Friday, July 23, 2004
Hindsight is ....
A wonderful thing! In the wee small hours when I couldn't sleep, I was thinking about what I last posted and it dawned on me, if I'd listened to my Dad when I was 18, my life would have been SO different!
Yesterday was Kims' birthday, but she heard absolutely nothing from her maternal relations. She was always the favourite too. Even though we don't want them to have anything to do with them, I felt rather sorry for her, cos her uncle (my least favourite 'b-i-l') also forgot.
I took her shopping, mainly to change the jeans that Lelie had sent that were too big, but she liked the tops Lelie had sent so much, she bought herself two more with her birthday money!
When I first came here, I started the 'tradition' that I'd had with my own children. On your birthday, you get to choose what we have for dinner. She chose Sweet and Sour chicken, which Gary ended up cooking because we were still at the shops. I made her a birthday cake and we had a small party for her, so she had a good day.
It's Lelies' birthday tomorrow, but she's in London, so all I can do is phone her.
Moo
Yesterday was Kims' birthday, but she heard absolutely nothing from her maternal relations. She was always the favourite too. Even though we don't want them to have anything to do with them, I felt rather sorry for her, cos her uncle (my least favourite 'b-i-l') also forgot.
I took her shopping, mainly to change the jeans that Lelie had sent that were too big, but she liked the tops Lelie had sent so much, she bought herself two more with her birthday money!
When I first came here, I started the 'tradition' that I'd had with my own children. On your birthday, you get to choose what we have for dinner. She chose Sweet and Sour chicken, which Gary ended up cooking because we were still at the shops. I made her a birthday cake and we had a small party for her, so she had a good day.
It's Lelies' birthday tomorrow, but she's in London, so all I can do is phone her.
Moo
Thursday, July 22, 2004
Why oh why......................
Why do teenagers think they know everything and won't listen to reason?!
John has now officially left school and was going to go to college as he has achieved precisely nothing from his time at school. He went for an interview at a college in Largs and to my surprise actually got a place! (With his track record, I certainly wouldn't have given him one at all.) This will mean a major amount of travelling, as he will have to catch a bus at 06:30 into town to catch the 07:15 train to Largs, so he can be there for 09:00. He couldn't even get himself ten minutes down the road to get to school on time, normally leaving here at the time he should have been in, or not even going at all because he overslept or couldn't be arsed, but I held my tongue and didn't say what I was really thinking!
He then got himself an interview at Motherwell College, which is not really that far away, so doesn't involve such an early start or so much travelling. Just before the interview, he decided he wasn't going to go, as he isn't fit. As there was still 6 weeks or so to go before the start of term, I suggested he go to the interview and if he got a place then he had time to get himself fit again before he started.
He'd dragged his father off with him to the interview in Largs (Gary was the only parent there, so felt a bit of a spare part) but as Gary is now working, he wasn't able to go with him to Motherwell.
Having got the train fare from his father the night before, he left here at about 10:30 to go (I thought) to the interview. He eventually got back here at about 16:00 with his girl-friend in tow and when I asked how it went, he told me he didn't go. Needless to say, Gary was less than impressed when he found out. His uncle tried talking to him, saying that without further education he will go from one deadend job to another, just like his half brother Craig. Water off a ducks back, Alan might just have well saved his breath!
The Boy Wonder has now decided to get a job. He has his NI number, which apparently means he can get a job before he actually turns 16, which is soon anyway. So far this has involved sleeping till about 12:30 and then sitting for hours in front of the other computer (which he seems to regard as his personal property although it belongs to his father) playing some stupid football game that just makes him more aggressive and foul-tempered when it won't do what he wants it to do, and then taking it out on the others. He seems to think that they should all tiptoe around being considerate to him, while he's a permanent b*****d to them!
Gary has been getting more and more frustrated with Johns' warped logic (and he only gets it in the evenings, he misses out on the constant moaning all afternoon) and yesterday it all came to a head. For some reason John can't have a sandwich for lunch like everyone else, and yesterday while I was out he helped himself to some meat out of the deepfreeze and had that instead. We're on a tight budget and for one person to have what would make a meal for the entire family is not on, cos of course, he won't eat vegetables! Gary's now issued him an ultimatum, he has to go and find himself a job, because we can't afford to have him sitting around all day, eating us out of house and home.
So bright and early this morning ..... NOT! John has so far been up for 30 mins and has managed to moan at everyone except me in that time! Thank heavens he's back on the chippie tonight, it'll get him out the house, although he owes more than his wages to me and Pat!
While neither Gary or I will ask him to leave, I think we will ALL breathe a sigh of relief if he decides to move away, which will probably be soon after he realises that he's going to have to contribute £30 - £40 a week to the budget, just to be able to carry on as he does now. Besides helping himself to whatever he feels like, he will put the washing machine and tumbledryer on just for his stuff, no matter if it's only one thing!
I can hear the argument already .... I don't eat that much, I'm hardly here I'm at work, but he (more than the others) seems to forget that things like electricity, water, gas and the phone aren't free!
Also, why is it, that it's a beautiful day and they're all inside? Think I've got a bunch of vampires!!
On a brighter note, my tomatoes are growing like weeds! The balcony is beginning to look a bit "Day of the Triffids"ish and you half expect them to come marching through the door when you open it. The peppers aren't doing so well, but I noticed some flowers on a couple of the plants the other day, so maybe they're meant to be small bushy plants and have just got over-shadowed by the giant tomatoes!
Moo
John has now officially left school and was going to go to college as he has achieved precisely nothing from his time at school. He went for an interview at a college in Largs and to my surprise actually got a place! (With his track record, I certainly wouldn't have given him one at all.) This will mean a major amount of travelling, as he will have to catch a bus at 06:30 into town to catch the 07:15 train to Largs, so he can be there for 09:00. He couldn't even get himself ten minutes down the road to get to school on time, normally leaving here at the time he should have been in, or not even going at all because he overslept or couldn't be arsed, but I held my tongue and didn't say what I was really thinking!
He then got himself an interview at Motherwell College, which is not really that far away, so doesn't involve such an early start or so much travelling. Just before the interview, he decided he wasn't going to go, as he isn't fit. As there was still 6 weeks or so to go before the start of term, I suggested he go to the interview and if he got a place then he had time to get himself fit again before he started.
He'd dragged his father off with him to the interview in Largs (Gary was the only parent there, so felt a bit of a spare part) but as Gary is now working, he wasn't able to go with him to Motherwell.
Having got the train fare from his father the night before, he left here at about 10:30 to go (I thought) to the interview. He eventually got back here at about 16:00 with his girl-friend in tow and when I asked how it went, he told me he didn't go. Needless to say, Gary was less than impressed when he found out. His uncle tried talking to him, saying that without further education he will go from one deadend job to another, just like his half brother Craig. Water off a ducks back, Alan might just have well saved his breath!
The Boy Wonder has now decided to get a job. He has his NI number, which apparently means he can get a job before he actually turns 16, which is soon anyway. So far this has involved sleeping till about 12:30 and then sitting for hours in front of the other computer (which he seems to regard as his personal property although it belongs to his father) playing some stupid football game that just makes him more aggressive and foul-tempered when it won't do what he wants it to do, and then taking it out on the others. He seems to think that they should all tiptoe around being considerate to him, while he's a permanent b*****d to them!
Gary has been getting more and more frustrated with Johns' warped logic (and he only gets it in the evenings, he misses out on the constant moaning all afternoon) and yesterday it all came to a head. For some reason John can't have a sandwich for lunch like everyone else, and yesterday while I was out he helped himself to some meat out of the deepfreeze and had that instead. We're on a tight budget and for one person to have what would make a meal for the entire family is not on, cos of course, he won't eat vegetables! Gary's now issued him an ultimatum, he has to go and find himself a job, because we can't afford to have him sitting around all day, eating us out of house and home.
So bright and early this morning ..... NOT! John has so far been up for 30 mins and has managed to moan at everyone except me in that time! Thank heavens he's back on the chippie tonight, it'll get him out the house, although he owes more than his wages to me and Pat!
While neither Gary or I will ask him to leave, I think we will ALL breathe a sigh of relief if he decides to move away, which will probably be soon after he realises that he's going to have to contribute £30 - £40 a week to the budget, just to be able to carry on as he does now. Besides helping himself to whatever he feels like, he will put the washing machine and tumbledryer on just for his stuff, no matter if it's only one thing!
I can hear the argument already .... I don't eat that much, I'm hardly here I'm at work, but he (more than the others) seems to forget that things like electricity, water, gas and the phone aren't free!
Also, why is it, that it's a beautiful day and they're all inside? Think I've got a bunch of vampires!!
On a brighter note, my tomatoes are growing like weeds! The balcony is beginning to look a bit "Day of the Triffids"ish and you half expect them to come marching through the door when you open it. The peppers aren't doing so well, but I noticed some flowers on a couple of the plants the other day, so maybe they're meant to be small bushy plants and have just got over-shadowed by the giant tomatoes!
Moo
Wednesday, July 21, 2004
Where does time go?
It seems like Christmas was just last month and now there's only about 158 shopping days left! Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrgh!!
The last few weeks have flown by, surprisingly, since the kids are all on school holiday. I really expected the time to drag.
We've been ice-skating, swimming and the movies, as well as a day trip to Ayr for wee Gary and me .... it was a lovely day and I even managed to get a bit of a suntan. Slopped suntan lotion on wee Gary though as he has the typical Scottish fair skin!
Last Friday, with the exception of John, we all went to Beecraigs Country Park near Linlithgow, as part of a programme run by Cathkin High for the new intake (Robert starts there next term.) The activities on offer were archery, a team-building exercise and orienteering.
The archery was great fun, although I ended up with a set of massive blue bruises on my arm! The team-building was a disaster, due to a very bossy child I could have cheerfully throttled (Mum did nothing to keep her little darling in check) and a morose woman, who contributed nothing helpful, but was very critical of everyone elses' efforts!
I wimped out of the orienteering because of the walking involved and was later very glad I did, as our group ended up walking far further than they needed to. Due needless to say to same bossy brat, who when told they'd reached the target, insisted everyone else was wrong and so they carried on walking further! The instructress eventually went looking for them on a bicycle and made them turn round.
I definitely want to go back to Linlithgow as it's a quaint little town, besides being the home of a marvellous embroidery shop (that I've dealt with via the phone and mail) AND I found on Friday, a patchwork shop as well!
I want to get back into making quilts and have found a rather nice pattern called Machu Pichu star, which is paper-pieced. I've started a patchwork duvet cover for us, but think I'm going to unpick what I've done and turn it into a random scrap one instead. I started off doing a simple 9 patch, but they've turned out very bland and boring, so I gave up before I got too far.
My cards are progressing nicely and I've heard from Norry that the thistle card was a great success, so I'm now internationally known! I just don't seem to get as much done lately, maybe due to the constant "Liza ...." that I'm subjected to!
My 'baby' turns 25 on Sunday, besides making me feel very old, it really doesn't seem like that long ago that she was born!
Moo
The last few weeks have flown by, surprisingly, since the kids are all on school holiday. I really expected the time to drag.
We've been ice-skating, swimming and the movies, as well as a day trip to Ayr for wee Gary and me .... it was a lovely day and I even managed to get a bit of a suntan. Slopped suntan lotion on wee Gary though as he has the typical Scottish fair skin!
Last Friday, with the exception of John, we all went to Beecraigs Country Park near Linlithgow, as part of a programme run by Cathkin High for the new intake (Robert starts there next term.) The activities on offer were archery, a team-building exercise and orienteering.
The archery was great fun, although I ended up with a set of massive blue bruises on my arm! The team-building was a disaster, due to a very bossy child I could have cheerfully throttled (Mum did nothing to keep her little darling in check) and a morose woman, who contributed nothing helpful, but was very critical of everyone elses' efforts!
I wimped out of the orienteering because of the walking involved and was later very glad I did, as our group ended up walking far further than they needed to. Due needless to say to same bossy brat, who when told they'd reached the target, insisted everyone else was wrong and so they carried on walking further! The instructress eventually went looking for them on a bicycle and made them turn round.
I definitely want to go back to Linlithgow as it's a quaint little town, besides being the home of a marvellous embroidery shop (that I've dealt with via the phone and mail) AND I found on Friday, a patchwork shop as well!
I want to get back into making quilts and have found a rather nice pattern called Machu Pichu star, which is paper-pieced. I've started a patchwork duvet cover for us, but think I'm going to unpick what I've done and turn it into a random scrap one instead. I started off doing a simple 9 patch, but they've turned out very bland and boring, so I gave up before I got too far.
My cards are progressing nicely and I've heard from Norry that the thistle card was a great success, so I'm now internationally known! I just don't seem to get as much done lately, maybe due to the constant "Liza ...." that I'm subjected to!
My 'baby' turns 25 on Sunday, besides making me feel very old, it really doesn't seem like that long ago that she was born!
Moo
