violent toys eek!), gun holsters or neckerchiefs.
And Lego is no better!! Although it is a wondeful source of constructive and imaginative play, I really despise the way we have so many little men with dismembered bodies, no hands or hair and a whole host of little teeny tiny lights, that congregate in the bottom of the box with all the dust!! Yuk!!!
But despite this love/hate relationship, I find myself seduced in the same way as David is by all the sets and could spend an arm and a leg (lol, sorry couldn't resist that!) on the stuff!
We saw a set of indians complete with mats and papooses, and a lovely proper covered wagon (ours has the hitch part broken now)on Ebay earlier as we searching for spare parts, but how much Playmobil can one justify having?!!
If only I could sort out the storage issue, but then I have never mastered the art of clothes storage for these guys either! Oh well!

Business as usual.

2010-02-04T08:48:00.003Z

Feeling much better this morning, Thank you!!
A good job too as the house was very much the worse the wear after my day (or two, as I was pretty under the weather the previous day due to a severe lack of sleep!) of doing 'nothing'.
The dishwasher hadn't been loaded from last night, the surfaces were covered in all manner of other bits needing washing by hand, the washing pile was humungous and the floor looked like it hadn't been swept for days. The eggs from yesterday hadn't been washed, or dated, what litle carpet we have needs hoovering, the bins needed putting out and the recycling sorted....the list goes on.
I managed to get Tom up to do the bins and feed the ducks, but the rest I have pretty much sorted now. Jonathan has just got up and we are going to head off to the woods for a little fresh air, I think. I'll let the washing machine take care of a load while we are gone, and maybe the bread maker will make us some dough too! It's not all bad!

In sickness and in health.

2010-02-03T17:07:00.004Z

Last night about half past ten, my poor Jonathan was sick. All over his bedroom floor. Poor boy. We sorted it out and removed the rug so that he could go to sleep. We left him with a bowl, just in case.
Less than three hours later, I suffered the same fate. I made it to the bathroom though, thank goodness.
I then went into each boys room and deposited a bucket, got back into bed, and still feeling awful, I sat awake listening for any sign that the others were going to follow suit.
We assumed that it was the chicken curry that I cooked for tea. It is only the second time I have cooked it from scratch and it was even better than the first attempt. I was really pleased with it, and everyone ate it!! I felt awful not least that I might be responsible for everyone else's suffering, but that the next day was going to be hell.
I eventually dropped off to sleep after about 2, maybe three hours, finally convinced that William and David were ok and that Tom and Rob could look after themselves if necessary!!!
So today has been a strange sort of day. I am so relieved that it wasn't my cooking, as it seems to have affected just the two of us, but I am also worried that if it is a bug, then the others may still get it!
I am so tired and have been lucky enough to have Rob home today, but while I have been up and about, mainly to reassure David that all is ok (he has a sick phobia), Jonathan stayed in bed for most of the day!
David felt compelled to make him a Get Well card, which he did mostly unaided, just a little verbal encouragement from me and I helped him to build some Knex models while the others went out and did a few errands.
Then we watched some episodes of Little House on the Prairie and learnt about rabies (that's rabies not babies!!) and about melting metal, amongst other things!!
So I guess what I'm saying is that every cloud has a silver lining, because although I have felt ill, it has been a productive day.
I just hope that tomorrow brings sunshine and good health as opposed to my worst nightmare....more rain and sick smalls.

Yet more socks, silly faces and steam boats.

2010-01-30T10:49:00.002Z

A few piccies today.
Firstly, Tommy's long awaited socks!!

Silly ketchup face...

And David's steam boat.

He did try making a little movie with Willie as prop manager but it needs a little, erm, err...fine tuning!!!

The aftermath.

2010-01-28T10:22:00.004Z

Why is that we are so good at demolition and chaos in this house? I long for a neat and tidy house. Well, not maybe neat and tidy, but I'll settle for almost tidy!!! We get inspired, start having a sort out, do a bit of shifting about, a bit of painting and then when it is time to put it all back together again, I kind of lose the impetus.
Take this last week or two for example.
It first started with Tom exploding, after goodness knows how many years sharing with Jonathan who is, THE most untidy, messy (and dare I say dirty?) boy that has ever lived. Well, maybe he isn't but he is here!!! And even by our communal standards he is bad! Lol.
So we had a discussion and he requested that we had a change around. So Jon ended up with a room on his own (eek, proving the theory that crime pays!!!)because no one could o wanted to share with him. Tom ended up in with Will!!!! And David moved to a smaller room. The move went well. But there is still some sorting out to do from that. A few boxes left in the bathroom and some stuff in my room.
Then we painted he kitchen, while Rob was in the mood and still has some time on his hands. I was so fed up with not being able to wipe the dirt off the walls, for fear of losing the paint!!!
That led on to the tiling, a quick coat in the little bathroom and then the dining room was just a continuation of the kitchen....
So what am I left with???
Stuff everywhere not in the right place. Every surface needs washing. The feeling that there is just too much to do and not knowing where to start!!!! I have done lots this morning already, and have just stopped for a cup of coffee, but there is always the stuff that never really had a home in the first place....what do I do with that?!!! I like the uncluttered look of the rooms when you empty it to decorate, but we can't keep it like that. It seems to be impossible!! The kitchen and dining room is the centre of activity in this house and is therefore full of stuff.
I just wish I could whittle it down a bit.
Right. Back to the monumental task in hand!!!
Tiles look nice though. :-)

A bright idea!

2010-01-26T18:38:00.004Z

I have to share this...
I made it today in about 10 mins from an old lampshade that was damaged and 3 pieces of A4 card!! It was one of those moments when I was trying desperately to think how to make a new cover for it rather than throw it away. I know that you made a beautiful material one for a table lamp recently, Louise and that got me to thinking. This lampshade was originally made up from the sturdy wire frame and six plastic panels that were like frosted glass with roses embossed on them. So I thought that material covering was perhaps not the way to go. And then, inspiration struck!! The card was some animal print ones that Granny had sent up from Cornwall and so I cut six new panels from the card using the old plastic piece as a template, popped them into place, and voila!!!!

I'm really pleased with it!! As is David, whose room it now illuminates!

Our weekend.....

2010-01-25T18:17:00.012Z

So, here we have two beanbags that David and I made at the weekend. An old pair of jeans was the donor material; the same pair that was used for Will's christmas doll's dungarees actually. Filled with an opened, but not very popular packet of dried beans. David did nearly all the sewing himself with just a little help from me along the way. He was very pleased with himself. He and Will enjoyed trying to throw them in to a box, just as soon as they were finished.

A fire, made by daddy and Will out of wood to replace the wood and paper one they made before. Will loves painting pictures, but he loves making things and then painting them even more. This morning after breakfast he painted one of the empty tile boxes blue for a kennel for one of his toy dogs.
Yes, I did say EMPTY tile box!!!
It has only taken 3 years to pluck up the courage to have a go at tiling the splashback in the kitchen!!!
Before....

and after....

Just a few final touches needed to the grouting and sealant. It makes such a difference to the room!
And what is this left in the coat cupboard? I thought you'd emptied it Rob, before we started painting?

Oh, I see! New bunkbeds for the boys!!!

And Indiana David and the legend of the newly tiled kitchen. Here he is wrestling with a rubber snake, aided by his faithful side kick Louis!

This week.....

2010-01-21T09:57:00.007Z

Will and daddy finished his Fire Station for his new fire engine...

We had friends over to visit and we swopped some books and DVD's, which has indeed kick started our pioneer/native americam indian/Little house books theme again. I have read aloud the beautifully illustrated Little House easy readers (in one sitting!!!), we have finished our Native American Indian lapbook, and looked back on the Little House in the Big Woods one we did last year. David is keen to do the next Little house book now.

It was good to see another HEing family with similar views and values as us. It is always reassuring and inspiring to talk and share ideas and stories. We took them to one of our local woods and all the children had a great time on the rope swings and exploring the woods.
We have also been watching The Coal House at War, which is a BBC series about three families that go to live a mining village in Wales, set in 1944. It is really good and very different from The 1940's House, because you can really appreciate the community spirit that must have been so important to people during that time.
Jonathan plays darts quite alot here....we have a board up in the living room!!!! He plays 301 with Rob and we call it maths!!!! He goes through a fair amount of flights, and he decided to recycle these odd flights and fashion these....

Here's a close up....its made of wood...of course, what else?!!

The best thing is that it actually flies straight and you can play with them like the normal ones...they are just less dangerous!!!
And I have been knitting more little projects. Rob has been wanting a hat for running to hold his MP3 player ear phones in, so I did that at the weekend from the same WW2 pattern site that Will's balaclava came from, and I finished Tom's first sock (pictures to follow).I also knitted this face cloth yesterday.

I'm really pleased with it. It was made in the spirit of Use it up January and was made with a very small ball of left over cotton yarn form Will's poncho that I knitted. I literally JUST had enough to make it.
Rob has managed to get the kitchen painted with extra durable paint, as the last time we painted it, we must have ued the world's only wash-off-able paint!!!! No good when your kitchen sees as much mud as ours!! So now I have to do the skirting boards, which we didn't even get round to last time and are still yellow from the previous owners obsession with yellow!!! Once we realised the paint wiped off, we kind off lost interest in the whole thing, but this time we have even bought some tiles for the splash back, which is just currently bare wall. Not good when the paint just wipes off on the cloth!
Tom went on Explorer camp in what remained of the snow at the weekend, and came back relatively clean but extremely tired. Scouts it seems do not have as much common sense as you would think....if I mentioned aerosol cans and lighters in the same breath you would probably wince. But in a tent????? The boys in question were sent home and, this is the 'best' bit, one of the parents asked for a refund as her son was missing the second half of the camp????!!!!!!!
So it has been a busy week despite some or all of us being under the weather with sore throats and coughs. Now time for some relaxation..... ;-)

I am in mourning...

2010-01-16T15:22:00.003Z

for the snow that was so loved and appreciated. I woke up this morning to the sound of heavy rain and knew that The Thaw had begun in earnest. Will and I were up at 6.30 this morning and by 7 am he had painted this among other things.

It started off as a dog...see the nose and the larger shape was to be it's head? But as he painted he narrated as usual and it turned into a hedgehog, closely followed by a ladybird!!!! He never ceases to amaze me with what he can 'see'.
By about 11am the view from the kitchen window looked like this...

That is all that remains of the snowman of a previous post.
Our garden has returned to the mud fest that I had almost forgotten existed. It looks such a sorry state. I so miss the snow and feel engulfed somehow by the grey dreariness that hangs over the garden. As I type this, a fog is coming down over the fields behind and inching closer to us, as is an early darkening of the skies tonight, I think.
But every cloud has a silver lining, or so the saying goes, and Rob went off shopping with Jon and William while David and I continued sorting out th ebedrooms after our re shuffle this week.
This is the absolute bargain that was to be found for Will in a charity shop!!

It is the same type as the safari car that Rob found in a charity shop around this time last year, I think. It is lovely. Very well made, but missing a few bits...no hose or second ladder, or any firemen. I am thinking of buying the little bendy men from Myriad and making my own for him but they can be bought online....£20 for 4 firemen. They are so lovely, but how can you spend four times as much on the men as you did on the car?!!!
Hmm.
This is Will painting the cardboard box that is to become the fire station. He is very excited about it!!
I'll try to get a photo of the completed set up later on!!

Fame at last.

2010-01-15T13:53:00.004Z

Well, sort of.
Tom rushed out to buy this magazine yesterday while we were in the midst of moving bedrooms around. Not a very convenient moment, but justified I think given the circumstances. He had a tip off you see.

A page about the recent off road event that he took his truck to.

Did you spot it? Tom's truck!!!!!!

So very exciting!!!

And still it snows....

2010-01-13T15:17:00.004Z

Am I really the only person left loving the snow?
All the blogs I read seem to be a bit fed up with it....but I'm not!!!!
So, this morning the snowman in the back garden looks like this......

and still it snows.
It has been snowing continuously since first thing this morning. It is beautiful.
This morning I spent the morning in the kitchen ( no change there then, eh?!!) and tried to make lots of good things to eat from what we had in the cupboards.
So I made, with varying amounts of assistance from the boys as they passed through and lingered for a while in the kitchen...
4 loaves of bread from the wheat we ground yesterday.
Carrot and coriander soup from the recipe here
1 batch of apple spice muffins
1 batch of macaroons
Chicken korma
Onion bhajis
Raspberry blancmange (2 pints)
and Jonathan checked on his ginger beer that he has started.

Needless to say in a house full of 6 people, 3 of which are pretty much full grown men, the first four items have pretty much been consumed already, with the next three on the menu for tonight and Jonathan drooling over the last item!!!

Well in the spirit of this post here I think, along with the blue wool for the balaclavas I've knitted. Going to continue on this theme, I think. Not much left in the cupboards to use up though, food wise so will have to look at the wool and material stash and the HE resources!!!!

Looking to have a big shift around here at home so it could be time for some de cluttering too!!!

The wrong sort of snow.

2010-01-12T13:21:00.005Z

This is the snowman that they made today. Will has been watching the snowman cartoon alot recently and has been desperate to make one. The weather has been either too cold for Will, as he has been poorly or as in true Winnie the Pooh style, the boys have been telling me it is the wrong sort of snow!!! Too powdery apparently. But today as it has started to thaw, it seemed 'just right!!'.
Willie is sporting his new balaclava that I knitted and, as the second attempt at it (see previous post for the first attempt!!), I am pretty pleased! He likes it too which is a bonus!!!
So is it really thawing? I hope not. Is that really it? I hope not. I love the cold and frosty/snowy weather. It is all so bright and exhilerating. Jonathan and I have been looking after the horses and sheep this weekend as the owner is away, and so we have been walking there and back twice a day to feed and water the animals. It is a 3mile round trip along the road, but we have been going the long way round (4 miles)up the bridleway to give the dog a run and to let them all play in the snow drifts up the top. Some of them are so deep they come up to about Jonathan's waist!!! It is has been quite an adventure as we have been walking back in the dusk, and will miss the routine when he returns tomorrow.
And Louis has been allowed the free run of the house for the last few days. We started gradually, with him being out in the evenings, and he was settling really well once the boys were out of the way, and now he is a fully fledged, free roaming dog!!! He is currently sleeping on the sofa next to me as I type. Just like a baby.

He has a a few run ins with the cat, but as he is a bit of a wimp he doesn't challenge Blackie...just looks at him intently from a safe distance!!! Merlin and Louis already have an understanding. They are sort of friends but Louis can't resist chasing him out of the living room. Merlin frollicks off kicking up his back feet playfully. This morning we found the pair of them in Merlins cage...very cosy!!!!
So can the three animals live together in the house without killing each other? Well, Merlin has superiority over Blackie, Blackie has the upper hand with Louis and Louis just wants to be friends with them both!!!!
It will be interesting, no doubt!!!

I'm loving this weather...aren't you?

2010-01-08T13:20:00.009Z

This is Merlin enjoying the snow this morning...

He has been a much talked about topic in our house, these last few weeks for a number of reasons..
1.Although Merlin was purchased (rescued) for David, I knew that the enthusiasm of the boy wouldn't last and so it now falls to me generally to feed and clean him out most days.
2.He has had a number of baths, which he REALLY enjoys, to try to combat the pungent aroma that IS Merlin.
3.Probably related to the one above, but I feel deserves a point in its own right, is the fact that Merlin has recently taken a strong interest in certain soft toys that have been left on the floor...namely one brown beaver and a not so white cat. Lets just say that this behaviour has led to some interesting discussions about sex and babies!!
4.Also, possibly related to the above 2 points, is the fact that every so often Merlin decides that he doesn't want to use his litter tray and will leap up on to the sofa as soon as my back is turned and WEE!!!!!! YUK. This will NOT be tolerated, as opposed to the interest in the soft toys which just makes everyone fall about laughing!!!
But what are we to do? Find him a girlfriend? or take him to the vets and have him castrated? Either option sounds expensive and/or lots of hassle. Hmmmmmm.
So today, having spent yesterday in his cage in disgrace, I let Merlin outside in the snow....about 10 o'clock and he has only just decided to come in!!!! Its half past 1 now. He had a lovely time out there, skipping about and exploring, and sitting in the patch of sunshine. He even had a frolic around with Louis.
Who, incidently, adores the snow too. He rushes around grabbing mouthfuls, shoving his nose in as far as it will go and deliberately throwing hmself into snow drifts and leaping around like a deer!!! He has been loving it!!!
This is Will and David enjoying some painting. David is painting a peacock and Will as usual, is narrating as he paints.
Will hasn't been out in the snow much. He is finding it too cold and he has actually had a bit of a cold the last week too. Poor wee boy.
So, I thought I would knit him a balaclava as the one he usually wears is too big and therefore not as snug and warm as it could be. So I searched on the internet and found a pattern that was from WW2. It looked just the thing and dead easy too. I needed to make it smaller than the one in the picture so I guessed that by using smaller gauge needles and finer wool, it would be just that.....

Oops! Too small. So this one is winging its way to Hannah for Willow when she is out and about in the Mei Tei.
And these are the cornish pasties we made this morning, inspired by a post that I read here yesterday.

They were yummy! A lovely hot lunch before the boys went off to the woods to gather........wood!!!

Nearly shredless marmalade.

2010-01-05T13:21:00.005Z

This is my beautiful new preserving pan in action this morning.

And these are the four jars of Lemon and Lime marmalade that I made in it. I have never made marmalade before and this turned out really well. It tastes really yummy. It is not quite shredless, but there are very few bits of peel in it as we all prefer it this way...and I am so pleased with it. Not quite sure why it is orange though!!!!

So a massive thank you to My MIL Maggie who sent me the money to buy it! I also bought a metal jam funnel to go with it, and boy, together they make the job sooooo much easier!!!!
Thank you Maggie xxxx

Winter as it should be....woolly socks and hot water bottles!

2010-01-04T15:35:00.006Z

Isn't it beautiful today? We woke up to a bright moon in a starry sky, with a wonderful frost that has made everything white.Hoar frost. All day. We braved the roads in the car for a walk in the woods first thing this morning. The journey was bright and beautiful...the sun shining across the fields and hedges. Glorious. It wasn't sunny in the woods. In fact it was downright freezing, but still beautiful!
This is how winter should be isn't it....cold and frosty.
We came home and lit the fire. Cosy in the living room we had scrambled egg and toast for lunch.
Just how winter should be.
The boys all have thermal leggings to wear when it is like this. In fact William has worn his since September as trousers generally, but David and Jon got theirs for christmas. A necessary for outdoors folk at the moment!!
Something else the boys got for christmas...my homemade fleece hot water bottle covers...one each for Will, David and Jon.

These are David's socks that I knitted for christmas also....

And here is William modelling his pair just as I finished them this afternoon!

I hope to cast on for Tom's later on. He had neither a hot water bottle cover, or thermal leggings as he seems to have his own central heating system!!! But everyone gets cold toes don't they!!

Pictures of our crafty makes...

2009-12-27T13:36:00.011Z

The last few posts have been lacking in photographs so I thought I would make up for it today, although there are still a couple more to do another day!!!
This one is our season table with the initial wintry feel to it.

Lots of hand made decorations this year...Rob made a wreath for the front door and we had some real greenery above the mirror in the living room. These snowflakes were an idea I 'borrowed' from Hannah, and we liked them so much we made some in different colours! If you look closely in the first picture you can see some of the paper chains too.

A two tone pink one!!!!

And a much smaller one for the tree in classic seasonal colours....

These are the home made edible goodies we made....truffles, iced gingerbread biscuits, lebkuchen and Jonathan's favourite, peppermint creams!! We packaged them up seperately and in different ways. I enjoyed making the little boxes and bags too!!

This is the celebration ring that I made from clay inspired by the wooden ones from Myriad. They are a lovely idea, but sooooo expensive So, failing to persuade Jonathan to make me a wooden one, I fashioned this one from the air drying clay we had. We used it for all three of the birthdays we had before christmas using the numbers that I made from clay to decorate them. William and David helped to paint those. I need to find some candles the right size for the holes that I made. We used cake candles in wooden holders that Rob made out of a length of Hazel, but they burn down too quickly. It made a nice centrepiece for the table on the day anyway, though.

The baggy Waldorf doll I made for my friends liitle girl designed to be a bedtime companion. A very soft squashy body ideal for cuddling.

The very simple Waldorf first doll I made for her wee one. At 5 months she is teething and so I'm hoping this will not only give her something to cuddle but something to chew on aswell!!!

And this is the traditional limbed doll I made for William. He has dungarees made from bits of old jeans, a t shirt from one of my old t-shirt's sleeves and his hat is an odd sock of David's!!!! Quite pleased with him as a first attempt at this style, although his head is a little elongated...it should be a little rounder.

I always enjoy making and giving handmade presents. They always feel more special somehow.Jonathan and David loved their socks and Jonathan wore them every day for about 5 days!!!! I wish I had taken a photo of them on the first day he wore them, as they are now a little worse for wear! Photos of those and the hot water bottle covers I made coming soon!!!! I just need to start earlier next year!!!!
Receiving homemeade presents is always lovely too...some lovely hand knitted dish cloths from Hannah and a lovely little knitted elephant for Will. He's gorgeous xx

Birthdays, solstice and christmas!!!

2009-12-22T20:05:00.008Z

So, here we are.
Everyone is talking about being ready for Christmas yet here we are still trying to concentrate on Tom's birthday, which is tomorrow.
But we have had to do christmas preparations. There have been presents to make, package up, wrap and parcel up to post. A special consignment was delivered to my good friend Han yesterday, while Rob and the smalls went to the post office with the parcels for further afield.
Rob and Jonathan have their birthdays and then I get lulled into a false sense of security that Tom's is a week away. I started doing christmas things, we talked about the winter solstice and then suddenly I rememeber that it is his birthday tomorrow!!!! Eeek!!! Birthday cake is quickly baked, plans thrown together. A few presents wrapped and cards hastily made. Food shoppping was done this afternoon and suddenly we are here.
This strange day which I always feel should be Tom's birthday. He was born in such chaos around midnight that noone really knows which day is his birthday. The people present (there were quite a few!) seemed to all agree on just after midnight (12:03 to be precise for the record), but to me it always seems wrong that it is tomorrow and not today. He should have been born before midnight, long before, but I won't go into detail about that here. Then he would have 2 days between his birthday and christmas and it would be right....I was in labour all that day and that is when I think about his passage in to this world.
I brought Tom home from hospital on a beautiful frosty Christmas Eve, 15 years ago. This was my first experience of birth and motherhood, both of which started out as a disaster, but I have arrived at Tom's 15th birthday feeling proud that I have made it through many difficult and testing times with him firmly by my side. He has turned into a very mature, sensible young man with a great sense of humour. He is always there to help, can always be relied upon and has always been and continues to be, my right hand man.
He is paving the way for his brothers and I just hope that he continues on this path he has chosen. It cannot be easy being the eldest of four boys....(it certainly isn't easy being a mum of four boys!!!) but he is doing just fine!!
So here I sit unable to do anything constructive this evening as is true of many an eve of Tom's birthday thinking about the whole experience and wishing I had known then what I know now. But despite the delayed and consequently forced entry in to this world, the terrible experience of breast feeding and the upheaval that he experienced as a baby; we moved house more times than I care to remember, and he went to a child minder as a very small baby (don't ask!!!) and many other things along the way, he has turned out ok!!
I may have screwed up in the beginning, but I must have done something right along the way! So tomorrow we will celebrate Tom's 15th birthday.
And from today the days are getting longer and that has got to be something worth smiling about! It is funny how I wasn't as desperate for the Winter Solstice as I thought I was going to be, because we have been having this beautiful snow and frost for the last few days. The sun has been shining, so the normal dull and dreary grey of winter hasn't been hanging over us. Yes, I could cope with winter if it was cold and frosty all the time. It is the grey and wet I hate so much.
We have a decorated tree now. Paper chains and snowflakes up. A winter seasons table. Lights up in the dining room and kitchen bringing the magic to the most used rooms in our house and preents all wrapped. So preparations done, many of the handmade gifts I planned have been finished, and now it is time to just look ahead and enjoy the festive season.
Merry Christmas to you all xxx

What is Home Education?

2009-12-15T16:05:00.002Z

I think there are far too many people in our country, that do not know or understand the answer to this question, yet still make judgements without bothering to educate themselves about the subject.

Life in slow motion.

2009-12-10T14:27:00.003Z

So, another week has slipped by without me posting anything.
This is the first year for a very long time that we have a christmas tree up so early in our house. I usually do the tree on christmas eve for a number of reasons. Firstly, I believe it is traditionally done this way....is that right? or is that the yule log that I am thinking of? I can just picture people finishing work early on christmas eve and going to buy their tree on the way home to surprise the children. Not sure where i have the image from but it is quite an old fashioned image!! And secondly, we have three birthdays in this house before christmas with Tom's being the 23rd so I feel it is only fair to give him full birthday honours before moving on to christmas.
But this year, we have a real tree bought from the farm shop. I love real trees. So much nicer than the plastic variety, although I am quite attached to my own little one. We went to get dog and chicken feed and were greeted with a whole lot of trees stacked up against the hedges and fences. Every year we talk about having a real tree but never get around to it. But this year? Jonathan had found a twenty pound note in the gutter while out on his paper round, so we bought one!!! He didn't need much persuading...lol!!!
It has no decorations yet though. We hope to spend some time making some before getting my box down full of the usual ones. Most of those are hand made too but I thought the tree is big enough to take a few more than the little tree, and a good excuse to make some more. I like remembering how each decoration came about and adds to the magic of it all. I just hope we have enough lights to do it justice too!
We also gathered some fir and holly branches to make a wreath and some garlands, but we have yet to work out the logistics of those!!
I'm still busy knitting and sewing pressies and am hoping to at least get some finished in time.
I have another first too. This is the first year when I haven't actually bought a single christmas present by this time. I usually have a little stash going by now, and gardually add to it as I think of things, but there isn't a single bought present in my house yet!!! 2 weeks to christmas and nothing bought at all yet!
I have made mincemeat, but no christmas cake this year as it just isn't that popular in our house, what with birthdays in abundance too.
We are biding our time and it feels very strange. I have made a few cards with David, but it is all a little slow getting going this year. We have edible goodies to make but for obvious reasons can't do those until nearer the time, and my projects are coming together slowly.
Rob has been making an advent calendar with festive pictures of us and the animals in a big tree. I'll try and get a picture posted as it is quite hard to explain. We also have a fabric one that I made a few years ago that we put sweeties in, but it always seems to be problematical and actually Rob's pictures are more popular!!!! Today was Buffy in a party hat and blower, and yesterday we had Turq on skis!!!
There has also been some letter games here, with the montessori sandpaper letters I made a while ago. Will and David spent time finding objects around the room and putting them with the 'right' letter. We all enjoyed trying to think of objects for the obscure letters!!! Will is getting good at recognising them and can type all the beginning letlers of our names on the keyboard, saying everyones names as he does it. He also likes to sit and do typing on Word, asking what it is that he has written afterwards!!
Maybe a pictorial post next time!

Drafts

2009-12-02T09:39:00.004Z

Not the cold kind, (although we have more than our fair share of those!!!) but the blog post kind.
I really must get out of the habit of rushing to finish a post because I have to go and do something else.
I forget that there is a draft saving device that means that I can go back and re read and add in all those things that I forgot to put in first time around.
Like yesterday.
I waffled on about rats and totally embarrassed myself, but forgot to say about the wheat grinding that has been going on here recently. Lots of bread made from scratch here, and we have enjoyed watching Jimmys food factory on iPLayer, where he makes cornflakes. Mad, the amount of effort that goes in to making those little flakes. We are currently into porridge here. Cheaper, less packaging overall and less waste. Mot to mention warming and more filling.
I also forgot to say about the popcorn making yesterday, and the invention of a new breakfast cereal...popcorn and milk with sugar...yuk!!!!
I also forgot to post about the christmas sweet factory that was my kitchen a week or so ago...truffles, choc fudge, biscuits with melted sweets in the middle and pink coconut mice. All practice runs with gifts in mind. Of course these trial sweets had to be consumed by the taste testers and decisions made about which to make again and what to do differently.
I also forgot to post about the fact that Jonathan has finished reading the Chronicles of Ancient Darkness series too now. Now we are all waiting for the purchase of the final one in paperback next year!!! This is such an amazing thing to be able to say about him as he has never been a reader and these are the first 'real' substantial fiction he has read. I am SO tempted by the hardback copy, but I must resist!
So many things that we do that I forget to share in detail. So many unwritten, but thought about blog posts in my head.
But if you are doing, you can't be typing about it!! Can you?
Home Ed is full of ups and downs. Periods of intense activity and serious lulls. But with so many children in the house these periods don't always coincide, making for a turbulant atmosphere on occaision!
Winter is the worst time for us. More difficult to be outside for any length of time. Such short days and long drawn out nights. I can be happy indoors for quite a while, as long as I have been out. But that isn't so for all of us. The boys seem to spend more time on the computer and watching DVD's at this time of year. Energy seems to be at a real low which stifles the creativity that I have. It is hard to do things in the evenings as I feel so tired, yet when I am wide awake I have other, more pressing things to do!! I think it is probably the same for all of us.
Looking forward to the winter solstice and the turning of the tide.

Post Script added 4th Jan 2010
I am fully aware that drafts of the cold kind are not spelt the same way and appreciate the tact shown by all those educated folk reading this out there!!!

A little random post

2009-12-01T15:49:00.004Z

A quick chicken pic.

A quick duck pic.

A funny cow pic.

And a picture of two dolls my mum knitted for me years ago. I think that they are quite 'waldorfy', and if I remember rightly they are from a pattern by Jean Greenhowe. The clothes are removable and really are lovely. She made a great job of them and they have survived all this time! They must be 25 years old I would think.

Ok, so those pictures are a little random! They are some of the ones I meant to post a few weeks ago but didn't get round to for one reason or another.
Today has been an odd sort of day. One of those days when I didn't really have a plan in mind but it sort of developed all by itself.
This morning while I was making the porridge and putting on the bread dough, I saw a rat run across the patio...now we know there are rats around. After all we live in a rural area with fields behind us and lost of us keep chickens and have compost heaps, so I guess they are inevitable. But on my patio? I THINK NOT.
So we all got outside straight after breakfast and proceeded to have a re shuffle of the garden and a bit of a tidy up. He seems to have a 'run' that comes in under the fence from next door and then he must run along the fence under the hedge, where there has been plenty of cover from various things in the veggie patch...garden canes and fence posts, pots etc So we moved all those out and made the area much more open..Jonathan has set one of his traps there, but I don't hold out much hope, as they are notriously tricky things to catch. I don't really have a problem with there existance, I just do not want them up by the house pestering the quail or stealing the rabbits food!! Poor Merlin. He is back indoors again now and looking quite smug about it too!!!
Jonathan and David were then outside finishing the tidying and making new bows, so it only seemed fitting that we went somewhere after lunch for them to use them. We walked across some stubble fields instead of the usual wood walk, and they had such fun firing their arrows and chasing after Louis as he ran off with them!!! We had an 'Alan' moment when Jonathan was shouting at Louis trying to get him to stop, and then at David to get his attention. It was a BBC animal antics programme or something. Meercats shouting Alan and then Steve. Google it and I'm sure the video will come up on Youtube. VERY funny. Very, very funny.
The boys are now playing together on the computer and have been for a long time. Tom has been outside fixing a few things on his truck that broke the other weekend at his off roading event, which went really well. He got 16 'punches' out of 20. They all have a card attached to the passnger wing mirror that they have to punch at various points along the way. He did brilliantly. Thanks goes to Mike who picked him up with the trailer and brought him home again!
David took part in a distance swimming event on Sunday and swam a total of 300m!!! I thnk he could have done more with a little encouragement, but the organisation was a little poor. He got a 200m badge and certificate and is very pleased with himself, never the less. As are we!!! He did really well, considering he had never done anything like it at all before and it was like the M25 in rush hour. 6 children sharing a lane, all going at different speeds and using different strokes. There wasn't enough room to swing a cat!!!! He kept having to dodge people and that made it difficult to concentrate, I think. But he did well. And really enjoyed it, too.
Right, off now to see how the pheasant casserole is doing. The latest in our free food. Well, I guess it wasn't entirely free, as Jonathan did have to do a fair amount of walking and bashing the undergrowth for the local farmer to get them!!!

And the word is cheese.

2009-11-26T19:31:00.002Z

No, we haven't been making cheese. It is Jonathan's random word of the week. He uses instead of cool and wicked. He uses it as a curse. He uses it to break the silence or to get your attention. He has made up a silly song that he sings when you least expect it. He has also been gathering a collection of 'ch' words, such as chocolate and chips and today we have all been joining in!!! Tom has been making up silly sentences with all the cheesy words!
We had such gems as chestnut, chafe, chaps, cheshire, cheek, chest...it is quite bizarre really that my least 'wordy' son has taken to thinking of 'ch' words and involving the whole family!!!
''Cheese!''

So, what have we all been up to?

2009-11-19T19:49:00.002Z

Rob and I managed a night away from the kids a couple of weeks ago. Tom babysat for us and we had a whole 18 hours to ourselves! Where did we go, I hear you ask? A hotel? B & B? Caravan? Nope. We camped wild, complete with camp fire!! It was lovely, although cold at night, and I could've done with a bit more sleep. But it was cool. We cooked soup, sausages and jacket potatoes and drank tea and hot chocolate. We had bacon for breakfast and then cleared away any trace of us, (except the ashes!) before walking back to the car. Along the way we saw a kestrel land in a field with a baby rook in its grasp. It was quickly mobbed by some magpies and rooks causing it to fly away to the edge of the field by the fence. Then, along came a buzzard. It swooped down, taking advantage of the situation, grabbed the baby rook, just as the kestrel was flying up into the hedge away from the rooks!!! Amazing!!!
I've been busy making some christmas presents for the boys, but no piccys yet for obvious reasons!!! The socks are coming along well, and they are all trying to work out who they are for! I've also finished another Waldorf doll, using the book Making Waldorf Dolls by Maricristin Sealey. It has turned out well, but is also destined as a gift, so no pic of that yet either!
Rob is still busy with his Fire training, and has made a good start on building our website. More about that another time.
Jonathan has made a new rat trap, using good old you tube for the design. Not that we really think we have rats in our loft, you know, but those scurryings really did sound like BIG mice the other night!!!!They went up to investigate yesterday, taking the cat with them!!! They found what they thought to be nuts nibbled by mice but no other signs of anything larger!! When it was time to come down, the cat took some persuading,and somehow the little tub of cat food got left up there by the hatch last night. This morning when Jonathan went up to set some mouse traps, he found that something had filled the tub with loft insulation and little plastic bits from a game that was spilled up there years ago!!!! Mice? Rats? Borrowers?!!! So the traps are set and we'll see what tonight turns up!!
David has started to really shine in his swimming class and is being moved up after the christmas break. He is also doing a distance swim next Sunday to earn himself his first badge. We have no idea really how many lengths he can swim so it will be really interesting! He can do any stroke that he likes and any combination, just as long as he keeps going!!!
William has a new swimming suit...we call it his super suit! It is a full length suit with floating aid built in. I've never done anything like that before for the boys, the most we ever did was arm bands, but none of them got on with those, and Will is very sensitive to how things feel, so we thought this would be the best option. He sees the other boys swimming and wants to do the same but hates his face going anywhere near the water. Ver confident in the pool though and now that he can float pretty much unaided it might just give him the boost he needs. He can swim with my hand under his belly when he wants to, but he is quite stubborn if you attempt to make him!!!! He loves going swimming so this way at least we all get to have fun.
And Tom.....
Well, just when we thought Tom had turned into a complete computer zombie, spending hours and hours on forums etc, we went into town and bought him some welding wire and HEY PRESTO!!!! Normal service has been resumed. He made himself a metal box for the back of his truck to hold all his straps etc, finished his exhaust pipe that he had started and then finally got a buyer for his wheels and tyres on Ebay, which enabled him to buy a new clutch! If you remember, his burnt out at his trucks first off road outing last month and has been in mourning ever since.
He had several offers of help from various people, but with a downloaded Haynes manual and lots of advice from other Vitara owners with experience in such matters, he started to dismantle the truck. Ooops, I mean take the relevant engine parts apart. Or something!!!
He had to take off the starter motor, and the gear box had to come out, which is VERY heavy, so it had to be supported with straps. Lots of the nuts were old and either seized or rusted or worse, rounded off. It took him a long time with the weather against him all the way.
But he did it!!!! He put it back together yesterday, with the new clutch in place and this afternoon he drove it out of the drive onto the front grass!!!
Totally unbelievable!!! He is 15 years old next month and has just fitted a new clutch in his own truck!!
It kind of puts everything else into the shade really, doesn't it?!

A few pictures from our walk today.

2009-11-15T15:36:00.005Z

So much for a catch up from the last week!! I thought I would upload these photos while I was in the mood. I can do the others another day!
We went for a walk in a local woodland after lunch while the sun was shining, as we have felt far too restricted the last few days, what with the wind and rain we have been having.
I took the camera with me, with the idea that it would give the boys more playing time if I had something to occupy me too!
This is Louis investigating a badger hole....quite brave I think!!

and having a good look round before coming out. He wasn't in any hurry!

One of the many pictures I took of the sun shining through the trees. It was hard to decide which one to use!

And some fungi pictures. I took loads of these too! I love fungi in all its guises. These are just a few of my favourite photos.

This one we saw last week, and it was newer. The edges were still much paler and thicker, making the middle look more shrivelled in comparison. Of course we made the joke of it being called 'Jonathan's brain fungus'!

These ones are William's favourites. He said they lloked like mouse's ears and they were soft like mouse's ears too! He was wearing gloves so he obviously felt that they looked soft as opposed to felt soft. He liked putting his gloved fingers inside the little hollow bits. So lovely to share my fascination of fungi with someone else for a change!!!

Free Food Friday

2009-11-13T10:09:00.004Z

Free Food Friday. I've not done this one before, although I have always had plenty of things to write about for it!!
Ok, so technically speaking these free edible goodies didn't come our way today, but I am cooking/processing/eating them today so I guess they still count, right?
Cooking apples are always a big feature in our kitchen at this time of year. We pick them up while out and about in the car, while walking the dog, the boys bring them back in their paperound bags and people just turn up on the doorstep with carrier bags full!
This little haul was David's find.

And these walnuts were given to us by Hannah...thank you!!! They are the second lot she has given us, from her stash that she picked up. We traded them for some sweet chestnuts that we collected in the woods. The first lot were nearly completely eaten by Jonathan in a matter of hours so I'm keeping a few of these ones back in a secret place!!!

And these damsons are currently boiling on the stove to make jam. We've had our eye on them for a while now as they are along on eo fthe bridleways we frequent on Bob, but we never seem to get back to get them. We erm..err.. 'picked' these yesterday. Well, Jonathan shook the tree and me, David and Willie scrabbled around on the floor underneath the tree putting them into a box. Good old veggie boxes, where would our foraging goodies live without them!!

Also out on Bob yesterday we found an eating apple tree, of which I picked two from the windfalls. I had a hard time eating it on my bike whilst holding off the horse with my elbow I can tell you!!
Also in the spirit of free things we also drove round on our scavenger hunt yesterday and stopped whenever we saw a fallen branch...lots of Ash had lost branches in the wind and rain of the last few days. That, the damsons and the horse manure from the field, we had quite a boot full!!
Lots to tell from the last week but off to get the jam into jars now!

Allotment update

2009-11-02T18:18:00.005Z

This is what it looked like today when we left.
Jonathan, with a little help from David, dug over the second patch again, and I planted around 300 onion sets!!!! The rows aren't straight as I forgot the string, but they are in a sort of row type arrangement.
A little excessive do you think? Well, I'm working on a 50% success rate so that will only be 150....we are a family of 6!!! We do a lot of cooking and onions feature very high on the list of ingredients.
It is just so frustrating not to be able to have the whole plot to plan for. It feels so unfair when we know that there are several plot holders that have more than one plot!!! As newbies though, at the top of the list we have to share the plot that becomes available with the next person on the list. If you want another half plot then you have to go back on the list and wait until another plot comes up. Above you on that list might be another person who already has a WHOLE plot but who wants more. How is that fair?!!! But hey ho. We have our half plot and we will fill it completely. We just live in hope that the person we are sharing with doesn't get round to clearing it (they have hardly touched it yet), and then it gets given to us. Yeah right.
But still, we shouldn't be short of an onion or two next summer!!!

Socks and Samhain surprises!

2009-11-01T10:56:00.005Z

The finished sock!!!!! A little short in the foot length even for me but it has proved that I can do it. The heel shaping was much easier than I thought and I have plans to make some in some proper sock yarn for the boys. There is some really cool sock yarn out there!

And so to Samhain or Halloween as it is better known. I am not going to begin to explain it here because my friend Liz does a much better job of than I could ever do, here. We did the 'usual' things..hollowed out pumpkin lit up with candles, or in this case, squash.But this time, instead of hiding indoors, we had a fire outside and lit the garden with candles and lanterns that were made from jars and black paper. The chimnea worked really well on this occasion and we played Chinese whispers and eye spy in the dark around the fire.

Some of the nice things we made to eat....

And some of the gruesome creations for the feely box, that Tom and I made up.
Mashed brains...

Eyeballs in intestines?....

Baked apples still warm (hearts), stodgy porridge oats with water (sick) and slimy pasta slugs which even looked like slugs as we died them very dark purple. If you look carefully you can see a stray one in the pictures above!!
I dug out the face paints, googled a few images, added a little imagination (and Rob's creative mastery for my hat)and this is what we all looked like!!!
Mummy witch and Willie Wizard..

The Mask and Milo, aka Tommy and Louis...

Jonny the Joker...

And David the vampire....

We all had a good time and it was good to celebrate something without any commercial influence. This is our prelude to Winter Solstice and Yule as opposed to the awful hyped up Christmas that now takes over our lives, whether we want it to or not. We have always tried to stay away from the mainstream cheap, plastic, throwaway culture but not managed to create what I felt was a really good alternative. This has given me hope that with them all on side we can create celebrations the way we want them to be. Neither of us have ever been 'religious' so that part of it eludes us, so the Pagan approach was the obvious choice as it already is a part of us without us realising it.

Socks

2009-10-27T15:10:00.003Z

Knitting socks seem to be the thing at the moment so I thought I would join in the fun.
I recently won the give away on Becks craft blog for the sock knitting kit (Thank you so much Becks!!) and despite my preconceived idea of how crazy knitting on 4 needles was, I have managed to produce a tube!!!!
Yes, I followed the instructions and even managed the 16 or so rounds of K2P2 ribbing and am now about half way down the cuff in good old plain stocking stitch which, bizarrely enough is just knitting every round.
So feeling rather pleased with myself, I just thought I would re read the instructions for the heel.
OMG
I will never manage that!!!!
Is there some kind of helpline for sock knitters to call when dealing with the heel?
Can I call Heel Helpline?
Or maybe someone I know has actually has done it before and will be able to tell me that it isn't that scary, and once you start it all seems to make sense?
No?
Oh, please?!
I think I may be stuck at the heel later on and will need to publish a photo of my half finished sock and leave it as a WIP
Hrmmph That may put my christmas present list a bit behind.....
Oh and does anyone have a pattern for fingerless gloves?
I'm thinking half knitted sock may convert happily to glove.....

The treadmill that is life.

2009-10-26T13:20:00.004Z

It's been a busy week. We haven't stopped. It's been like a roller coaster of ups and downs, excitement and anticipation, fear and distress.
Some things have got done. Some things haven't. Time has been well spent and on occaision, not.
I have a mental list as long as the Great Wall of China of things that need to be done, things that ought to be done and things that I would like to do. It is rare for this list to get any shorter than it is at present.
It is a full time job just washing, cleaning, feeding and clothing a household of this size, without even thinking about the fact that 5 out of the 6 are male! That isn't taking into account the Home Education aspect of things. Then you have the fact that most of us like to be outdoors. We all like to make things in varying degrees; which means that perhaps we have more materials and ongoing projects around than other families might have.
We have more animals perhaps than ordinary families...cat, dog, rabbit, quail, chickens and ducks plus the horse down the road. We have also added the allotment to our list recently.
Maybe it is more accurate to say that we have our fingers in more pies than most people!!!!
Some days it all ticks along...well, speeds along, and other days it just all seems too much to deal with. Then even the normal day to day stuff seems insurmountable.
What I need is a ...dare I say it...maid. Not a housekeeper because I like to do the cooking but just someone who does the stuff that needs doing on a daily basis. The boring stuff!!! So I can get on with the exciting stuff!!!
I think I must be tired.
And why is it that we have joined the odd sock brigade? Until I had William, I don't think we had odd socks. It just didn't seem to be a problem for us. Now they are just an accepted part of our life. They even have a semi permanent home on the landing. Sometimes the pile gets really big and then we realise that there are now a few pairs in there, and then it gets smaller again for a while. But it is always there, laughing at me. Just like the dirt and dust around the house. The boxes of clean washing alongside the boxes of dirty washing. The number of boxes is usually the same, just that the ratio of dirty to clean changes.
The treadmill of life. I know that everyone is on it. But why does my wheel seem so much harder to turn sometimes than other peoples?

Priorities.

2009-10-19T18:21:00.004+01:00

We drove through a nearby village yesterday on the way to an art gallery, and there were hand made boards up out side a couple of the houses in protest of plans to build a wind farm in a neighbouring field.
What is that all about???? The boards were on a very, very tight bend (almost 90 degrees) and in order to look at them, Rob alomost under steered the corner. So not only are the boards dangerous, and probably have no planning permission themselves but have they really thought it through? The boards protest not about the noise as a first concern, but the house prices!!!! What about the price of the world??
I have to say I was flabbergasted at the ridiculous campaign. 3 boards in the village, which is in the middle of nowhere.
We stayed in Wales last yearfor a month, in a mobile home, less than half a mile from a wind farm. The noise or visual impact was so small...we hardly noticed their presence.
They have been planning one very close to us. We have made no objections.
Have people got their prioties wrong? Or is it just me???

And sew..........

2009-10-14T10:48:00.006+01:00

This is my new craft that I was planning. It is a Waldorf style doll and my first attempt! I bought this pattern and supplies from a lady on Ebay, while waiting for my book and other supplies to arrive from Myriad. I was itching to get started!! This one is made from velour fabric with a stockinette stuffed head. He has a little bell in the end of his hat, and stitched features. Will and I decided not to leave this one with a floppy body, so stuffed it gently with organic wool this morning to make him more cuddly. I am really pleased with the way the head went, as apparently this is the most difficult bit and is kind of make or break really. If the shape isn't right, or the features aren't in the right place, it can look so wrong! But this is Turq and Will loves him. I have plans to make another, similar one for a friends little girl, and a more baby friendly one too. You know who you are!! ;-) And then I will move on to 'proper' dolls with stuffed bodies, and limbs with clothes and hair....I am so excited!! I loved making this one and hope that this could be the start of something.

A few recent photos...

2009-10-13T18:23:00.003+01:00

So, here we have the little Imp hat I knitted for Will the other day, on the spur of the moment. Kind of cute and he likes it..he decided on how to finish the top off..neat finish, gathered or gathered with pompom. I haven't done much hand knitting recently so wanted to do something very simple and quick to get the feel for it again. Why is it that I always forget how to csat on in between knits?!!!
And this is the paper mache wigwam, cardboard tepees and fire that Will designed and made. Complete with compulsory playmobil indian!!
Will wearing his headdress. David made one too but the picture of the pair of them shows even more mess than this one!!! lol
Chimney sweeping.... now this deserves a whole post to itself really but this is the reminder to ourselves of the ordeal that was chimney sweeping!!!! Needless to say the brush and the poles parted company at some point during the proceedings, and reuniting them was not a simple task!!!! Maybe I'll tell the story one day...in my book!!!
The wasp that Rob painted on the side of Tom's Vitara. Good old acrylics again.....not sure how long they will last on the side of a car, but the effect is good isn't it?
Tom's Vitara with completed paint job....it started off white remember? He did a brilliant job, I think.
And Tom's Vitara at the Off Road weekend complete with very dangerous looking bumper!!! It completes the wasp look!!

Allotment update

2009-10-11T19:03:00.004+01:00

And a couple of photos of Jon (and Will)riding Bob bareback!

And this is what the allotment looked like after Jon and I had spent an hour or two there on Friday. Jonathan did the major digging, and I used the trowel to get a few of the stubborn weed roots out of the clumps of earth and picked up as many weeds as I could see behind him. We took two bags of roots etc away and feel we have really made some good progress. We intend to tackle another bit this week so we can put some manure down before clearing the bit at the end by the compost heap. Jonathan is really good at the digging. He has muscles in the right places and the stamina to keep going to finish what he has started. We have the same mentality: I just lack the muscle power!
This was after we popped down the field to see Bob and let the chap's chickens out. On our arrival we noticed a sheep in an odd position and my heart sunk. It was one of this years lambs, lying dead on a gate that had previously been leaning up against the fence. It must have been reaching through the bars to get to the grass behind it, when it fell. Why it didn't just walk around it, I don't know. Although it is a sheep and not best known for it's brains. It managed to get it's head back up through the gate, but the weight of it's own body must have been too much and it died through strangulation. It was still warm when we got there and I wish we had left the house an hour or so earlier as we had originally planned. We might have been in time to save it. Instead, we were left with the task of lifting the gate, and propping it up on a wooden block, so that we could both lift the animal to get it free. It took us both to carry it in to the barn. It was so very sad. Obviously the animal was bred with slaughter in mind, but this was an undignified and cruel death which served no purpose. Very sad indeed.
I feel that I should end this post on a high of which there are many...Tom's Off Roading weekend last weekend, Star Trek with Explorers this weekend, the many craft projects that have been produced and Jonathans afternoon helping the local Farm shop to name but a few. Rob's Fire Service Training is going well, and the website is taking shape slowly. I have a new craft that I am very excited about and am waiting for book and supplies to arrive in the post in the next few days. All exciting stuff, and never a dull moment here. So, consequently I am exhausted and off for some quiet knitting by the fire, instead of waiting for blogger to upload photos....I'll do them tomorrow.

Coils and wheels.

2009-10-05T20:18:00.007+01:00

I thought I would share a couple of things we have seen recently. The pictures are ones that I have found on the internet as we weren't quick enough with the camera to get our own shots!! Or maybe we were too fascinated with what we had found to bother.
We found four of these yesterday on a beautiful, sunny, autumn walk along the canal. They were basking in the sun but obviously it was still quite cool and they were slower than usual, hence we got to see four grass snakes!!! One of them just slithered under the nearest hawthorn root, and we could get a really good look at his face close up, while he was coiled up in safety. He was beautiful, and it was really exciting to be able to look at hime for so long. His little tongue flickering in and out, tasting the air. Fabulous!

And this is what we found on a walk on David's birthday back in August. I managed to pick this one up, to the delight/disbelief of everyone!!! It kept coiling itself really tightly around my hand, so that even though I knew that it was a harmless little Slow worm and that it is really a legless lizard, I still got a little squeamish and had to put it down before getting a better grip!

And one day a couple of weeks ago, we were driving along and saw a Penny Farthing going along the road!!! We drove along behind it for a while so that the boys could see, and it was so thrilling to watch this chap cycling along on this ancient machine. Or was it? It looked more like a newly built copy to me, but why would anyone do that?!! Jonathan quickly pointed out to David (and me!!!) that it was called that because one wheel was like a penny and the other, a farthing. This was quite meaningful to David and probably Will too, because there has been much talk and handling of old coins in our house recently. And if the boys had been in school? No doubt they would have 'been looking' at Victorian times at some point, with pictures of various things from the era, but they wouldn't have seen this. You can't beat seeing a real Penny Farthing actually cycling along a very quiet country lane, to understand what it must have been like to ride one! He was so high up! And the wheels so thin!! Jonathan would've loved to have had a go, I think. He likes a challenge!
Oh and a link to another fabulous you tube video...The Badman song.

Another brick in the wall....

2009-10-02T19:34:00.005+01:00

This is the link to a great video on you tube courteous of openartsurgery. It is a protest video against Badmans report and enforced schooling.
I think it is fab!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nieMyl5puAY

The lyrics are...

we don't need your registration
we don't need your yearly goals
no right of entry to our houses
badman leave home ed alone
hey badman leave us kids alone
all in all you're just another brick in the wall
all in all you're just another pawn for ed balls

Use the fork.....

2009-10-01T20:13:00.006+01:00

Sorry, couldn't resist the title!
Some before and after photos of our allotment today.
This is the view from the gate down the central path..ours is the patch on the left of the path, and you can just make out the fence posts on the far left of the photo.

This is the view from the other end, up the path. Our plot now being on the right of the photo, with the tall fence at the end!!!

This is after a couple of hours....

And this is what it looked like when we left at lunchtime. Feeling very pleased with ourselves, but enough for one day, I think!

It is ours officially of today, so we were down there before 9 o'clock this morning trying to clear the weeds. We did really well and discovered that not only did we inherit raspberry canes and rhubarb along with the mountain of sow thistles and nasturtiums, docks and buttercups, we also have a row of very neglected and weed choked strawberry plants. We dug them up and brought them home. I spent a while this afternoon, relocating them in the bed that we recently emptied the compost bin on to. There is quite a substantial strawberry patch now, provided that they all survive the move. Fingers crossed xx

Jonathan and Rob did most of the heavy work, although I did my fair share and can feel it this evening!!

I also thought I would tell you about the amazing Merlin. He is basically a house rabbit, with a cage in the house that he sleeps in at night containing his food and water, an outdoor area with shelter and a litter tray in the living room for when he is playing with the children or relaxing in the evening by the fire!! I heard that!!! I heard you snigger as you read the bit about playing with the children. Or maybe you didn't..maybe you just visioned him sat on someones lap as they stroked him?

I said played with the children and that is what I meant...I wish I had it on video to show you, and I will endeavour to capture it, because it is a regular occurance, not a fluke or one off!!! It is worth seeing.

This rabbit actually picks up the bricks/playmobil/animal and moves it!!! When William or David are playing he sort of goes up to them, picks something up and tosses it to them! It is just so funny to watch. He also does it if something is in the way of where he wants to sit. He just picks it up and moves it to one side!!
He also jumps up on to the sofa, as he just did while I'm typing this, and has a look at what you are doing and then jumps back down again. Funny little fella!

Wordless Wednesday

2009-09-30T13:26:00.001+01:00

A few bits and bobs...

2009-09-29T16:44:00.005+01:00

Ok, so what has been happening besides the installation of a heating system?
We had a surprise visitor in the boot room....
He created quite a stir!!!! I do love frogs and toads. We do actually have quite a few resident toads in the garden...one usually is in the boot room but I expect he vacated when this fellow arrived. I miss our pond. That may be something we will address in the new year. Now that we have the allotment, I could spare a few square feet for a pond nearer the house.
Well, Tom has fitted the new water pump in his Vitara....all by himself!!! It is no easy task as it involves the removal of the cam belt which if isn't fitted correctly upsets the timing and the engine would not run properly. Amazing..not yet 15 years old and off to an off road meet at the weekend in his OWN car!!!!

His progress and pictures of the Vit can be seen at his blog Landykid on my list of blogs.

A very kind lady from the HE yahoo group has leant me a fabulous book called More than Moccassins which is full of excellent crafts for our Native American Indians theme. Thank you Ginny!!! We had already made some head dresses, tomahawks and have been collecting feathers for a dream catcher...photos to follow!

Jonathan has sold his Ripstick and helmet on Ebay to get the money to buy a mobile phone. He is spending a lot of time out and about now so we felt we needed to keep track of him and he, the time!!!!

William has been spending alot of time chalking and painting. It is great to see him so creative with no pre conceived ideas of what things should look like. William also likes to type on the computer and can type all our first letters of our names in various orders of his choosing. He can also do 'mum' and 'will' when he is in the mood!!! He has been using the montessori materials I made a while ago...matching cards in various themes. He has also been helping me in the kitchen the last few days...grating cheese, making gravy and talking constantly!!! He made me laugh when he was stirring the gravy though....he was talking to himself saying 'stir, stir, stir it in' and then it became 'swer, swer, swer it in'....which is one of Tom's CB terms referring to the 'tuning' in of an aerial!!

David announced autumn had arrived the other day when he noticed the leaves changing colour on the trees at the bottom of the garden. It is good to see them making their own observations. William commented on the falling leaves down the canal this morning while we were picking blackberries.He is very good at picking the nice ones. He knows not to pick the red ones, and to leave the squishy ones there for the mice. He knows the firm and shiny looking ones are best for jam.

David has been really enjoying The Deathly Hallows which we have been reading. He follows it well, and often can guess what is about to happen. It is not an easy book to read aloud as there are so many odd names in, and lots of high pitched shrieking, which I am NOT good at!!

I have been re reading Gareth Lewis's book 'One to One' which I highly recommend to anyone starting out on their Home Education journey. Or indeed anyone who is HE'ing and has not read it! I also like his other one entitled 'Unqualified Education', for over 11's. They both are very reassuring reads.

I have also been reading the Home Education Journal from Cinnamon Press. There is a very good case study in there written by a boy of 19 years old who was educated autonomously. He is the Warden of a flagship National Trust property, which he gained through his voluntary work there, not by any qualifications acquired through the system. He did go to college at one point but left because of the poor organisation and time wasting!!! He finished his course by distance learning in a fraction of the time. He also talks of learning to drive several types of tractor in a morning, where as at college they only got to drive one kind round and round in first gear for weeks!!

I do like to read success stories. It is good for the boys to read them as much as anything. I think I will start a collection as evidence for certain unsupportive individuals!

Well, we survived!!

2009-09-26T09:56:00.002+01:00

Plumbers have gone. Radiators and boiler all installed and working. We have hot water and warmth!!
We have no timer or controller as yet. That will be the electrician's job on Monday apparently. Not that anyone has told us who or when or anything!!! Then we hope there will be a builder/Mr fix it man who will come and sort out the holes etc We currently have a BIG hole in the dining room where the gas fir and back boiler was, which is drafty and bringing black dust (presumably coal dust from a previous life) with it.
But all in all, it is done. What a relief.
And I had a letter arrive yesterday too...we have an allotment!!! For real this time, not just a carrot dangled in front of our nose only to be whisked away again a moment later! It is, as last time, only a half plot, but that is bigger than the plot I have here at home. I am thinking about all the onions, potatoes, parsnips and leeks I can plant there, leaving more room for carrots, beetroot, peas, beans etc here at home.
It is need of weeding as it has been neglected for the last season but it doesn't look too bad, and there is a path down the middle already dividing it so at least that bit is easy. The allotment organiser had left us to decide who has which half though, so I need to make a phonecall. I hope it is a nice person that we are sharing with! Part of me wants to get down there weeding it straight away, and the other half wants to get my house sorted.....but there is no competition really!!! The allotment isn't ours until Thursday though so unfortunately that is plenty of time to unpack the boxes of stuff and put things back where they were.
I'm just not sure I want to!!!!

One down, one to go...fingers crossed!!!

2009-09-24T19:45:00.003+01:00

Day one of upheaval is over.
Came home from work to find floorboards up in nearly EVERY room, dust and tools as far as the eye could see. Luckily Tom and Rob had carefully moved my precious bookcases and moved the books as the guys seemed to need access to everywhere, all at the same time. Hrmmmph.
Just the boiler to fit tomorrow and the main pipework to and from it, oh and the radiator in our room isn't on the wall yet. They have worked really hard, but it will take a while to recover from the strain of this. I do not cope well with strangers working in my house, although they seem nice enough. Father and son team.
Time for dinner and try to wind down a bit. Trying to focus on how nice it will be to have heating in our room this winter and not have to camp in the living room in front of the open fire...although that was quite exciting and cosy had the 'mattress' been a little more comfy. Sofa cushions have a habit of sliding apart just when you don't need it!!!

Clutter

2009-09-23T19:34:00.004+01:00

Today we had a phonecall at about 1pm, when we had just arrived home from a morning in the woods and desperate for lunch, from the heating company asking if they could come to fit the new heating tomorrow.
TOMORROW!!!!
TOMORROW???
Well, we obviously said yes because we are desperate to have hot water again, and heating too now that the evenings are getting colder. But, tomorrow?
Anyone who knows us, will be sharing my feelings of horror as I looked around me at the mammoth task ahead.
We have to clear the dining room, the hallway, our room and allow access to every room in the house for new radiators and obviously there will be floorboards up etc etc etc
OMG we have soooooo much stuff!!!
I am a hoarder it is true. I hate to throw anything away. I collect things that I think might be useful for future projects. I have a huge collection of books and have two bookcases on the landing full of books that both have to be moved so the floorboards can be taken up for pipework. I have done the bookshelf in the dining room this afternoon and the shelf unit full of puzzles and craft stuff. I have boxed up one bookcase upstairs. Tomorrow when I get home from work I will have to make a start on the second one upstairs...and then there is our room!!!!
It is like a second storage space and halfway house for things on their way to the loft. Eeeeeek!
I wish I could have a clear out of things but it is impossible when you HE four boys....books, puzzles and games that span the age group from 3 - adult, drawing and craft stuff to suit all sorts, shoes and coats and fleeces and boots and waterproofs etc etc etc...it is just impossible!!!
Right off to get the wee ones into bed....two boys to read to before I can rest! Room on the broom for Will, and David and I are over halfway on The Deathly Hallows.

Yes it is!!! Here's the proof!!

2009-09-23T09:04:00.005+01:00

Pictures of yesterdays experiment....
Some of the honeycomb in the saucepan.

The melting has begun!!!!

The mould all ready to go...a bit optimistic possibly!!!

The melted wax after the mass has been removed. All that honeycomb reduced to this!!
The mass that was left, squeezed to get every last drop out!!!

The finished candle!!!!

The dark part at the top is where we used all of the honeycomb even the dirtier looking bits...we didn't have that much so couldn't afford to leave any out. I guess it could've been filtered but not sure what we could have used for this.

I still can't believe that it was that easy!!!!
And here it is on the seasons table.

And a quick note to let you know that Tom has his own blog now....its on my list. Landykid. He's using it to document his progress with his Vitara. He's doing the body lift today....I wonder whether it would work for me too?!!!