Had final big fundraiser for my daughter's trip to Kenya next summer with girlguiding (coffee morning and craft stall). Good news is that she has raised all the money (less the £300 deposit i paid). Bad news is i forgot to have lunch and the biscuit I ate at 11am was a long time ago...

Does anyone else lay all their #YayAdvent presents out and debate whether they are good enough? And then trawl previous years?

Retreated to my bedroom after feeding the teenage girls (youngest's birthday party is a murder mystery game). Meant to be doing online chaperone training but alas the internet signal is not good enough so far from the router.... so tea and an agatha christie book it is!

Just 2 sisters and their cat hanging out in big sis' new car on the driveway

Soon to be 15yo is desperate to go to a gig to see her favourite artist (only £30 a ticket and not playing huge venues). Only problem it is London on a school night. I havent been to a gig in a very, very long time (16 years?) So what time is it likely to finish? Very torn...

Saw the first Christmas tree in a coffee shop window today...

#unconfinedwalks to the allotment. Picked last of toms and cucumbers, dug up some potatoes and jerusalem artichokes and chatted to random people... inc cat1's new owner (he is doing well which is nice to hear)

If I ever needed proof of how soft I am... I came to the allotment to dig up the potatoes and prepare the bed for garlic planting... but the nasturtiums have crept over and look soo pretty. So i've dug up half the potato bed....

Just how good is Operation Mincemeat? Its touring next year but cheapest seats at local venue (of which there are about 15 per performance so would need to book asap) are £40 each... is it worth £120?

Off to see Hamilton tonight. I had to go into office but left early. 14yo is incadescent with rage that I didn't tell her we needed to leave at 5ish as she thought we wouldn't have to leave until 6. She isnt ready and didnt make herself tea... gonna be a fun drive...

Did a new one

Eldest has gone off looking at 2nd hand cars with a family friend. Not sure I'm ready for this...

Was really enjoying the Agatha Christie thing with Lucy Worsley until she started handling archives...

Cf returning college/school/university histories (unless its got extensive annotations)

Remember, whenever you hear that “speed wasn’t a factor” in a deadly crash, what they mean is that the car involved wasn’t technically speeding. At least “not by much.” It presumes that the speed limit wasn’t too high to begin with. When it comes to death from collisions, SPEED IS ALWAYS a factor.

"Sampled for space reasons"

Brings back memories of taking my chicken poxy toddler so she could run around and not infect anyone.... i dont think it ever gets more than a few visitors at a time

Made a positive start to #YayAdvent purchases today (and found some of the bought-when-i-saw-them bits). Still trying to remember where i put the January bargains...

Saw this in the tea break room at work (shared with cleaners and catering). It was the only notice on the board. Suggestions for less vomit inducing posters welcome....

Parenting teenagers is as exhausting as when they were little- this week i've been woken up at 6am to ask a question, midnight wake up at 1am (eldest got back from party), spent the week driving both around (inc school drop offs). And argued about hanging out with friends...

#UnconfinedWalks to the allotment and back via the busway and community orchard. Saw a couple of 'hey' people which was nice and a catch up about year 13 daughters' plans (last photo not my plot!)

Ireland, Slovenia, Iceland, Spain, Netherlands, Belgium and Portugal are now all considering boycotting Eurovision unless Israel are removed. Like if they should. RT if Israel should be kicked out

Got visciously attacked by an archive box at work today. Papercuts hurt far more than they should...

Spent 3 hours driving around Bury St Edmunds practising the test route. Main difficulties seem to be lots of hills, very narrow lanes and exceptionally rude drivers (few thank yous, one horn beep and one shouting through window... all at a learner driver). No wonder the pass rate is so low!

Just booked my daughter's 15th birthday present to see the #Hamilton tour. Its the same day as eldest is going to France on a sixth form trip with only a handful of other students. What are the chances I'm doing an early morning Stansted run followed by a late night drive home from Norwich?

#unconfinedWalks to the allotment tonight to pick green beans and cucumbers. Also snaffled figs, blackberries and surplus cooking apples on the way home

Whilst sitting for 2 mins to do a vinted listing cat1 sat on me. Am now trapped and unable to continue the big tidy

Going through bags of bits and come across 3 letters from my mum written whilst i was digging in France at uni in 2001. Mix of smiles and tears now (and maybe an early lunch break from the big tidy up)

14yo bag for army cadet camp is being dropped off at 6.30pm tonight. Washing is currently in a friend's tumble drier if anyone is wondering how packing is going....

🚨attn heritage institutions 🚨

14yo leaves for a school trip to Spain at 2.30am on monday. I'm out all day tomorrow and it is sunday trading hours. At 5.30pm we realised we forgot to get more euros (and she has to buy her own lunch each day). Her washing is currently at a friend's house, the medium suitcase has broken...sigh

Why are children/ teenagers so bloody ungrateful and selfish? Take, take, take and then bickering...

Had a lovely day out out. 14yo desperate to go swimming so we got up at 6.30am to drive to the beach....where she got stung by a jellyfish in the first 15 mins. She seems fine but came home via Norfolk lavendar and castle rising. 17yo super happy to get driving practice in

Only one lap available, so double catting. No need to have heating on....

My eldest had a great time at her unit's Pyjama Party, organised by Anglia region for World Thinking Day. Look at the cute t-shirt she designed!

14 yo was deposited at school with suitcase only 10 minutes late (which is pretty normal for her) and ive spent nearly 3 hours cleaning and tidying.... and yet it still looks like a dirty hovel (except the 16yos room as she spent 6 hours sorting it ready for the guest). Aaaaggghhhh

My 14yo goes on a french exchange at 8.45am tomorrow morning. Has she finished packing? No. Has she finished making the thank you gift (shortbread biscuits)? Also no. Is she still in denial? Yes. Going to be a long night

#unconfinedwalks to get some fresh air and see if the snow drops in front of the church are out yet. Also wearing new mittens made by a clever friend. Saw a couple of 'hey' people for a chat too

Fascinating piece by @willdunn.bsky.social suggesting that BBC website is promoting stories about Elon Musk to drive traffic, but driving his popularity in the process. V interesting about the dominance of the BBC website in the digital news economy too. magazine.newstatesman.com/2025/01/08/e...

Gingerbread house finally assembled on twelfth night

9am on a Saturday morning and i've already found gloves for 14yo to wear on paper round and been through the panto script with 16yo (complete with dance routines). Gonna be a long January

#YayAdvent masks being deployed by 14yo and I whilst we watch home alone followed by the top 100 tik toks of the year (16yo already in bed as she stayed up until 5am last night and probably will be up by 3am...)

Christmas sprouts from the allotment (do need peeling for many, many mini slugs but shhh!)

Friends who have regularly rented (as tenants or landlords), have you always had to pay up until the 1st of the month, or can you end the tenancy at any point?

I've just done the pre Xmas eve present tot up and now need to go emergency present shopping for my eldest. Sigh. This shows how disorganised I am this year - normally I'd have a week to sort this, not 2 days (and my dad is arriving today which makes everything harder)

My 14yo just replied 'or they'll assume you were in prison!'. Eh? Apparently her form teacher told her that...

14yo is crocheting an emergency secret santa gift for her mate so only 1 lap is available #DoubleCatting

A list of ten countries and the number of heavy metal bands they have per 1 million people... China = 0.1 Jamaica = 0.3 Thailand = 2 Albania = 3 South Korea = 4 Cuba = 6 Japan = 11 Russia = 14 Brazil = 18 Finland = 532

How many cats can you fit on a computer chair with a toy pig?