Hecticness

I don't know if that is even a real word, but it sums up life round here lately!

There were more celebrations for A, and of course - more cake:

All went extremely well, the sleepover was very chilled, and it was nice that I had a friend here to hang out with too. The only annoying bit was the ice-rink inexplicably closing an hour early, so the girls only got about 20 minutes on the ice, but even that didn't seem to bother them too much (it bothered me - I had paid for them all!!)

It was great for both me and A to reconnect with our friends who came up from Glespin, we don't see them very often but they are important people to us. They ended up staying until Monday because of car problems, so we got them for an extra day :-)

Then, it was my birthday! A much quieter affair for me, we were booked to go to the ballet with the HE group on the actual day, so that worked out well. It was Cinderella, which we hadn't seen before, the set and costumes were pretty wild! At the pre-show talk we went to there was mention of influences from Andy Warhol and Vivienne Westwood, all very colourful and glamorous.

We seem to be doing loads of activities at the moment - A has started a new drama class at the big theatre in Inverness (as well as still going to the local one), and is keeping up with Guides, writing group, ice skating and guitar lessons. While I am continuing with Italian class and pilates, and have taken up Bhangra dancing and boxercise! Its all very exhausting, but in a good way ;-)

Our new HE schedule kind of went by the wayside for about a week, while all the celebrations were going on/being prepared for, but we are back on track with it all now. Granny has been away so A has had to put up with me ignoring her on my work days, which has been fine really. I give her an idea of what I'd like her to work on for the day (mostly stuff she has already chosen as areas of interest) and she gets on with it.

We found this fabulous book - well actually the librarian found it for us and ordered it in - as A had said she wanted to look at the different states in America. The book is so good we have decided to just work through it, covering American history/geography/politics/culture. We've also been playing this game to try and learn where the states are.

Something else we're quite taken with is the Brian Cox series 'Wonders of the Solar System', I had recorded this when it was on TV last year and we've just got around to watching it. Brilliant programme, we are big fans!

Happy Birthday!!

A is now 12 years old! This is the cake we made - chocolate sponge with fudgy frosting, mmmmm.

After opening of presents we went off to the cinema this morning to see Animals United, which was ok - some funny moments. We then went into town for a bit of shopping, including a new hat for A :-) she has quite a collection of hats now, definitely a hat girl.

Altogether a lovely chilled day together. A is gearing up for some proper celebrations next weekend, when our friends arrive from Glespin. She'll be going ice skating with a couple of mates then having a sleepover with them back here. She'll also be getting her hair specially done for the occasion, with some pink streaks, very exciting!!

Happy Birthday A!!!

Today, A is 11.

She's having a few 'birthdays' this year - today with me; Sunday with her friends; next week with Granny (who is away just now); and at the end of the month with Nonna and Nonno when she goes to stay with them. Lucky girl :0)

We had fun today, a leisurely morning, out for lunch, a visit to see some friends, then it was back to drama class for A - something she had really been looking forward to. She's a happy girl and says its been the best birthday so far in her life.

11 seems like such a milestone to me, maybe because of how things changed for me when I was 11. I changed, grew up, an awful lot the year I was 11. I expect it had a lot to do with going up to secondary school, but I remember it being quite a drastic change. I discovered all sorts of new things when I was 11: the clash; smoking; boys; black eyeliner. My relationship with my parents also transformed, not in a good way. I can remember feeling a real shift away from them, and there was a lot of antagonism and resentment during the following few years. I'm pretty sure I wasn't a very nice person to be around.
I suppose this is why I have feelings of trepidation around A turning 11. Even though I know A is not me, and our relationship is very different to mine with my parents, I know that she will over the next few years move away from me and into her own world. Its not really the moving away that worries me, more the possibility of her shutting off from me and losing our connection.

I know I should stop looking for potential problems, always been my way - imagine the worst then at least you wont be disappointed!

I am very proud of A, of who she is and who she is becoming.

Some of A's presents

Happy Birthday Dad

My Dad would have been 72 today, so here are a couple of pics of the lovely man.


Above: very young and handsome looking - possibly in the '60s (before my time anyway). Cant believe those sandals, what were you thinking Dad!?!

Below: having a drink and a laugh, how I like to remember him :0)

We are going to mark the occasion by - can you guess?? Yes - baking a big cake! How predictable we are.

There are a couple of things going on just now which are a bit too personal to blog about, for now anyway, so I may be a bit quiet for a while as they are taking up much of my headspace.

Happy Birthday to me!

Its my birthday today! Although I feel I've already celebrated - had a nice night out on Saturday with a couple of lovely mates at Simply_Red. I love this restaurant, they put on a vegan special for us, as well as having a vegan option on the main menu. They even had a vegan desert!! (Very rare).
I celebrated with A yesterday, as I work on Tuesdays so she spends the day with Granny, and she wanted to see me open my presents. A got me this beautiful mug (with her own money, she proudly told me!)


the other side says: nothing can compare to the love and friendship we share. She even brought it to me in bed, filled with tea. What a lucky mum I am.

Not much else happening, birthdays take up so much time! So here are some pics I took on Sunday morning, on a walk round Findhorn_Bay.

So, A had her party. I took them all for lunch first at a little cafe down the road. I had mentioned when I booked the table that it was a birthday thing, but hadn't expected them to do anything special, so I was really touched when they brought out a cake with candles once the girls had finished their lunch, and all the waitresses stood round and sang happy birthday! What lovely people.
The party went ok , I think. There was some of the bitchiness that seems so common among girls of this age. I'm sure I was the same at that age (cant remember - it was so long ago) but its horrible to see, they can be quite brutal. But for the most part I think they had fun. Below is a very poor photo of the disco lights.

We finished Chocolat on Monday, and went straight down to the library to get The_Lollipop_Shoes, which is the sequel to Chocolat. A is really enjoying these, despite my very bad pronounciation of all the French words. Apart from all the mouth watering descriptions of the chocolates and sweets, the stories focus on the relationship between a single mother and her daughter, something we can relate to of course.

A has been using the BBC Bitesize numeracy and literacy games, I thought this would make a change from the workbooks for a while. She seems to be enjoying them, although still a bit wary of anything that looks too mathsy.

We also had a look at the projects she has on the go, and she's decided to focus again on her mushroom one, and try to get it completed. She has lots of photos of wild mushrooms that she took last year, and a few books for reference, so is going to fill a scrapbook with the pics and her own notes. I think its important for her to take some of these projects to a conclusion, I know myself - its so easy to get enthusiastic about something, and then leave it half finished when something more interesting comes along. I know she's still learning when this happens, but I think it will give her a sense of achievement to produce a finished piece of work. On a more practical/boring level, I want to build up a file of her work, for my own reference and also to show any LEA bods who might check up on us at any point.

I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed at present. There seems to be so much I need to do. I'm doing a freelance journalism course, with a view to become self-employed in the near future; I'd like to get more organised with HE resources and aims; I need to start preparing if we are going to move. Its that feeling of it all being so chaotic and disorganised, and the amount of time it will take to get it all sorted. I know I need to manage my time better if I am going to be self employed - I need to put the hours in - but all I really want to do is focus on A and give her all of my time that she needs. I think I might start making 'to do' lists on a daily or weekly basis, hopefully this will give me a bit more clarity about what I need to achieve, one step at a time.

History, birthdays, and possibility of a move

I think my blogging is slowing down, but I am trying to spend a little less time on the computer as it felt like it was taking over. I'm happier if we have days when the computer isn't on at all, because once its on we both tend to drift back to it throughout the day. A isn't too bothered, she enjoys playing and investigating stuff online, but generally doesn't think about it unless the machine is on.

A really got into The_Diary_of_Anne_Frank which was on BBC1 all last week. After the final one last night we switched over to BBC4 and watched Anne_Frank_Remembered, a brilliant 2 hour documentary. I didn't think A would want to watch the whole thing, and warned her that there would be very upsetting images and descriptions about the concentration camps, but she was engrossed.
We also enjoyed A_History_of_Scotland, which last week focused on AD 84 - 943. Tonights looks at events in the thirteenth century. It seems to be covering a lot of what I read in James Hunter's The_Last_of_the_Free, a wonderful book, very readable for a 'history' book. It really blows away all the romantic patriotic nonsense you sometimes hear up here (I'm half Scottish and half English - quite an uncomfortable legacy at times!)

Its A's 10th birthday next week!! Plans have changed from a swimming party and sleepover, to lunch at a local restaurant and a few hours back at ours for cake and 'play' (seems like the wrong term for these very grown up 10/11 year olds, but I cant think of what else to call it!). There will just be five of them, so a nice little group.
I'm quite pleased about the way its turned out, its a shame she didn't get her swim, but problems with pools in the area (closed because of burst pipes, weird opening times) made it difficult to organise. The sleepover is something I wasn't particularly looking forward to anyway, but A has been having bedtime problems for the last week or so, so decided herself it wasn't a good idea. She's in with me at night at the moment, which is ok but not ideal as I need SPACE. Not sure where this all came from, she just gets very anxious and frustrated about not being able to get to sleep, and it turns into a cycle of getting upset about not getting to sleep and not getting to sleep cos she's so upset. I'm just playing it by ear and trying to give her what she needs just now. We are giving her room a big clear out and make over, and I'm hoping that might help. We shall see...

We have been discussing the idea of moving which I mentioned in my last posting, and A - initially very against the idea - is now listing what she wants in our new place! Anyway, its definately on the cards now. We will start looking at places soon I think, but will be very discriminating! I'm not moving until I'm really convinced that the new place will be better. We've been here for over six years, and the thought of all the upheaval of packing everything in boxes and physically moving fills me with dread, but as my friend said 'you just fix the date, hire a van and call a few friends to help' - simple as that !?! But I know what she's saying, it is doable, I'm lucky enough to have friends who will help. Its all about perspective.