weekend round-up

Monday once again! How did that happen?

We have enjoyed an extra long weekend due to our schools being closed on Thursday, the referendum day and on Friday because it was an in service day for teachers.

Thursday was declared a pyjama day by the children but we did end up getting dressed to cycle up and down the road for a little while. At least the little boys did, I sat on the front steps, drinking tea and chatting with my friend Amy.

Friday we looked after a friend's daughter. She was a little shy at first but once I stepped in a dog poo on the way to buying picnic, all shyness disappeared. We spent a long day at Mugdock country park, playing, walking around the loch, throwing stones in the water and admiring the ripples created, eating a hearty picnic, spotting mushrooms and fungi. The day was eerily quiet, a bit like on a foggy day but without the fog.There was no sun and all the colours were muted and pale but it was warm enough to walk around in our short sleeves, which was nice. Mugdock was essentially ours, with only a few dog walkers out and about. It was a good day. Having said that, I managed to frighten the children because I knocked myself dizzy on a picnic table. I misjudged the height of the low wooden palisade fence I chose to sit on and fell backwards. You can see both table and fence on the photo that shows me in the swing. I was still smiling then.

 

We had another lazy day on Saturday but went to a camping planning meeting with friends in the evening, kids and all. This was our second camping planning meeting and still, we have not decided where to go at the end of this week! Any excuse is good enough for a get together with drinks and nibbles....The funniest thing happened when we got back. Well, it is only me who thought it was funny, maybe I had a few glasses too many. Sam had left earlier because he could not bear to be apart from his Skype pals for an entire evening. Heavens, no! When the rest of us got back at around midnight, I went to see Sam, who was in bed but still awake. He had obviously been a bit scared all on his own for he handed over the rolling pin and said that the breadknife was in the study (where our computer is). At this point, and I am ashamed to admit it, I collapsed in a heap of giggles and just couldn't  stop. I am still smiling now but of course I know all to well how scary it can be do be on your own in a big house. I don't know what age I was when I first was allowed to stay at home on my own but I do remember being really scared. We used to live in a terraced house with a cellar. In true Swiss fashion, the private cellar connected to a communal one, where there was a shared washing machine (complete with timetable for use), drying rooms and bike storage. This communal cellar was accessible from the outside. It was a most terrifying thought that somebody might come in through the communal cellar and it was the door between private and communal cellar that I absolutely needed to secure "properly" by wedging my brother's spare crutches under the door handles so the door could not be opened at all, even if a particularly cunning intruder managed to pick the lock. But I digress.

Sunday was quiet, half the family went to the community club, the other half for a walk in the Campsie Glens. It was a glorious day. We were all a bit tired I think and glad to see the end of the weekend. I finished mine with an episode of Dr Who and some sock knitting.

Other news:

I sewed myself a dress. Earlier in the year I bought a few patterns that I wanted to make, once I had slimmed down to a size that wouldn't require an entire bolt of fabric. However, I have now resigned myself to being  a size enormous and get on with it. I know I don't look excessively fat on the photo above but believe me, there are big flabs of abdominal fat and hip fat hiding under my clothes. I would never (never!) put a photo on here that shows me standing.... Anyway, I found some pretty bright green fabric that was very cheap (£1.95 per metre, it is probably plastic) and I got enough to make the Kate dress that I have admired many times on Gilly's blog, for example here. Unfortunately I spilt some greasy dip down the front on Saturday evening and I cannot take a picture of the dress just now. I have however managed to take a photo of the decorative stitch I used. I am quite pleased with the result although of course being a pear shape, the dress is too baggy up top and just right around my bottom.

 

Also, with plenty of huffing and puffing and some expletives, I submitted my application for postgraduate teacher training this weekend. It was a faff and there is plenty to moan about. For starters, there is no "login" button anywhere on the main page. Surely, if you were a web designer, this would be a prominent thing to add to any website where registering and login are required? Also, postgraduate teacher training in Scotland is not listed under the tab "postgraduate teacher training" (as one might expect, yes?) but under "undergraduate courses". There is clearly a hidden logic I fail to see. Maybe it is a way to deter students? But nevertheless, I did manage to submit my application, early and in a panic because of the warnings that courses for biology/science PGDE will close early due to high demand. When exactly "early" might be is written in the stars, hence the panic. I can only hope that I actually applied for the right course! I did also enrol in an English course to get the required qualifications for said teacher training.

It is going to be a busy week I think. We are going camping. Getting ready for camping is always a bit mad! I am also panicking because in less than two weeks time I will be flying to Turkey and I really don't like the idea of leaving Richard on his own with the kids. Not because he is not capable to look after them. No, of course not, but because I am unable to let go.

Have lovely week! Cx