Moving at the speed of life

Thursday night I had the first decent sleep I’d had for ages, as I was finally able to lie down without coughing. Bliss. In fact, I slept so well that I didn’t wake up till Bob phoned at 11am on Friday morning. Slightly embarrassed to find Hannah had been up for hours, had the music teacher in, done the ironing and was doing some more Roman’s stuff. Oh well, I must have needed it. There didn’t seem to be much in the house for lunch, so after I was upright, we went to the garden centre for soup and sandwiches. It wasn’t possibly the best idea, as it was incredibly windy and sleety, and by the time we were home I was shattered and quite wheezy. So, I er, slept on the sofa We’d picked up some stuff at the Burn’s Centre a few weeks ago, and never used it, so Hannah did that in honour of Burn’s night. Bob came home from work feeling pretty miserable as well, so we decided none of us felt well enough to bother with haggis and poetry, as we ate pizza from the freezer, and watched Bridge to Terabithia on dvd.

Saturday Hannah got up and made tea in bed for everyone, and we cracked open a family box of paracetamol. I’d been vaguely insisting that some fresh air would help, but it was such a foul day we kept postponing it, till about 3pm we acknowledged that we probably weren’t going anywhere. Bob made chicken something for dinner, Hannah and I looked on the internet for advance tickets for Disney, and booked a holiday inn express with free parking for a fortnight at the airport for the night before the flight. We had a bit of a chat about what she wanted to do re Maths. I’ve been thinking about My Pals are Here – she finished the S+S Understanding Maths series a while back, and I know she has been doing stuff on Education City, but it doesn’t take much for her to lose her maths confidence, and I know she feels the need for something regular. If I was sure she’d use it, I’d just get it, but I hate the piles to unused stuff we have, with no other kid to pass it onto. We’ve got masses to cgc books, which she loathes. However, she did like the S+S ones, so might work. Having been having one of my regular crisis of confidence re HE – simply because all my friends seem to be becoming absolutely obsessed with their kids education. Two of them have looked their 12 year olds to private schools as they “aren’t getting enough homework”, (the kids are furious about it), another is already fretting about developing appropriate interests for a personal statement of the UCCA form. And while I can’t ever see me feeling like that, a part of me is wondering if I’m being too cavalier. I suppose I still have a fearsome vision of Hannah saying I’ve let her down when she is older. So my nearly 12 year old is writing Dr Who stories and cooking up a storm several times a week, and her peers are fretting about university enterance. Or at least, their mothers are!!

Today Sooty escaped when she was getting put into her run, and we all spent about an hour chasing her round the street – we’d moved the run to the front, as we thought the grass was tastier for them there, as it hasn’t been snacked on all winter. She hid for ages under one of the cars, and eventually Bob poke her out, and I flung a towel over her as she shot out the back of the car. A Rose incident averted! We took the car down to the shore, as I couldn’t face walking back up the hill to the house, and we managed a resonable walk – Hannah took her scooter – though Bob and I were both shattered after it. He rarely gets ill, so is particularly grumpy.  Hannah has been playing Bob Dylan on the keyboard – you can tell she is a few generations out of step – and she is now reading some kids Shakespeare, Bob is repairing the hutch roof, which got damaged in the wind the other night, and I’m just about to put a Jamie Oliver approved clucker in the oven.

First, if I *ever* congratulate myself on my good health in the future, just say the words “January, 2008″ to me.  I ended up with  an acute asthma attack – having never had asthma in the past. Although actually, when the doctor took a detailed history, I realised probably I have been having asthma type symptoms every time I get a cold or hay fever, ever since I had pneumonia a couple of years ago. As it was never even on my radar  -no personal or family history of it, it just never entered my head, it was only when I started to go “yes, yes,yes” in every tick box that I realised. Anyway, a few hours on a spacer type thing helped enormously, and now I’ve got a collection of inhalers. Pah.

Anyway, having scared the wits half out of Hannah, and probably traumatised her for life, we’ve had a very low key couple of days. And will be having a few more, as I realised tonight that I’m completely wiped.  Hannah has been doing some Roman thing, and has done pages on fashion, schooling, worship, food, etc. She’s found a clip art site, and is using that to illustrate it. The pink laptop is certainly being used.  She’s been DS-ing, playing with Dr Who stuff, and not letting me out of her sight. A visit to the loo has her camped outside the door, and she has only reluctantly gone to netball tonight.

She is much better herself, thankfully didn’t need antibiotics for her tonsils this time, so hopefully she just needs a bit of TLC. Or maybe not, as she asked if the fact I’d been so nice all day meant I was really ill – nope, just means I’m too knackered to care if you wreck the place

Ice cream maker, panadol deliverer, tea and hot toddy producer, screener of phone calls…….I’ve coughed all night, and feel really rough today, though Hannah is a lot better, thankfully, so given I’m a day behind her, hopefully that will be me tomorrow. I’ve taken to bed, and Hannah is doing a massive clear out of her bedroom. For various reasons, we didn’t do the usual pre-xmas clear out this year, so it’s well overdue. She has amazed me by putting her entire collection of Dr Who mags in the re-cycling. In the style of all good de-clutter godesses, she’s got three black bags, and is doing a bin/donate/sell division. The play room is next, though I think she’ll need my help with that, as I may be largely responsible for the groaning bookcases in there.

I got a new coaching contract this morning, someone I had spoken to a couple of times last week, has decided to go ahead with a 6 session contract, so that is excellent news.

And why is it, that my pelvic floor has a 72 hour limit on non-stop coughing.

Hannah and I are both coughing, wheezing and feeling very sorry for ourselves. Bob was kicked out of bed at 4am to provide paracetamol for our temperatures, honey and lemon for the coughs, and general sympathy. Had to cancel plans for tomorrow, as I can’t see either of us being well enough to go anywhere.

I’ve been trying to file my tax return , and the company return, on line. The tax return has been manageable, as I keep the books pretty up to date anyway, but the company return is a nightmare, as the site will NOT send me the auto-emails I need to proceed. Have decided it’s a ploy to force you to file by post, which costs twice as much. PLUS you can’t do it on a Sunday – wtf is that about. I thought the whole point of a web service was that it was flexible, and not tied to office hours. Anyway, have just sent companies house snotty email, which will do lots of good. Not.

And the good news is……just booked birthday treat holiday to Florida.

Edited to add: sometimes I still assume Hannah knows things, and then I’m really taken aback when she doesn’t. Like she was really excited to be going on holiday, and then I mentioned Disney. “What, you mean we are going to DISNEYLAND???? ” Well, yes, why else would we go to Florida.  So now she really IS beside herself with excitment. Have resisited the Disney monster in all its guises for her entire life, but I suspect I’ve just made a long-held secret dream come true.

Hm can hardly comment on my daughter’s education, as have been away from home all week. However, she seems to have had a good time with Bob, Monday and Tuesday, and they’ve been sporty.

Tuesday morning I shot home as she had a scan, and didn’t want to go with Bob, but it was pretty much a flying visit, and we will see the paed next week. She then had a nasty allergic reaction at the childminders. She is very allergic to dry wallpaper paste – so going on it doesn’t seem to be a problem, but once the paper is stripped off for redecoration, it makes her wheeze and swell up a bit. If we plan on re-decorating at home we give her antihistimines and keep the walls damp – we never leave the walls dry and dusty, with dried paste shedding fungicidal dust everywhere. Never thought to tell the childminder about this allergy, and they’ve been stripping wallpaper in the evenings, so she was really miserable. She has needed a lot of piriton today.

Eight years ago next month, my best friend died of breast cancer. She was 39, and had two children, a boy who was then 7, and a daughter of 3. Every year in her memory, I try to do at least one event to raise money for breast cancer care, research or awareness. This year I am walking the Edinburgh Half Moonwalk on 14 June. I’ve power walked several half marathons before, so I am fairly confident. If you are able to sponsor me, for any amount, no matter how small, then you can do so via the Just Giving badge in the side bar. And if you want to come and cheer me on on the night, when I will be parading the streets of Edinburgh in my underwear, then you can do that, as well. And if you would like to promote my fundraising page on your own blog, then you can grab a widget here.

I’m upstairs writing training material. Bob is at his dad’s. The house is full of delicious smells. Hannah has made chocolate cup cakes, victoria sponge, m+m cookies, and has just been up to ask me if I would like ham and chicken crepes for lunch. That child has potential I love that she’s confident enough in the kitchen to just get on with it without asking, and without supervision.

Decided to only do the half marathon at Walk the Walk   this year. My training is so off course that I’m beginning to think the marathon may be over optimistic, and I’d hate not to be fit to start. And as you can’t change your race nearer the time, I’ve just entered the half, as I know I can do that without major training. Although actually the training I’m doing next week is the kind people pay me money for.

I went to work on Wednesday. First day in new job, didn’t want to look like a post-Xmas slacker etc. By the time I got home in the evening, my leg was terribly swollen, I had a temperature, and I was really achey. Spent the next two days back on bed rest. Antibiotics have been extended for another week (not because of me being up on Wed, just because there is a persistent hot spot on my leg, and they don’t want it to get a hold again).  A scan on my calf yesterday confirmed that was all it was. So I’ve to have another two days with my leg elevated, and then start something called “gentle mobilisation” lol on Monday. Which is just as well, as I’m training all next week.

Hannah has been doing lots of craft, playing her keyboard, and posing in front of the mirror. She is reading her way through all the Horrible History magazines we got on subscription a couple of years ago, and keeps presenting me with factoids. She has decided she is ready to tackle spelling all of a sudden, so we’ve been working on that for 10 mins every day, and she’s been doing some puzzle books from Tarquin Maths. All the evening activities have started up again, and this week she has been to bowling, netball, and twice to athletics.Bob is taking her out walking  and cycling this weekend, as she has otherwise been a bit confined to the house for the last week.

Hannah is being totally angelic, and is running about making me tea, giving my meds and pottering around the living room. She’s played some more with her graphics tablet, is making a fashion collage, wii-ing, done some maths on education city, and while I was dozing this morning, wrote a page on the causes of WW1. (!?!)

I was determined to try to get out today, but by the time it got to attempting to put shoes on, I was feeling very sick and shaky, so back lolling on sofa.

Last night we watched the Panorama programme on internet grooming together, and had a chat about that. I don’t have any parental controls on the PC, as I’ve always felt it that they would do nothing but give both of us a false sense of security, and it was better for her to learn to use it sensibly without a net nanny in the background. I think that is still my approach. Nevertheless,  she does always use the laptop in a family area, and certainly so far always asks before she fills in any forms or gives details away. Certainly, I would rather have her sitting around the living room till later in the evening, than using it in her room, and she hasn’t really reached the secretive stage yet.

Nevertheless, it did remind me why I stopped having a public blog for a long while, when that journalist managed to track me down as the author on fairly scant information.