Busy times

First things first. This is a favourite photograph of my mum and my grandma. It was taken in (I think) about 1979 when Mum was about the age I am now (!!) and Grandma was about 78. Mum died about seven years later, at 58. Today is and always will be Grandma's birthday. She was born on 4th November 1900 and died aged 90 on 15th April, 1991. It still doesn't seem that long ago. She was a huge and very important part of my life and she is still missed. Best grandma ever.

Yesterday I was suffering from a distinct lack of sleep, due to being awoken at 1am and being told that DD2 had a temp of 101F. She was fine - she slept and the fever had gone by morning, but I stayed awake the rest of the night having swine-flu nightmares. Yesterday was also parent-teacher conference today. In the event I did actually get to talk to DS's teachers, but it was a 'student-led' conference and we were there for well over an hour. At least I didn't have to wait outside the room for twenty minutes while the previous parent 'overran'.

Last Friday was DH's birthday, and DD2 baked him a cake from scratch, then made the icing (with sugar, butter, cream cheese, chocolate chips and heavy cream, no less) and then decorated it.



The only problem was that she didn't really like the cream cheese icing and I ate far more of that delicious cake than I should have!

Saturday of course, was Halloween, and I spent all day helping DD2 make her costume - also from scratch. She had a good idea but no idea how to execute it. We borrowed two hula hoops because at this time of year we couldn't find any to buy (they are probably thought of as summer toys). We had some leftover vinyl fabric so I used it to make her a bag for her candy. Contrary to what some may believe, Halloween costumes in America are not required to be spooky, creepy, scary or gruesome. It's all just what we British call 'fancy dress' - anything goes. So here are the three Halloween costumes for 2009.

This is an American high-school student's idea of dressing like a schoolgirl. When I pointed out that she is a school girl, she said 'not in a uniform'. So there you are.



This is the one we spent all day making, and which has now been taken apart because the hula hoops had to be returned.



Finally, DS wanted to be Zorro - which was great, except that most people didnt seem to know who Zorro was! We purchased the hat and sword, we already had the mask and cloak (to which I added reflective tape for running about in the dark) and I bought new black trousers and a black shirt, thereby adding to his winter wardrobe at the same time.



The weather was quite warm on Halloween night although the rain came during the evening, causing it to come to an end earlier than it might have, given that it was a Saturday. Unfortunately, when DS got up the next day, complaining that his eye hurt, we found that a tick had embedded itself in his lower eyelid, among the eyelashes. It was a nasty and painful experience getting that removed. It was a small tick and so now we have to hope the poor kid doesn't get Lyme disease.

In addition to all of the above, I've been working on my window hanging. I really have been doing it all the wrong way roound, but since I've been making it up as I go along, and buying fabric as needed, it's somewhat without plan or design. I'll post a picture when it's finished. While I've been sewing and cutting, I've been watching 'Kingdom' (the first series) and 'Doc Martin' (the first series) on Hulu. Then I found out that only the first series of each is on Hulu and so with only one episode of each left to watch, I'm bereft. I'll have to get some more dvd's I suppose.

The other bit of news is that I've downloaded Skype to my computer and had my first face-to-face Skype conversation with a friend in England on Sunday. That was fun.