I had a call this afternoon on our landline from a mobile phone company representative who was calling from "3". He started asking me whether I had a PAYG phone and then how much credit I bought each month. I knew what he was up to, planning to get me to take out a contract with that company, so I hammed it up a little!!
I told him that I use about £20 worth of credit every six months (that's not so far off the mark, actually, but I do spend a little more than that) and he laughed!!! He had the cheek to laugh, and then he asked me about the kids, as he knew that there are kids in the house as one of them answered the phone and said that they would pass the phone to "Mum". He said that he was sure that the kids used their phones more than that, and I told him (tongue firmly in cheek) that no, they used a lot less than that as we all use mobile phones for emergencies only "and we don't have many of those" and the silly chap laughed again.
So I told him off!! I got on my high horse and ranted that it was because there are so many people wasting their money on rubbish like mobile phones that this country is in so much debt, to which he replied that the country is not in debt. I advised him to learn a bit more about politics and watch the news more often so he knew more about what he was talking about, and then concluded that we were both wasting our time continuing with the conversation and hung up. My friend, D, then burst out laughing, so I joined her, and we had a good laugh at him.
People like him have it tough. He is only doing his job, and he wants to do it well to sign up as many new customers as possible so that he keeps his job, which is important in a difficult economic period like this. I do understand that - BUT he laughed at me for being careful with my finances, and I will not have that.
Monday, 12 July 2010
Sunday, 11 July 2010
Davina and friends
I have managed to do the Davina workout 5 mornings this week and I am so chuffed! Weigh day at Slimming World is tomorrow so I will be hoping that it has all done some good!! A spot of gardening now and again and some walking about also counts towards some activity merits, so that's even better. And I have tummy muscles....they ache some days, and I haven't even tried the "Bottom Fit" workout yet - the "Top Fit" involves weights, so I have ordered some from Amazon - until they get here I am using cans of grapefruit and being very careful not to lob them through the TV!! I think I will watch the bottom one this week and see how bad it looks - may have to psych myself up to it.
That was the week that was
And boy, didn't it go quickly! I can't remember half of the stuff we got up to but obviously I didn't spend too much time on here..sorry!
There was the trip to the doctor with the ingrown toenail with the EFG - middle toe, which was sore - that was Friday morning. The YFG brought home a rather fab school report which I was thrilled with. Considering she's only been in school three years and is now about to go to secondary school, she has done incredibly well. There was also the trip to the school play on Wednesday which UJ came to as well - it was a modern take on Noah's Ark, from the parrot's point of view - rather fun. Saturday saw the YFG on the Gala Queen's float as a princess - posh frock, new shoes, tiara, fancy hair do AND mascara....the day was SO hot, but it was fab. I got home from gym, quick shower and up to the field, but she had taken her finery off by then - there are some lovely photos though so I haven't missed out completely. UJ stayed last evening for a meal under the gazebo in the garden, so that was fun too.
Next week - last week of gym before the holidays and only a week and half of school to go too!!!
We are looking forward to the summer holidays - yay!
There was the trip to the doctor with the ingrown toenail with the EFG - middle toe, which was sore - that was Friday morning. The YFG brought home a rather fab school report which I was thrilled with. Considering she's only been in school three years and is now about to go to secondary school, she has done incredibly well. There was also the trip to the school play on Wednesday which UJ came to as well - it was a modern take on Noah's Ark, from the parrot's point of view - rather fun. Saturday saw the YFG on the Gala Queen's float as a princess - posh frock, new shoes, tiara, fancy hair do AND mascara....the day was SO hot, but it was fab. I got home from gym, quick shower and up to the field, but she had taken her finery off by then - there are some lovely photos though so I haven't missed out completely. UJ stayed last evening for a meal under the gazebo in the garden, so that was fun too.
Next week - last week of gym before the holidays and only a week and half of school to go too!!!
We are looking forward to the summer holidays - yay!
Tuesday, 6 July 2010
The weird and the wonderful...
The weird is all the comments I am getting from people in Asian (Chinese/Japanese??) characters. There is no way I am publishing comments I can't read - I have no idea what on earth they say!! Then I got one today where the comment was in English, but signed by those characters again - presumably they could represent someone's name, but I won't publish something I don't understand as it could say anything!
The wonderful is surviving my first day on the Slimming World healthy eating plan, without going too wrong. It has changed so much since the last time I used it (hence the size of my backside!) and there is quite a lot to get my head round...I had hit my heaviest un-pregnant weight again, and decided that enough was enough - I'll be 40 in two years and I am not going to be fat as well as 40!! I have also done half an hour's exercise to a Davina DVD today, so that is more than wonderful, that's more like a minor miracle, especially as I have done it for two days in a row. Davina says that you should do it three times a week, but I can't do it like that - I need to do it every day (or just have weekends off, perhaps, when it is going to be difficult to get the privacy in the lounge!!) as I would keep saying, "Oh, I'll do that tomorrow.." and we all know that tomorrow never comes! Hopefully between SW and Davina, I'll be a darn sight more svelte by Christmas....
The wonderful is surviving my first day on the Slimming World healthy eating plan, without going too wrong. It has changed so much since the last time I used it (hence the size of my backside!) and there is quite a lot to get my head round...I had hit my heaviest un-pregnant weight again, and decided that enough was enough - I'll be 40 in two years and I am not going to be fat as well as 40!! I have also done half an hour's exercise to a Davina DVD today, so that is more than wonderful, that's more like a minor miracle, especially as I have done it for two days in a row. Davina says that you should do it three times a week, but I can't do it like that - I need to do it every day (or just have weekends off, perhaps, when it is going to be difficult to get the privacy in the lounge!!) as I would keep saying, "Oh, I'll do that tomorrow.." and we all know that tomorrow never comes! Hopefully between SW and Davina, I'll be a darn sight more svelte by Christmas....
Sunday, 4 July 2010
Weekend news
Yesterday just seemed to go on and on, and by the evening, I would have been happy to declare that the things I had done in the morning had happened on Friday, so long ago did it seem!
We did gym first thing, starting with the Tots group at 9.30am and that went really well. Sometimes the kiddywinks are losing interest too soon and they just seem to have no attention span at all - and then I keep looking at the clock, desperate to get to the end! Yesterday was totally different and went much better - we must be doing something right.
After that group, we had development and competition girls - 6 of each - and boys - 7 of those, I think. The boys only stay for an hour, and then the girls really went to town. The development girls were working on some new things, which they really enjoyed and had a good go at all of them. The comp girls were all working on beam and bar routines, and we were having a laugh explaining the need for "oomph!" in the routines - they need to have an air of "look at me!" about them, rather than performing in a solid manner but without pizzaz! We worked on the oomph and pizzaz with all the girls.
After gym, we hit Tesco and the YFG went off with the shopping list and a trolley and did the bare minimum weekly shop (must have a count up and see how much of the £100 we have left!) and I went for a wander to see if there were any bargains to be had - and found one! School shirts - boring but a must-have. The secondary school is a shirt-and-tie school, so the YFG needed new shirts with collars that close together, and the EFG could use a couple of extra ones, so I was pleased to find a three-for-two offer on shirts - two packs for the YFG and one for the EFG. I also needed to buy the FH some paint for his art lesson tomorrow as the YFG had helped herself to some of his when she had made the model fire engine a few weeks ago.
We got home and had something to eat, mooched for a while, got changed, hung washing out, and pottered in the garden until the FH and EFG came home later on. I also went to see my friend around the corner for an hour, and eventually came home and made the tea at about 8pm. After tea the FH and I watched some tv and I gave up and went to bed at about 11. A long but good day!
The YFG came blundering into our room to wake me at about 3am after being sick in her bed. Cue drama and I had to dash for a bowl, clean her and the bed up, and then try to get her settled down again on a crudely made bed. At that point, I removed my alarms that had been set on my phone to get us up for church and decided that we all needed the sleep!
The YFG was absolutely fine this morning, thank goodness. She badgered the FH to take her to the local car boot sale, which he did, and was glad he did as he found an enamel plate which he has been wanting for art, and at only 50p it was a bargain. We had a snack lunch and then the FH took both girls to town as the EFG was playing her cornet in a band performance at the bandstand in the park.
This evening, UJ had come over with beetroot, fresh peas and other goodies from the garden so we are being spoilt. We have had fresh lettuce and cucumber from our garden with our tea tonight - this is the life - lots of fresh from the garden produce - plot to plate in 10 yards just can't be beaten!!
We did gym first thing, starting with the Tots group at 9.30am and that went really well. Sometimes the kiddywinks are losing interest too soon and they just seem to have no attention span at all - and then I keep looking at the clock, desperate to get to the end! Yesterday was totally different and went much better - we must be doing something right.
After that group, we had development and competition girls - 6 of each - and boys - 7 of those, I think. The boys only stay for an hour, and then the girls really went to town. The development girls were working on some new things, which they really enjoyed and had a good go at all of them. The comp girls were all working on beam and bar routines, and we were having a laugh explaining the need for "oomph!" in the routines - they need to have an air of "look at me!" about them, rather than performing in a solid manner but without pizzaz! We worked on the oomph and pizzaz with all the girls.
After gym, we hit Tesco and the YFG went off with the shopping list and a trolley and did the bare minimum weekly shop (must have a count up and see how much of the £100 we have left!) and I went for a wander to see if there were any bargains to be had - and found one! School shirts - boring but a must-have. The secondary school is a shirt-and-tie school, so the YFG needed new shirts with collars that close together, and the EFG could use a couple of extra ones, so I was pleased to find a three-for-two offer on shirts - two packs for the YFG and one for the EFG. I also needed to buy the FH some paint for his art lesson tomorrow as the YFG had helped herself to some of his when she had made the model fire engine a few weeks ago.
We got home and had something to eat, mooched for a while, got changed, hung washing out, and pottered in the garden until the FH and EFG came home later on. I also went to see my friend around the corner for an hour, and eventually came home and made the tea at about 8pm. After tea the FH and I watched some tv and I gave up and went to bed at about 11. A long but good day!
The YFG came blundering into our room to wake me at about 3am after being sick in her bed. Cue drama and I had to dash for a bowl, clean her and the bed up, and then try to get her settled down again on a crudely made bed. At that point, I removed my alarms that had been set on my phone to get us up for church and decided that we all needed the sleep!
The YFG was absolutely fine this morning, thank goodness. She badgered the FH to take her to the local car boot sale, which he did, and was glad he did as he found an enamel plate which he has been wanting for art, and at only 50p it was a bargain. We had a snack lunch and then the FH took both girls to town as the EFG was playing her cornet in a band performance at the bandstand in the park.
This evening, UJ had come over with beetroot, fresh peas and other goodies from the garden so we are being spoilt. We have had fresh lettuce and cucumber from our garden with our tea tonight - this is the life - lots of fresh from the garden produce - plot to plate in 10 yards just can't be beaten!!
Thursday, 1 July 2010
Swings and roundabouts
The YFG burst in from school at 4pm with a bit of a miserable face and my heart sank! Happily, though, that was just about the routine for getting back on the bus this afternoon - apparently one has to run to get a seat near a friend! She got home safe which was all that mattered to me.
The day has been interesting - she has had various classes: technology, art and English, from what I can remember, as well as PE and a period with the form tutor. Those went well and she got around the school OK, with some help. What was the slight downer for her was that she has been put into a form/tutor group without any other children from the primary school here.
We received a letter on Tuesday telling us the tutor groups, and then she spent most of yesterday asking everyone which form they were in, and came home wailing that no one else was in hers. I had to go to a school meeting last night so I mentioned it to her teacher here, who told me that she had been promised by the transition team that the 17 children from the village school would be spread evenly across the 7 tutor groups - not difficult: 4x2 and 3x3 surely? So I confidently explained to her last night that she would get there this morning and it would become apparent who was there from the village. Somebody somewhere made a "whoops!" because she was right though - she was alone in the tutor group.....
This is not such a big deal to me as it seems to her, because she can't really yet understand how different subjects are taught in secondary school and how your friend A who is in your Maths class might not be in your English or Science classes. It turns out that they would only spend about 20% of their time in that tutor group and she may well be in English/Science/Maths groups without anyone else from the village so she may have to just smile and dive right in to making some new friends. She is generally a friendly and popular sort of girl so I think that she will be fine once she has made a few new friends.
She has been interested to see how many of the teachers have said, "Oh, you're X's sister, aren't you?!" and there have been quite a few. The EFG has a good reputation in the school, and the YFG is in the shadow of that, to some extent, so she is going to have to stand up and say, metaphorically speaking, that she is her own person and not actually that much like the YFG in many things - she's polite and well behaved, but not necessarily interested in or good at the same things, so the English teacher may have her expectations dashed whilst the PE teachers may be pleasantly surprised at her enthusiasm - the YFG does it, but not with much aplomb!
I have had an interesting day and made some unexpected contacts and discoveries but that's another story!
The day has been interesting - she has had various classes: technology, art and English, from what I can remember, as well as PE and a period with the form tutor. Those went well and she got around the school OK, with some help. What was the slight downer for her was that she has been put into a form/tutor group without any other children from the primary school here.
We received a letter on Tuesday telling us the tutor groups, and then she spent most of yesterday asking everyone which form they were in, and came home wailing that no one else was in hers. I had to go to a school meeting last night so I mentioned it to her teacher here, who told me that she had been promised by the transition team that the 17 children from the village school would be spread evenly across the 7 tutor groups - not difficult: 4x2 and 3x3 surely? So I confidently explained to her last night that she would get there this morning and it would become apparent who was there from the village. Somebody somewhere made a "whoops!" because she was right though - she was alone in the tutor group.....
This is not such a big deal to me as it seems to her, because she can't really yet understand how different subjects are taught in secondary school and how your friend A who is in your Maths class might not be in your English or Science classes. It turns out that they would only spend about 20% of their time in that tutor group and she may well be in English/Science/Maths groups without anyone else from the village so she may have to just smile and dive right in to making some new friends. She is generally a friendly and popular sort of girl so I think that she will be fine once she has made a few new friends.
She has been interested to see how many of the teachers have said, "Oh, you're X's sister, aren't you?!" and there have been quite a few. The EFG has a good reputation in the school, and the YFG is in the shadow of that, to some extent, so she is going to have to stand up and say, metaphorically speaking, that she is her own person and not actually that much like the YFG in many things - she's polite and well behaved, but not necessarily interested in or good at the same things, so the English teacher may have her expectations dashed whilst the PE teachers may be pleasantly surprised at her enthusiasm - the YFG does it, but not with much aplomb!
I have had an interesting day and made some unexpected contacts and discoveries but that's another story!
And they're off..........
The EFG has taken the YFG to the bus stop and they will just be getting on the bus now - the bus doesn't actually leave the village for another 15 minutes as it has a lot of little pickups to do, but she is on her way to her first taste of secondary school!! They were both up shortly after 6 this morning, and I remember the FH saying at some point that the YFG seemed to be ready to go and it was only half past six, to which I muttered that I wasn't getting up until 7am! For the last half hour before they left, she kept looking at her watch and asking how long until they could go - I detect an air of anticipation and excitement!! I hope the day lives up to her expectations....
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