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Category Archives: General
where I have visited
I’ve visited the counties in yellow. Which counties have you visited? made by marnanel |
Rebalancing
Life at work goes from worse to, well, thoroughly awful. It looks like there are going to be redundancies. I am last in…
O today I chilled. After all, if the worst is going to happen, worrying about it for the 6 or so months before I know, will just make them that much harder, and not actually make it any easier then.
SB spent half of the day doing jump ahead maths – its the easy one, and she is desperate to get to the giants birthday, as she gets it to 90 odd candles, and then the computer goes funy and the hard drive replaced etc etc, and she has to start again. So today she got 50 of the 100 candles. [reminds me a lot of me on games such as civ...!] Anyway, well impressed by her ability to stick to a task!
other than that, we were mostly playing in the garden.
I did get to play a lot with BB so we read, shape sorted, ran, cuddled, tickles, and whatever else a mummy and an 18 monther could think of! As Chris mentioned, her continuous monologue on the world is rather cute.
oh, and I think our bees swarmed again. there was a huge buzzing noise, and a veritable ball of bees flying near the chimney, so I tooke the 2 girls in, and got distracted, so I think the main lot must have flown off before I got back out a couple of hours later – so the photos are of perhaps the remainder going back in? there has been a lot of flying activity, and also a fair number of bees dying on the lawn, so i wondered whether it was a swarm or a mating flight??? i just don’t know that much about bees. There’s still a lot of bee milling about going on anyway. They arrived May 9th last year
Posted in Butterbean, gardening, General, numeracy, photos, Stringbean's HE
Thanks Sarah – My website as a graph!
as seen first on Sarah’s blog
and yes, I did do the garden blog too!
Posted in Daft Stuff, General
Simple Pleasures
sitting in garden with laughing children running about – ahhhhhhh.
thats mostly what we did. SB did some computer games and the whole of the new webland as well. She helped me plant out the runner beans – as did BB. Hands off to those of you who regularly garden with two such avid helpers! mostly she climbed, swinged and jumped. we played a lot of hide and seek together – BB usually gives my hiding place away though! Chris found the very old pop up tent and tunnel – so a lot of fun with that. Oh, and we read half of the usbourne greek myths book.
IMG 5120
SB and I had a practice run at our Kessingland craft – see below and leave feedback.
IMG 5180Our paneer has worked well, and plan to eat it tomorrow – we were too tired to cook anything inventive this evening.
IMG 5176BB is singing and doing the actions – she likes twinkle twinkle, wind the bobbin and peter perkins
We have a ‘pond monster’ It was flailing in the shallow muddy bit, and I went to investigate – i could only see the tail end, which seemed long for a fish, and wrong shaped – @ small eelish? broen coloured. disappeared fairly sharpish, but don’t think long enough for eel – I wonder what it is? Maybe its the culprit for the declining goldfish numbers?
Posted in art and crafts, Butterbean, gardening, General, photos, Stringbean
Polyfilla craft
is rapidly undergoing a rethink. Polyfilla taking ages to harden being thought 1 – so prob plaster of paris instead. It looks nice tinted, so will bring some paint for colouring. Making a mould out of playdough [whether home made or not] was not something SB skilled at. took me ages to get her to understand, she pressed things in half heartedly, and then wailed she wanted to stick shells in the top – so prob not doing that. [i want something relaltively simple as a number of the crafts are definitely with a fair bit of adult help/supervision.]
IMG 5113So, at present polyfilla is in margarine tubs [have piccies will flickr] Sb found it easy to mix the water and paint in, and then stick shells in without me doing anythng at all. She enjoyed it. As I said, polytfilla taking a while to dry out much!
So I think this is what I’m going to do – bring plaster of paris and apint and stirring things. Suggest people bring a margarine tub or 2, and collect shells/stones from the beach and bring them. It might be as cheap as 50p a tub.
if enough fo you think your children would prefer making moulds then either I can bring playdough and charge a bit more [or alike] or you can bring it.
thoughts please?
Posted in art and crafts, General
what a scorcher!
suntan lotion – tick! hats – tick/cross/tick/cross etc!!
So today was an enjoy it while we’ve got it day! The MODHEU was put up again for some shade, and the girls whizzed and poddled about in the garden, climbing, swinging and sliding. Lots of giggles, laughter and ‘mine’ could be heard!
Chris did a fair bit more weeding of the main veg bed, so when the temp drops a bit, I am going to go out and plant out squashes and sweetcorn [actually temp OK now, but bath and bedtime, so if I was outside it would cause mayhem!]
We did some home ed type stuff, when not running about aoutside, and some of it was simultaneous. SB made some more circuits with the brainbox primary plus kit – in fact she went and got it out and started without any assistance. It is a real hit. She has done half a hama butterfly and drew a lovely birthday card for my Aunty Margaret – writing and spelling herself on the back [except the aunty margaret bit] so slighty alternative, but no worse than my typing! She also did a wodge of explode the code 3 - this bit is about y’s and vowels at the end. SB was found reading a read nose reader as well – yay.
Some mental maths today – mostly on number bonds for 10, and some ‘lumping together’ [aka multiplication] of 2 and 3 lots of … under the guise of running a shop, and how many egg boxes did I need etc. She suggested this btw!
Actually, we had a proud daddy moment in the shop when she added 12 and 12 and got 24. It seems to have been the only good moment of the shop as the post office queue was apparently hideous, and SB went into I want mode. [its also the 1 stop shop].
Last weekend, the grauniad had a recipe for paneer – 1 litre full fat milk and 1 lemon juice heated – so today me and SB made some. it is now wrapped in muslin in our jelly bag, and the excess whey dripping out. Cool! SB liked watching the curdling process, and we saw how little curds there were to whey. SB also helped me cook tea.
We did watch the rest of Sound of Music. I am def depressed, as I tried hard not to cry as I discussed why they were running away. SB actually missed most of the overtones, and really didn’t understand. So I didn’t do that much explanation – war we can do later. She does want to see the sequel film, of them getting to america – i explained there is no film, I just read the book of their life, but to no avail! We’ve listened to little toe – now a daily occurence she is so fond of it. Before tea, as we had 2 exhausted little beans, they have been watching the blue planet – well SB watches, and BB dances to the music [cute]
BB and I have mostly cuddled and shape sorted, chased, swung and built towers today. I do try and get a bit of as near 1 on 1 as I can – but SB not entirely amenable! [this is usually when she is match and sorting or hama-ing!] However BB is such an independent thing she is quite happy to have short bursts – as long as she can feed whenever she wants, and has prime control of lap time!!
Argh moment of the day was a thrush flying in, and then not flying back out again, ut being frantic by a non-opening window [eside a wide open door!] I psyched myself up to try and catch it in a tea towel, when finally it flew back out again.
Sunny day – AT LAST!
What a lovely day. We got right out into the garden and tried to catch up. so at last a garden blog!
We didn’t do any ‘match and sort’ today, but a fair bit of mental maths and spelling – SB and her teddy were playing at schools with me today outside. She insisted she had hard questions and the bear easy [cos he is 4!] I was weeding and hoeing at the time, and BB poddling about the garden – mostly climbing.
SB painted her tile she made at the Abbey, nicely with black, yellow gold and silver at her choice, It looks very nice. And it was then lunch time. We listened to little toe and classic FM. SB very taken by house on the prairie and tom’s midnight garden. We had a spin off discussion on landgrabbing from Indians, and how to make a firebreak.
After lunch we decided to ring a history book – so she chose a picturepedia book about the body! Anyway we went all the way through the book. She is fascinated about the body. It lead onto a discussion on oxygen, and how it was neede to make energy in the body, and how it was needed for things to burn. So we did some really cool oxygen experiments. we lit candles inside jars and watched them go out, and chris remembered a really cool one where you lit a candle floating on water with a jar over the top, and the water gets sucked up. Her Xmas tree crystal is looking good too.
BB awoke, and so she read me a stack of books. SB went through some red nose readers, and the went into garden for a ‘school break’ while BB and I had some 1 to 1 with the fun blox and some wooden peg teddies. The all back into the garden. BB to run about wildly and giggle, and me to read Ulysses to SB [a firm favourite!] Actually BB and Guinness were doing a fair bit of bonding too.
We all made the dough for pizzas tonight, and then more fun outside. BB loves the little car we got from Merry, and SB is totally wild on the swings – particularly the trapeze bar, andging from her legs twirling around. My Aunt lost her 2 front teeth that way…
Hmm, what else, well we ate the pizza outside [incorporating home grown asparagus, and in the salad home radishes], with the girls running around the garden thinking it was great fun.
Sb went to bed listening to 5 children and it – at last she likes the more grown up story CD’s – though Winnie the Pooh still her favourite.
it has been a very relaxing day.
My Little Nanny not had such a good day, as her next door neighbour [since they moved in after the war] and closest friend in hospital to die from her breast cancer. Although late 80′s, their friendship has spanned half a century [more], her husband and Nanny’s brother were prisoners of war in thailand together [building infamous railway, and against all odds both survived] and they’ve seen children and grandchildren grow up. So wishing a peaceful crossing there. She is heavily sedated and not really ‘there’ due to brain mets, but even so, lets hope for diginity and a gentle passing none the less.
Posted in art and crafts, Butterbean, Cooking, gardening, General, literacy, music, numeracy, photos, science
picnic day!
which was lovely. we met up with one of tbhe localish home-ed groups for a picnic in the park. It was sunny most of the time, and there were lots of people there. A lovely park too. SB had a whale of a time, running in and out of the play area and the paddling pools with her friends. BB was also very adventurous, and being her usual gorgeous self.
It was nice for both Chris and I to go, as we often seem to share the children like a relay race, rather than jointly.
It helped shake some of my cobwebs, as I really am fairly blue at the moment.
This evening, SB did some paint and learn CD, and then we have watched another segment of sound of music. She was fixated by if they would have a wedding ball, and enjoying the songs – clearly missing most of the plot! Not got to the overt Nazism yet – thats the next installment.
Posted in Butterbean, General, literacy, Out and About, photos, socialisation
Thanks tim and Nic [with a reminder from Merry!]
Your personality: Stress Lover
You just love it when things get frantic… and doesn’t everyone else know it? You buzz around the office at 100mph, with your quick-fire repartee and snappy decision-making. Which is great for getting things done – or at least giving that impression – but make sure you know where the line is. Don’t lose that focus, but remember you’ve got a life outside work too.
Your office role: Hostage
You feel trapped into empathy with management, which leaves you powerless in negotiations over your future. You cling to the hope that your loyalty and good behaviour will one day be rewarded. Surely it’s only a matter of time…
Your job attitude: Mother Hen
The people you work with are like your babies. Little children to be protected like fluffy little chicks. No-one cares like you do about your team – and you can’t bear to see them upset. Even if change is needed, you would resist it rather than see your brood dispersed.
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Career Inventory Test Results
| Extroversion | ||||||||||||||| | 43% |
| Emotional Stability | |||||||||||||||||| | 53% |
| Orderliness | |||||||||||||||||| | 60% |
| Altruism | |||||||||||||||||| | 53% |
| Inquisitiveness | |||||||||||||||||||||||| | 76% |
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You are a Planner, possible professions include – management consultant, economist, scientist, computer programmer, environmental planner, new business developer, curriculum designer, administrator, mathematician, psychologist, neurologist, biomedical researcher, strategic planner, civil engineer, intellectual properties attorney, designer, editor/art director, inventor, informational-graphics designer, financial planner, judge.
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Posted in Daft Stuff, General