Gunpowder, Treason and Crepes

[CointreauVersial]

Here we are again.....

I don't look like the model in the picture

I can't do couscous. Even before I discovered my wheat 'issue', cc would give me an exploding arse.

Talking of which, DS and I will be 'letting some off' in the back garden later on. He has eschewed the idea of going to a public display.

Chicken teriyaki sounds yum. I wish
a) someone else would do the cooking here
b) I didn't have to think a day ahead for DS and plate stuff up ready in the fridge.

Couscous is alright if it is the highly flavoured stuff. We had some pretty insipid stuff years ago in Morocco

DS was a bit disappointed that his mates seem to be going to the BP display without him, but not disappointed enough to miss training! We will be going to my lovely friends annual fireworks do on Saturday, so he won't miss out completely!

Herbs, I totally agree about all the paperwork - it gets a lot easier with practice. You need to think about what you want them to learn first, then plan activities to teach this, NOT the other way round (which is a surprisingly common mistake!)

This will be nice couscous. Lots of garlic, parsley, and flavoursome veg.

I wish ds would eat cous cous. He thinks it is related in some way to lentils. I'll eat pretty well anything I don't have to think about and that doesn't involve a pan.

BTM, it is great your ds is so committed to his footy. ds has only played for school and a bit outside, but we've found it a wonderful way of keeping teenage socialising in its place as he has got older.

Hats off to all you teachers.

That does sound nice, MI

Lalsy, he is (like his father) obsessed. Surely 6 or even 7 trainings/matches a week is ridiculous?

That is loads! Does he have to travel a lot to get to training and matches?

You probably know about this, but ds once got (we think) Osgood-Schlatter (google that plus NHS choices and scroll down if interested). It was suggested by a sports coach at a summer camp who said it was quite common in footballing boys in early teens. We went on holiday and it was fine by the time we came back (treatment for mild cases is rest anyway) so never got it checked but I do keep an ear open now for knee aches.

Yes, his team is in Surrey so it's about 45mins or more either way. I only have to drop him to a station a couple of times a week and then he gets the train the rest of the way. Other days he goes from our station into LB and then back out on another train, or else DH does the round trip with him (really only for matches on a Sunday)

Yes that is really common amongst sporty kids - I know several who have/ had it. Thought DD had it at one point, but more likely was an over-use/pressure injury on her knee (she has one leg about a centimetre longer than the other) DS has had very tight leg muscles (especially in the mornings) and often complains about hamstrings and other stuff.
Rest as a treatment for sporty kids is VERY difficult

Good for him.

I know -rest - pah! ds often has aches and pains that prevent room tidying but rarely football .

Ooh I feel the pain re deciding what to cook for dinner. It's the worst bit. If I were organised, I'd make a meal plan, buy a slow cooker, all that shizzle, but can't seem to get organised.

Re teaching, I know we should be working back from 'what they need to learn', and design activities accordingly, but I just get given the activities to plan, and am left to wildly stab in the dark as to the aims and objectives...

I hate having to get organised with cooking. I know I should meal plan, but it's so boring and then when I do, the teens blow it out of the water with not being in / having friends over last minute.

That is such bad practice from your tutors

I am holding my breath for DH and DS's return - DH was making noises about DS dropping one of his training sessions...

There it was the display at the local pub, BBQ, 30 minutes of fireworks five minute walk each way, perfect...

Work is less so...
Have fun Rose...

Stropps? How's things?

I find that putting veg - of all kinds really, bar lettuce and spinach - mindlessly into the oven really helps with the not wanting to cook, if you are not hideously pressed for time.

Dare I admit to enjoying cooking? I don't enjoy deciding what to eat which is why we sit down once a week to write a meal plan. I also have a list of meals which helps as I find that I actually forget food which we do like. The funny thing is that we have only started to do this in the last couple of years and it makes life easier.

I am a great believer in getting DC involved in activities, whether physical or cerebral, to keep them out of mischief.

Yes NU I agree about the keep them busy mantra, but.... and apparently now DD has been asked to coach Mondays too. She's going to give it a go and see how it goes I think.

I used to enjoy cooking more when I worked part time.

Yes Strops how did it go this week? And Addle, how are you?

We are sitting here nursing huge food babies, having been out for dinner at a local "old school" burger restaurant, famous for its giant portions. DS powered through an Elvis burger, which was about six inches high, but none of us could finish our puddings (profiteroles the size of a baby's head, anyone?).

It was DS's choice of venue, as it's his birthday tomorrow; my little pumpkin will be 15. Presents have been wrapped (half an iPhone and a Galatasaray strip) and he has requested a bacon sandwich for breakfast. He has a busy afternoon tomorrow - a school football match, followed by a DofE session coaching 10 year olds, then his own coaching session - he has a lot in common with your DS, BTM!

Meanwhile, I spent a tedious few hours in A&E this afternoon with DD1, who managed somehow to get acrylic dust in her eye during a DT lesson. No damage, luckily; just required a good wash-out. Phew.

Back to Life reminds me of my wild and mis-spent youth in, err, 1980s Warsaw, BTM. That, and Ride on Time, and anything by the Pet Shop Boys. Not quite youth, perhaps as I was in my early 20s, and "an utter fox" according to my Groucho Friend. Why didn't I know that at the time?

I enjoy cooking too, NU, but only if I have time. We had soup, bread and cheese tonight. The soup and bread were home made, if that helps, but I couldn't face cooking. Having filled the fridge with meat last week, we haven't eaten any of it. Will stick a curry in the slow cooker tomorrow morning to use up some of it.

I am having a hateful time of it at work at the moment. We are doing something that I actually know quite a lot about, and have done before (it's quite niche). It is also quite a sexy thing, and all the thrusters want to have a go at it. I have sat there in meetings, saying all along, quite forcefully, "that's not going to work; you need to build in more flexibility, people won't commit to that for legal reasons." Today we got the comments in, and the three things that I said we would never get agreement on, were the three issues that people said they couldn't agree to. Will they listen to me now? I doubt it...

I did take great pleasure in saying I Told You So.

,MrsS that is sooo frustrating...

Back to Life reminds me of The Fridge

CV, that burger place sounds like DS's idea of heaven! Happy Birthday to your DS. And how do you buy/wrap half an Iphone?!

Commiserations again, MrsS.

Sadly DH's intentions to cut DS's footy down were thrown to the wind when the coach spoke to DS I am having to wash footy stuff every night when he gets in, despite him having at least 5 kits.

I too rather enjoy cooking quite a lot of the time, it's just that there's quite a lot of the rest of the time. I like eating, definitely.

My PFB has now crammed in so many drama activities into her week - some at school, some with yoof theatre (fortunately v close to here) that she definitely doesn't have much time for mischief because of course no thesp types ever get up to anything, oh no. Younger child similar with the trumpet ignores memories of youth orchestra weeks away which had a somewhat Sodom and Gomorrah aspect.

My day started with discovering that Bastard Moths had eaten more of my jumpers than I'd thought. (Why can't one get darning wool any more? Why?) On the other hand I then got a text from my cousin in Bonkersville saying 'shall I book you in for a massage and some other therapies' which has cheered me greatly.