moving on to 2012!!!!!!!!

Right!!!! we're 4  (yes FOUR.. count them F-O-U-R.. 1,2,3,4..) days in to 2011 and I would like to declare it the shittiest year in the history of years ever already.

For why?  I hear you ask.. The festivities are only just over.. what can possibly have gone wrong just 4 days in?

Well.. firstly I'm ill.. and I'm a shitty patient. lol

I have the most horrific chest infection which has been caused by some sort of virus/flu type thing, which has exacerbated my asthma symptoms.  Basically I've had flu which has gone on to my chest and brought on my asthma and ...I can't breathe!!!  I have wheezing all over my lung area and crackling at the bottom.. which is a early warning sign of pnuemonia (sp?) apparently, according to my nursey friend who is more knowledgeable than a medical dictionary I swear.

This probably explains why I have to take 3 antibiotics, 8 steroids and as much puffer as I need coupled with pain killers, steam baths/head over a bowl with the old olbas oil etc and cough medicine too..  I can't drink, cos of the antibiotics and the steroids keep me awake all night if the coughing doesn't AND the antibiotics have given me the trots... delightful.

As always I look completely stunning (o_O!!)... my lovely lank and greasy hair that desperate needs washing is scraped back off my face and chucked up in a lil pink bobble, (hot I know..), I'm in my pj's, my house is a shit-tip and poor Grandad John is not only ferrying me between doctors and chemists and home but he's also  taking my kids to school too.


LOVELY start to the New Year!!!!  It can't get any worse can it??

Well apparently so.. there I am, up out of bed to get some breakfast (can't take all those pills on an empty stomach) browsing through the morning's gossip headlines over at the Daily Mail and what do I find??

David Tennant to marry girlfriend Georgia-Moffett




I'm off to put my head int'oven.

Catch up.

Ooof... Lazy, lazy Joosee.. bad bad bad..I have been.


neglectful I am.. and very sorry :(

Ok.. quick catch up before I round up the year later with a new year's post..


Well, the last time I posted was just after my good friend Christine passed away, it was hard actually.. I struggled quite a lot with that, the first funeral I've been to since my Dad's and that was tough too.. I miss them both deeply.  Bless them.

Unfortunately Christine's funeral was on Jake's birthday which put a wee bit of a dampener on it in one respect but also ensured there wasn't anytime for any wallowing or self pitying as there was a party to do followed by Halloween and various other things such as Bonfire night at Grandma's which was GREAT fun!.

November was panic stations as the big brother's lung collapsed and he spent many weeks in hospital trying to get better and recovering from an operation that left him with a scar that has convinced the children he was in fact, bitten by a bloody big shark.. he assures me though, that he hasn't been swimming off the south coast anywhere lately and judging by his inability to breathe properly at the moment I'm inclined to believe him ;)

In other news there have been babies born..I have a new niece!!  Her name is Livvi and she's cute and looks like my Nan! wtf is that all about.. why do babies always look like yer Nan?  its weird o_O..

Moving on...to more babies..in the last week, Jessica has welcomed her much longed for baby son Beau and Vicki a lovely daughter Sophie and they're both absolutely gorgeous and I can't wait for cuddles.. from the babies, not Jess and Vicki although I'm sure they'll get congratulatory huggles too ;)

and of course we've had Xmas..with presents aplenty and the obligatory kitchen appliance from my husband which came in the form of a pink chocolate fountain!!! better than a slow cooker but unfortunately.. it didnt come with chocolate and so hasn't been used yet...lol.

ok.. enough of my babbling... have some pics.  Afraid I cant add any pics of the babies as they're not mine and its not fair or responsible of me to post without asking... so tough...lol

Thinking of you..

I lost a friend today.  She was much older than me, older than my own mother even .. but still, a friend.  A good friend.

Funny, sarcastic and cheeky but also warm & loving when the need for it arose.  When my Dad died she comforted without speaking the words.. a knowing glance, a prod in the arm,  a secret, sympathetic wink, a smile.. all at the right moment and all much needed and appreciated.

When the kids were at nursery or poorly and off school and had to make the walk to collect a sibling there she'd be, at the gates with a smile.. always able to offer up a sweetie from her coat pocket and a hug or a giggle.. Angelina adored her from the moment they met and called her "Christine...my best-friend" ever since..

Christine you were a true legend, I'm not sure how we'll all go on without you mate, it was a genuine priviledge to have known you and to meet your lovely family too.  I'm so sorry that you had to leave us so soon.


We're really going to miss you mate.  Take care.

Jen2, Rich, Jake, Heather & your lil mate Angelina xxxx

Happy Birthday?

Miss you Dad x

Prizes, birthday's and babies with "boy bits"!!

This is a sunflower.. not just any sunflower.. this is a sunflower grown by my son.

This is my son and his certificate for winning 1st prize (YAY!) in the "Largest sunflower head" competition at the Eccleshill Horticultural Society's annual show.


BLESS HIM.. he was so chuffed..lol

other news.. the 21st of this month brings a double birthday in our house as my twin daughters celebrate their 6th birthday.. yes the lil babies that weighed 5lb 2 oz and 4lb 9oz are now not so little..


see??  They're bloody huge now..lol, thats them posing in their party dresses..

They had a party for 20 of their little friends (it felt like 200 of them) at the local playgym, Tiddley Peeps and they had great fun.. I cant really post pics of other peoples kids but I can show you this one of Grandad John..



if you look really carefully on the wall behind him it says "Wrinkly Peep" .. we all thought that was quite appropriate.. I'm now sure I'll have to pay for that one LOL

Anyway party over and onto the mountain of presents!!  There were Princess dolls and dresses... Bless!!


and shoes and tamagotchi's (Oh no!) and make up and fairy wings and ponies and thats before they got our present..lol

We bought the girls these..



scary lil buggers aren't they?  they're "newborn" babies.. they dont do anything.. they just look like baby's, they dont pee or talk or cry or eat or crawl or swim or call you mummy or anything.. there are no batteries in them at all and they don't cost the earth.... and the kids LOVE them.  All this time I've been worrying about not how to afford the latest baby annabel doll.. but how to afford TWO and all that time I needn't have worried.. my gorgeous girls prefer to use their imaginations with their babies that do nothing.. yay for my clever girls...lol

There was only one problem.. they're completely anatomically correct and I didn't know this when I told Angelina she could have a boy one.  o_O  oooooooooooops.

There I am wrapping Heathers girl doll as Jake is peering inside the nappy of the boy one and giggling like a schoolboy and I hear "Angelina's not gonna like that..." and I turn to find my 8 year old holding up the doll and showing me a teeny tiny plastic pee pee.

Oh holy shit.. think I, Angelina will either love it and tell everyone she knows about her baby's penis or she'll never touch it again.

Of course it was the first one.. its Angelina after all.. she did say to me though "Mummy.. I've looked at it, but I'm not touching though.." lol..

There was a cake.. sort of, I busted the seal on the oven and now nothing I cook will rise..



didn't stop the kids eating it though.. and it tasted really good too..lol



and that was it really.. next is my own Dad's birthday.. on the 24th, dark day..he would have been 60.. I saved him some cake, his favourite.. chocolate.

Happy birthday to the many other people I know with birthdays this week... I hope you have as good a time as we did. xx

Scarborough 2010

As you know every summer us Savage's take a trip to Scarborough.. we've done it 3 years running now, I'm not quite sure why..

We never intended to be one of those families that takes the same holiday ever year to the same place on the same dates etc and in fact we varied it up a little this time by going at a different time AND staying in a different place too...mmhmm, I like to live dangerously, shocking isnt it? lol

Anyway, at the caravan park at the Blue Dolphin (which we LOVE btw) we have a regular van with a little bit of a grassy area that the kids play in but this year we'd left it too late because we were originally going to Scotland.. but of course all that changed when I decided to have a nervous breakdown in the middle of my driving thing..lol

SO Scarborough it was again.. we decided to rent a flat in the centre of town on the Esplanade.. beautiful views, beach at the bottom of the hill.. even a cliff lift to get up and down and 2 weeks for less than half the price that we'd pay at the Haven resort. Winner!!

It was a winner too.. we had a great time. The first week my Mum and John came with us and we mercilessly made my Mother miserable by making her experience all things chav... here.. have a look.


Mum on a bus!


In a pound shop!!!

Poor Mum.. but she got her own back when it started to rain one day and out of her bag she pulled a plastic rain hood and put it on!!! I must stress (or otherwise she might actually kill me and bury me in the garden) that she did it for a joke and she DOES NOT normally wear one of the "old lady hats"... I can also tell you though that she was that impressed with how it kept the water off her hair that she kept it on until she got home.. yes she walked through town with it on.. gonna have to call her "Mabel" in future for sure..lol


"Mabel".

Other things that happened.. some great comments..

there was the day we were on the beach making sandcastles and Rich told the kids to "Watch where you're throwing all that snow..." er... snow? I think you'll find thats wrong dear..

and there was the moment when Heather watched a lady being pushed by her husband in a wheelchair and asked my Mother "Why don't you get one of those pushchairs Nana? Then Grandad John can push you around all day and you'd never have to walk again!!"

Angelina: "Oh No.. the Bog Horn is ringing!!"

mm.. Richard had a few "moments"..

yes. there was the "paper bag incident".. which was most amusing to Mum and I..

We were at the Filey Bird Garden and Petting Zoo for the day, its a great day out and the kids love it.. regular readers will remember last year when Princess Heather fed the pig that snotted on her, she was less than amused. Well they had so much fun last time that they wanted to return and so we did, we bought animal feed in little paper bags and everything was great until one of the kids dropped an empty bag and the breeze took it away..

"Rich!! get that bag will you??" I say and he bends down to reach the bag at his feet.. and the wind blew it.. he shuffled a few steps forward and bent to grab it and the wind took it again.. Rich shuffles forward, stooping like an old man trying to get the bag and the wind keeps taking it and he shuffles some more.. well by the time he got it the rest of us were on the floor in stitches and floods of tears giggling at the muppet chasing the bag.. heheh was brilliant, classic Rich at his spasmodic best.

Then there was the football incident.. I've swear I have never seen anything as funny in my whole life.
There we were, minding our own business just walking on the beach one day and up ahead there was an old guy kicking a ball around with his grandson, just a light football.. not a big heavy leather one but not as light as a beach ball..
We're walking towards them and he looked directly at Rich (- so it was even as if he hadn't seen him) and he kicked the ball.. whether he expected Rich to move or the ball to curve around him or what I dunno.. but it didn't..noooo it hit him full on in the face and even bounced off his head with a really loud "boing" sound to it.

Y'know sometimes when something so shocking happens and you just don't know how to react?? In that moment you don't really know what happened or why it did and you're left open mouthed looking a little like this guy??



Hmm Rich had that look about him too.. he stood, totally shocked and his mouth open as the old guy (who look a teeny bit worried..)picked up the ball and said "oops. sorry mate" and buggers off!!

So I'm trying really REALLY hard not to laugh and say "are u ok?" and Jake just starts with this big belly laugh..and that was it.. Jake was giggling, I was laughing so much I was crying.. I had to run to the public bathroom cos I thought I was gonna pee myself, the girls were laughing and Rich is telling me to "shut the f*ck up biatch".

The best part was I had said to him that very morning how disappointed I was that he hadn't done anything stupid over the last few days.. infact, since the paperbag incident the week before, no sea gulls had crapped on him or anything and then that happened.. and I didn't stop laughing for days, and every time someone mentioned it I was crying again.. my mum phoned that evening (cos she only stayed the first week) and I couldn't speak to tell her the tale for laughing so much.

It was brilliant! A total comedic highlight and I doubt any of us will forget it in a hurry..

So.. what else? Well.. there was the Sea Life Centre, the beach, the swimming pool at Filey, the lighthouse, the grave of Anne Bronte, the sandcastles...

Toy Story 3 at the cinema... (completely hilarious and not at all spoiled by a certain loud voiced "Angelic" child of mine shouting "Daddy!!! Gimme those fruit pastels!!!" honest!! lol),

there was the day we found "Sebastian" the Hermit Crab in the rock pools, the fun fair, the boat trip..

the ball pool..






the mad rooster



Angelina on the "medieval naughty step" ("Don't you dare think lady, that just because we're in the middle of medieval ruins on top of a big hill in Scarborough that I can't find a bloody step to sit your butt on Madam...now park it!!") and the random bloke laughing as she gave me her best sulky face


Shocker isn't it?? LOL

Heather licking the bus shelter window... why?!?!?



walking the pretend pets in the park..



Jake meeting the donkey also called Jake..



then this..



and this..



and this..




I think those smiles say it all really...

here, have a slideshow..

Bring on next year!!!!!!!

Wtf happened to the summer??

Well it's officially over and about bloody time too!!!

It's not right y'know, 6 weeks off school in the summer is a parents worst nightmare. After school finished on July 23rd I, like most other Mother's I know, spent the next 3 days in a total state of shock and panic that not only did I have to spend the next 6 weeks at home, alone with my 3 children but I also had to spend an extra 3 days at home with them too because school doesn't start on Monday 6th September like it should but on Wednesday 9th.

WHY?!?!?!?!

Well... apparently 6 weeks is not enough time for the teachers of my children's school to recover from the last year.. apparently they need "training" too.. I am slightly disturbed by this.

I am also slightly disturbed that they've decided to add the much needed "teacher training days" to the end of the holidays so as not to "disrupt the children's learning" by doing it at some other point in the year.

But what disturbs me about this most is that this "teacher training" will only take 2 days.

o_O

2? is that it? obviously becoming a teacher is easier than I thought.. I should probably look into this again..lol

I am of course just kidding.. being a teacher is incredibly difficult and training takes far longer.. blah blah blah... but really.. they've just had 6 weeks off work.. why do they need to take another 2 days to brush up on their skills? Surely they should be doing that when they've got their 6 weeks off? Well no apparently.. cos thats when they get to plan lessons and do marking and stuff.. all from the comforts of their own home.. whilst they're being paid.. unlike the TA's that help (notice I said "help" as opposed to "do all the real hard work" which is what really goes on...)

Anyhoo.. It's the beginning of summer, the sun is shining (almost) and we don't have to get out of bed and do anything and having got over the initial sinking feeling of "OMG what the hell am I going to do with them for 6 1/2 weeks!!" I remembered that we were taking our trip to Scarborough this school break, brilliant!! The kids will have something to do and I can relax... in 4 weeks time.

FOUR WEEKS?!?!?! aw sh*t...

So...I spent the first 4 weeks dealing with the "Summer holidays...must not strangle child.. " (apparently its frowned upon these days) madness that all us poor Mum's struggle with every year and I can tell you, it's been no bloody fun!!

But it's over now.. the uniforms are ready.. lunch boxes will be packed this evening and soon it will be bath and bed time.. ahhh.. bliss.


awwwww..I miss them already and they're not even gone yet!!! LOL

I wonder why that happens? You spend all day frazzled to buggery and tearing your hair out as the kids drive you mad and then the day comes for them to go back to school and give you some peace and quiet and you don't want them to leave...

nahhhhh.. I love you all but please.. go back to school already!!! ;)