catch up

Sorry for the delay in blogging.

Thursday after lunch we went for a drive. In a search for a tripod, Bob looked up camera stores and we picked one to check out, in the town of Halesworth. They didn't have ball-head mounts, so we went to the toy store across the street and bought the boys plastic swords. Then we walked down the street to the parish church, which was very nice. It's listed in the Doomsday book, and has a sundial over the door (my "English Country Churches" book tells me some churches had "mass clocks" that were used to tell service times, and that complete ones are very rare now, but I don't know if this one is an old rare one or not). I bought 2 cookbooks and a "facts and fallacies" book off the used book table in the church.
Inside the church, Bob decided he'd rather have a good monopod than nothing, so we went back to the camera shop and got one. I also spotted a basket of interesting wall calanders outside a shop, so stopped there and got one for 75p.

Seeing that Halesworth is not far from the sea, we went a little farther East to the town of Southwold. They have a pier with shops and entertainments on it, but the first order of business (well, after the toilet stop) was the beach. The tide was coming in and everyone got excited about the "big" waves. Bob took pictures and the children threw rocks into the waves. There was a nice sandcastle on the beach, and as soon as the boys saw it they ran up and started kicking it down. We stopped them quickly, and later we saw it fall to the tide.
By the time we were all quite cold and hungry we went up onto the pier and looked around. There was a clock/water fountain with a sign that said it gave a show every hour on the hour. Noting we had 15 minutes til 6, we walked on down to the end of the pier and checked out the telescope. We got back to the clock right at 6, and the 'show' began - two metal men figures dropped their metal pants and squirted water into the central bucket. So we headed back toward town to find some dinner.
We found a parking spot between a fish 'n' chips place and a pub. The fish 'n' chips was cheaper, so we went in, but the boys needed a toilet, which they wouldn't provide, and then I saw a sign about 'cash only' and we were done. Bob had 14GBP, but that would get us two plates and leave us very hungry. So we went to the pub. After 20 minutes in the toilets we got a table and went to study the menu. The people were nice, but slow. I had lasagne, Bob had plaice, Taryn had a burger, Riah had fried scampi, and the others shared a pizza. It was quite late by the time we were done, and the children all napped on the way home.

Friday was the homeschool field day, and that was fun. I didn't have time to make anything for the potluck lunch afterwards, so we went to the BXtra to eat, and then toured 'toyland.' Bob got hiccups at lunch and was nearly sick by the time we finished at the store, so we decided to go home and save the grocery shopping. The babies napped and I made dinner. (The hiccups stopped when a horse truck nearly ran us off the road.)

Saturday we went to the "holiday bazaar" on Lakenheath. We bought some potpouri and a used book. We also had lunch there, but right as we were finished I remembered the commissary was giving away hot dogs. Oh, well. So then Bob dropped me and 3 children off at the commissary for the case lot sale. I bought cases of laundry detergent, body wash, cereal, soup, canned tomatoes, green beans, and corn, toilet paper, baby wipes, and water. I also got a few things from the regular store. $260. The checkout is set up so the customer has to load the groceries onto the belt, so I was busy working and not able to keep my eyes on the cashier. When I got home and looked at my reciept I found that I'd been cheated out of more than $5. It's irritating, and I have resolved to get over it, but it's slow going.
So we got home about 3, and the boys went to play outside and the babies took naps.

And now it's Sunday morning and the children are eating and Bob is sleeping in (he didn't sleep well last night). I guess I should have breakfast, too.

Home

Bob arrived home safely about 11:30 this morning. With no sleep the night before, he had a good homemade lunch and went to take a nap. :-) He bought me an Icelandic silver ring, to replace a pewter ring I'd bought myself there back in the day, and a bottle of water. He got Azariah a viking hat for his birthday, and both boys a teddy bear with an Icelandic flag shirt on, and each of the girls an Icelandic pony on a key ring. Very cute.

He has off from work until Monday, but will go in Friday for paperwork. We also have the homeschool group field day on Friday.

So that's that.

Men

Recently a friend confided in me that her husband was "difficult." :-) I got to thinking about the term, and I wonder how many women would say the men in their lives are difficult men. Husband, father, brother(s), son(s). I think I would answer, "yes, difficult," to every one of my men. How about you?
So I wonder if really we are quite normal and so are the men. ?? An old friend used to say that we each have our difficult times, and that we are each suited to deal with the difficulties in our particular man; she couldn't put up with my man, and no way I could put up with hers.

Yesterday I read this blog, and it reminded me of these thoughts. If you read it (it's a little long), can you see the connection?

That life in general is hard, and there's no reason to go around thinking we have things more hard than everyone else. I know this is easy for me to say (in regards to men) because my husband has been away for 4 weeks, but really, is it true? It's so easy to get into a negative mindset and think our own particular lot in life is unbearable. But so many have borne so much more. And maybe, just maybe, if we'd look up more often (and maybe even if we look to the humanity of others) instead of looking in at our own feelings and 'needs' then we'd realize things aren't really as difficult as they appear.

(Disclaimer: this rambling of thought is directed mostly at myself. I have no intention of making light of others' situations or even 'preaching' or imposing guilt trips. And of course, there are many exceptions and situations that REALLY are out of the ordinary with pain and hard times, and I'm not talking about that.)

birthday

Yes, I survived another one - not mine, but Riah's.

I had planned a couple of lovely blog posts, including one just about the cake, but I just don't have time. Bob is supposed to be home tomorrow, so I have some cleaning up to do. Maybe after he's home a day or two the children will calm down and I'll be able to blog regularly again.
It's not so much about whether people even read it. I need to have things written down because I'm unable to retain the memory otherwise. If I write it down, my brain dumps it even more, but then I can go back and see what I said about a thing.
Frustrating, because in a month or a year I will wonder what I did for Riah's 5th, and all I'll know is that I was so tired and frazzled the next day!

maybe I can sneak in a few words? He had a good day being completely lazy. The cake passed inspection, and he got some presents he liked - books from a friend, money and stickers from my parents, and from me his binoculars repaired, a robin hood Playmobil toy, a Robin Hood puzzle, a Robin Hood costume (don't tell, but when Disney made it they thought it was Peter Pan. hehe), and wooden puzzle shape blocks things (Oh, they 're called pattern blocks).
Our friends the Harris family came over for dinner of Sloppy Joshes, fruit salad, and corn and green beans, and stayed for cake and presents.

I'd been up til 1:30 the night before, chatting with Bob on Yahoo IM. Oik!

He also had balloons, purple streamers, and a big banner.

I have some pictures on my Flickr site. to see them, click on the highlighted words.

all to myself

I didn't want to post prematurely, but it seems that William has been weaned. It's been 4 days since he last nursed.
This means that, for the first time in 7 years I am neither nursing nor pregnant. My body is mine! Wow, what a deal. :-)

Today we went to Lakenheath for a Flea Market, and got a few boys' clothes and a few toys, then ate lunch, went to the playground (sunny again!!), then the commissary. After coming home and unpacking the car I made Riah's birthday cake, heated frozen pizza for supper, and got the children to bed. For the last 1 1/2 hours I have been chatting with Bob on Yahoo Messenger and looking at chocolate cake recipes online. I need 2 cakes for this birthday (he wants a big castle), so I cheated and made one with a mix. The other, I picked from a Hershey cookbook, and it fell on cooling, so I need to do again. It may be the fault of the recipe or the baking (I guess it was undercooked), but the batter wasn't awesome so I am looking for another recipe. So many recipes call for 3 9" pans, and I only want 2; this is to be layered and decorated so I want it not too crumbly, but moist and fluffy and good and chocolaty. If I made a choc cake every week I'd have a standard by now. My new favorite cake is a 3 layer, so I can't use it.

Tomorrow I guess we will go to a boot sale and then to a "Gala Day" at an animal health place just down the road. Don't tell, but they are having a "fancy dress" competition and I might take the boys' costumes. There is supposed to be a dog show as well. And then there's the cake decorating and the house cleaning, as Riah wants it clean for his borthday on Monday.
If I was my mother, I'd be up all night baking, but as it is, I'm headed for bed.

this is cool!

So, recently I blogged about Scotland and a cool giveaway over at In a Shoe. Guess what. I won!! I know she uses a random number generator, so it wasn't my eloquent angst than won her over, but it was my second entry, for blogging, that got picked. I'm so excited I guess I'll forgive Vision Forum for not inviting me to go with them on the trip in the first place. :-) It will be fun to hear all the info, and it will be inspiration for us to go see the places ourselves. Cool!

The B-I-B-L-E

I think Ella is going overboard with learning her body parts. When I change her diaper she pats her belly and sings "The belly, belly, belly, Yes that's the Book for me, I stand upon the Word of God, the belly, belly, belly!"