It’s Millie’s 12^th birthday today, where did the time go??  We had a little tea party for her last night which they all seemed to enjoy.  It was lovely to see her face when she saw that she had some more presents.  As I couldn’t decide which cake to buy her I ended up getting her two, one of which they had last night and the other one I’m going to save until the weekend.

Another bit of nice news from me is that I’ve been seeing someone new since January.  We actually met last year at my best friend’s wedding but were both seeing other people so it didn’t cross my mind that we would become an item.  It was only when we met again at the Groom’s birthday do in January that we ended up getting together as we were both single again.

He’s lovely, really kind, and not one of those arrogant men who can’t admit they are wrong and have to be right all the time or who can’t admit to not knowing something.

We’re both really busy with our own lives – I have the children, my OU course, the gym etc. and he has work, his son and all of his other interests – so we’re not in each other’s pockets and always round at each other’s houses at every possible moment.  Before I met him again I’d actually made a conscious decision to stay single (I really must do a blog entry with all my dating stories, my nail technician says I should write a book with them all because some of them are hilarious) because the men I’d gone out with all wanted to spend more time with me than I did with them.  I’ve got so used to having my time to myself when the children are at their dad’s I really don’t want to give it up for anyone.  I love my evenings on my own where I put my PJs on about 6pm and either curl up on the sofa with the TV programmes I’ve recorded or in bed with a load of reading material.  I also just didn’t want the complications of a relationship getting in the way of my OU course either.

So we see each other once a week, sometimes twice, and it’s really nice that we’ve got loads to talk about.  He introduced me to one of his hobbies last week which I really enjoyed (more on that in a later post!). 

One of the disadvantages of his job is the early mornings though!!  I am soooo not a morning person and I don’t think I ever will be.  He owns a farm and when I stay over his alarm goes off before 7am and if that hasn’t woken me up the farm machinery outside is guaranteed to.  As a child I always wished I lived on a farm and now I have to admit I am really glad I don’t!!   It was nice to wake up there on Easter Monday morning and not only not have to get up at stupid o’clock but also for there to be total silence as well.  As he had no work that day we spent a lovely morning just chilling out, watching TV, drinking coffee and eating hot cross buns.  J

There is an advantage to the stupidly early mornings though, it does mean I can shock my bestie by turning up mega early for things when she is used to me being late.  We’d arranged to meet in Costa one morning and she walked straight past at ten past nine thinking there was no way on earth I would be there at that time.  I was well chuffed to show off my receipt that said I was served at ten to nine!! Lol

Another advantage is the fresh eggs for nothing, without the hassle of actually keeping the hens yourself.

So with that and everything else going on in my life right now I’m really happy.  Maybe that should be the topic of another entry?  The secret of how I found true happiness??  Watch this space…..  ;-)

Birthdays

It’s been a lovely weekend here at home.  Saturday was Beth’s 19^th birthday which made me feel very old as I was 19 when I had her.  I could be a grandma now!!!  That is a very scary thought!!

We had a little party for her on Friday evening as is customary, and she had her (also customary) black forest gateaux (which didn’t get dropped on the floor, one custom I am quite happy not to continue!!).  She seemed really pleased with it and wasn’t too disappointed that her presents hadn’t arrived in time.  Hopefully they will turn up sometime this week as I ordered them back at the beginning of the month.  I did get her an e-voucher for Nintendo which was in her card so she has something, and then she has to wait until August for the fourth item as it isn’t released until then.

On Saturday afternoon I had a quick run into town with Ellie and Sophie, partly to get Millie’s birthday presents and partly to try and cheer Ellie up a bit as she had some devastating news in the week and was very upset on Saturday morning.  A wander round the shops and a hot chocolate and cake in Costa seemed to help a little.

Sunday was a lovely lazy day.  The weather has been appalling recently so I stocked up on firewood on Friday and we’ve had the fire burning most of the weekend.  We didn’t bother to get dressed today and just chilled out for the day and ate hot cross buns. 

Tomorrow it’s going to be Millie’s birthday tea after school.  Her birthday is actually on Tuesday but she’ll be at her dad’s on Tuesday evening so she’s having her birthday here a day early.  After a lot of whinging I let her have her presents this evening and she was delighted with them.  It now gives me the dilemma – do I give her the ones I still have hidden away or not bother????  Actually, it doesn’t really, I can’t wait to see her little face when I get them out for her tomorrow as she now thinks she’s had everything she’s getting…..  J

I said in my last post that lots of things has happened since my previous post way back in September.  Well, one really big thing is I have started a degree with the Open University.  For the purposes of transitional fees (because I started studying before the fees went up I am eligible for my fees for the next 6 year to stay at the current rate and not have to pay the increased fees) I have had to declare exactly what degree I am doing.  Hopefully I’m not going to change my mind, but I am doing – fanfare please – a BA (Hon) History degree!!

I signed up in August last year to do an Openings module which is aimed at people like me who have not studied for a long time and who need an introduction to University level study, particularly with the OU.  I was slightly nervous, years of being made to feel like I’m stupid and having my confidence eroded had left me thinking there was no way I could do something like this.  I can’t remember what it was now that prompted me to do it but whatever it was, I decided to get myself signed up before I could talk my way out of it again.

I did Y180 Making Sense of the Arts and thoroughly enjoyed it.  It was a lot easier than I expected, not nearly as scary as I thought it would be and was fantastic for my self-confidence.  The main thing it taught me was that yes, I bloody well can do it and no, I’m not stupid at all.

I’m currently doing a level one module (equivalent to the first year of a degree) and have just registered for my next module, a level two based on the rather wide period of 1400-1900 which I’m really looking forward to starting in September. 

If someone had told me a year ago that in 12 months time I’d have signed up for a degree and would be part way through my second module I would never have believed them!  What a difference a year makes!! J

Oh dear, once again I have gone months and months without writing anything again. Having just checked it’s been seven whole months and quite a lot has happened here since then. So much so that I’m going to split it down into several posts rather than one long one and then I’ll have something to post over several days in the hopes that I’ll get into the habit of writing more regularly.

So, where to start?? Well, the Easter holidays have just finished. They went really fast as I had the children for the first week and then they went to stay with their dad for a week. We didn’t do a huge amount although one day I took the children (apart from the eldest two) to Cadbury’s World. Jack’s first reaction when we got there was “why have you brought us here??? I hate chocolate!!” and Alfie just informed me that “chocolate isn’t healthy”. Hmmmmm. Funnily enough though, both were quite happy to tuck into the “free” chocolate we were given although they weren’t quite so keen on the little pots of warm melted chocolate. Unfortunately this meant I had to finish them off for them…. Oh, it’s a tough life being a mum isn’t it???? LOL

They really enjoyed the day out there but it was a shame the weather was so appalling as it meant they couldn’t go on the outdoor playground which looked fantastic. I have to admit though, I’m glad it only cost me £6.80 to get in (thanks to Tesco!!) as I don’t think it was worth the full price for the tickets. I’m sure that when I went about 15 years ago they gave us about 5 bars of chocolate as we went round, this time we got 3.

The older two have a trip promised for later on in the year which I’m really looking forward to taking them on.

On Monday we went to Belton House as there is a large adventure playground there and my friend has told me how good it is. I found a special offer to join the National Trust and better still went through a cash back website so I’ve “saved” a bit more money. The children loved it and we spent a couple of hours there while they went off and had fun and a couple of rides on the little train. Definitely somewhere we will be returning to several more times over the year, and there are quite a few NT properties I’d like to go and visit by myself as well that I know the children wouldn’t really enjoy.

All of the children are doing really well. Jack and Sophie have both been moved up to the next classes at school because they’re so far ahead of where they should be. The old A-word (autism) has reared its head with Millie again so that might all start up again.

Little Amos is just a little darling. He was 3 in February and has recently amazed me by learning to spell his name and “mum” on my laptop. I thought it was just a case of him knowing where the letters are on the keyboard but then I bought him a tub of letters for the bath and he loves sorting through them and finding the correct letters for both words. He’s also got a set of alphablocks letters (a Cbeebies series) and he loves those too, and knows all the sounds. He makes me laugh with the things he says as well, he’s such a funny little fellow and a really cheeky little character.

The cash back website I mentioned earlier is below. It’s brilliant and I really do highly recommend it. They don’t charge any fees so you get all the cash back and if you take it as Amazon vouchers you get an extra 10%!! What’s not to love??