What's Cooking?

A has been cooking again...


she really impressed me this time...

with stuffed pepper and puff pastry pizza - delicious!

This was our 'use up the rest of the pastry' breakfast the following day - chocolate croissants. Blame Nigella!

And this is the colourful stirfry I made the other night, very pretty I thought.

Unpacking is ongoing, we now have all our books and CDs on the shelves which makes it feel much more like 'our' place. Also - we now have heat! The man came to fix the heating system on Friday, not that we need the heating on much here, but its good to know its all working properly.

I'm hoping we can get back into a bit of a routine (I use that term very loosely!!) with HE stuff from next week. I'm planning to get it all organised and accessible into drawers in the spare room, and we can maybe reassess how A wants to approach things. We also have a few group outings and workshops lined up.

Science, and a nice man

We had a brilliant time at the science_festival at Moray College on Tuesday, with the home ed group. Had four sessions covering aspects of biology, chemistry, physics and natural sciences. It was all quite fast paced - going from one session to the next, but very interesting and enjoyable, and seemed to keep all the children engaged (ages ranged from about 6 to about 14).

Preparations for the move are going well, although I do need to get hold of more boxes. I have had an offer of help with the actual move from a very lovely man, who is going to organise a trailer and do the driving and help with the lifting of large items, ie all the things I was feeling a bit panicky about!

We have our final Astronomy class next week, something we have both loved, and learnt a lot from. I was gutted to hear that the Adult Education budget has been cut and a lot of the staff have been given redundancy notice. Its a real shame, as there were some great classes coming up and the staff were so enthusiastic and helpful :-(

Not much else to write about just now, there's loads going on, but cant get my head together at the moment as its all so hectic. One thing I have decided is that I am going to be more organised once we've moved - generally, but specifically with home ed stuff. I know we're doing lots and A is learning, but I never quite feel that I've got a handle on it all, and I think it would be helpful for both of us to be more organised and do a bit more planning. We'd never be totally structured, we just dont work like that, but I don't feel quite comfortable with it being totally autonomous either. Maybe thats my failing, but I have to go with my instinct and that is telling me we need a little more method in our madness.

Its all happening!!

Am very excited/stressed at the moment, as we have found a lovely house to move to. Excited because its going to be great to move into a cosy, modern, well insulated home which is much more central to the town (actually in a little road just off the high street); stressed because there is so much to get organised. But I am mostly excited :0)

A is really looking forward to the move, she loved the place the moment we walked into it, and I must admit, after looking at a few places this one just had a nice 'feel' to it. Nothing logical, and its not perfect, but an inexplicable 'homely' feeling is the only way I can describe it.

We have been doing some work, a lot of astronomy going on at the moment as we are both enjoying the evening class, but as for blogging - my mind has been taken over by 'the move' just now, and I think I will preoccupied with that for the next few weeks (I'm giving my months notice to my current landlord today). I'll try to blog a few bits here and there, but may be a bit quiet!

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.