Attended church for the first time in over a decade

well apart from a friend's wedding nearly eight years ago, and it was only the second time as an adult that I've attended a church of England service. I only went because DS is a beaver and he's just been enrolled and one of the conditions is that you'll attend the parade services on a regular basis. I quite enjoyed it but it's very different to what I grew up with in Scotland, there's kneeling on hassocks, strange hymns (to me - although some were nice) and communion was from a communal cup, sorry could not make it to the altar as all I could of think was catching some yucky virus. Plus there's the handshaking which actually is rather nice but a little odd, although to be honest it's been around for years, my friend commented it was quite modern but I think that like me she hasn't been in years.

Then this afternoon we took a stroll in the greenbelt, we visited the open farm which is now closed but its Christmas shop was open so we had a look there for some ideas for presents, and afterwards we parked the car and went for a walk, well the boys did, but DD4 decided that the buggy was much more comfortable, finally we tipped her out and made her run. I have to say that I'm very impressed with Sam as he walks not well but with such cheerfulness, he's constantly falling over but he just picks himself up and carries on, no fussing. Jamie had a ball exploring and it's amazing how fast the time has flown since he was Sam's age, I thought it would be a long time till we could all take family walks, we were much less adventurous 5 years ago when we only had one.

One spot of good news is that I found some toys for 18mo but the bad news is that Michael says I have to wrap them. I was starting to think I must have given them away so it means that Sam will have lots of new toys after Christmas and save me some money.

This week I really want to start getting organised for Christmas, first by inventorying my cupboards and then by wrapping the few presents I have bought and then by buying some christmas cards. So now I'm off to watch the end of Foyle's war and get a good nights sleep.

Forgotten all about this...

but finally remembered and I'm back again.

I've been reading some other blogs for the last fortnight and it' s amazing what other people manage to fit into their day. Of course, their husband's/partners are around a bit more than mine.

This week in particular has gone so fast, Monday is now a complete blur, Tuesday ditto, Wednesday I had an old friend over for lunch which was nice and today I had a new friend for coffee and then Tessa had a friend over in the afternoon to play. Already next week is looking busy and I've manage to overbook on Thursday, so I need to change that. Plus I have to find time somewhere to do some planning for Christmas and make some arrangements. Unlike past years we are really cutting back on pressies for the children this year, which is OK with Sam, he won't notice and Tessa won't notice too much either as long as there's quantity, it's just Jamie who is the problem as he really wants a GBA which is not so expensive but at the mo it's a lot for us plus his birthday is in mid-Jan and he will probably want a party and we just can't afford that as well. Blimey I'm going to start moaning as in many ways I can't understand how come we are so strapped for cash all the time, I don't work but DH does and earns a decent wage but it has to cover 5 of us so maybe it's not so surprising that it doesn't go so far.

Anyway I'm going to have a look at the Hawkins Bazaar Catalogue and pick out some weird and wacky presents which are above all cheap.