Elevenses !!!!!!

[MaryAnnSingleton]

ah, we can only do 1000, so here's the new one, hope you find it !

I second the lots of tea and cake idea
Hope it went well and you are safely home.

I have just come in from a looooooong day at the secondary school - 'twas fun though, due to an exam-schedule clash 5 Y11s had to take their maths exam in the morning and then had to be kept segragated from the rest of their yeargroup who still had to sit their maths exam that afternoon. So I was on 'quarantine' duty along with another lady - we had to take them to a seperate room and sit with them whilst they had their lunch and we had to take them to the staff toilets in case they bumped into someone from their yeargroup on the way to and in the toilet. All 5 of them are in the top sets for everything, all are prefects and 3 of them came from O's school - they fondly talked about the old headmaster who retired last September. They were all really polite and a credit to their peers

E has gone home with little S, and dh is collecting O from afterschool tennis club, they will be here soon so will go and put the kettle on

Morning

How are you both? Mas, are you sore? I hope you are okay.

I have a verrrrry quick breakfast stop before dashing back to school for E's sports day.
And then I have to dash off to work - crazy day today.
Dh is working in Leeds and won't be home till Friday [sob]

Hope you are both well, back later

hello you two - have emailed you a progress report ! hey,hippi 29 lbs - you are a star !!

Thanks for the progress report - hope you won't be too sore for too long

Have just come back from sports day - it was lovely
E was looking very serious throughout it all - she definately does not do too much chatting and laughing with her classmates
She did very well at the beanbag race but not so great at the hockey dribbling. But it was fun.
It is still going on now but Y1 have finished their races and as I have to be at work in 45 minutes I thought it best to come home, let the dog out, eat something and get changed. Did feel a bit guilty leaving before the end though...

Right, better go and get a quick sandwich before facing the Y11s

Just checking in briefly. Glad to hear it was OK MAS, I'd imagine it's a huge relief to have it over with. Well done

Sorry I haven't been around. I took to my bed with a migraine. Wimp that I am. It came on Tuesday and is only beginning to go now and I feel so wobbly. Poor dh had to take some time off yesterday afternoon, which I felt guilty about, and a friend is bringing B home today. Completely pathetic

Will try to pop back on later.

Oh hotcross, you poor thing - migraines are just the worst
Glad to hear you are feeling a bit better now.
How are you MAS? Am worried by your absence...

E had a lovely time at gymnastics yesterday - the door was open for most of the session so I could see her doing floor exercises and some hanging around on the parallel bars

No work for me today so have spent the day tidying, dusting, hoovering and mopping. The house desperately needed it
O has a girl from his class coming for tea today and E has her friend H coming(my mad policewoman-friend's dd)
Bit of a turnup for the books - you know the two girls in E's class who befriended little S and sort of left E on the sidelines, well the nicer / less dominant one of the two invited E for tea E is delighted and is going there tomorrow afternoon. Will see how that pans out

Right, am quickly going to hang the washing out and then I will collect 4 urchins from school

I may be back on here this afternoon - help keep me sane please!!!

I'm here and ok ! just a bit out of the swing of things really...sorry to hear about horrid migraine hotcross - you poor thing..they can be really nasty,only ever had 1 once and it was vile. Hippi, you are a whirl of activity what with work and children's social calendars !!
Haven't done much today - the washing, bits and pieces...tried to find out when my hospital appointment is but no time yet, just the date ! Picked up friend P's children from school - her dog was being walked by friend C who kindly walked him home for me from school as I can't really hang on to a lively border collie - stayed for a cup of tea when P got back,which was nice. My best friend F sent me today a beautiful heart shaped shell necklace on a silk and ribbon cord..so pretty,and a nice card..and decorator J rang to see how I was doing...yesterday got a plant from my friend Sarah too - am being thoroughly spoiled

Aw - I love the fact people are looking after you so well
Glad to hear you are ok. What is the hospital appointment for - a post surgery check up?

H and J have just gone home. It was a lovely afternoon We stayed in the park after school for nearly an hour and then when we got home they amused themselves beautifully. Tea (sausages, potato waffles, peas and sweetcorn) went down well along with chocolate custard and chopped fruit for pudding

Aaaaah, can relax now.

Dh still in Leeds so am going to go up for a shower in a minute, pull my pj's on and then prepare a fish finger sandwich (with lots of salad) for my dinner. Yum.
Could murder a glass of wine to go with it, but will resist - too many calories!!

chocolate custard !! how yummy...
glad it all went well.
Hospital appointment is to see the consultant for results of surgery and I guess they'll see how the wounds are healing up. Friend from London coming tomorrow which will be v nice.

Morning! Am just about in the land of the living today - hooray! Took B to school this morning, and then she's off to a friend's for tea, so a lovely long lazy day for me. Should be getting house ready for dsis arriving Sunday, but can't face that yet.

Glad you are doing so well MAS. Don't rush things too much, will you? Your friends all sound absolutely lovely

Yum to chocolate custard too! Do you buy it ready-made, or whip it up yourself Hippi? Are you in school today? Glad gymnastics is going so well. Was in at parallel bars - thought they'd be about 12 before they started on those!

It's book week for B this week, so she's gone in dressed as Matilda. She hates dressing up, so it's a bit of a half-hearted attempt, but she was v happy with it, so I guess that's all that matters. Phew.

Right, off for a cup of tea.

Glad to hear you feel better hotcross
I bet B looks FAB as Matilda!! What a great idea!
I have just taken doggle for a walk and am now debating going swimming. It is a day off (no reading at the junior school this afternoon due to sports day practice) and I want to use it wisely

Don't be at the parallel bars hotcross, they were not doing much other than hanging from one bar with their chin above the bar with their knees pulled up to their chin, toes pointing downwards for 5 seconds. Then they had to hang with outstretched arms and bring their legs up so they were at a 90degree angle to their body. E really struggled with this one.
And finally they held onto both bars with straight arms (so they were above the bar iyswim) and the coach helped them to gently swing their legs. It was all very very basic stuff - but E loved it soooo much!
During E's session there are a couple of competitive squads training, it is amazing to watch them. There is a group of teenage girls who are spectacular, and a group of young boys, I would say aged 8-10 who make my jaw drop in awe! In fact, remember the name Jamie Lewis - he is going to be big!!! (hippi deliberates getting an autograph now)

MAS, hope you are okay too?

Oh, I cheated and bought ready made chocolate custard

Phew - can buy ready made without a conscience now

Just realised B is off to a party tomorrow and we don't have a present! Darn it, will have to battle Sainsburys tonight now

Am addicted to that spelling bee thing...

am ok, thanks ! sorry for brief messages and not joining in much..have had nice day seeing my friend Sara from London - she took me to the cafe for lunch.

yikes, we disappeared from view for a minute there...hope you got my latest update via email..am hoping to be on here a bit more now I know what's what ! Hope you are all having a jolly half term.

Yay! Glad it's all positive. have been thinking of you

Had my dsis and her family here, they've just left and am having a quick check on here before I start the big pack for camping tomorrow! We've had a lovely, mad few days. London yesterday was great, but am in need of a big rest

Will try to get back later.

sounds as though you've had a good time - hope the camping is fun and that the weather improves - dh says it will ! Have a fabulous time !

Hello
How were your half-terms? Glad the weather improved for your camping hotcross!
We have had a fab week, I am sad it has finished. (although O has an inset day today and we are going swimming )

Feeling a bit rough today - have a killer of a sore throat, spent all night coughing and swallowing to soothe it. I think I slept for a maximum of 4 hours. (at 4am I was sitting on the patio thinking the fresh air would do me good)

Half term was fab, we have been to Wisley Gardens, we have been swimming at the Spectrum in Guildford, we have pottered about in the garden, we have had 4 barbeques (just for the 4 of us, nice and cosy ) and it was lovely not having anything to do with school.
Yesterday was the leaving party of E's friend L. That was a bit sad. E will miss her (she spent ages drawing her a nice card and writing in it) and I will miss J.

Right, better go and help E get ready for school. She is not awake yet either, she is snoozing over her toast...

33 lbs hippi !! you are wasting away !
We had nice week really - weather was lovely...hope camping was fun hotcross.
So sorry that your friends are leaving hippi - that must be very sad for you and E
Did you both get message about chains/necklaces btw ?
please don't feel obliged to have them though !
I won't be making them for a bit as I have a job !! not big, but it's updating illustrations for a book I did some years ago (Have You Started Yet ? - about periods) -the sanitary wear certainly needs modernising !! I want to get roughs done & approved asap. This week it's hospital tomorrow to see oncologist then a bit of childminding on Wednes and Thurs, lots of domestic stuff on Friday as we are going to London on Sat. for a river cruise to celebrate my friend S's 50th bday - should be lovely-Kew to Westminster with a band !
Oh and a hair cut too -thought it would be cheering before treatment sets in -not that radiotherapy is too awful,but am still feeling a bit about tamoxifen,I am not quite ready to deal with menopausal symptoms just yet (that's assuming it'll affect me that way, it might not of course but people do go on about that)
Took T to see Coraline this week (sinister) and for a lovely walk at Gilbert White's House - so beautiful there.
Had the loveliest day on Saturday when my friend D came for the day - she had made me a beautiful cushion too !
We had lunch at Italian cafe and just chatted and laughed over crayfish panninis and a glass of chilled Prosecco -then mooched about town in the sun...was wonderful.
Hope you all have a lovely sunny week.

Wasting away... I wish! The loss is not even visible yet. All that has happened so far is that my jeans are now too big and some summer trousers that were too small last summer now nearly fit me.
Way to go yet!!

Coraline does indeed look sinister, I think we will avaoid that one!

Sorry, yes, I did get the message about the necklaces but with dh and the dc home I have not really been able to get near the pc!
Yes, I would love two necklaces please. One yellow and one orange cat please
(for little S and E, stocking fillers for Christmas, am thinking ahead)

You have a busy week lined up - am in awe of your business. Rivercruise birthday party sounds fab though!
I have seen the book you mentioned, a friend bought it for her dd.
I am working every day this week (well except today of course). Hope I can get rid of this cold/hayfever thing first though. Have a sore throat adn a need to almost constantly swallow to soothe it. Driving me crazy [sob]

Right, better go and peg the washing out and then O and I are going to head to the pool.

Have a great day

oh hippi - sorry,forgot to wish you well asap..especially if you are working - don't want you feeling poorly
xxx

Hello! Hooray we're all here again

Glad you both had lovely holidays. Hasn't it gone fast? And weren't we lucky with the weather? Hopefully it bodes well for a decent summer this year....

Well done Hippi for 33 lbs! I bet it has made a difference, you just don't notice it yourself because you see yourself every day. I am so impressed! Sorry you're not feeling great, miserable when you're working as well. Also, it's never nice to say goodbye to good friends How is E feeling about it?

MAS - good luck tomorrow. With luck you wont end up with too many side effects. A friend of mine had a set of radiotherapy treatments and felt amazingly fine through it all, the thought of it was worse than the actuality for her, so hopefully you will have a similar experience. I think she did find it tiring though, but her family were very supportive. I don't know much about tamoxifen though.

Well done for the job MAS! It's always nice to have something in the pipeline.

I'm having such angst about the tutoring I know inside that it's wrong, it's making me really really stressed, I'm thinking about it constantly and am completely uninspired about ideas a 4 year old will find exciting. But feel guilty not persevering so I can make a bit of money. I sort of feel though that 2 hours of babysitting would make the same amount of money, with no preparation or resources needed.... Dh can't understand why I feel like this, but it's making me quite miserable really I'm tempted to ring and cancel it I think.

On a brighter note, camping was fab! The weather was gorgeous, I could feel myself unwinding, and we spent two lovely days with B's godmother and her family. E has chickens and a rabbit, so B was fully involved in feeding them, which was lovely for her. Also they have a 12 year old son who is wonderful, and played table tennis and football with B. She adores him I really really miss them. They used to live in Surrey, but moved down to Somerset last year. Our two families just get on so well and they were the ones we saw most at weekends, so they've left quite a gap.

Must go and put on another load of washing.

oh that sounds a lovely camping time hotcross ! I love it that the 12 year old was so sweet to B - they can be -T is always lovely with S and also his cousin M.
Am so sorry you are in a quandary about the tutoring - I do completely understand how troubled you feel - it's tricky to know what to suggest.
Agree with hotcross about weightloss hippi - you probably haven;t noticed it as you do see yourself everyday - has your dh noticed anything ?

Camping trip sounds fab, and hoorah for lovely big boys who like entertaining the smaller girls O is a bit like that, there is a girl in E's class (who E is not overly friendly with) who absolutely adores him, quite funny really.

I really sympathise about the tutoring job hotcross, I really can imagine how you feel.
If you are not happy, then cancel it. No amount of money is worth the constant worry.

E had a great day back at school, and O and I enjoyed his inset day. Still feel rough though, a bit clammy and fluey. That could be the heat though
Reeeeaaaallllly don't fancy working tomorrow, will see how I feel in the morning.

Mas good luck tomorrow. Is this when the radiotherapy will begin?
A mum at school had radiotherapy and coped very well with it. She had to have one breast removed, then 12 or however many sessions of chemo, and then radiotherapy. But she came through it all fine and to look at her now (less than a year after it all started) you would never know she had been so ill. The radiotherapy made her tired but other than that she felt fine.

Sorry about posting twice about my sore throat, I was not after sympathy I just forgot I had already mentioned it. (lack of sleep you see)

Mas, can the necklaces for the cats be the shorter version? (I think you gave us the option of long or short chain a while back)

Right, must go. O has gone to see his friend across the road, he has swimming at school tomorrow and then a county council run after school bike club. (not bikeability, they get that in Y6 during school hours, this is a seperate club open to only 12 Y5 children and O was lucky enough to get chosen. They are going to learn about bike maintenance (he will be able to fix his own punctures hoorah!) and do bike skills (slalom races and such I assume). Right up O's street, he is never off his bike .
I need to drive to school tomorrow as I need to zoom straight off to work, so have agreed O can carefully cycle to school on his own. gulp. I will be checking the bikeshed after dropping E off to make sure this bike is there so I know he arrived safely [fret]

yes, if you aren't happy with the tutoring it'd be better to not do it anymore - the worry about it isn't good for you.
Hope you feel better tomorrow hippi.
Think the appointment tomorrow is to discuss the treatment with the oncologist (length of time etc) and to arrange when I go to Southampton to get set up for it (marking etc) - SIL says they usually wait for everything to be healed up first.
Necklaces will be the short ones - will let you know when I'm doing them...
Am sure O will get safely to school on his bike too ! (I would go and look for his bike too,if that's any consolation !)