Yes the time has come,

Bags are packed

Documents checked, rechecked, checked again, photocopied, checked and packed

Vital phonenumbers collected

everyone sorted

Dogs walked ready to go to the kennels

In a few hours we will be off to Gatwick to check in and stay overnight before our flight tomorrow.

So I will bid you Adieu for now and see you all in two weeks time, with lots of piccies and hopefully a great trip report from the land of Cinderella, Sleeping beauty etc......

Hugs to you allxxxxxxxx

Thames water wants to put water bills up by 3% a year above inflation.

They claim that they have asked customers what they want, and as customers we have agreed to pay higher water bills if they can promise a better service - less leaking pipes etc.

Funnily enough, I was one customer that wasn't asked.

Nicked from just about everybody who has done it so far

1. Who was the last person to call you?
My mother

2. Where was your default picture taken?
Someone sent it to me

3. What's your middle name?
Jane

4. Your current relationship status?
Happily married

5. Does your crush like you back?
see question 4

6. What is your current mood?
restless

7. What are you doing this weekend?
Being lazy

8. What color shirt are you wearing?
white

9. Ever been in love?
Yes still am

10. If you could go back in time and change something, would you?
No everything happens for a reason

11. Have a crazy side?
Of course not, have you met me, do I act crazy, this is me

12. Ever had a near death experience?
Nearly

13. Something you do a lot?
Laugh

14. Angry at anyone?
Not at the moment but there is still a few hours of the day left so there is still time

15. Who can you tell anything to?
Hubby not that he always listens but makes a good sounding board, otherwise its my eldest son

16. Name someone with the same birthday as you?
Renee Zellweger

17. When was the last time you cried?
Few days ago

18. Who would you do anything for?
Depends on what I am asked to do, I have the ability to say no

19. If you could have one super power what would it be?
Invisibility

20. What's the first thing you notice about the opposite/same sex?
Eyes, personality

21. What do you usually order from Starbucks?
I never go there too expensive

22. What's your biggest secret?
If it is a secret why would I put it on here, anyway you really don't want to know

23. Favorite colour?
Black, you can hide everything with black

24. Favorite TV show?
House

25. Do you still watch kiddy movies or tv shows?
No they are all so bad now compared to when we were children

26. What are you eating or drinking at the moment?
Nothing though about to open a Bulmers

27. Do you speak any other language?
No

28. Where do you see yourself in 5 years time?
I don't know my crystal ball isn't working

29. Describe your life in one word, what would it be?
Emotional

30. Have you ever kissed in the rain?
Yes it was beautiful

31. Ever kissed on the beach?
Yes

32. What are you thinking about right now?
Better get the washing in looks like rain

33. What should you be doing?
A lot of things that I should be doing instead of being on here

34. What was the last film you saw?
Chronicles of Narnia - Prince Caspian

35. What are you listening to?
Think hubby has the Box on

36. Do you like working in the garden?
Yes

37. Are you on facebook or myspace?
Only my space

38. Do you act differently around the person you like?
No

39.What is your natural hair color?
brown, lightish brown

40. Who was the last person you kissed?
Hubby

EDIT: sorry corrected the last few questions, hadn't realised I hadn't done them

I have had a really lazy day today.

Simon went out with friends, Nigel was busy pottering around catching up on jobs he has promised various Neighbours he would do before we go away and I have sat and watched the swimming, some diving, archery and any other crap that I could find on the telly.

The next couple of days will be hectic before we go as I have to make sure that I have covered everything on my list (last minute shopping yippee)

So that has been today, how has yours been?

hugs xxxx

Today I have attempted to organise myself.

I have looked at my list of things to do, crossed off anything I have achieved and added anything else that I have thought of.

I have sorted through the clothes waiting to be packed, to change items or add to them at will.

I sorted out my paperwork, putting it in a folder and here is where everything goes pearshaped....................

.............................Panic sets in...................................

Can't find my travel insurance documents
Can't find Busch garden tickets.

Now I know I have seen them recently and I thought they were with all the other documentation, but despite searching through the letter rack where everything else was, my document drawer and my folder, they weren't there.

Sweat breaks out on brow

I go into shivers.

Panic sets in!

Eldest has to go to a maths lesson at 4 so I drop him off and then photocopy all the other documentation I do have, all the time trying to think where I have put those other vital documents that I am missing.

I pick eldest up, come home and have another good look.

Pull computer table out and there they are behind it. Obviously when I put them in the letter rack, with the other documents, above my computer, it must have slipped or been pushed through when I added some more paperwork to the rack. So why keep it there? Because I know definitely where it is then without having to search through countless of drawers!

so mightily relieved they are found, sorted through documents, one set in a file that I will keep with me, copies which will be distributed to MIL and another copy in an envelope which hubby will keep with him (just in case) the other documents and tickets I have just found in another file waiting to be photocopied tomorrow.

I have made some luggage labels to help us identify our luggage which are made with pictures of our favourite disney characters with our initials on them. They will be tied to the cases with brightly coloured ribbon so that we can see them on the carousel.

I also have some lables for the 'Mousekeeping' envelopes which will have our tip in for he cleaner who comes and tidies our room each day.

Anyone going to Disney world in the future may be interested in these sites:

The Dibb who have been brilliant for all those ideas on what to do and where to go, full of information and the forum is great as well.

Mousekeeping Envelopes

And more envelopes

Luggage labels

Right better do something about feeding these children of mine before they complain that they will starve hadn't I

A Catholic Priest, an Indian Doctor, a rich Chinse Businessman and an Aussie were waiting one morning for a particularly slow group of golfers
in front of them.

The Aussie fumed, 'What's with those blokes? We must have been waiting for fifteen minutes!'
The Indian Doctor chimed in, 'I don't know, but I've never seen such poor golf!'

The Chinse Businessman called out 'Move it, time is money'
The Catholic Priest said, 'Here comes George the greens keeper. Let's have a word with him.'

'Hello, George!', said the Catholic Priest, 'What's wrong with that group ahead of us? They're rather slow, aren't they?'

George the greens keeper replied, 'Oh, yes. That's a group of blind fire fighters. They lost their sight saving our clubhouse from a fire
last year, so we always let them play for free anytime.'

The group fell silent for a moment.

The Catholic Priest said, 'That's so sad. I think I will say a special prayer for them tonight.'
The Indian Doctor said, 'Good idea. I'm going to contact my ophthalmologist colleague and see if there's anything he can do for them.'
The Chinese Businessman replied, 'I think I'll donate $50,000 to the fire-fighters in honour of these brave souls'
The Aussie said, 'Why can't they play at night?'

Thankfully this has a happy ending, but starts off so sad.

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=4d6_1217928263

6.30 am: Can I put my bike in the car mum?

NO

7:00 Can I put my bike in the car now mum?

NO

7:30 Can I put my bike in the car now mum?

NOOOOO

8:00 Can I put the bike int he car now mum?

You don't have to be there until 10:30.

So is that a yes then?

NO!!

8:30 child begins to open his mouth as I am trying to eat my breakfast while reading a chapter of my book.

Ok put it in the car then if it will give me some peace!

So he does.

then sits there, looking at me.

When we going?

Not now.

9:30 When we going?

at 10:15 - shows him what that looks like on the clock.

9:45 Is it 10:15 yet?

AAAGGGHHHHHHHH

Mind you I am pleased he was so eager to get on his bike and ride. To go to his lesson. he is doing well, he has a certificate that says he can stop suddenly (I should know he rammed the bike into my thigh!) The next level would have been that he could manage to avoid riding into things, obviously this is something he will have to master, eventually. For now though, the main objective was achieved

He can ride his bike without stabilisers hip hip hooray!!!!1

Despite the hours and the frustrations and the tears and the tatrums, it never happened.

Even when I tried to help out by learning myself alongside him so that he had some confidence it never worked.

So, in desperation, signed up with the council for lessons to help.

learn to ride a bike, the pamphlet screamed at me. Well I didn't want to learn how to ride one, afterall I am in my earlyish 40s, and eldest son taught me last year how to ride his. Ok I am not brilliant, not going to set out on the tour de france anytime soon, but I can ride the bike to the bottom of the road and back until the physio told me that it was putting a strain on my back and neck, well seemed like a perfect excuse to stop.

Doesn't help youngest child though does it. Every year he sits and watches his friends go by on their bikes as they play outside. Every year he tries to ride his, really tries, but somehow the confidence isn't there and so his friends leave him behind.

This year though, that pamphlet gave me an idea. As I live in the borough it was only going to cost me £10. £10 for two, two hour lessons where someone else has the privilege of teaching him how to ride. £10 to pay someone else to get frustrated when he does the opposite of what you tell him. £10 to let someone else take the strain, so you don't have to, £10 for reduced blood pressure, and go shopping in peace knowing that your child is being taught properly, is in safe hands.

For that his bike was given a full inspection, an MOT of sorts, they showed him how to look after it and when I got back from the shops to pick him up, he was riding it, yes really riding it! My son can now ride his bike yippee!!

Every penny of that £10 is worth it!

I let him ride round the park, taking the long way round back to the car park, it was great to see his confidence building. There are so many things that he feels a failure at, to see him actually know he has accomplished something, he has achieved something, he has mastered was well worth every penny of that £10.

Tomorrow he masters how to go up and downhill and steer round corners, he can't wait!

Just sent eldest child to the shops to purchase some milk and some rolls for lunch.

"Do you want chocolate?" he says, hope gleaming in his eyes.

"no thanks just milk and rolls"

So sitting here, and just had a text from him.

"Do we need any other essentials like crisps?" it reads.

Now since when has crisps been an essential?

Text him back "no. But can you pick up some cheese please?"

Bet he doesn't!

My eledest son is bored.

He tells me this on a daily basis.

yesterday, he actually spoke to a friend on the phone. Now why he hasn't phoned his numerous friends and arranged to go out with them to relieve the boredom is beyond me, but there we are, lets just bug mum with the phrase "I'm bored"

During course of conversation however, it transpires that they have a conversation about a girl they both know and he has been warned away from. Not that he is in the least bit interested at all in fact he like the girl that he was talking to yesterday more than the girl he was warned about.

They have arranged to meet up on Sunday, as it is his friend's birthday, so his father and I have been told that under circumstances are we to plan anything that may involve him next Sunday - as if we would.

today he announces he may go into town after he has walked the dogs.

"Well why don't you come with me tomorrow after I have dropped your brother off - I have two hours to kill" says I. My thinking is mother and son bonding time, we can talk freely then without interruptions.

"Good idea" he says "You can help me choose a present"

Nice to know I still have my uses isn't it

I was listening to the radio this morning and one news item was all about the reading list of politicians while they are on holiday. The radio station then invited people to say what they think should have been included.

My suggestion is this because as we all know they do this on a regular basis, none of us believe them so perhaps they may need more convincing material.

"Are you ok?" he asked me

"Yes I'm fine" I replied.

And yes I am ok. But I think about the number of times I have sat here, smiled and said "I'm fine" when, in reality, I'm not.

Reality is I want to cry

Reality is I want to scream

Reality is I am fed up to the back teeth of the kids whingeing

Reality is I have a cold

Reality is I have stomach cramps

Reality is I am tired from having very little sleep

Reality is I am bored

Yet whenever anyone asks me if I am ok I just say "i'm fine" and smile.

How many of us do that on a day to day basis, especially on those days when we don't feel fine at all? Those days when we want to stay in bed, snuggled up under the duvet with the doors closed, the curtains closed and not see the world outside. Yet we put a smile on our face and say "I'm fine"

The majority of us I suspect.

With one exception. Today i phoned a friend. I asked her "How are you?"

30 minutes later, after listening to the symptons of every disease imaginable and convincing her that the internet was not the place to look up the reason why she has a cough and what it could be, but to go to the doctors if she was that worried, I realised that some of us are not afraid to tell things as it is. There is no "I'm fine" from people like her. They relish the attention that you have given them. They need to tell you and do we feign interest? Do we listen, nod sagely or offer a word or two of advice?

There is something to be said for saying "I'm fine". People accept it. They stare in horror if you tell them how you really feel.

Oh and for your information I am truly fine, I have had a good day and I am about to go to bed to catch up on some much needed sleep.

But yes, I am fine

So how are you?

Yes I remember doing this as well.

here

I have only just managed to log on.

Not because I have had problems logging on, but because today has been a rather bitty day.

We waited in for the van to be taken away - they were supposed to collect it at 11 and never turned up. So at 12.30, we decided that we really needed to go out as my youngest son is going to take lessons on how to ride his bike and of course needs to be kitted out with a safety helmet. Not an esy task I can assure you. Halfords we went to first, tried on a few helmets in the children's section, quite reasonably priced at £14.99. None fitted.

Shop assistant comes along and helps us by measuring sons head. Now correct me if I am wrong, but what would you measure a child's head with? A fabric tape measure or one of those retractable metal ones that are used by DIYers and buildres? Hmmm. Well he managed to measure his head with a metal tape measure (duh!)

Anyway knowing already youngest child has a big head, he measures it and then shows us to some cycle helmets. "Don't look at the ones on the bottom shelf" he advises us "THey only have a two star rating. The ones on the top shelf are better they are five star rating." Then walks of to leave us to it.

the ones on the bottom shelf range from £26.99 to £29.99. The ones on the top shelf were in the region of £36 - £45. The only difference between them was the name on the front, obviously the make, otherwise they were almost identical. After looking at one or two and muttering "I'm not paying that much for that" we decided to go down the road to Toys r Us or as I like to call it 'The Hell hole for children' and look in there.

Tried on several helmets and for once a helpful young sales assistant. Yes I know, shock horror, someone who works in the Hell hole for children, who actually knows what he is talking about!! He sees we are struggling to find a helmet that fits the large head of small child and assists where he can with tightening or loosening straps, altering the head gear and finding that he is having the same trouble as us - none of them fit young child's big head! So he points us to a small selection of helmets, reasonable priced up at £14.99, and that are for adults! Hoorahhhhhhh one actually fits child's oversized head! What is even better is as we go and pay we are only charged £7.49 for it, a bargain! At least now I can send him of to his cycle lesson knowing that it he falls he is not going to crack open his oversized head though other parts of him may not be so lucky lol

While browsing through the hell hole for children, hubby noticed a special offer on an LCD t.v, quite a large one that will come complete with freeview, HD ready and you can also get a Wii with it as well. Persuaded him that though our telly has blown up, and that the one we had in our room is now in living room which will do for now, we don't need to go out splashing money on a tv just yet. However it was necessary to pop into Comets (another hell hole, can't abide any of the people that work there) to compare the prices of their tellys with the ones we saw in hell hole for children. What we came away with though was a GPS system which all of a sudden he needs urgently as he does a lot of driving in and around London. Now this has confused me, just a little, after all we are talking about a man here, who put him anywhere in a middle of a field, in the middle of nowhere and he will tell you which direction home is in. His sense of direction is impeccable. His map reading skills are second to nune. He gets from A to B without any trouble whatsoever, yet he saw the need to get a GPS system? A toy to play with, a gimmick. And I have to admit, I hate it. Ok it has its uses, we tried it out on the way home and I deliberately took the wrong road despite 'tom' telling me to go left at the next turning, I went straight on, or turned right, and I managed to prove a point, I can confuse the GPS system. It couldn't keep up with me. it even tried telling me to go down a one way street the wrong way at one point - even better it can find every other house in our street, but not ours, apparently our address doesn't exist or so it keeps telling me as I tried to programme it in!! In fact as I pulled into my driveway it tried to tell me I was going the wrong way and I should turn round!! So why does he want one! He has better sense of direction than the satelite that is directing him lol!

He is a pleased as punch with it though, so whatever makes you happy, boys and their toys!!

As I said earlier, only just logged on and had several messages to wade through. One was an invite, that said in his/her message to me
---

hi dear

I have no idea who it is, and most of their blog is about finances anyway so I am not accepting, and who would dear me anyway unless they knew me well. So if it is anyone of you lot, which I don't think it is, I am not accepting as I haven't a clue who it is and not happy with the familiarity of the invite if I don't know you (if that makes sense).

Anyway enough waffling for now, have things to so, like register this GPS system for his lordship, just in case he needs help with getting back from the outer hebrides when he should have been heading towards Hounslow

Hugs xxx

there is a cupboard in my youngest son's room that hubby has decided to knock out to see if he can make the room bigger somehow.

So now he is upstairs, banging and sawing and no doubt making a huge mess.

What I don't understand is, where does he thik he will be putting the clothes that are in the cupboard when he knocks it out?

Why oh why does he never think things through, is that too much to ask for!

Well we picked up the tickets today. All that remains is for us to photocopy all essential documents in case there are any problems and then the main part is out of the way.

hubby said it was like watching a child opening a toy they have wanted for ages seeing me collect the tickets from the travel agents - I have to say I think he was exaggerating slightly!!

It was a good job I went to collect them as well as our park tickets were not in the package, they had to print them off separately and he had no idea that this was the case. Wouldn't have been too impressed if we had arrived and there were no park tickets lol

Ironing all cleared now. Hayfever is back with a vengence and I am feeling sick but think that is from the tablets rather than anything else lol

Right better get off

Hugs xxx

Well the trip to the Vets was not as expensive as I had anticipated, though their boosters and Kennel cough vaccines still took me over the £100 barrier. On top of that I had to pay out for some frontline flea drops for them as I had run out.

When the nice doggy doctor checked them over he had the audacity to tell me Baron is a little overweight. Now I don't understand why this should be and told the vet so. One thing I can't stand is overweight pets as it is unnecessary. they both get their quota of food which Baron invariable leaves and Laddie tends to eat his own share plus Barons. They get one chewstick each a day for their teeth and that is it. No other treats allowed and yet the greyhound who eats everything in sight remains slender and the Whippet who tends to leave food rather then eat it is putting on weight. Hmm I know how he feels

The Vet also informed me that Laddie may need at least 4 teeth out as they are so rotten. In my last post I told you that Grey's do tend to have bad teeth due to their diet when they are racers. Well it has now taken its toll and we are looking at a bill of at least £400 to have them removed and that is if it is straightforward add a few hundred pounds to that figure if it is not

that will have to wait until after our holidays now as we can't afford it just yet. I did contact the pet insurance people and guess what you have pet insurance because you naively assume that it will help towards the cost of any operations etc, but no, apparently not. Dental work is not covered unless the dog has been in an 'accident'. You cannot claim for dental work you have been advised to have because it is purely cosmetic.

Cosmetic? It is a necessity. The roots are exposed and if he gets an infection in them it could end up in his bloodstream and he could die from it, but no I can't claim because it is cosmetic. Bloody insurance companies

Sometimes you wonder why you bother. I know why because you can bet your life that if I didn't have the insurance something drastic would happen which would cost thousands of pounds to put right and not the hundreds for a few teeth!! They have you every which way.

In other news, as it is cooler today I started on the mountain of ironing. Instead of having one mountain of unironed clothing I now have several mountains of ironed clothes.

One mountain is labelled up with clothes we need to pack

One mountain is full of clothes we might take with us

Another one is clothes we are definitely not taking and will be put away

My list of things to do, is growing. There is only 13 days till we go and I am beginning to panic just a little. I keep thinking of things we have to do, things I have to pay for and things that still need to be done. I love my lists but sometimes it can be a burden. How do people manage just to chuck a few clothes into a suitcase and go? I know that is what my hubby would do if I left him to it. Perhaps that is what I should do. Then again perhaps not he is likely to forget we need underwear, or forget to pack the passports. In the meantime i shall keep looking at my lists and try and be a little more organised. It doesn't help when I have to colour co ordinate my youngests clothes that he will be taking. Perhaps I am OCD afterall lol

Right enough of this rambling, lets go and finish this ironing!

And as this powerpoint will show you it can be quite disturbing as well

Enjoy