Half - term

Tobes is off school for half-term this week. So far we've met up with a new friend, a French lady named Isabelle and her little boy Leo-Paul. Toby and I have been to the dentist. No cavities, lovely clean teeth and two wobbly teeth at the bottom (Toby, not me). Today we went to see Marija and her little boy James for lunch. Marija is a really good cook and today was no exception. We came home stuffed and the children were worn out from playing and painting.

Tomorrow Toby's friends Max and Teddy are coming over to play. I've got some Halloween craft stuff for them so they can make black cat and witch magnets. I'm doing some brownies with jack o'lantern sprinkles (many thanks Nikki for that Halloween package in the past, it's still going!) and Toby chose some big pasta tubes which we're serving with pesto for lunch and calling them witch's fingers.

On Friday we're packing and leaving for Cambridge for the weekend. Jenny's little girl has her birthday party on Saturday and we're having a little party at The Orchard for Rosie's second birthday on Sunday. It's just going to be us, J's parents, J's Nana and Jenny's family but I've got some Dora the Explorer napkins and hats and I've made favour bags for the children. I also ordered a Dora cake topper that says "Happy 2nd Birthday Rosie Rae". It arrived today and Toby read it over my shoulder then his jaw dropped and he said "Mommy, how does Dora know Rosie's name?!" So sweet.

So, busy days ahead and then all back to normal on Monday when Toby goes back to school.

American food and family smells

I put in an order today to Skyco which is the expat grocery website I use for a taste of home. This is what I ordered today:

Farley's Candy Corn 12oz £ 1.58
Kraft Jet Puffed Mini White Marshmallows 10.5oz £ 1.59
Peppermint Candy Canes (Red & White) 1 oz £ 2.40
Lifesavers Butter Rum Roll 1.14oz £ 0.81
Lifesavers Wint O Green .84oz £ 0.81
Nabisco Teddy Grahams Cinnamon 10oz £ 3.56
Pepperidge Farm Goldfish Original 170g £ 1.50
General Foods Instant Coffee French Vanilla 226g £ 5.39
Betty Crocker Supermoist Cinnamon Swirl Mix 608g £ 2.56
Betty Crocker Gingerbread Cake Mix 410g £ 2.57
Betty Crocker Pound Cake Mix 454g £ 2.57
Liptons Onion Soup Mix 2pk £ 1.86
Betty Crocker Hamburger Helper Beef Pasta

I got a few things for Halloween and Thanksgiving (the British marshmallows just don't work with yams for some reason, too runny), a few things for Christmas and some treats. I came very close to buying a box of regular Cheerios but at almost $14 I just couldn't justify it. We do get the multi-grain Cheerios here and that will have to do.

As I was going through the groceries I started thinking about the smell of Christmas - cinnamon, pine, cold air and coal fires. And that got me thinking about a study that was recently done on what most people think their parents smell like. They were joking about it on a TV show the other night and I notice that Elizabeth has a link to an article about the study on her blog. The results were surprising only in that they were so stereotypical. Moms smell like laundry detergent and dads smell like motor oil, apparently. Not really how I remember my parents though.

When I think of my Mom I think of cinnamon toast, Dippity Do (though I don't know that Mom ever used it), and two perfumes - Emeraude by Coty and Jontue by Revlon. When I was older it was Sebastian Shaper hairspray and face powder. Smells associated with Dad are leather, gunmetal (Dad was a policeman) Certs and Marlboro cigarettes . The smell of rain and freshly cut grass always reminds me of Dad too. I wonder what the children will remember when they think of us?

From yesterday's school assembly

A couple of videos of Toby at his assembly. The first one is Tobes delivering his line "Please turn off any mobile phones". You can hear me giggling in both videos and in the first one, just as Mr Wilson starts to play the guitar, you can hear Rosie shout "Music!". The special topic for this term has been bears and in the second video the children are pretending to be bears running through a forest during a thunderstorm.


Autumn Year 1 Assembly I

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Autumn Year 1 Assembly II

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It seems I'm constantly writing blog entries in my head then sitting down at the computer and going completely blank. I think it's because I'm usually here at the end of the day when I'm not exactly at my best.

Let's see... Toby has his class assembly at school today. His line was "Please turn off your mobile phones" and he did very well. We could hear him all the way at the back. I've got a few clips from the assembly which I'll post another time.

In the meantime here are a few recent photos. As I was downloading them I realised it's like a Mary Catherine fashion show. MC kindly passed on some of her lovely clothes that she had outgrown and Rosie wears them all the time. I'm sure Elizabeth will recognise the strawberry cardigan and hat and the little sweater dress. We get loads of compliments whenever Rosie wears them so thank you again!

The house move progresses, though slowly. We're hoping to move the week of 19 November. I've been devouring home decorating magazines and trying to channel my energy into jobs that I can do now like getting the sofa re-upholstered and ordering curtains for the new place. I just can't wait to get my hands on the place! Nothing makes my heart beat faster like a new project.

And speaking of projects, I went round to the former Friends secretary's house last night to do a handover of paperwork. I've got three folders full of stuff now and I'm looking forward to getting going. My first meeting as the official new secretary is 30 October and I'm really excited. It's so nice to use my brain a bit more and become a more operative part of the school community.

Still nursing here. Very rough night but I think Tobes is slowly getting better, he's certainly getting more cranky. This morning he corrected my grammar. If he has the energy for that then he must be feeling at least a bit better.

I've been going a bit stir crazy but, fortified with Gu chocolate desserts and a stack of gossip mags, I am surviving. Last weekend we went to Borders and I bought an Us Weekly magazine. I do love the American mags. I was surprised and delighted to see an ad for Alice Temperley at Target of all places! Jason is in the States this week and I've given him a list of everything I like. Hopefully he'll come home with a few treats.

Poorly boy

Tobes is still ill. He was much better on Friday, was out and about this weekend and then last night he took a turn. Fever, rash and a terrible headache which made him sensitive to light. We called NHS Direct and they said we should take him into the hospital so Jason took him down to the Lewisham A&E (Emergency Room).

It was diagnosed as a virus, probably the same one Rosie had, but we learned that Tobes should be taking a higher dose of paracetemol (Tylenol). The over the counter stuff is dosed by age but Toby is a big boy and Jason was told that he should be on the 6+ formula already based on his weight. So, that's why the fever was so difficult to get down. We weren't giving him enough medicine.

Jason left for California this morning and about an hour after he walked out the door Tobes started vomiting. Great. His fever shot up to 102.6 but when I tried to give him any meds he would just vomit them back up. He was even struggling to keep water down. I spent a few hours mopping his brow with a cold cloth and trying to keep him cool and then I remembered the Italian suppositories.

A couple of years ago we were in Venice and Toby developed a fever. On the continent there are a lot of medicines that are taken by suppository including paracetemol. Apparently it's absorbed into the system faster and therefore works faster when taken up the back passage. Of course, they do have tablets too but suppositories are normal as well. Anyway, I dug out the ones prescribed to Toby by the hotel doctor in Italy, checked they were still in date and then... ahem... administered them. Within fifteen minutes Toby's fever came down and he was able to sleep. Magic!

Unfortunately, we only had three left and with the instructions on Toby's new dosage that's just enough for one dose. I have a feeling we're going to need more so I rang the chemist in Blackheath to see if they carried them. They do but they cost 40 pounds for ten!! That's like $80. Good God. I could go to the doctor tomorrow, request a prescription and get them for free but I'm not sure how we would get through the night without them. It looks like I'm going to have to bite the bullet and just pay for them. That is some expensive paracetemol.

Shopping

We're in the depths of another illness phase here. Toby is the latest victim. He's had fevers of 102 degrees since Wednesday afternoon. I went to a school meeting last night and apparently it's a virus that's going around. He's feeling fine right now since he had doses of both Calpol and Nurofen this morning and he and Rosie are snuggled up under Grandma's quilt on the sofa watching Dr Who.

So, I've been doing the Florence Nightingale thing all week, first with Rosie and now with Tobes. But what's a nurse to do trapped in the house all day? Shop online of course! With the house move sometime in November I have a lot to shop for at the moment. We'll need a new washer, dryer and fridge freezer. Such fun shopping for major appliances.

Today it's the fridge freezer. Unfortunately the kitchen is just too small for a big American style side by side model (Elizabeth you are so lucky!) but there are a lot of options. At the moment my favourite is this one. Great features including frost free. I've never had a frost free freezer in England so have spent my adult life chipping out ice and going through the mess of defrosting every six months or so. Absolute heaven to never do that again. I also like this one. It even has plumbed cold water available from the door. No ice, but still a nice little luxury.

But the fridge to have at the moment is this one. Undoubtedly beautiful but look at the price! I'm not sure my thrifty little heart could take that. I spoke to a salesperson about fridges and she said that the Smeg really aren't very good fridges but people love them because of the way they look. They are gorgeous but I'm not sure that they're that gorgeous. What do you think?

Rosie talking

Rosie talking

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