A Mother's Ramblings

I actually can't believe what is going to happen this coming week. My new job, the children going back to school, the end of Summer, the end of an era... I'm so excited and ready for this new challenge and chapter in our lives.

The children and I were going to go away for a night. We'd spend the day having fun, maybe hit up a museum or two, a picnic lunch and just have fun together. We decided we would stay somewhere near the Seaside and not too far from where Flyfour was working, so that he could meet up with us after he'd finished work and as a family we'd go to the amusements and have chips looking out to Sea and spend time playing on the beach as the sun went down. We'd have breakfast together the next morning, along with an early morning walk along the beach before Flyfour headed back off to work and we'd spend the day having more fun, before meeting Flyfour at home that evening. And then we didn't.

I didn't know what to write. I could have written something about the amazing places I've been recently, or I could have written something about the amazing experiences I've had recently, but it seemed a little odd talking about these wonderful things when I'm not feeling all that wonderful.

On Bank Holiday Monday, Dan Jon and I were having a bit of a lazy day. We'd both got up when we had wanted to (although my wake up time was a few hours before Dan Jon's) and after we were both dressed and ready to go we had an equally lazy breakfast at McDonald's before heading off for a walk at Ashland Lakes. Really, it was just so we could say we at least did one thing, rather than just sit at home all weekend whilst Flyfour and Top Ender were away camping. We used to go to Ashland Lakes quite a lot when the children were small, it was fun to walk across the stepping stones and try to not get our feet wet, but as they started to get more involved with clubs and activities after school, we eventually had no time to go. Even the occasional picnics that my Mum and I would have at Ashland Lakes has dropped off as her balance has become more of an issue. I don't want her falling into the lake as I don't think I'd ever be able to get her out of the lake ...

I was sitting in the garden having lunch when I heard a weird cracking or popping sound. I immediately realised that the pods on my Sweet Peas were ready to be harvested, as they were harvesting themselves! So I did what any normal person would do, I picked as many of the pods that were ready to be harvested as I could, found an envelope and popped the seeds from the pods into the envelope. It was a lovely afternoon, sitting in the sun and doing something that reminded me of my childhood. A couple of hours later and I felt like I had something in my eye. So I gave it a rinse and hoped whatever it was in my eye would wash away and I'd feel more comfortable. It didn't work and my eye was still just as uncomfortable. Not long after, I started sneezing and my nose started running and both eyes started watering and my face was just uncomfortable. When Flyfour got home, he took one look at me and asked what was wrong with my face. Which at any other time would NOT be the way t...

As if there wasn't enough to worry about with Diabetes, at our last appointment with the Diabetic team, they mentioned they wanted Dan Jon to start going to annual eye checks too. We knew it was coming because with my Mum being a Type One Diabetic for so much longer than Dan Jon she has all the various appointments that one day Dan Jon will have too. The appointment came. It was the last appointment I'll be able to take Dan Jon to for a while, with my new job starting, and so to me, it was a big thing and so Dan Jon and I sat together in the waiting room, cracking slightly inappropriate jokes, playing I-spy and having a good old chat. Eventually, the nurse called Dan Jon's name and after a quick eye test put some drops into Dan Jon's eyes, and came back a few minutes later to put the dilating drops in too. Then after a few more minutes of waiting, we got to meet with the Doctor.

A couple of weeks ago I was talking with a friend who was a little confused. For as long as my friend has known me, I have been a member of a Christian church, I've not drunk alcohol and as well as the Bible, I also have an additional book of scripture called The Book of Mormon. To her, I was a Mormon or a Latter-day Saint, abbreviated to LDS on my social media profiles and a member of the Mormon Church. My friend had met some Missionaries in her town and had been chatting with them and it was at this point that she had said something like "My friend Pippa is a Mormon" and they said something like "Oh, really? What ward does Pippa live in?". They had a nice conversation and that evening she called me, to have a chat and she mentioned she'd met her local Missionaries, but they hadn't belonged to the same Church as me and she was confused because she had thought they looked like they did.

Top Ender and Flyfour are off on their annual camping trip this weekend, leaving Dan Jon and I to fend for ourselves and enjoy our time having a holiday at home! We might decide to order in every meal (or go find a robot to deliver some food to us) or seeing as how Dan Jon and I quite like a Salad we might be healthy and have a weekend of Salads!

I have a list of things that I would like to do. Some things are expensive, like have a hotel room which you can swim up to or one with a secret hidden pool for my own exclusive use and gives a great view of some amazing vista. Others are less expensive, like having a posh afternoon tea or making an item of clothing from scratch and some could be expensive... like going to an Auction and placing a bid, or rather placing a bit and winning! And that last one? Well, I've done it and it only cost me £3! A few weeks back, Flyfour and I went to an Auction house in Bedford. We'd spent the evening before looking at the online catalogue for all the lots that were up for auction and noted several items that we were interested in, and several more that we were interested in seeing how much they would go for because I'm so nosey!

In some areas of Milton Keynes, there is the ability to order food from local shops to be delivered to your home, by Robot. No, seriously. You just need the app to be able to order from Starship, and to live in one of the areas for delivery. The problem is that we don't live in one of these areas and so we can't order food to be delivered to our home! Instead, when we are out on our walks or driving in the areas that have the robots, we lookout for them making it a bit of a competition for who can see them first, or who can see the most. Of course, we also keep a close eye on the app, to see if they have finally started delivering to homes in our area and if it takes much longer (which it will), we might have to move, so we also keep an eye out for houses we like in the areas where the Starship Robots do deliver to and I found a great one... now I just need to win a lot of money so I can afford it and all the deliveries I'll be accepting!

Flyfour and I love going for walks, sometimes I don't remember this and when he asks me I decline his offer to go but he had found a new park that he wanted us to walk around and it sounded fab and I was in a great mood and so didn't say no and I am so glad I didn't! We went at about Sunset, which meant we got some beautiful photographs of the setting sun over the lake, and what you can't see, thanks to some clever positioning of the camera is the warehouse unit right by the lake... actually on three sides of the lake.

We were gifted tickets for the show and two J2O's. I always found that the bucket at the end was the hardest part to balance in the game Mousetrap and when the performance of The Mousetrap at Milton Keynes Theatre was running late due to some technical difficulties, I guessed that this was the problem the production was having too. Of course, that was all a joke, I knew really that it wasn't the case, but it was a good giggle and the older couple sitting in front of Top Ender and I thought it was hilarious! Now, there are a few things that I knew about The Mousetrap. It is the longest-running play. It's in its 65th year in London. There's a twist ending. The audience is requested not to share whodunnit, so as to keep the mystery alive for other people. It was written by Agatha Christie. All I really knew though, was that I was really looking forward to see the show, as was Top Ender!

I'm in a much better mood now and can more easily work out what it is that we are eating this week for our evening meals! Plus Flyfour has confirmed, what days he is going to be home late, what days he's not coming back home and more importantly (for me anyway) what he would like to eat too!

Since camp, my scripture study one day a week has been a little different to how I normally study. It was at camp that I was introduced to a game of sorts by a member of our Stake Presidency. The game, as the title of the blog post suggests, was a Scripture Song Game and we were encouraged to find references in the scriptures for every line in a hymn. The point of the game, other than having fun, getting to read different Scriptures, getting used to reading the Scriptures and using things like the Topical Guide was to show how even the hymn we sing each week in our meetings or in our Family Home Evenings  or our family Scripture study sessions teach doctrine. At camp, the song we attempted to find references for was " I Am a Child of God ". You can follow that link to hear a sung version, but the lyrics to the first verse and chorus are; I am a child of God, And he has sent me here, Has given me an earthly home With parents kind and dear. (Chorus) Lead me, guide ...

There are just two weeks left of our Summer Holiday and I'm intending to make every day count! Saying that I am so ready to be thinking about Christmas, especially with the rain yesterday evening making me think of Autumn and Winter and everything that needs to be snuggly and twinkly! In other news, I'm only planning meals for the weekend, because I've got a meal block. Hopefully, I'll get some inspiration before I go shopping on Monday! Saturday - Steak and Jacket Potatoes Dan Jon isn't too keen on Steak (he doesn't like the texture), so we'll give him something like Sausages but the rest of us are very excited about having Steak with Jacket Potatoes and a bit of salad. Okay so maybe excited for salad is a step too far for Flyfour and Top Ender! Oh scrap that, Flyfour made chips, so I revolted and had a HUGE salad with the Steak and the children and Flyfour had beans. Heathens. Sunday - Honey Mustard Chicken with Mash I love Honey Mustard C...

A friend asked me this last week; "Pippa, are you ready for September?" I honestly didn't know what they meant. There is a lot happening in September, but what was she referring to? My wedding anniversary? We're going away but she knows that and knows I'm ready. My cousins birthday and anniversary party? She knows I have a family thing and am dead excited as I've not seen my cousin for a few years now. Dan Jon starting School? Well, funny I had been thinking about that earlier... I'm sure you've realised, that was she actually was asking was if I was ready to return to employment out of the home after such a long gap. Funny enough, I'd been thinking about that too. My life and the lives of my family are going to change and quite dramatically too. I poured out a few of my worries to her and she listened, like a good friend would.

At the start of the Summer holidays, I explained to Top Ender and Dan Jon that with my new job starting in September we had just six short weeks to get the house in order to allow everything to run more smoothly. I knew that they weren't happy, mainly because they vocalised it, but they also knew that I was doing the same thing and that I had the entire house to contend with, whilst they just had their bedrooms! It was the Marie Kondo moment  from three years ago, all over again.

I saw this post-it recently and thought that you all deserved to see it too, after all, it is a Post-it of wisdom! Just so you know, it's totally true.

You might be aware that recently I got a new car, (a Citreon C4 Picasso), thanks to a gentleman not seeing my big huge silver Citreon Xsara Picasso and reversing his car into it, and causing enough damage to mean it was a write-off. Flyfour found me a brilliant replacement and honestly once I get used to the new handbreak all will be well but Flyfour and I are having a little argument  sorry disagreement over the new car and no, it's not because he wants to swap cars and have this one and give me his C4 because I think the death stare I gave him when he suggested that warned him not to bring it up again. The thing is, Flyfour says that all cars are girls and I say that some are girls and some are boys and that I'm pretty sure that my new car is a boy. I mean look at it. It's so a boy. The real problem is that I'm trying to think of a name for my new car and nothing is fitting and I'm really worried that Flyfour is right and the reason I'm not ...

I snore. I'll admit it, I'm not ashamed although I am a little worried because as far as I can tell it means that my breathing whilst I am sleeping is being obstructed and is an even bigger sign than all the other ones that I should really be working much harder on losing weight.

When we were on camp one of the sessions that had the most impact on me, was when we were creating Testimony S'mores. The idea of the session was to help the Young Women to understand what a Testimony is and how it is created and I thought I'd share it here too because you all might understand a little more about what it is when I say Testimony and also because I wanted to share my totally cool looking Testimony S'more!

I love the Summer holidays and think that starting my job in September the Summer holidays are going to be the huge highlight of my year! It's funny, I was talking with some teacher friends who made me laugh when they were saying that the reason teachers have so many holidays is just so that they forget how hard working in a school can be! It's sort of a reset for all staff. So, here's what we are eating this week.

During Young Women's Camp, one of the activities that the Young Women were doing in their groups, was titled Princess Training. The idea was to help the Young Women to learn some skills and to remind them that they are the daughter of the King.

Whilst the family and I were away in Dorset, we decided to visit the beach and so headed down to Lyme Regis. We spent ages sitting on the beach that first night, paddling and just walking around enjoying being on the beach. We chatted, splashed each other, looked at the Seagulls and wrote lots of weird things on the beach, remembering the punctuation (Dan Jon's old Primary teacher if you are reading, you'll be pleased to know he was the one who was checking out punctuation!) and finding a few shells too. After an hour or so, we started getting a little hungry and so decided to hunt out somewhere that sold gluten-free Fish and Chips so that we could have a chippie tea sitting looking out at the Sea and enjoying more time together before having an Ice-cream and heading back to our campsite.

Last week I was on Young Women's Camp with the Young Women from my ward and all the Young Women and their leaders from my Stake. It was an amazing week, full of Spiritual moments, fun and laughter, food (oh so much food) and tents. Yeah, tents. We all know how I feel about Tents, but you know what? This camp was different and I'm pretty sure that this was because of who we were sharing the camping experience with, not that my family aren't great to camp with, but getting to hang out with so many beautiful young women who are so confident in who they are? That was pretty awesome!

I love Top Ender. I mean of course I do, she's a genius and she has amazing curls and she loves singing and camping and random things that only she seems to understand, then there are the things that she explains to me and ends up making me care about too and then there are times where she says totally crazy things that make me look at her all confused and I realise that she is more like me than either Flyfour or I thought possible and I realise I should support her. Which is why I ate a Pringle S'more. So how did it come about?

Well, I'm back from camp and despite having slept in a tent, stayed up far too late, got up far too early and stinking of lake for far too long, I was also totally spoilt as one of my amazingly lovely friends was in charge of preparing all the meals for the camp, which meant I really didn't lift a finger all week and now I'm home I'm kinda sad because I have to A Go Shopping to get the food, B Prepare the meals and C Serve the food! Well, seeing as how I need to do all of the above, here is what we're eating this week.