Five weeks + 6

Well the last couple of days finally caught up with me last night and I fell asleep on the settee, luckily Neil managed to get me up to bed without waking me up too much. There was a time, (a long time ago in a galaxy far far away, no that's another thing) when he would have carried me to bed, but we're both past that kind of thing, plus one or both of us would have ended up in hospital so shaking awake and gentle persuasion seemed like the safer option. I was tired because I did drive to the woods yesterday, I took Xander with me for protection, not sure if it was mine or other peoples. We walked around the woods for about an hour, I lied to Xander and said there wouldn't be many bugs because it had been raining, and the woods were teeming with hover flies all flying just above head height it was a little scary. When we got back to the car we drove to the main car park where there is an ice cream van, he's normally there on Sundays, but in the 6 weeks holiday he hangs around in the week as well. We had a 99 each which were £1.50, Xander has no problem with that, "what's in a name?", he wasn't quoting Shakespeare just being obvious. We did have chocolate sauce and chocolate sprinkles, so the £1.50 didn't seem too bad, and it was a very nice treat indeed.

I did, however, fall out with Will yesterday, it's a shame, he has been so good, and grown up about all the things that have happened to me, I know it has hit him really hard and he worries about me a lot, but he is still 15, and his mouth is sore because his brace was tightened on Wednesday, so I can appreciate he was feeling less than friendly. So we fell out, firstly because he wouldn't come to the woods with me, then because I asked him to help cook dinner , which he really didn't want to do, and he made one small mistake, which I may have over reacted to, then he stropped off and said he wasn't hungry anyway. I'm guessing he may get his overreacting from me, who knows? I then shouted at him, I may have told him he was a selfish little boy, none of which is true, then I threw something and  broke it, it was a tea light holder I'd had for years and it was to hand. This then had Xander scuttling about the kitchen with a dustpan and brush fretting about the dog cutting himself, and I was in tears. Into this serene and peaceful landscape walked Neil. You would think he'd have a sixth sense about these things after all these years, and turn around and go to the pub, I would. So in walks Neil, he sees what Xander is doing and looks at me, "I broke it, on purpose", to which he replied "I know". Now that is nearly 22 years of marriage showing, I've always thrown things, first time was a cup of coffee across the living room when we'd been married about 6 months, I guess you learn (or buy plastic crockery). Still he brought with him peace and brought forth apologies, then asked how long dinner would be. I'm still not sure if his peacemaking abilities at 6.30 in the evening are really down to the fact he's desperately hungry and a swift solution will bring about food much quicker, who knows, but we were all fixed and sitting down to eat together before too long. Aren't families great!

I  finally finished my shopping list yesterday, now Neil and I were planning to go this afternoon, as he finishes a little early on Fridays, but, I'm now toying with the idea of doing it during the day with the boys. My trip to the woods being successful, what could go wrong with a trip to the supermarket with my boys? OK now that I've said that out loud I can see that there are lots and lots of things that could go wrong with that, I'll wait for Neil to come home. See sometimes you just need someone to say things to, you don't even need a reply, an idea that seemed fine in your head becomes a really stupid idea just by letting it out into the open. That is brilliant therapy, it means that I'm not mad doing this, it is helping after all. No it doesn't mean I'm not mad, full stop, just not for actually writing a blog about stuff!

Well I am running late this morning, which is the product of a good nights sleep, and in no way a complaint. I have a lot to do today including finding a way to bribe Will to go to the barbers (he's allergic), as he's off to Woolacombe for the week and won't be back until Monday 5th September, and then he's back to school the next day. Before anyone mentions about me leaving this a bit late, trust me the barber thing has been an ongoing battle for a couple of weeks and I'd like to remind everyone of the "taller and smarter" than me comment about Will from a previous blog. So wish me luck.