I must do better!.

Well, I have no idea where the time has gone today. I seem to have very little to show for being on the move for most of the day.

My daughter has not been very well this week,and the tiddler has had a bad chest again. Whatever is going round at school he is sure to get and it goes straight to his chest....and his Ma has picked it up too.
So he has not been sleeping very well, and she hasn't because she has had to get up to minister to him....in fact she has given Uni the flick for the first part of this week....but felt very guilty about doing so.

She tried to get an appointment with the GP yesterday, but there were no free appointments until some time next week.

I told her that being tired didn't help so I offered to have tiddler over to sleep at our house. Purely so that she could have an unbroken nights sleep...take some night nurse and not have to worry about feeling groggy getting up to the lad.
She said it didn't seem fair......I told her not to be daft. All I want is for her to feel better and get on with her studies.
So after tea last night I went over for the lad.
He had no idea that he was coming over to us....and was beyond tickled to little mint balls when his Ma told him to get his PJs.

He came over and had a bath...we spent some time on the computer playing his favourite games and looking at Dinosaurs......then he had some time watching TV before going to bed around 8pm......with a good dose of Veno's and a bottle of apple juice just in case he woke up.

He wanted to know if I would sleep in his bed......I said that I might do.

I was afraid that he may wander onto the landing and fall downstairs......we haven't got our safety gates anymore....so I did slide into the big bed with him. He woke up at 11pm with a fit of coughing, so I gave him a drink and rubbed his back...he went back to sleep fairly quickly, but was really quite hot through the night(and restless). Talking and singing in his sleep....he woke again at 4am and I had to get up and go for another dose of cough mixture...but he settled and slept until 6.30. I, on the other hand didn't.....I just couldn't get back off to sleep.
I think that I might have been just a bit wary about falling really hard asleep and not wakening in time to get over the road to get his little sister breakfasted and ready for school.

Seven fifteen saw us both headed over the road so that his daddy could get himself off to work.
I gave Miss Bossy britches her breakfast and then we all trooped up to the bathroom to complete the teeth cleaning and ablution regime......Everyone was dressed and ready by 8.15, so we had some reading time......then Tiddler was playing happily with his toy crane and Miss bossy britches went and kicked him....no provocation whatsoever...and to look at her you would think that butter wouldn't melt (they tell me at the nursery she is a little angel, but back home she is apprenticed to the horned fella from the hot place).
This action called for a spell on the naughty chair....she howled and cried that she wanted to get off and did try to put her dainty red shoed feet down on the floor, but one look from me had her sitting back until the three minutes were up......she went and told Tiddler that she was 'sorry' in a very unconvincing tone.
Then we could see Grandad coming up the path to take them both to school.

I went home and chopped an onion, fried some mince, peeled some potatoes and put them on to boil....made some gravy to add to the mince and onions and by the time hubby came back from school the basis of a cottage pie was well under way.
I brought the spuds to the boil and then put a lid on them and left them while we went shopping. With a bit of luck by the time we got back they would have cooked in the residual heat and I would be able to mash them (energy saving too).

We scooted around Accrington with our list of things....we shop for 4 pensioner couples who live near us, and I do a bit od shopping for Ma too.....so most of the stuff we bought was for them.

I normally visit Ma on a Thursday...take her some shopping up and her magazines, I also take her a couple of home cooked lunches too...... we have a natter and then hubby picks me up a bit later, but today there were things I needed to go to Asda for......I don't like the Accrington branch, prefer the one at Rawtenstall. hubby said we could go after lunch, so I was thinking that I would postpone the visit to ma until tomorrow.

When we got back from the shopping the spuds were ready to mash and I was doing this when I suddenly thought that Ma might be worried that I hadn't visited and that I hadn't rung her either.
When you are on your own you have a lot of time to mull things over, and I felt sure that she would be thinking I was ill or something.

I got on the blower and told her that I would leave the visit until tomorrow.....I asked if there was anything out of the ordinary that she would like me to get for her......'yes....a bit of cooked belly pork, two cooked chickens (for the dog - I tell you, I'm coming back as a dog next time...but a pampered one) some bacon...streaky, and some bottles of ginger beer.
Right, it was a good job I had postponed the visit....it was a shipping order.

Hubby and I grabbed a quick cuppa and I had a bit of toast to put me on and off out we went.
My fella is one for bargains...and there were lamb chops on special offer.....3 packs for £10...so he bought three packs....he would keep one pack for himself(I can't eat lamb) and Ma would get one and one of the pensioner couples would have the other one.

I looked at the belly pork and it looked very nice, but raw.....Ma wanted hers cooked.
Well, I was going to be having the oven on so I bought a lovely lean piece to cook for ma.
We mooched round and found all the things we wanted and didn't get tempted by anything else.

I asked hubby to drop me off at Ma's with the stuff we had got her so far....OK, I know I had told her that I wasn't going to visit.

When I got there she had locked up...blimey it was only just a little after 1......she was surprised to see me with my bag of stuff.....I told her that I hadn't got everything and I would still visit tomorrow...with her cooked lunches and the chickens and the Roast belly pork.

When we arrived back to our place I unpacked and separated the shopping into different bags for the different couples (along with their shopping lists).
Then I went and spooned the cooled mince meat and onions into trays, put the mash on top and decorated the top with a cheese lattice and popped these into the oven to brown.....I prepared the pork by rubbing the skin with a good handful of coarse salt and put that on a tray in the oven.......then i went upstairs and took the sheets off our bed and remade it.

Before I knew it it was time to get in the car and go for the children from school...their tea was browning nicely and I had cooked some fresh carrot and swede to mash and go with their cottage pie.

Once the children were home I put the cottage pie into a clean teacloth, the mashed carrot and swede into a tupperware pot and headed off to their house.

We had a little playtime and then I got them ready for tea.....hands washed and they got out their own little knives and forks and sat patiently waiting for the grub to be brought to them.
Mis Bossy Britches took one look at the carrot and swede and promptly told me 'don't like that'.....but I camouflaged it in the rest of the cottage pie and she ate it all up.
Althought tiddler has been off his food he cleared his plate as well.

Their Ma arrived home after 5 to find that both of the children had been fed and were sat quietly watching Cbeebies....she said that her day had been a bit iffy and that the course tutor had wanted to send her home because she looked unwell....but daughter said she had already missed two days this week and would prefer to soldier on.
Anyway, she has been told of a remedy that may just help her.....and if it doesn't then she has been advised to see her Gp and get some antibiotics.....so that was my day. I think I am going to have to organise my time a bit better.