Shopping with Dad, home, and well done!

1) Today was my annual Christmas shopping date with my Dad. We had a really nice morning, browsing and buying, and then ended with a lovely lunch out.

2) To be home, warm and dry and out of the rain. We snuggled down, and enjoyed a cosy afternoon.

3) A arrived home from his Scouts party, held at a local LaserQuest. Not only had his team won, but he’d come third overall. Given he’s the youngest there, he was reallly proud of himself (and us of him!).

Shopping, full circle, and view.

1) K and I enjoyed our annual Christmas shopping day today. As usual, we went through to Glasgow, and enjoyed a pleasant browse through various shops and markets. We found some fun and quirky bits and pieces, got some inspiration, and generally found the day to be a good one.

2) We met a friend for lunch – someone we knew from our Glasgow days, who moved away around the same time we did, but has recently moved back. It was lovely to spend time together back in the old place, and nice to start creating new memories too.

3) Standing at the top of Buchanan Street, I looked down to see a street awash with people, lights, colour and music.

Re-stock, socks, and flowers.

1) To go shopping and re-stock the fridge and the cupboards. And the supermarket have restocked A’s favourite smoothies, so he’s going to be a happy boy at lunch tomorrow 🙂 .

2) That moment when the thin patch on your socks suddenly wears through and a huge hole appears while you’re walking… I treated myself to some new socks today – the ones I have on are pretty: black with thin stripes of silver, grey and purple. More importantly, they are warm and comfortable, and only have the holes they are meant to have.

3) Deep red velvety roses, accompanied by fairy-like freesias.

Just us, supermarket trip, and fruit.

We’ve had a lovely weekend, filled with friends, family, gardening, barbeques, and general fun in the sun 🙂 .

1) A and I had a morning to ourselves, with M off at camp for the morning. We ran some errands, shared morning tea at the garden centre, and had lots of time to chat.

2) A trip to the supermarket with both kids usually ends up in argument. Today it didn’t 🙂 . M pushed the trolley, and I sent A off to various aisles to get specific items. It worked a treat.

3) A bowl of fruit – shiny red and green apples, sweet pears, yellow bananas, melon, grapes and strawberries.

Shopping, meeting up, and disappeared.

1) I spent a couple of hours browsing the shops this morning, and successfully got most things on my list. Everyone seemed very cheerful this morning – certainly all the shop assistants who helped me were. I wondering if it’s the approaching summer holidays?

2) The kids and I were invited round to visit some friends this afternoon. We haven’t seen them in nearly two months, and it was so nice to see them again,

3) I made fajitas for dinner (with some turkey that needed used up). Judging by the speed with which they disappeared, they were much enjoyed by all (despite the fire!).

Just enjoying, new shoes, and last one.

1) A and I sat together knitting, and watched the tennis. It was very companionable.

2) My old walking shoes finally died a death, with multiple holes and soles worn flat – they’ve walked many many miles in their time. Today, my new shoes arrived (found a really good deal online at the weekend)… They’re very comfortable, and I can’t wait to try them out properly 🙂 .

Old shoesBefore

New shoesAfter

3) To make the last packed lunch of the school year. School is out for the summer on Friday lunchtime…

 

One of “those” days, golden ticket, and triple rainbow.

1) The man in the shop was remarkably cheerful for first thing on a Monday morning. He couldn’t have been more helpful, found and checked my package without delay, and I was on my way with all possible speed.

In sharp contrast, the girl in the next shop was battling computer, phone and card reader as she tried to sort out the customer at the front. With a weary sigh, she turned to the next customer, who wanted to return an item. Finally, she turned to me, apologised for the delay and remarked that it was already shaping up to be one of those weeks. I smiled at her “no problem”, and was glad that I was buying one item, with cash. I hope her week improves.

2) M bounced out of school “I’ve got some very exciting news Mummy… I was awarded a golden ticket today!!”. It transpires that golden tickets are given by the playground monitors for acts of kindness and helpfulness.  M had been very helpful in closing gates, and tidying up, and she had also gone to the aid of one of her classmates who had hurt himself. That’s my precious girl!

3) On my way to pick up K this evening, I spy a beautiful bright rainbow – a perfect bow in the sky. Upon looking closer I see there is an almost-complete double rainbow, and a barely-visible third rainbow at the left hand side. Wow!

Grass, chat, and catching-up.

1) A friend has just re-turfed her lawn, and happened to have some turf to spare. One piece of which just happened to fit exactly the piece of our grass which was ruined in the winter when someone fell on it… 🙂

2) To bump into a friend at the supermarket, and to stand and chat a while.

3) Going to zumba with a friend – we enjoy the chance to catch-up briefly in between dances.

Bargain, trustworthy, and homework.

1) When you arrive at the till and discover that the item you planned to buy is actually half the marked price. That. 🙂

2)  A migraine descends and my vision goes weird. I’m very grateful to have two responsible children as I have retire to my bed for a while to await the effects of the drugs kicking in.

3) Once a month, the children are requested to perform a “resilience” task as part of their homework. The concept behind this seems to be to encourage them to become more independent.

Today, after serious discussion, we decided that their task would be to walk to the shop together (about a ten minute walk) and then to buy a packet of biscuits (we didn’t need bread or milk!). This was all timed to coincide with K walking past the shop on his way back from the train, and then they would all walk home together.

It was all good, until they got to the shop and discovered it was closed owing to a power failure! Still, given another of the “resilience” tasks is “coping with frustrating situations”, and we figured they’d handled the whole thing extremely well, I think we can safely mark that particular piece of homework as “done” 🙂 .

In between, hair, and more about hair.

1) The day began and ended with high winds and blustery rain. In between, however, was quite nice.

2) a) My hair straighteners died this morning, in quite spectacular fashion… a loud bang, a flash of flame, and lots of black smoke. I turned them off.

b) They have lasted me many years however, and I’ve been sort-of expecting their demise for a while now.  It was quite fun this evening selecting a new pair from the myriad choices available. I’ve gone for a shiny red pair (which had great reveiws on all the sites I looked at). Downside: I’ll be wearing a hat all week until they arrive – my hair is pretty scary until it’s been tamed!

3) M protested about having to wash her hair this evening – she didn’t want to have her shower first, and she didn’t know how to get all the shampoo out of her hair. We discussed how one can tell when one has got all the shampoo out, particularly using the “water running clear” method.

She proceeded to take a lovely long shower, having procured two plastic cups for use in scientifically determining how clear the water was – firstly by collecting the water running out of her hair in one cup when she first started rinsing, and then by collecting water in the second cup, when she thought she’d rinsed enough. Whatever she did worked – she now has clean, soap-free, hair 🙂 .