Easter Exertion

Arghhhhhh, school holidays... I dread them! Not because I don't love my children, I absolutely adore them 100% but life with a special needs child is extremely demanding.

Easter holidays are particularly troublesome with all the extra sugary confection, now had I only had one child I could quite happily get around this problem... But, I have three - I cannot withhold treats from one, that just wouldn't be fair & as for withholding from them all?! Where's the fun in that???

I'm going all out this year, as I want my children to have a happy childhood that they remember with fondness. Fun, Fun, Fun that's what it should be like for a child.

My eldest however has high-functioning autism which in itself is challenging, but add excitement, visual stimulus & high quantities of sugar well that just adds to the equation.

Hyperactivity runs rife & is very tiring for the rest of the family... Try to withhold favourite tasks such as electronics games from him & then you get meltdowns, but what can you do?

If the weather had been warmer then I would've got the families Merlin passes for this year (we had a year off last year so the Theme Parks are calling) so that would make it a little easier to manage with something else fun to do with the children.

We had to prize the iPad from number one son today, just to get him in the bath... Now it's time to get him out that very bath, which always prove much 'fun' to whomever is assisting - fortunately, I don't have to do this so much now given he is almost 12 & it wouldn't be correct to carry on when his father is usually available to do the awkward task!

Well, here's to a Happy Easter to all... Don't over-indulge in too much chocolate, but most of all if you have children enjoy the time you spend with them for the next fortnight x

Planning Easter

So I want to do things a bit more exciting this year, so I've been strategically planning Easter with the kidlets a bit more carefully...

I do however need to pay a visit to Hobbycraft for some supplies, speak nicely to my Papa for a small quantity of a particular item we have in hopefully abundance.

Obviously I'm not giving too much away by means of this blog, now number one son is at secondary school & quite a techno geek, it wouldn't take him long to discover this post on my Facebook wall & read it!

I'm planning an Easter Tree to bring some colour into the house, with the weather so dismal & gloomy, it should brighten things up a little along with everything else I'm planning...

Hopefully the children will appreciate my efforts & really enjoy the fun celebrations this year, rather than just gorge themselves on chocolate.

Of course there will be photos a plenty during the set-up process & Easter weekend, so do watch out on Instagram for them if you're at all interested in what I'm doing this year.

Try to enjoy this dreary weekend, I'm going to make the most of it... I'm determined!!!

One of those days.....

Yes the title has a hint of sarcasm, but for me it HAS been exactly that 'one of those days'

Now I guess 'one of those days' could mean a number of scenarios to a number of people, but for me it means a day where I've almost got to the point of saying "enough is enough, I quit!"

I bet you're all thinking why?! Why is today so much tougher than any other day??? In fairness I don't think it is & now I'm blogging to calm myself (strangely for me this is a technique that works) I can reflect & say "is it THAT bad?"

Actually as calm as I'm getting, yes it is! What the outside world sees is what it wants to see: the blissful married couple, 3 lovely children, a nice/safe family home, financially ok... What the outside world doesn't see: a depressed husband, a high-functioning autistic son, a stressed out wife/mother, all the chaos that goes with this too.

So why today? Why 'St Patrick's Day'? Top of the mornin to ya, by the way! Lol

Maybe the moon is in a particular phase, maybe it's the random weather patterns (freak snow showers this morning), maybe it's just a build up of the last few weeks, who knows?!

What I do know is my husband struggles every Sunday & hits a downer with the ever looming Monday morning back to work syndrome, add to the mix a non-compliant/non-conventional thinking autistic son that has been very argumentative & refusing to do homework or he at all helpful in anyway - well it's an all scale warfare to be precise.

Does that sound dramatic?! It's meant to... The morning started ok, but suddenly plummeted. We awoke, hubby toasted hot-cross buns (courtesy of M&S, they're the best in my honest opinion (but I've yet to try my hand at making my own)). We all ate, I had coffee life was good!

Then we ask number one son to do his homework (that should've been started on Friday after school, but alas arguments then, arguments yesterday too) guess what?!? Yep you bet ya, agreements again!!!

It got so heated that both male inhabitants stormed off to their bedrooms... Great! The littlest female inhabitant had a party to get to & I had a cake to delivery for said party - so given the drastic change in weather front, yes we had heavy snow showers at that time... I text my friend to let her know I'd walk the cake & girls to hers, drop lil lady n cake off for party (I'd then planned to take middle child to Costa).

Then cause I go to dress myself, hubby tells me I'm being ridiculous walking with cake, carseat & girls in this weather he'll give us a lift - Arghhhhhh! So I text my friend again, her partner comes to collect cake & we then have issues getting the boy to dress to leave the house.

Eventually he dresses, we get in A snow clad car & head to Banbury iKidz to drop lil lady (who is now The Dark Knight, it's a Superhero party) off for the party.

As is pretty standard these days in our car, the journey is never simple even if it's a short one in town... Kids arguing n bickering, I have no patience left since I quit smoking (Oct 9th 2012) give me strength please???

No, it continues so I start playing Emma B via my phone - hubby thinks it's amusing to change the lyrics & take the piddle out of me... Not happy & very vexed I stare out the window to watch the snow fall.

We drop little Anneliese at her party then head to Banbury centre, Castle Quay do a spot of shopping, some window shopping, then have trouble with hubbys stoopid iPod & Bluetoothing a photo to the printer in Boots (adding to my stress of our darling son being on form today). Before we know it the time has gone, we didn't even manage lunch before collecting Anneliese from her party!

We detoured past McDonald's on the way home, so we could eat... Lil lady was full from the party so just had a carton of milk - but even eating in McDonald's was not stress free & was fraught for me n hubby, as Cam decided the window screen that moved was of great enjoyment so kept sliding it back n fourth with Anneliese tugging the other side too. Tut, tut, much to our annoyance.

We finally finished & headed home in the car, still a few issues on the journey home - turn the stereo up, block it out! Once home we start back on the homework topic, eventually after much debate/protest/arguing we convince Cam to start it... Result!

The girls are playing happily, if a little loud, so they take their toys up to their room. We start to watch Corrie, homework is being started it is going well until - hubby drifts off to sleep, he's extremely tired after 2 nights work & early mornings after... Then the boy starts messing with deleting template pages from the document he is working on, not putting in any content so my stress levels rise again.

This is when I pick my phone up & play Candy Crush, then I start this blog as I'm getting more vexed with my son... Hubby wakes up, gets cross with son & goes to bath the lil lady - eventually son finishes homework, we have crumpets for tea & I have a cuppa then finish this blog off.

I'm unmotivated to go out this evening, but as I skipped karaoke Thursday night for feeling stressy I'm gonna force myself for Paddy-oke as a few silly Irish songs, good friends & bestie too should shove the stresses away.

I think I will tell my children when they hit their teens growing up is no fun, not to waste their time as youngsters with stress, anguish, arguments & just have fun, help one another, enjoy life while they can! So on that note, I'm outta here... Quick freshen up & tie the hair back, ready for some awful singing (from me) & a few decent tunes (from others, I hope) lol.

Spider-gram, Spider-gram!!!

Ewwwwww, freaky little (or large), scurrying, scary, eight-legged arachnids!!!

SPIDERS

Sort of like Martine I suppose?! Love them or Hate them???

On a personal level & no I am not ashamed to say this, I am absolutely freaking petrified of the things: Arachnophobic I am!

I used to be a little afraid since a hair-raising, jump out of bed type of experience when I was about 7 or 8. At the time we (my dad, brother & me) lived in Chinnor & I can remember quite vividly the exact occasion that left me with this fear of spiders (one that has turned into complete arachnophobia with the exception of money spiders or red spider-mites (not technically arachnids) or furry tarantulas (kept safely in tanks at Zoos))...

Now I don't remember the exact date, day or time but the vivid memory I have is this: waking up one weekend morning in my bed, stretching, rubbing my eyes & then opening to see a what then was a colossal, huge house spider (the ones normally in the bath) running straight across my chest inches from my face - scary as hell, don't think I've ever jumped out of bed so fast!!!

Now, I try to be a damn good mum & love, protect, care for my children to my best ability. I don't want to pass my anxieties or phobias onto them, so I try to be as brave as I can be in front of them (especially where spiders are concerned) - I will grit my teeth, grab a pint glass & card, bravely catch any such nasty type creature & fling the thing out the door (or window) so it's back outside... Big sighs of relief afterwards & a mug of coffee for the nerves!

But alas last night my arachnophobia has reached an almighty new level (I knew it had been getting worse a couple weeks ago, when I saw what I used to deem as a harmless arachnid Peabody (Harvestman Spider) in my cupboard - I froze on the spot) picture this:

I lovingly make the school sandwiches for my 3 cherubs, 2 rounds of white & 1 of brown (Anneliese prefers brown), then I start packing the lunches with drinks cartons, mini kit-kats (orange), apples & a malteaser teaser mini bunny. I then get some snack bags ready to give the children a small portion of grapes (red seedless).

What happens next?! I snip a small bunch off the main bunch & two grapes drop from their stalks into my hand, no biggie I hear you say??? WRONG!!!!!

As I look in my hand (having put the rest in the snack bag) I spot a white-ish spider almost the size of the grape it was clinging to!!! WTF? I instantly jump a mile dropping the grape on the counter (the other rolled away) Eeeeeek!

So as the palpitations kick in & the breathing becomes rapid, me being me grabs the nearest photographing device - my iPod to take a slightly out of focus (I was shaking) photo of the darn thing... I had to use the zoom function, too scared to get any closer!

I didn't expect a bloody all singing, all dancing Spider-gram thrown in with my grapes!!!

Panic stricken, I alert Duncan (who was fast asleep on the sofa) that I needed help... He couldn't see the problem as the spider on grape had landed behind the big main bunch of grapes - I gingerly pointed out that he should look behind the bunch...

I'm sure he found it all mildly amusing, actually he found it largely amusing - people without anxieties or phobias have absolutely no idea of the severity of these things.

Anyhow, he took the offensive possessed grape & inhabitant outside with the compost caddy, emptying the contents & throwing the grape into the brown compost wheely bin... I was still absolutely petrified, so much so I refused to give the children grapes!

I busily tidied the kitchen, avoiding the bunch of grapes & anti-bacterial sprayed the sides down. OCD is often my friend & I embrace it more so when I need to, sprayed the sides down twice for good measure (as Spidey had seriously freaked me out).

Having calmed myself down enough to safely make a cuppa, I figured I should move the remainder of the bunch of grapes & clean that part of the kitchen... Epic failure!!! As I carefully lift the bunch, I notice an egg sack (or is it a nest?!) Oh my freaking days?!¿¡?!

That's it, I'm having nightmares... Panicking about sleeping, not funny, not funny at all!

I got my phone this time (it takes much better pictures) & with Duncan's aid of holding the grapes slightly apart snapped the offending foreign body - Ewwwwww, Yuk, Eeeeeek!!!

I had posted the earlier photo on Farcebook which had generated a lot of comments, my friends said to hand the spider back to store (I'd brought in Tesco in town) but alas it had gone to compost heaven, so I thought I may as well post the other new development of photographic evidence - my friend Helen Carruthers who works in the store bakey said I should take them back even without a receipt so they could investigate, but if it was to difficult for me she would inform them of this incident.

I tried to sleep on it... Although sleep was very broken, visions of the nest/egg sack breaking open & billions of tiny baby spiderlings attacking me in my sleep - sleeping with an eye open!

So after sorting out the girls for World Book Day (dressed as no less than Mr Bump & Little Miss Tiny) I proceeded to triple bag the bunch of grapes, ready to return to store after dropping the girls at school - my anxieties & arachnophobia start to rear their ugly heads, my heart starts racing & palpitations take over, I'm shaking & again my breathing starts to get rapid... No fun :(

With the outer bag stretched as far away from my body as possible in my hand, I drop the girls off to school & rapidly walk up to town - heading straight to Tesco!

There I queue in the customer service line (at the cigarette counter, quite an achievement considering I had just reached the 5 month mark since quitting the cancer sticks) - only two people in front of me, but I'm trying my hardest to stay calm & rational given the circumstances.

With my free hand I start tapping the barrier as I'm getting more n more on edge holding the outer bag, the more I try not to think about it the worse my anxieties grew!!!

Finally I get to the front of the queue (was only really a 5-7 minute wait, but felt a lot longer) & I quietly explain to the lovely Julie Dawson the delicate problem... After all my main concern was for the rest of the grapes to be checked in store, not for a refund or anything else - I'm not mercenary like you might think!

After a detailed recollection of the previous nights events (such as just blogged, but in brief) & half an hour later, Julie had logged the complaint (as I rambled on about not poking the bunch of grapes as if the nest/egg sack opened I would scream the store down & run a mile like a crazed woman) took my details, gave me a refund for a full kg of grapes... I was just praying it would soon be over!

I had to walk down to Costa (don't start me on what I saw on route, but I didn't photo it so not saying another word except... Poor piggies) & grabbed a Sinny Mocha Latté (thank you Elliot & Ryan) before heading back to store to get a few bits that I needed, I was still traumatised by the whole event & it wasn't till I'd gone to the vets from town I'd finally calmed down enough (think I should carry some paper bags around for emergencies).

So now I await the outcome from head office... I don't dis Tesco a lot, yes I have my gripes with the company as a whole - but I can actually say the staff at Bicester Town & Pingle Drive are all friendly, helpful & welcoming.

Now I did make a small jovial reference to a Spider-gram?! Now you may wonder with my 'issues' I'd joke about such a thing?! It's simple & quite silly really...

It's what inspired me with the title of this blog, so as not to make it sound as scary as it is to anyone with a sever phobia of spiders such as myself!

Yesterday morning we were heading down to Middlesex for Duncan's dear old grandads funeral (he was such a true gentleman, I will miss him) & at one point (I think on it was on the way to the crematorium) we got stuck behind a rubbish truck - in the back was a stuffed toy of Spiderman, I kid you not!

I of course tried to capture a photo of this but missed as we overtook the truck, but I did get the corner & as I was about to delete the wasted photo from my phone I noticed another stuffed toy - this time a snake! Quite amusing really as you can see?! Lol

You can breathe easy now as this is the end of the blog... Have added the photos for those that can handle it, if not avert your eyes now!!!

Crapple, smapple, apple, apps n crapps!

No expletives in the title, hence the double PP's... But arghhhh, I despair I really, really do!

So long story short, phone is defunct after an accidental launch into orbit & crash landing on a bedside cabinet - not 100% defunct just 75%, ie/ most apps are now not playing ball despite restarting phone countless times (hence blogging from iPod as at present I can). Twitter has gone tits up, Farcebook is now Assbook as app gone belly up, blogger has been flushed down the bog too! Noooooooo, it's not funny!

As for Apple, Smapple apps being a pile of crapple (the main reason I will NEVER get an iPhone like the majority of Sheeple) it is preposterous!!! The Blogger app is currently working... Just, the txt is tricky to type as the autoscroll function is intermittent & the keypad keeps blocking my view of the text - so apologies for any typos that may sneak in here!

Assbook just isn't playing ball at all, if after 10 attempts the app launches then my posts go missing, I can't like or comment & it's drove me more mental than a March Hare... So it can Ass right off now!!! I knew I should've stayed off it & never reinstalled the stupid social media site.

Twitter won't load properly either so outta touch completely today, I don't like this at all as my fondly growing love for Twitter is now Tweetless.

A lot of games I used to play on my iPod the apps won't open or crash do much that I've just given up now too... But I do miss the old favourites like Bejeweled Blitz, Scramble, Words with Friends, Dream Zoo etc, etc.

At present I can still use Magic Piano, , Tree World, Candy Crush, Bubble Witch Saga, Word Trick & a few others but they all have their moments if crashing or not loading too.....

.... I think it is time to get the laptop out & back-up the iPod so I can wipe the data & reinstall to see if that helps?!

I'm due to upgrade my phone soon & it has insurance so if it keeps playing up I shall make use of the insurance I have been paying & get it repaired so when I upgrade later on I have a decent spare that is fully functional!

I'm getting more n more frustrated with technology these days, I can see the advantage in certain respects... Very good for businesses, mass inviting for events & such like but generally it is a royal pain in the ass!!!

We all rely on it far too much, smart phones, iPods, tablets, kindles everyone is becoming slaves to these machines - glued to them permanently. Well tonight I shall be without, my phone will be in my bag for contact with the babysitter but that is it.

Back to basics, I say... Children were more engaged in life & the great outdoors, people spoke to one another more freely & the world was a much brighter place!

Sorry it's a bit of an anti-techno rant kinda blog today, but it has become an ever increasing bug-bare as there are so many glitches & flaws, what's the point in it all?!