Category Archives: General

Little Nanny

Posted on August 25, 2007 by | Leave a comment

Little Nanny

Originally uploaded by Scrumbledelicious.

85! a family treasure [most of the time - but is accorded the leniency given to elderly family members!]
today she really enjoyed telling of her family history wrapped around the museum we were visiting.
Long may she remain the matriarch of our family

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SUN!!!!

Posted on August 25, 2007 by | Leave a comment

Well, it was lovely to feel that there might be a bit of summer left, and chris has worked hard outdoors [not that i can tell, because it is dark - but there is greenery on the floor!]. Anyway its the start of painting of our personal the firth of forth bridge – AKA the windows!

i left as early as poss [10 - rofl] to drive to little nanny’s. the drive was uneventful, though I did have to stop numerous times in laybys to get various bits and pieces for girls as BB didn’t fall asleep.

Got there and had lunch – apart from BB, being in awkward mode. After that we set out for Gressenhall Rural life museum. i’ve been there before as a child, a couple of times. Last when I was 13. i still remember it quite clearly, and a lot has changed. I liked the mishmash agricultural huge ground hall as was better – and my enduring memory of harvesting mangels is from this! Also, very coolly, my Nan’s Dad made the wheels of one of the carts there.

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Also, for more family history my nan’s gran was born there, as were her first 2 children, so we have real family connection to the poorhouse there. ALso her gran’s first child [of 10] went back to help run the place, before going onto a v successful business career.

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Anyway, although I prefered the older version, this was still good value, and had children’s things laid on. the girls made wagons and gypsy wagons. then we went to the re-enactment of a working day of managing the poorhouse. i had to cry into BB’s head, and my dad was dressed up [yes audience participation] as a grandad fallen on hard times and made destitute with wife and 2 grandchildren, whose parents have died. And SB was the girl child. My dad turned out to be a brilliant actor, so was far too realistic for me. I guess i have never doubted my dad’s love for his family, and that he would put us above all else, so this did sound far too credible.

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BB started to play up [understatement], so i went back to car to pop her in the buggy, and then met up with family for some more looking around all the displays. my nan was disappointed not to see her mum’s butter churn, as it was there lat time we went, though we didn’t go in all the bits as walking with stops was still a bit strenuous for her. Dad took SB to the playground, and me, mum, little nanny and BB went to the cafe. From there back to Nanny’s home, and then finally back home here, with the sun in eyes for whole drive – aargh.

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Can’t seem to get photo’s into blog, so will ask my system administrator when he brings me coffee!!

Humm, he was fiddling! so they are now in.

Oh yes, back at home we had tea, and the girls watched an arthur and the knights of the round table narrated by the BT advert chap, and then a programme about wild elephants. SB then collapsed into bed, but BB took forever, having had all that sleep.

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Posted in Butterbean, General, history, Out and About, Stringbean

Manor bound

Posted on August 24, 2007 by | Leave a comment

i will add photos, but not just at this minute for the last post and this one! We all got up in snuggly mode again this morning – prob the rainy dull weather was offputting. SO we read books, children played, bit of ‘putering and then we settled in front of german Muzzy, which we hadn’t watched for a while, and watched the whole of the first series. BB was spellbound and trying to say some of the words. Sb also took some in. we should do language based things more often!

Then, having found the phone, and ascertained that the invite to Michelle at the Manor was still valid, we drove there. i memorised the route, and then gave SB the task of reading the aa instructions. she was v good at it, and we got there with no hitches. We had a lovely afternoon, and stayed v late, adults chatting and children playing. Thankyou.

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Posted in General, language, socialisation

we have a bean icon!

Posted on August 24, 2007 by | 2 comments

Chris has played today while I’ve been away, and I have returned to a bean! He said he wondered when I would notice – immediately my love!

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Posted in General

rain rain go away

Posted on August 23, 2007 by | 5 comments

you know, I am definitely grumpy that we have catapulted into Autumn with not much of a summer to show for it. today was miserable weather, the evenings are shorter. grumble grumble!

anyway, today we have had a bit more of a chill day. my parents left this morning, and both me and SB were doldrummy because of it. So we have read loads of books snuggled together with BB as well in a heap on the sofa. The new shelf reorganisation is OK-ed by BB and SB, and they have been picking books off left right and centre. SB very happy to find old favourites such as greek myths, archaeologists dig for clues and the usborne science books.

SO when i couldn’t talk at all from parchedness, i got out the pattern blocks and sheets, and the girls both made patterns for a bit, interspersed with ‘putering. Mostly webland and cbeebies. BB is exceptionally good at manipulating, mouse control and general ‘puter using. she switiches it on, goes into her screen, finds firefox and them the bookmark toolbar. or else webland explore – which she manipulates well too.

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girls keen on baking, so went out for supplies, bt when I got back in, SB got all wobbly, so we called tots tv magic adventures french, and she snuggled in a duvet to watch it whilst BB and I made chocolate brownies. After that it was BB’s turn to get waily, so we snuggled together and she fell asleep.

SB and I made ‘rainforest’ cake – well, it had bananas and chocolate in it, which are rainforest ingredients. We thought adding rubber would be yuk, and that although we like carrot cake with cinnamon and nutmeg, they might be a bit weird with the coc and banana combo.

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Since BB was still asleep, we then did some fimo-ing. SB made a particularly ace turtle, some cool beads and a weird ‘thing’ i think it was for putting babies in? We glossed some fimo things we had made before, and also threaded a necklace we had made from one of the bead merrily kits up.

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SB felt perky enough to do a bit of maths, so she did, and I woke BB up – I know, cruel mum! so we did more reading squished together, including stories from around the world and various fairy tales.

We neede some more baking therapy so made some cheese scones all together. I forgot that earlier SB wailed as I had *made* her have some sweets in the shop – it was a treat! hardly compulsary. She then decided not to eat any of the cake. She has been complaining of tummy ache today, so prob that. However, being me, I am now panicking instead about eating disorders, so wondering what the best thing is to head it off. i would rofl at myself being concerned and paranoid if I wasn’t so concerned.

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Might do a self image thing on positive things?? am i overreacting?? [and I am imagining you all think so, but...] Anway, we also did some piano practice. she enjoyed this enough to want ot do it again, and thinks she prefers piano to violin.

Anyway, both girls then happily playing together and then next to each other on the ‘puter until tea and bed. SB has started the next magic tree house book sunset of the sabretooth, she read me a chapter, and I read her a chapter of from lava to life [her choice, honest! i read anything she chooses]

BTW, i got some duplicate magic tree house 17-24 from the states – new in wrapping [8 books]. I could have got them more cheaply from amazon as paid $44 including postage – sigh. They would cost 17.39 through amazon [not put any postage there]. SO if anyone I know fancies emailing me a best offer, I’ll consider it before putting on home ed bring and buy or ebay.

  • #17: TONIGHT ON THE TITANIC
  • #18: BUFFALO BEFORE BREAKFAST
  • #19: TIGERS AT TWILIGHT
  • #20: DINGOES AT DINNERTIME
  • #21: CIVIL WAR ON SUNDAY
  • #22: REVOLUTIONARY WAR ON WEDNESDAY
  • #23: TWISTER ON TUESDAY
  • #24: EARTHQUAKE IN THE EARLY MORNING

This set is brand-new, unopened in original packaging/shrink-wrapping.

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Posted in Books, Butterbean, Cooking, General, geography, history, language, literacy, music, numeracy, science, Stringbean's HE

The Good Life

Posted on August 22, 2007 by | 4 comments

I went out and harvested again today – we have more beans than you can shake a stick at. I must learn the blanch and freeze thing.

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My mum and dad came this morning to visit, and are staying overnight [just gone to bed]. SO a lovely day of chatting, playing. And my dad taking advantage of us having broadband [which he doesn't need at home!] to look at digital cameras.

Mum brought some sparkle and glitz jewellery links for the girls to play with – cue at least 2 hours of contentment, making necklaces, crowns and bracelets, and then selling at a shop. Cheap plastic tat, but oh what fun was had. I am a great believer in utilising cheap platic tat. I love the wood and natural things, but not sure my children would want all their toys without glitter and primary colours.

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Also, along the way SB did some maths [just part of a section really, 15 mins as I am just keeping a bit of focus as we have had a proper holiday since about june I think!] and also L in getty and dubay – earning praise from my parents for her writing – she was most chuffed. My mum is a musician, so both children showed off their violin playing – well BB had a shrieking fit as I confiscated hers from being in danger of being broken by her wildness. But SB played hot cross buns beautifully, and mum gave her some useful tips and pointers on rhythm and bow speeds. In amongst all the playing, both mum, dad and I read to the girls various books, mostly the usbourne science ones as they are very noticeable in the new shelf arrangement. SB also had a look at the spotter book on dogs, and read out some of the rocks and minerals – pointing out we had found belemnites before. Cue more praise from mum. I shouldn’t really be so happy about this, but my parents are ambivalent about home ed. So having SB autonomously [and BB] pull books off the shelves and read them is rather a good thing I think!

But mostly we have played and chatted today. Mum and SB did a number of joint drawings. SB got mum to draw the people and some of the features, and SB drew the rest, and sometimes SB drew most and then asked mum to fill bits in. I worked really well. We all did some more of the fab sunflower mosaic as well.

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Oh, and I have sooooo missed BOLDING that it is back!

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Posted in art and crafts, Butterbean, General, literacy, music, numeracy, science, Stringbean's HE, writing

i wish blog posts would write themselves

Posted on August 21, 2007 by | 5 comments

today just wasn’t what I wanted. it was rainy and def autumnal, and I am still hoping for a summer! Also meant that chris couldn’t make a start on the windows – which I am panicking about. And that the thought of walk to park or trip to the raptor centre didn’t seem a good idea either.

We did, however, have a v good home-ed day! We all woke in the same bed – not unheard of! so the girls and I had what seemed to be who could suffocat mummy the most successfully game! the girls went down for brekkie, and the plan was to look at a french vid at the same time, I think it was sort of done – but not really!!

SO, we rampaged through yesterday’s maths, and got the plus and minus right this time. then a romp through Getty and Dubay K. BB and I did some painting at this point.

SB and I then spent ages with her rainforest challenge book/game. this is truly excellent [linked before] and she has really loved it. we did the plantlife and the human culture sections this time – at least an hour if not more totally engrossed.

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BB during this was building with blocks and playing games with me – good at multitasking me!

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lunch was quickly flowed by craft, as SB did some paper weaving – to mimic the palm weaving done by the indigenous rainforest tribes. i discussed how the Iban live in Borneo, and we thought about all the things we eat or use that come from the rainforest – rather a lot!

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We were all needing a bit of light relief, so following the success of the magic school bus programmes at SOTP, we have also acquired some, and the girls happily watched one before returning to the playroom – SB to check out their website and then move onto webland, and BB to mostly play in a box, with a bit of being read to and poisson rouge.

While they did this, i made organisation of the book shelves, and brought down a bookcase from the bedroom [leaving chaos there]. so now we actually have some spare book space to fill. oh, and while BB and SB had a bit of a spat and wail session. to calm us all down, we listened to the pure voice of emma kirkby.
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Unfortunately my car went into the garage today and requires welding and all sorts. This has a multiple hundreds but as yet to be confirmed tag attached, so I am assuming that more books are unlikely. oh well. will hope that I can nab a bit of cosmic supply company energy here to make all work out.

SB labelled her weaving and was v proud of it, and then we all did some playing together before tidying up.
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we were going to do some violin, but the arrival of Merry’s girls so I could sign some photos got her out of this. Oh, we have also done some general chatting using french and english words – mainly around the please and i would like so encouraging this. Was contemplating rosetta stone french or german, prob the latter, but will defer this.

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girls came and all rampaged wildly around the house. it has to be said that BB was the wildest. aargh she is so willful and yet so gorgeous.

After they went, BB went to bed, and SB and I had a lovely peaceful hour together gently bonding over the sunflower mosaic we got from bead merrily. its lovely to do. not at all messy. we then read stories and went to bed.

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Posted in art and crafts, Books, Butterbean, General, geography, language, literacy, numeracy, Stringbean's HE, writing

reading on the loo

Posted on August 21, 2007 by | Leave a comment

reading on the loo

Originally uploaded by Scrumbledelicious.

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Posted in General

music for the soul

Posted on August 20, 2007 by | 5 comments

i often forget how important music is to me, and it comes as a surprise – no idea why really! but there is something about polyphonic to late baroque music that just soothes my soul. well, it is mostly the use of the harmonic progression, and the? beautiful hanging and resolutions of these. bliss. I love later music as well, and my favourites are from all musical ages – even the 20th century represented – was listening to dives and lazarus on the way back from SOTP and that does the trick too, but lots of the 20th century composers i like either reference much earlier styles, or are predominantly harmonc – such as philip glass.

but my soul was vastly soothed today on my drive with the baroque. aaaaghhhhhhh.

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Posted in General

Merrily gossiping

Posted on August 20, 2007 by | 1 comment

because that is what i did today!!

We did a bit of stuff this morning . BB insisted on violin practice as soon as i got out of bed, and then on reading lots of books sitting on the loo [i have take a photo as it made me laugh so much – decent as she has a dress on! SHe is pretty reliably now potty trained, such that we are taking her out and about, even in the car without a nappy. Just one for the night. She particularly likes the red nose readers. Also she is singing merrily around the place, making up her own songs or singing snatches of others.

SB did some maths – singapore 2A. unfortunately she was so keen to finish that she didn’t look whether a + or – was in the sum, so did all addition and half wrong. ‘but mummy, would they be right if it was a +?’ She also keenly did some getty and dubay – J. She is keen to improve her writing, and happily does this at the moment. She wants to write nicely this year.

Both girls also had a bath before we headed off to Merry’s. I missed Merry’s last twitter, so we got there way too early, so SB did her violin practice while she waited. I had take both girls violins so they could play with Amelie if they wanted. They did – right at the end of the visit when Merry was frantically trying to get everything tidied up.

the girls all played – wildly and then more gently – mostly as doctors, nurses and patients. Fran was very keen to tell me how tiring it was to be a doctor – rofl. merry and I gossiped, and I raided her stock cupboard. This rather gorgeous window mosaic is even on special offer. I love the look of rather too many things at the moment! Also can’t wait for the play merrily site to go live

BB was fascinated by the geomags – as usual. i had a look at draw write now, but think too advanced for SB at the moment.

lovely day, thanks merry.

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Posted in Butterbean, General, literacy, music, numeracy, Out and About, socialisation, Stringbean's HE, writing