What's Going On

I'm getting into cycling! The whole family are getting into cycling. We have been given by a friend, whose kids have grown too big, a sort of trailer thing for Hattie which attaches around the wheel of an adult's bike. Rog's not mine, I voted early on!

But we're off to Scotland on Saturday for a couple of weeks, and we've decided we HAVE to take the bikes and the trailer with us so we can go off for lovely picnics in the wilds. However we also have 4 kids (my 12 year-old step-son is coming too) and lots and lots of stuff as you can imagine. So for the past couple of days we have explored EVERY option you can imagine to carry 5 bikes and 6 people on a 9 hour car journey. Tomorrow we're fitting a tow-bar and a flash bike carrier for a fair amount of money. The picnics had better be worth it!

It is lovely to be considering such things - two summers ago surviving chemotherapy, a bone marrow transplant and radiotherapy were the preoccupations which filled my mind.

I've had some tentative good news regarding my writing. A big glossy national magazine are interested in commissioning an article - but it's not final yet! I'm excited though anyhow. I feel as if some of my recent hard work might be paying off at last. Watch this space!!!

P.S. on a completely different note - does anyone else have an extremely obstreperous 2 year old who runs the whole household with the ease of an experienced tyrant? Mine is very exhausting..... I'm trying not to wish for her to become 13 when at least she'll be sulky and silent and .... oh hang-on... argumentative and difficult. Hmmmm. Well, 16 then. Ok, 35.

Ear-muffs at the ready for that long car journey!

School Holidays

It's the last Friday of the school term. In an hour I'm going to fetch the kids from school and then the long six week holiday stretches ahead! I don't really mean to make it sound like that. We have plans - camping in Yorkshire, heading off to the Highlands of Scotland and camping in Wales - and that'll be fun I'm sure, but oh so exhausting.

I'm feeling well actually - so exhausting doesn't really matter I guess. But I'm enjoying my peaceful space in the afternoons while Hattie sleeps and I can write. And I'm really writing - committing to spending regular time every afternoon writing at least a little. And that's why I've been neglecting my blog. But I've been missing it too so I'm going to post a bit more often again. And I'm certainly going to miss that window of peace in the middle of the day - September will promise some peace from that point of view.

But the summer holiday is also a welcome release from the tyranny of routine - from packed lunches, ironing uniforms and the clock-radio coming on at 6 bloody 20 every morning! We've pizza and chocolate tea-cakes for tea as a celebration.

On a more serious note though I'm a bit worried too. Ed and I seem to be falling out a lot at the moment. He is cheeky at only 6 and a half- always has an answer for everything and can wind me up quicker than anyone else I know. I seem to be especially short-tempered at the moment... and we're not a good combination when things get like that. I adore him with a passion but he really doesn't know when to stop and I don't seem to know how to keep calm. I don't want to spend the summer holidays shouting - so deep breaths before the school run. I'm the adult here.... and I'd do well to remember that.

Hello

I'm tired at the moment. I have a clinic appointment on Wednesday. It's just a check-up but I'm kind of dreading it. I've been having loads of headaches and have itchy patches on my arms and legs which can be a symptom of something nasty.

I'm just so fed up with it all. Worrying is exhausting. Living in this way is exhausting - sometimes I still can't believe it's happened to me. I feel like a different person. And I was quite happy with the person I was before this.

As usual life is busy. Martha had her summer school concert this afternoon. She had a third hearing test this morning which she failed - next step, the hospital. And both Ed and Martha had swimming. Hattie ran crazily around the cafe while we watched them through the window until I felt quite frantic. Hattie doesn't stop talking by the way. Ever. And then we came home to tea - well the kids lolled around while I made it. Then bath, pyjamas and Ed's weekly treatment which always seems to come at exactly the most tiring and stressful moment. He has a bleed in the muscle of his arm and he's black and blue - hs legs look quite shocking, as I noticed while he was swimming. I haven't actually told the swimming teacher about the haemophilia as I'm always there at the pool with him, but I wonder if maybe I should. Otherwse I might get a call from social services. Can you imagine? Nightmare.

With posts like this it's just as well they've been thin on the ground recently. I know, I know..... I should count my blessings. It's easier said than done sometimes That's all.

Saturday Evening

I'm waiting for my 'Jamie Oliver' stuffed peppers to cook. They smell good so that's a start. Am fancying a glass or two of wine tonight as well...

The kids are (finally) tucked up in bed after being exasperating and tiring in a Saturday sort of way if you know what I mean.

Tomorrow we're going to check-out campsites in the Yorkshire Dales to prepare for our first week of the summer holiday. I'm hoping the trip will be more successful than our Easter visit to the Lake District when - to sum things up - we were very COLD in our frosty tent.