Cor, phew...

Arrived back from Corfu late Friday night. It was a lovely hotel, the Greeks in Sidari were surprisingly friendly and laid back, considering they have had a season full of English tourists. Oliver enjoyed it. I, as usual, found myself longing for home after a few days. Many years ago (in the days of my first marriage) I used to holiday abroad often twice a year. I hated it - I hated the foreign-ness of being abroad, instead of being able to embrace the differences in culture and the absence of home-comforts, I found myself desperately homesick and weeping copiously. Then came Mark and the kids, and holidays in France, and I loved it - I NEVER felt homesick in France. We stayed with Mark's family too, in Tunisia and in Paris, and the Loire and I loved that - I NEVER longed for home so I thought I had outgrown the missing home thing.

But - weirdly, I struggled this time. It is the bareness and lack of familiar things I think in the apartment that did it. I love being with Mark and Oliver - there is no-one in the world I would rather spend time with, but - this time on holiday, I felt 'lost' in the evenings when our meal was finished and afraid of the 'emptiness' of returning to our apartment. Concerning for me.

Anyway - enough analysis - some pics -

This is Mark and Oliver on the boat we hired for an hour...and took back after 10 minutes because we felt seasick -

Mark doing some early evening reading -

Oliver hopefully not reading Robert Goddard with Mark -

The view from our apartment -

And, to prove I was on holiday too...

more ATCs, and fibbing

I have finished these three for a 'Shakespeare quotes' atc swap on Magmaker forum.



I am quite pleased with them, looking forward to seeing what I get back....

Oliver has broken a pane of glass in the greenhouse - quite by accident whilst playing with his cousin (J), it seems, but whilst that is annoying - the worst of it is that he didn't tell us and asked J not to tell us either!

I found out because J, worried to death about trouble, authority and the Police, as only young children do, told his Dad and he told me. I left it for Mark to deal with as I was at work, and it seems that when confronted with the broken glass, Oliver lied blatantly about how it happened. This is so very disappointing, and maybe I am horribly naieve, but I just didn't expect him to lie, and continue to lie with no apparent effort or guilt. Since he is not at school he is not in an environment where I guess he might feel the need to be sly and competitive so I don't get it. Maybe I am making too much of it. I just get a nasty feeling about it - it has to be nipped in the bud straightaway - lying to Mum and Dad just can't be condoned at this age..... Anyway, the truth outed in the end and he was sent to bed early, his new Ben 10 Top Trumps I bought him before I knew about the lies he must give to J, as recompense for dragging him into his naughtiness, and he will miss his DVD night this week and go to bed early again. Three punishments for the three big whoppers he told. He seems remorseful enough. We are playing on our upset and disappointment with him not telling the truth and that seems to have got through. Emotional blackmail? I don't give a shit......

Loads to report....

Got Virgin media plumbed in last week by two young boys who looked as if they should have parental permission to be out alone. Still haven't got the wireless router sorted, told Mark I would do it (?!) and then found we haven't got a wireless adaptor. Couldn't get the cables to fit the appropriate sockets either and rang up Virgin to have a go at some poor hapless chap called Danesh saying that Virgin had not supplied the right ones, blah blah and he kept banging on about the cable modem. I kept on telling him I couldn't see one, getting more irritated by the second, when I realised that he was referring to the modem attached to the TV in the other room... I promptly informed him that THAT was why I was having problems and thank you and goodbye. Sometimes you just have to get out quick.


I applied for a job with NHS Direct, at a band higher than my current job with the NHS, got an interview and then found that there was a Sunday shift going at my place. It's double time, and therefore infinitely more attractive, so I have applied for that too.... meanwhile I have put off the NHS Direct interview because I would prefer to stay where I am really. I like the work, and I like the hours and the people. Not many jobs around like that..... AND then I find out that the Child Tax Credit people have increased my weekly payments (fairly substantially I have to say) because of the drop in my earnings since I left Lloyds. Really, I am in two minds whether to even take this extra shift if I am offered it, or not. No wonder some women are faced with the dilemma of not working at all.

Recently, I have tried to get arty with ATCs. (Artists Trading Cards). I have tried to get going with these before, as I like the idea of trading little cards with people and having a collection of individual art, but as usual, I find my creativity stunted. I have come up with this one with one of my favourite Shakespeare quotes:



And I have tried to get Oliver into them too, as I feel it would be something we could do together, and I think he would like to send and receive these too. With some assistance he made these two, the theme is the Riverbank, and it is a children's ATC swap: (photos are out of focus, my fault)


And finally, I have recently purchased an old PS1 console with a few games, and have re-visited the world of Tomb Raider 2. I played this around 15 years ago fairly extensively and am quite shocked to find how much I can remember of it. I like this sort of game since not only does it involve a great deal of hand-eye co-ordination, you have to think about where you are going, been and how things might happen around the corner. I make Oliver play it with me - he has a fantastic sense of direction with it although he is too scared to take the controls. I have to say there are times that I absolutely shit myself when the spooky music kicks in and I round the corner to be savaged by a pack of Dobermans..... is this good for one's heart I ask myself.....

Oh - and I MUST say about my experience with the Osteopath - I had a headache which went on for about three days, unheard of for me, so I assumed something to be strained, pulled, 'out' whatever, and booked in to see an Osteo I had not heard of before, Susan Farwell. Anyway, she does this cranial-sacral stuff, you know, the very light touching/pressing method and it was FAB. My headache went instantly and she released alot of tension in my ribcage and pelvis too. I saw her again this week and she says my body is 'recovering well'. She reckons I have an accumulation of stress on the body since having Oliver (by horrible emergency caesarian) 6 years ago. AND she cited the operation and recovery from it as a major cause of stress too...

I asked her how it worked and this is a rough explanation, how I understood it. She applies (the right amount of) pressure to the muscle where it crosses over the bones and nervous system. The idea is that her taking the strain off of that muscle will tell the nervous system that the amount of tension there is not necessary, and the nervous system will then re-programme that muscle to be less tense and it will relax itself. When she feels that happening, she releases the pressure that she has been applying, as the muscle has 'got the message' and tension is released by itself. Voila! How very clever. The whole theory of Osteopathy is that if the body is correctly physically aligned, it will self heal. So interesting.

And that's all I've got to say about that...

The Build-A-Bear Experience

Oliver expressed a desire around 3 months ago for one of these rip-off bears, and we put a star chart in place in order for him to 'earn' a bear. I set the target at 30 stars, reckoning that this would cost me around £30. To be fair to Oliver, he set his heart on a particular rabbit in June, and on two subsequent visits still wanted the same rabbit, AND he has had to work for this - 3 months is a long time in a little chap's life.....

So anyway, the awful moment came when he reached 30 stars and we visited BAB -

It's this rabbit:

And this is stuffing him with love....

And this is the outfit he wanted....

And this is my Mum getting FAR too into the dressing up thing....

And this is the cash desk where I get ripped of the princely sum of £31.50.



And it's worth it.





He did have to put in alot of effort, in alot of different ways to gain these stars, so I'm kind of proud he achieved this, and still chose the same rabbit he picked out 3 months ago. It is one of my aims for him that he learns to EARN and appreciate and not be so shite with money/gaining goods as his Mother.

It'll be alright on the night

I hope. More poncing around today, and think I have now managed to book us a hol, to Corfu next month, and retained the hol next year too. Phew. Sticky moments, and a monumental thank you to my darling husband for his cool outlook on life. Big mwahs.

It's a balls-up

Did I mention a holiday previously? Ah well, the holiday I have booked for next month, and paid for, and booked time off work for, isn't going to happen. My Dad, bless for sticking his oar in, kept on and on (as only parents and partners and children know how) about how we 'couldn't possibly' be flying from Exeter on a Thursday since the flights to Corfu don't GO on a Thursday, blah blah blah, and I kept sighing and tutting and piffling away his concerns.... when I re-checked my booking confirmation in order to be able to be smug it turns out I have booked us on a flight for next year..... 2009. I cannot describe that moment of horror and I think my heart may have actually stopped for a whole second or two.

I have to say, Mark has been incredibly good about it, and I have spent all day poncing about on the internet and phone trying to correct my heinous error in some way. My Dad was, as I expected, genuinely horrified for us and has tried his best to help all day too. Bless. Again.

I cannot believe I have managed to do this totally dense thing. No, really, I CANNOT believe it, I still am shaking my head at my own stupidity. Mark did mention that he would have been a bit angry had we packed our suitcases and turned up at the airport a year early.... Oh my God, I am feeling a bit hot and faint even thinking about it.

It's a record

Have done a layout in an hour. Blimey it IS a record. Piece of pi** when you have the photos you want, the idea and the embellishments you have in mind. Should scrap like this again sometime ha ha.

Have had a weirdo time over the last week - started off with step children AGAIN - bloody bane of my life and unfortunately turing out to cause little but pain, hassle and ill-will... and Mark decided out of the blue to book a hol to Corfu, rather spiffing if you ask me... and enjoying NOT having to go into Lloyds Bank once a week. Had a really nice afternoon yesterday, a friend came round as is was pouring with rain (why am I surprised, it IS August after all...) and whilst Oliver and his little mate played, we gassed away the afternoon... and today, took him to another friends and he played while I gassed. There is a pattern emerging lol.