Half Term, Halloween & the bits in between!…

You would be forgiven for thinking I’ve been AWOL this past week! In fact it’s been a full nine days since I last posted & probably as long since I had a proper hop around all my favourite blogs!  So…forgive me if you’ve felt neglected…I will be dropping by to ‘see’ you all very soon!

So, where have I been & what has been happening?  Well, it’s been half term & that in itself brings its own challenges!!!!  I love not having to watch the clock, but having all three of my men folk at home at the same time, for such an extended period is exhausting!!   I gave up on trying to keep things tidy & I did get some ‘quiet’ time in my scrap room, away from the arguing!  We did also have a couple of trips out, firstly to the cinema to see ‘Despicable Me’…

…what a thoroughly enjoyable film!  I loved how so much of the humour went completely over the kids heads!!!  It’s been a while since I’ve been in the cinema where the audience gave a round of applause at the end of a film!

We also had a visit to our local Beach Pool  where it’s impossible to actually swim very far, but you can enjoy jumping the waves, riding the rapids (inside & outside), risk life & limb on the ‘Flume of Doom’,  or my favourite…relaxing in the bubble bed!!

Thursday saw Alex preparing lunch…albeit only mini pepperoni pizza’s!  he has become very adept at making my morning coffee too!!!

Now all I need is for them all to clear up after themselves & I can live a stress free life!!!  On that subject, I came downstairs late on Friday morning, to find both boys on laptops at the kitchen table, surrounded by empty crisp packets, biscuit crumbs & numerous used glasses!  Bearing in mind I had cleared away breakfast & left it all clear earlier!   Then, when I looked into the lounge, the TV was blaring, the recliner sofa’s left up, throws & cushions on the floor & yet more ‘boy’ detritus scattered around! Again, a room left neat & tidy the night before…

Well, you can imagine how I reacted!! ‘Bellowed’ is the word that springs to mind!!!  But this is the interesting bit…how did they react?  Well, like chalk & cheese!  Nathan made himself scarce…later discovered with his headphones on in the study where he could neither hear or see me!!…while Alex started picking up cushions, attempting to fold throws & even got out the Dyson & vacuumed all through downstairs for me!   Now, if only he’d do it without me having to go into meltdown!!!  As for Nathan…???!!!

I think Lee could tell I was feeling stressed & on Saturday came home with some lovely roses to put a smile on my face!! They are beautiful & sort of papery…yellow petals with orange tips & yes, they did make me smile & have continued to do so over the weekend too!

 

This week was also the final week of ‘Glee Club’ over at Dixie Pieces & after hanging on to the lead by one point for two weeks, I lost out to the secret points for the week six challenge…achieving four, while the winner scored an impressive full five!!!! This was such a fun contest & I fully recommend you watch out for the next one & get involved!!

The final challenge was ‘Golden Oldies’ with a choice of Buddy Holly titles & had to be kept in the theme of the 1950’s. I chose ‘Oh Boy’ & dug out all my Cosmo Cricket ‘Early Bird’ stash, which I think has a definite retro feel! My subject was Nathan on his beloved scooter!!…

   
There was also a mini challenge to make a card for Halloween using the song title/lyrics ‘Monster Mash’ for inspiration…this was a race against the clock as our electricity was due to be turned off for a few hours, just half an hour after this mini challenge was posted!!

That is as much creativity as I’ve had this week!! Shimelle’s new class ‘True Stories’ started last Monday… I’ve been reading the prompts, finding time to scribble in my prepared notebook, but not actually turning anything into a LO just yet!!  I’m hoping to catch up with things in the forum soon!

Of course, this weekend was taken over with Halloween. I had to go into work yesterday & left Lee & Boys to decorate the porch & hall in readiness for the ‘Trick or Treating’ ghosts & ghouls who would probably start to call before I got back!

They did not disappoint & I arrived home to see every Halloween decoration we’ve ever owned out on display! 

From 6pm onwards it seemed like every child in the village called at our door…I love the fact that when they recognise Lee (he works at the village Lower School)  we get a chorus of ‘Hello Mr Robinson’!!

My boys went out themselves, even though for the past week they’ve been saying that they’re too old to!!!!  I guess the promise of all that candy being given away was just too hard to resist!

But I think they had just as much fun handing it out to our callers as they did collecting it for themselves!!

Anyway, this lot should keep them in supplies for a few weeks to come!!

 

I did keep one pumpkin back, un-carved!  I’ve never made pumpkin pie or soup, although I have recipes for both that look so easy,  so I’m going to try both before the week is out!!  I’ll let you know how I get on!! I will probably be the only one eating them as none of my ‘guys’ enjoy vegetables!!!!

 

Finally, I’ve just realised that I’ve neglected to report on my last two Sunday cinema viewings!!  We managed to squeeze in (& I mean squeeze…there was not a spare seat to be had!!) to see ‘Red’…& it was well worth it!! Such a great cast. lots of action & loads of laughs!

John Malkovich was hilarious…Bruce Willis proves he doesn’t take himself too seriously, Morgan Freeman as good as ever & Helen Mirren as you’ve never seen her before!!!

I do hope they follow this up with a sequel!!

We also saw ‘Life as we know it’…a must-see for any parent or anyone intending to become a parent for that matter!!!

LOL funny in places, touchingly sad at others, the story is lovely & does indeed have the required happy ending!

I didn’t recognise either of the leading actors (!) but the baby (or twins probably, knowing what the working child laws are like!!!!) stole the show anyway!

So that’s it…that’s me, up to date!! The boys went back to school today, I went back to the gym!  Lee unfortunately has a gastric flu bug & has been in bed for most of today, but life goes on much the same!!

I do hope you all had a great week & enjoyed Halloween too…Thank you for stopping by & I look forward to catching up with all my blog visits very soon! :)