Elevenses !!!!!!

[MaryAnnSingleton]

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

Just popping in to say 'hello'
How have you been fillign these (somewhat rainy) days?
E had an all-day horse riding camp yesterday. When I dropped her off I bumped into one lady I invigilate with who works at the stables as an instructor, four children from O/E's school (1 going into Y5 and 3 going into Y3 two of those she knows reasonably well) and a teenager who sat her exams last June when I invigilated It is a small world!! She had a fab day, two riding lessons, mucking out, grooming, theoretical knowledge and mixing the horse's dinners She came home all warm and smelling of horse (I love that smell)
O and I cycled to Woking along the canal yesterday and treated ourselves to lunch there. Lovely

This morning we had the hairdresser and have taken doglet for an hour's walk. Ad now we need to do some shopping and then O has a swimming lesson (so I will swim with E)

Hope you are all well. O says to say 'hi' to T from him.

What a lovely day for E and it sounds nice having time with O and cycling and lunch out...
T says hello back to O !
We've been to Winchester today - was nice just pottering about,bought our chocolate buttons which I managed to melt a bit by clutching them against my arm (it was very warm wasn't it ?) Took a few samples of cat & ballerina necklaces to the Hambledon and boldly asked them about poss. stocking some - the woman there liked them but felt that a silver chain would work better for the shop,as the coloured chains limit their uses,which I can see..will look at silver chains and have a think. Never mind though..it was good for me to start doing something proactive again - I need to do more of that.
Went into White Stuff where there was a lady with a gorgeous Patterdale terrier - sooo sweet..they are ovely wee dogs. Bought a long kaftanish type dress/top to wear over trousers in the sale - real bargain and lovely - it's a size smaller than I would normally pick to try on but fits which is nice (am telling myself to make the most of my clothes in case tamoxifen makes me put on weight)
Yesterday we did Sainsbury's after going to the opticians - my lenses are fine..looked at kids glasses & thought of you !!

Wow, you have been busy, and very procative!! Am impressed
The kaftan dress sounds great. I am really looking forward to being a bit more adventurous with my clothing once I have lost a lot more weight

Had a call from teh opticians to say my prescription swimming goggles had arrived. But no sign yet of O's glasses (much to his disappointment) so have asked opticians to hold on to my goggles and will collect everything next week Tried to do front crawl again today adn managed a whole lenght with a bit more ease - much better than Wednesday! Can't wait to be really good at it

Right, am going to feed the animals and tidy away. Am worried about the cat. She is 19 and getting very wobbly on her back legs. Can't work out if she is in pain or not - don't want to take her to the vet incase they say put her down....
Sigh - animals, who'd have them??

HELLO! We're back

Am surrounded by mounds of camping stuff which I'm unwilling to put away completely as we're hoping to camp again next weekend. Really shouldn't be on here, but just wanted to say hello and see how you've been.

Glad you had a lovely time on holiday MAS, but sorry you felt so tired. Hope you feel refreshed now you're back. The photos are fab! I agree T is a very good looking chap The tamoxifen thing is a tricky decision, but it does sound like the nurse is keen to try it...

How exciting about O's glasses - glasses do seem very desirable at the moment, I wonder why? I agree about the funky glasses, but think O's probably been quite sensible getting more serious ones, which won't date or be childish too quickly.(says the person who had much hated glasses from the age of 11!)

E's gymnastics photo is lovely - such a great action shot! B is very keen to try gymnastics, but I just can't see a way to fit it in or to afford it Will just have to wait...

Our camping trip was interesting. Of course it was lovely to see my dsis, but we found it hard work spending time with our nephew and BIL They seem a very different family to us, with different needs/wants and vastly different discipline approaches. TBH I feel like I've come home needing a holiday... B was a star and had a fantastic time at times, but she didn't understand why her cousin was so competitive and stroppy, which is a real shame as he can be lovely. Derbyshire was gorgeous though, and we had reasonable weather - some beautiful sunny days - so I would definitely like to go back sometime and explore all the bits we missed. Will email some pics when they're off the camera...

Right, must go and take in the washing! Catch up later.

Hello hotcross How lovely to have ou back!!
Sorry to hear camping with SIL was stressfull - but it is the reason we never go away with others, it would just be too much stress! Glad to hear you had some sunny days though, was worried about you camping in the rain.

What are your plans for this week (apart from not putting away the camping stuff )

Actually, good point about O not getting glasses which will date too quickly. I was only thinking about the here and now, but if his prescription does not change too much then he will have to wear these for a year or two, so yes, smart and sensible is the way to go
He made me phone the opticians today to see if they had come in yet - he is very impatient

We went to Hampton Court yesterday, love day out. There were some actors in peorid costume re-enacting the marriage of Henry VIII to Kataryn Parr. Brilliant

hey welcome home Hotcross ! sorry part of it was stressful though..was worried about you in the rain too.
Hippi - do post a pic of O in his specs -would love to see them - bless him for looking forward to them so much.
My mum and dad went off to the Packhouse yesterday with T -looking for a telephone table - didn't find one but apparently mum bought something for my birthday and they had scampi and chips in the cafe.
Had friend S and her son,T's friend E to coffee late morning - was nice but they stayed ages - had a huge headache afterwards- probably too much coffee.Was so drizzly later that we abandonned going for a wander and I lay on the sofa while T did some drawing.

Yay! We're all here sorry didn't make it back on here yesterday, dh was 'compressing files' or somesuch so no MN for me!

Am about a present from the Packhouse. My bag is still going strong and has been much admired!

Hippi, your day at Hampton Court sounds fab!

We're doing a lot of catching up with friends this week. We're meeting at two different parks today - hope the weather holds... I'm having my hair cut on Thursday, looking for school uniform for B etc etc. ATM she's curled up infront of a HSM video

a quick post to say hope you have a fab fab fab holiday hippi (you are off v soon -? didn't want to miss you !) and Hotcross,hope camping is jolly this w/end.
Have been busy -ish - seeing friends on Tuesday, nothing much apart from hair on Wednesday,shopping yesterday - today though we went to Alice Holt (though of you both ! thought of O,E and B at that wooden house maze thing)we had a lovely walk and now T has gone swimming with grandpa. See you all soon xxxx

Hello
We are off on Wednesday, but a busy few days before that. Today E has her swimming lesson (dh has taken her) and then we are off to a large family bbq. Tomorrow dh is taking O and his friend S to minis in the park at Santa Pod as a birthday treat. They are leaving at 8am and will be out all day.
Monday is O's birthday, he wants to go to the cinema to watch G-force and then to Blubeckers for dinner
Tuesday is pakcing, getting Euros, a friend is coming for tea, the dog needs to go to kennels and then very early Wednesday we are off
Can't wait!!

Hope you are both well, will be in touch when I get back!!

Will get dh to put the picture of O in his glasses on my profile in the next few days. I tried last week but could not do it for some reason

HAPPY BIRTHDAY O !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thank you for the birthday wishes
He has unwrapped his presents, is playing with one of them now. We are going tot he cineman later today to see G-force and then to Blubeckers for lunch. Assorted relatives will visit tonight
and then tomorrow we have to pack and tidy, a friend is coming for afternoon tea and then Wednesday we are off on holiday WOOHOO!!!

Hope you are both well

Oops, sorry am repeating myself a bit there... just excited

hey,is that 59 lbs hippi ? fabulous !
hope you have a lovely time today and if I don't get back to you, have a wonderful holiday xxxx

It is indeed Although I have eaten my own bodyweight in birthday cake today so it is probably not now...

that's allowed on a boy's big birthday !

Hotcross ? are you back from camping ?

Hello! We're back!

Hope you've had a good week? Hippi will be in Holland by now - hope she has a great time!

We had really really lovely week. We got back late last night as we didn't want to leave, so spent the day on the beach first. The weather was pretty fantastic, lots of long sunny days, a bit windy at times. We had a squall on the beach at Whitstable where we all ran to the pub and crowded inside, and were then rained on through the ceiling I think that was one of B's favourite bits That was the only wet bit, so we were really lucky. We ate lots of fish and chips and ice creams and avoided the great unwashed on very very crowded beaches(where dogs weren't allowed) so we found lovely quiet bays instead. All wonderfully relaxing and I feel dh and I actually talked to each other, rather than get bogged down in mundane chores.

We're here for a couple of days and then B and I are getting the train up to my parents and dh is driving up for the weekend. So a whirl of washing and more packing...

What have you been up to MAS? How are you feeling?

Hotcross ! hooray - glad you are safely back & had a good time...this is v brief hello as we've been out since this morning to London and I am totally shattered and can barely think/type. Am fine but very tired !

Hi MAS. Hope you had a great time in London, but sorry you're so tired.

B and I are having a slow gentle couple of days, which is very civilised. She is very very excited about going to stay with her Granny and Grandad, which is cute I worry that she'll pick up on my negative feelings about them, but so far so good!

I saw the dermatologist this morning and she's confirmed it is rosacea I have a list of foods to avoid - so called triggers, but I haven't noticed any particular rise in symptoms with any of them TBH, so am a bit about it all. Also I have such a restricted diet already, due to allergies, that the thought of cutting out even more is horrible. Will wait til school starts again before I worry about it all.

Right must go and play with B - she was sooo good at the hospital

oh Hotcross - that's and a bugger but I suppose knowing what it is you can treat it..but cutting out stuff is tricky,esp as you say you already have to avoid things because of allergies.
I'm sure you'll have a nice time with B at your parents - I think she'll be so excited she won't notice anything you might be feeling - hope it's ok for you too. We'll be seeing MIL as she's in hospital,or rather just transferred to nursing home to recuperate -will be odd not having her around.
Had a nice walk today at Uppark,NT place nr Petersfield -beautiful views across the Downs. Take care and enjoy your visit xxx

Hello you two

We are back, we had a fab fab time. Staying with my parents was a bit tense at times, especially when O knocked over their (expensive) glass pedestal coffee table and it smashed into a thousand pieces .
But we had a great time exploring the whole north-west of the Netherlands. We visited Amsterdam (I was born there) and I fell in love with the city all over again (was perusing estate agents windows all up for moving the whole family )

Back home now, to a mountain of laundry, an over-excited dog and all the mumdane-ness of every-day life.

Mind you, we are going on a batwalk tonight so that should be fun!!

Sorry to hear about your skin worries hotcross, I hope the restricted diet does not trouble you too much. MAS, how are you, how is the tiredness? Have you started the tamoxifen?

Once the small people are back at school we must do another pack-house coffee meet-up

oh hooray you're back hippi !! at glass table - poor O !
Do send the pictures - I loved last year's !
We have just got back from 3 days in Notts. - staying at dh's mum's and visiting her in her nursing home - really odd being there without her -sad. She was in good spirits and is doing well but lots of changes need doing in the house -she is pretty amazing for 84,a tiny thin thing but determined to stay in the house (dh was brought up there). Saw lots of family and ate nice things.
Would love us to meet up when the children are back at school - let's plan it !

Wow, your MIL is doing well considering her age. Sad about the empty house though. Will she be going back there?

Definately need to do a Packhouse meet up - I have a 'need' for a metal or wire, antiquey, cream or white little peg rail for in the kitchen, to hang up aprons etc. And where better than the Packhouse to locate such an item?

Will try to send photos of the holiday later. We forgot our camera so borrowed my dad's one. He has put the images onto a CD for us and I dont' know how to upload them into an email from there [dim emoticon]

Dillydog is going in to be neutered tomorrow - feel stragenly nervous about it... Am sure he'll be fine though. Am going to distract myself by diggingout all the school uniform, naming the new items (labelling that is, I am not going to call trousers Bob ) and packing up PE kits and the like. Sob. Don't want the holidays to end and I do not want O to go into Y6.....