Thank you Donna!

Look what came in the post yesterday!!!


A fantastic cookbook from my dear friend Donna over at Made in Heaven ~ Thank you so so much Donna ~ I totally love it!!!!!!!!

It is really wonderful, as it is full of recipes and ideas to get the children to eat hidden little wonders ~ like vegetables (ha ha !!). This is not actually a problem for Lauren ~ she will eat almost EVERY vegetable that I put infront of her ~ BUT ~ Daniel will not eat any veg.....apart from carrots!!!!

We sat tonight and had a look through and here are some ideas that the children both seemed to like.........

I don't think that they noticed all the little extras that are hidden inside (tee hee!!).

The children are off school now until next Wednesday. They have tomorrow off and next Tuesday and Monday is a Bank Holiday (YIPPEEEE!!) ~ so no school for them for the next 5 days!!!! (Someone get me the valium now!!!!!!!)......

We are hopefully going to have some nice weather ~ as it has been a bit mixed here just lately ~ one day it is glorious bright sunshine and then like today ~ it spends ALL DAY raining!!

Mind you ~ knowing almost Every Bank Holiday I can ever remember ~ IT WILL RAIN ha ha !!!

I have quite a bit of money in my 'NEST EGG' (some of you may remember my little savings egg!!) ~ I counted up the other day and it currently has £52 in it ~ which I am amazed and suprised at ~ all I have been doing is putting odd bits of change in it here and there ~ although I did go mad one week and put lots of pound coins in!! SO ~ I am going to make this weekend a bit special for the children and treat them to a day out ~ no idea where yet ~ or what we will do ~ and of course it does depend on the weather ~ if all else fails ~ there is always the cinema and the Pizza Hut after (they love Pizza Hut!!).

Laurens tooth is still pushing its way through and causing havoc as it does!! She was up again last night complainng that it hurts! I suppose that when you think that she knocked the other one out about 5 years ago and the gum has obviously hardened over the years ~ it is no suprise really that it is hurting a bit !!!

Well, best head off to bed ~ busy day (and lots of children to look after) tomorrow!

XXX

A Tale of Tap Dancing and Teeth!!

I am just back from my Tap class and all I can say is "OMG"!!!!

I am totally knackered ha ha !!

The rest of the class have been practicing a routine for about 4 weeks for the show that the dance school do in July.
We (my friend Tammie and I), were basically thrown in at the deep end and just had to follow the routine with the rest of them ~ to the music 'Have you met Miss Jones' (it was in the Bridget Jones Film). It was ok to a point and I could keep up with most of it ~ but there were a few moves that my brain and feet just could not agree on Bahahahahahaha!

However, all in all I had a great time ~ the rest of the ladies in the class were very nice and made us feel really welcome ~ SO I will be going again the week after next (as next Monday is May Day Bank holiday here in the UK).

On another subject ~ Lauren has a new tooth coming through........yes, I know ~ nothing very amazing there ~ only this is a tooth coming through in place of the milk tooth that Lauren knocked out when she was about 2 years old. The tooth that we were unsure when it would come through, if indeed it ever did! All the dentist was able to tell us was that there was a tooth there (we have the xrays to prove it) ~ but he could not say when or if it would make an appearance.

Lauren woke me last night to say that her mouth was hurting ~ so I had a look and to my suprise I could see some jaggy white edges sticking through her gum! She was most impressed with my cheering and jumping about and had to have a good look in the mirror.

I will endeavour to get some photographic evidence of said new tooth ~ when it has come through a bit more ~ you know my little Lauren ~ ever happy to stand and pose infront of the camera!

Well, that is all the excitement (or not) for today. I am just off to crawl into bed and hopefully I will be able to walk in the morning ~ surely it cannot be as bad as the 'riding a bike' experience!
I will let you know tomorrow.
XXX

The world just keeps on turning!!

Wow ~ what a busy few days I have had!!
Since I last posted ~ which was just a very quick post ~ and I was meaning to post again ~ and literally have not stopped ~ until now!
Friday was a rush ~ trying to get all my paperwork sorted for my job ~ you would not believe how many forms and different bits and pieces that have to be filled out on a daily/weekly basis ~ it has reached 'silly point' ~ there is a form for EVERYTHING these days!!!

Yesterday was also a rush ~ As usual my little Lauren had her ballet classes ~ we had driven half way to the class when she announced that she didn't have her ballet shoes with her ~ meaning that I had to come to a screeching halt, turn around and go back home to fetch them ~ amazingly we still made it to the class on time!

Straight after the ballet class Lauren had a party, so it was a very quick change and we had to get her there for the start of that ~ again we just made it!

While Lauren was at the party I came home and cleaned out the fish ~ Edward almost got sucked up the cleaning out pump.......but I am glad to report that I managed to get him out before he was totally sucked up (I cannot cope with another fishy death ~ and Lauren would be devastated if anything happened to her precious Edward ha ha !!).

Last night we went to a friends house for tea ~ and the children had a great time out in the garden messing about ~ the weather is just glorious at the moment and I am praying that it will last ~ I love the warm weather and have got quite used to not having to put on about 11 million layers every morning!!

Today has been a lazy kind of day ~ Dan at judo while me and Loz did the weekly shop ~ it was the usual ~ Lauren putting things in the trolley and me promptly removing them again !!

I have cleaned the car inside and out, done about 20 loads of washing (OK ~ so I admit that I do exaggerate a teeny bit!) ~ ironed all the clothes and the childrens uniforms ~ cleaned the house and have just made dinner ~ a yummy cous cous salad with prawns ~ which seems to have gone down very well (as there is none left!!).

I am now sitting down for the first time today ~ although it is only a short break ~
Next is bath time and then what I call the 'INSANITY' hour ~ which is getting the children ready for bed ~ into bed and settled for the night.....it drives me insane anyway ha ha !!

Tonight I fully intend to veg out infront of the TV ~ and watch my old fav ~ Desperate Housewives ~ although I was sad to read in the TV Mag that Edie dies ~ I have warmed to her in the recent episodes and it is sad to say goodbye (yes, I know it isn't real!!).

So, that is the last couple of days in a nutshell ~ nothing exactly spectacular ~ just the normal stuff!

The only piece of news is that I am starting Tap Dancing classes on a monday night (STOP LAUGHING!!) ~ one of the Mums that I chat to at Laurens dancing has started to go and she said that it has been excellent for getting fit ~ so I am giving it a try! I am going for the first time tomorrow night, so I will let you know how it goes (as long as I can still walk and haven't fallen over too much!).

Hope you have all had a great weekend ~ I am off now to drag my sweet daughter (kicking and screaming) into the bath ~ she has an aversion to having her hair washed at the moment ~ so this should be interesting..........bye bye for now XXXX

No words needed!!

How is your day going?? XXX

Sunshine and smiles

Hello there ~ Thank you all for your kind words after my small fainting experience!
Just to let you know ~ I did not hurt myself ~ I managed to do my favourite trick and slide down the wall ~ so no damage done ha ha !!
I am fine now ~ and am still determined to give it another go ~ sometime!

Well, the last few days have been gloriously sunny ~ warm and wonderful ~ it has lightened my mood and I feel back to my normal self again ~ the dark clouds seem to have moved on ~ Thankfully!!

The warmer weather has also meant a change of school uniform for my sweet girl ~ so here especially for my good friend Dani ~ are a few pictures of lauren in her new summer school dresses!

They were taken after she got back from school ~ so that is why she looks a bit tired and hot and bothered!

We also have 2 new members of the family ~ as one of our goldfish died and the remaining fish ~ Bubble (below).........

........was a bit lonely ~ so we made a visit to the pet shop at the weekend and got him some new friends.....

This is Bob ~ which is Daniels new fish (sorry about the blurry picture ~ the fish wouldn't keep still ha ha !!).

AND ~ this is Edward......yes ~ Lauren named her fish after my favourite vampire ha ha !!

She has caught her Mummies addiction to Twilight ~ her fish had to be black and she had no doubts about its name!!!

They seem to be doing ok and there have been no issues between them yet ~ so all is good in our fish tank again!!

Since my last weight loss update a few weeks ago ~ I have lost another 3 pounds!

I have now lost 6 stone and 2 pounds (86 pounds) ~ and as my goal was to lose 6 stone ~ I have reached where I initially wanted to be! I am still undecided whether to carry on and lose another 7 pounds or so ~ aswell as toning up!!! I think that I have realised now that this is not just a DIET ~ it is a life style change ~ it is forever and if I just go back to my old eating habits and the way I was before ~ I will have put all the weight back on in no time!!

I cannot deny that I feel wonderful ~ it is nice to be wearing clothes that are 6 dress sizes smaller ~ nice to actually buy clothes that I want to wear ~ not just buying them because they are the only ones that fit and then there are the health benefits ~ which are endless ~ all in all ~ I could not be further away from how I felt this time last year when I started this weight loss journey!!

I will hopefully get over to visit all my bloggy friends soon ~ the last few days have been hectic and I haven't had the time to visit you all.

Hope you are all doing ok! XXX

A Tale of giving blood....

I went ~
I saw ~
I fainted ha ha !!

Out cold on the floor ~ how embarassing!!

Never mind ~ the thought was there.......and I really feel that it is
something that I want to help with.

They are back in a few months ~
so I had best start sorting this fear out ~
and maybe (just maybe) next time ~
I WILL DO IT!!!

THE END! XXX

This is so not a good idea......

......BUT ~ there is a blood drive here at the moment!
I know first hand that blood is always in short supply ~ always needed ~
And some of my friends are going along on Monday and have asked me to go along too!

This in principle is ok ~ only there is one small problem ~ I am terrified and I mean
T~E~R~R~I~F~I~E~D of needles!
Do not ask me why ~ it is a fear that is totally and utterly irrational ~ I have always been the same ~
I am ok having an injection or giving blood ~ as long as at no point during the whole thing do I
see the needle ~ if I do ~ that is it ~ I go hot and clammy and then faint (yes ~ every time I pass out ha ha !!).
I was the same when I was in the Police ~ blood and all that jazz and I am fine ~ but god forbid that a needle should be involved and off I would go......

SO ~ I am slightly worried about what to do ~ on one hand I really want to give blood ~
there is a need and I want to help ~
BUT ~ on the other hand I do not want the embarrassment of passing out ~
and I doubt that there is a possibility that I will not see a needle at some stage ~
surely they cannot hide all of them from me Tee Hee!!!!

I have even considered getting some kind of therapy (ha ha ~ yes I told you I am insane!) ~ a friend of mine used hypnosis to give up smoking and I wondered whether It would cure me of this totally awful gut wrenching fear that I have ~ of something soooooo silly!
It is actually so bad that I cannot watch any hospital based TV programmes ~ for fear that a rogue needle will make an appearance!

So ~ tell me, what are you scared of? What totally irrational things freak you out ~
share your pain ~ and tell me I am normal (or maybe not ~)

Still undecided as to whether I will cope with any blood giving on Monday but I will let you know! XXX

Why do they call it a sleepover??

...........When the little devils hardly sleep and then get up at 5am ha ha !!!!

Well, I survived Laurens first official sleepover ~ it was actually very nice. They were no trouble ~ just little girls, doing little girl things!

They both got up a few times in the night and then decided that they would get up WAYYYYY too early ~ but I managed to convince them that 5am was a little too early for their day to start!
I managed to drift back off for half an hour ~ but come 5.30am ~ I just gave up and got up anyway!

As a result of this ~ there were two very tired little girls today ~ one very tired and slightly grumpy Mummy ~ luckily Dan was his usual happy go lucky self ~ he slept on the pull out bed in my room ~ so was undisturbed by the girls and their antics!

But ~ I know that my girl had a fun time ~ and in the end, that is what matters!

I am sat here now ~ exhausted ~ but with the knowledge that tomorrow I can lie in .......as long as I want to YIPPPPPPPEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!
We have to go to the pet shop ~ as our gold fish went to fishy heaven this morning and the black moor fish that we have left (Bubble!!) ~ is swimming around looking very lost and lonely without his little friend ~ so we are off to get him a little fishy friend.....or two!!
Lauren was actually very upset (even though it was Dans fish ~ not hers...) ~ I think a bit of it was just over tiredness and drama tee hee!!

I wanted to thank all of you who left such kind and sweet comments on my post about 'The dark days' ~ it is so nice to know that you are all there for me ~ and your thoughts and words really do mean alot to me. My friends know me so well ~ they have all known me for such a long time and they tend to just nod and agree with me when I am in a funk ha ha !! We all have dark days ~ and I am still not out of the tunnel yet ~ god alone knows what it is ~ I just think that I have reached a point where so much has been sorted ~ I ended a marriage that was destroying my very soul ~ got divorced, moved on ~ lost 6 stone in weight and found some of the 'OLD' me again........now that there is not so much important stuff to focus on and occupy me ~ there are other worries and problems that have reared their heads (no one said life was easy!!).
I think that all I need is time ~ just to get re focused on everything ~ I just need to relax and not panic and worry sooooo much ~ about EVERYTHING (yes, that is easier said than done!).....

Why is it that when you think that all your problems are over ~ a whole new set come along??
I suppose that life would be very boring otherwise!
Anyway ~ best get to bed ~ hope that you all have a wonderful weekend ahead of you.
I will be back tomorrow with some pictures of our new fishy friends......
Night Night XXX

IT'S OFFICIAL......I AM INSANE.....

I think that I have officially lost the plot....
As if you cannot gauge my current mood from my last post ~
I somehow agreed to Lauren having a friend to sleepover......
Yes ~ I said'SLEEPOVER'
Her friend arrived at 8am this morning ~ before her
Mother went to work ~
Picture the scene.........

Double the trouble ~
Double the make up ~
Double the noise ~
Double the mess ~
Double the 3 million usual changes of clothes ~
Double the stress ~
and to top it all ~ Lauren just told me that they are going
to have a midnight feast ~
I DON'T THINK SOOOOOO GIRLIES...........

Just off to search for some valium and earplugs (AGAIN!!).......
This promises to be a LONNNNGGGGGG night and I think I may need them........

Hopefully see you all again tomorrow ~ if I survive this night (tee hee!!!).......XX

On these dark days.......

I think that I have done it for most of my life ~ plastered a smile on my face ~ always laughing and happy ~ to the outside world at least. Most of the time ~ that is me ~ Happy!
BUT ~ I am only human and I feel the stress and strain of life ~ of the day to day ~ of the past, the present and what the future may (or may not)hold.

There was a time once, when I was younger ~ when my dreams were full of handsome princes ~ whisking me away on white horses (you get the picture!??)

I sometimes wish for those innocent days of childhood back again .......I sit and watch my sweet daughter ~ totally untouched by the world ~ playing her little games ~ engrossed in her make believe ~ no cares, no worries ~ just as I want it to be ~ it scares the hell out of me that she is yet to grow up ~ yet to be set free in this wonderful ~ yet scarey as heck world!

My life is like this sometimes ~ I wander along quite happily ~ living the same old 'same old' ~ day in day out of the SAME!! AND ~ please don't get me wrong ~ I am fully aware that I am lucky ~ I have my children ~ we are comfortable, safe and most of the time life is good ~ the same......but good.

Then there are times ~ when I hit a bump in the road ~ like now.
I have no idea where I am going,
No idea what I am going to do ~ with my life,
No idea what tomorrow will bring ~ and so many dreams, hopes and living still
left to do.

I have given up on princes and white horses ~ given up on the fairy tales that my Mother read me every night when I was younger ~ they are obviously not for me ~ not for this life anyway.....
These dark days don't come along all that often ~ but when they do ~ the seem to totally swallow me up ~ I feel like I am slowly being dragged into a huge black hole ~ I don't know why they happen ~ but they do ~ I also know that they pass ~ the light flicks back on and life is bright and breezy again!

I know that this is just a glitch ~ a small jolt in life ~.......but as always ~ I get up in the morning and plaster on that smile..............

So, on I go, on we all go ~ into the unknown.........I may not know where I am going ~ or what is ahead of me ~ but I do know that life is a journey ~ and sometimes it is like standing at the edge of a cliff........and all you can do is close your eyes.....and jump ~ and pray for a soft landing! XX

For Ava XX

Four years ago today, my Blog friend Karla gave birth to her first child, a daughter, called Ava.


Ava grew her angel wings and flew to heaven that same day...





Today, we released 4 purple ballons in memory of sweet Ava.

Happy 4th Birthday sweet Ava ~ You are in our thought today ~ XXX

You can find Karlas blog HERE if you would like to visit her today and send her your love xx

HAPPY EASTER..........

.........FROM ME AND MINE.......TO YOU AND YOURS XXXXXX

Brendas Photo Challenge!

It's photo challenge time again ~ and I am actually quite organised this time around ~ I have a new camera ~ it is not having a mid life crisis and all is good!
The hostess this time around is the lovely Donna and the theme is 'Your favourite colour'.

I haven't actually chosen 1 colour ~ and as it is grey and wet outside (typical for a Bank Holiday weekend here in the UK) ~ I have looked inside for my colour inspiration!

The first picture is of the lavendar plants that I bought for my kitchen window ~ I love the lavendar colour! (sorry this one is a bit out of focus ~ still getting used to the camera!)


Next, Laurens summer school dresses ~ I love the checked blue and white ~ she looks so sweet in these school dresses!

My new flowers for the livingroom ~ I am re decorating at the moment and these are the colours that I am going with ~ I love them!

A bit of a closer look!

Well, there you go ~ my offerings for another challenge!

Hope that you are all having a good weekend ~ which is hopefully a bit brighter and drier than ours here!!

See you all next time! XX

Yippeeeeeee!!!!

Can you hear me cheering???? Well, that would be because we now have a 4 day long weekend here in the UK ~ as it is Good Friday tomorrow and Easter Monday (on Monday obviously!!) ~ so that means no work for me until Tuesday ~ 4 days with just my 2 little stars to amuse ~ that will be bliss as this week has been the Easter school holidays and I have had 5 children to entertain every day!!

We have actually had a really nice week ~ I have been a bit slow with the posting ~ so just a few updates for you......Firstly ~ a few of you asked whether I liked Twilight ~ the answer ~ I loved it ~ loved the book and loved the film ~ and Edward ~ well, what can I say? ~ I so need to get me an Edward ha ha !!!!!

The bum situation (after my cycling on Tuesday) ~ can best be described as painful ~ Wednesday morning I got out of bed and thought "That doesn't feel to bad!!" ~ then I sat down on the edge of the bed and well, all I can say is ouch! Think of all the parts of you that touch a cycle seat (and without being tooooo graphic) ~ they are all the parts that hurt (BADLY!!).
When I visited my friends house on Wednesday ~ her husband said that the way that I was walking looked like an orangutang (I did slap him ha ha ) ~ but I am sure that you get the picture!
Today is slightly better ~ but I think that all cycling activities will definitly be a NO NO for the rest of this week!

The weigh in went well on Wednesday ~ another pound gone ~ bringing the total to 5 stone and 13 pounds ~(83 pounds) my original target was to lose 6 stone (84 pounds) ~ so I am a pound away from that target! I am not sure yet whether I will stick to that target or carry on ~ but after a year (almost) of dieting ~ I will be glad to ease of just a bit!
I am now going to concentrate more on maintaining the weight loss and a SERIOUS amount of toning up!

We had a special visitor with us this last week ~ her name is Flat Ashlinn and she has come to visit us from the USA!
Flat Ashlinn is a paper version of Ashlinn who lives in the US ~ and is part of a school project.
Flat Ashlinn has travelled all over the world visiting different places ~ where she has had her picture taken ~ we were so happy to have her here with us in our little village!

Here are some pictures from Flat Ashlinns visit with us........

Outside the local Pub ~ which is steeped in history ~ as you can read.....

With my little Lauren ~ outside our little village shop ~ Flat Ashlinn visited here to buy some sweets..

Flat Ashlinn having a look at the good old British post box that she was posted off to germany in today!

Outside our village church.....

Flat Ashlinn making a phonecall home from our cherry red phone box....

Lauren actually became quite attached to Flat Ashlinn and I think that she will miss her!

Flat Ashlinn has now been posted on to Germany ~ before she returns to the US and the end of her journey!

Thank you to Justine for involving us in this fantastic project and making it possible for Flat Ashlinn to visit us!



Earlier in the week (before the weather turned to wet, wet and more wet!) ~ we had an easter egg hunt in the garden. We hid baskets of eggs around the garden and the children had to find them and take an egg from each basket ~ there were 10 baskets in total ~ so it took them a while!

Lots of fun was had ~ lots of chocolate eaten! and lots of laughter ~ just as it should be!

Here are some pictures from the day!

Lauren very kindly posed for some pictures ~ you would be excused for thinking that I only have one child ~ as Dan does not often feature in my blog posts ~ this is for no other reason than when ever I get the camera out ~ he promptly runs away ha ha ~ so no pictures of my boy I am afraid.......I will catch him out oneday though!

Well ~ that is our week ~ in a nutshell ~ this weekend will be spent relaxing ~ I have a hair appointment booked for Saturday and Lauren is dying to go to the pictures and see the film '17 Again' ~ for the sole reason that her most favourite person in the whole world (Zac Efron) is in it......not that I am complaining of course!

Happy easter everyone ~ hope you have a wonderful weekend too XX

Happy Birthday Amanda xx

Today is my good friend Amandas birthday ~ so I thought that I would send her some special blog birthday gifts.........so in honour of Amandas birthday ~

Here are some yummy chocolates.......

A bunch of flowers....... A scrummy birthday cake ~ which took me hours to bake by the way (ha ha !!)

........and finally ~ MIKE HOLMES ~

A Special Delivery just for Amanda!!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMANDA ~ HOPE THAT YOU HAVE A WONDERFUL DAY ~ FULL OF LOVE, LAUGHTER AND HAPPINESS ~ XX

Seemed like a good idea.....at the time.

My friend Jane (who I go power walking with) rang me tonight (we were due to go out walking ~ this week Tuesday and Friday are punishment days ha ha !!) ~ the conversation went like this....

Jane "Hi Tab ~ you know that we are due to go walking tonight ~ well, I have a suggestion ~ just say if you don't want to......"

Me ~ "OK"

Jane "Why don't we cycle the route instead? ~ It would be a good route to cycle and would be a change to walking ~ we could walk Friday still"

Me ~ (after short silence) ~"OK ~ but I don't have a bike......"

Jane "That's ok ~ you can borrow mine and I'll use Phils" (Phil is her Hubby)

Me (after another silence!) ~ "Oh go on then ~ but I warn you I haven't ridden a bike in AGES"

Jane "Don't worry ~ you never forget how to ride a bike ~ you will get back into it!"

SO ~ off we go! AND ~ boy would that have been a sight to see ~ me wobbling all over the place ~ nearly falling off and having no idea what I am doing!!

(By the way ~ that is so not true about not forgetting how to ride a bike..... I am living proof of that ha ha !).

Anyway ~ we start off well, the saddle is a bit hard and after a while I totally lose feeling in my bum ~ but things are going ok.......until we go off the track and onto the wooded area ~ where it is bumpy (VERY BUMPY) and then the fun really begins ~ I had next to no control over the bike on the concrete path ~ but add a woodland track into the mix and things got really hairy! Then there are the bark chippings ~ which made the walking harder ~ WELL ~ guess what ~ they make the cycling harder too ~ it was a killer!

I almost fell off on numerous occasions ~ then I came round a bend a bit fast and almost went completely off the track and down a bank ~ but we make it round the whole route....all 2 long and excrutiatingly bumpy miles of it!!!!

We get back to Janes house......and I fall....sorry I mean get off the bike.......and OMG!! I can hardly walk ~ I totally have no feeling in my bum and my legs feel like they don't belong to me at all.....

I turn to say bye to Jane ......"That was great" she says "We will have to cycle the route again Friday.........."

"Yeah sure......" I answer feebly............as I wander off slowly ~ with the swagger of someone who has just ridden a horse for 300 miles........

I am just off to soak my poor aching body in the bath and hopefully by Friday I may have some feeling back in my bum again.........sometimes what seems like a really good idea at the time ~ turns out to be soooooo not good! XXX

Sorry.........

I will not be doing my planned Blog Post tonight.......

I have a prior appointment..........with a Vampire.....

Not just any old Vampire ~ But Edward to be precise!!

Twilight came out on DVD here today ~ and I am dying to see it (ha ha ~ )

See you all tomorrow ~ when normal service will resume......XX

PS ~ Please excuse the picture ~ it has been a tough day tee hee!! XX

Oh Boy!

What a week!
Have literally not had time to stop ~ and have just collapsed on the sofa (literally ~ after 2 miles of power walking) ~ so I decided that now was a good time to update!

Wednesday was April fools day ~ and I decided that my 2 little stars deserved a bit of an April Fool ~ it was nothing mean or particularly spectacular ~ but it was actually hilarious and a sight to see!!

I rushed into the bedroom on Wednesday morning and said "Kids ~ quick I have slept in and it's 20 past 8 ~ we have to leave for school in ten minutes ~ quick get dressed!!"

WELL ~ what followed was a sight to behold (I am soooooooo mean!) ~ out of bed they both jump ~ PJ's off ~ uniforms flying everywhere ~ socks ~ pants ~ hair bands and alot of rushing about ~ but they were literally ready in a split second (tee hee ~ makes a change to the usual snail like dressing of the normal morning!!!) ~ THEN ~ when Dan walked into the livingroom he spotted the clock and realised that it was only 7.30...........before he could say anything I shouted "APRIL FOOL" ~ and they both just stood there ~ looking like "AHHHH MUM".

The best part was that I then made them get undressed again ~ and made them go and have a wash and clean their teeth in the bathroom and get dressed again! By the end of it they were both a bit fed up with me (bahahahahah!!!!!).......

Daniel did get his own back a bit later on ~ when he ran out of the bathroom and told me there was a HUGE spider in the bath ~ followed by me stressing out and running about like a headless chicken ~ then he burst out laughing and just said "got ya Mum". Lauren did not really get the hang of the whole concept and rushed in about 2 minutes later to tell me that there was a snake in the toilet ~ obviously by this time we were all "Fooled" out!!

Wednesday was also weigh in time again ~ another 1 and a half pounds gone ~ so I have now lost 5 stone and 12 pounds (82 pounds) ~ and my target it (hopefully) within my grasp!!

Tonight was power walk time again ~ and boy do I ache!! Last week we took a different route due to the bad weather and I was fine the next morning. But tonight we did the route that we did last year ~ which is more uneven and the path through the woods has been covered with tree bark chippings ~ which made the walking so much harder! As soon as we got back my Bum and legs started to ache and I am seriously worried that I may be stuck on the sofa for the night (ha ha ha) ~ as my Bum may just not be able to haul itself of it!!!! I am also sad to report that my lovely new trainers are now no longer as white and shiny ~ and I also walked through horse poop ~ which has resulted in them being banished to the doorstep outside ~ as they now have a rather 'countryside' aroma to them! I will clean them in the morning ~ but for now my poor body is just staying on the sofa ~ with my trusty laptop and a gallon of diet coke at hand!
XXX