I burnt out my eyes in Hello.

yawn

I had a lazy day today. But I didn't feel like it was a lazy day. It was a day where I really SHOULD be doing 15 other things, but I really couldn't be bothered to do any of it.

I should have been making cross stitch kits.

I should have been practicing for my sponsored walk.

I should have been making space in the cupboard for my cross stitch equipment.

But I didn't do any of this stuff. Instead I lazed around on the sofa, had a long, leisurely bath and messed around on the interwebz.

I will crack on and get some cross stitch kits done. It turns out I'd misunderstood the instructions I got last time. By instructions, she basically gave me the equipment, gave me a very brief tutorial on using the winder and left it at that. My written instructions told me I had to make up 50 sets on two cards. I misunderstood this to mean I had to make 25 of each, when in reality I was supposed to make 50 of each. Oh well, it was a mistake that I can rectify for next time. It's not difficult work, just the machine is cumbersome and takes up All The Space.

Eleanor has lost both of her upper front teeth in a matter of days. Poor wee thing, she can't bite apples! I am very pleased that she's getting over her food squeamishness finally. She's been the fussiest of all three of my kids, up until about this time last year, she'd pretty much eat only anything that was brown and that she could potentially hold in her hand. So no sauces, gravies, very little veg. Pretty much anything based around bread, chips, fish fingers, chicken nuggets and some cheeses. She did like eating black olives and pickled gherkins though, considering her fussiness, this was surprising! But I tried not to make a fuss of it, I'd always give her the same as everyone else, just put a little of what she didn't like on the edge of her plate. Sometimes she'd try it if she thought no one was looking, but it was hard. So I was really pleased today when she ate a whole bowl of sweet and sour pork over rice noodles, but she also told me she'd eaten the button mushroom I'd hidden in her dish. She said she liked it, but didn't want any more, thank you. :) Yeah, yeah, proud mummy moment... While I'm on with the kids, Bel is growing up all of a sudden. She's no longer a little girl, she's turning into a thinking, breathing, rationalising mature pre-teen. She asks me my advice and listens to the answer. She's increasingly asking about puberty, what clothes look nice together, relationships. She's moving away from the "OMG, mummy is SEHR cool!" and developing her own music and clothing tastes. We spent ages picking out a dress for Katie's wedding, she REALLY liked this: It's a ladies' size 8, I hope it fits her! I can't believe my baby is going to secondary school in September. :( How did she get so big? :( And Rob. What can I say? He's 18, he goes out drinking most weekends, spends all day and night in his room, only coming out to go to college or eat. The eating usually happens between the hours of 2 and 7 am. It's completely tiresome, he won't make himself some toast or sandwiches, he eats all the packed lunch things, drinks all the drinks I buy to take to work and sometimes bottles of wine. He never lifts a finger around the house and argues with us constantly, then doesn't understand when I tell him he either needs to get a weekend job or STOP TAKING ALL THE FOOD. I think I gave him a bit of a shock when I asked him to pay me for the bottles of wine he took last month. He already owed me some money, so he wasn't happy when he had to give me £30 of his £40 a month allowance. You might think I'm harsh, but he HAS to learn that things cost money, he's talking about going to university next year, and it's going to come as a massive shock to learn that when he runs out of money, he can't buy food or booze. At the moment, he's managed to surround himself with friends who work and are willing to buy him drink. It's going to be a massive culture shock for him!

When I tell other people this they always go "Oh, it's completely normal!" and laugh. It doesn't help at all, waaahhh! He IS a lovely lad, I wish he'd be lovely to me. :( So that's what my kids have been up to, in a nutshell.

John is still working at the Chinese take away. I feel like I hardly see him, he works split shifts and will often take a nap in the afternoon. He doesn't work days at the weekend, but I have to work either Saturday or Sunday every week. We're like ships that pass in the night.

He's so handsome. <3 Right, I need to do some laundry, so I'll leave it there.

Any questions? Ask away. :)