Yay! I've to book my Theory Test!

Had a reasonably good driving lesson today thankfully! Donna got me doing a fair bit of driving; bay parking; reverse round the corner and a turn in the road. She also did a 'mock' test with me which I found a bit worrying but it was good to go through the 'motions' so to speak. A few wee minor errors and 1 major which wasn't too bad according to Donna. At the end of the lesson she said I was to book my theory test for which there is a 3 week waiting list. Once I have passed my theory test, I can then put in for my practical! I now have the problem of finding where I last put my provisional licence

Happy 13th Birthday Meryl! :o)

Our school's DHT has a daughter who is in my son Stewart's class at school. Meryl is celebrating her 13th birthday [which was yesterday] - so a big Happy Birthday to Meryl!

Some card making efforts!

I did a clear out of a cupboard in the girls' bedroom. Over the years I have collected a fair amount of materials/media for some of my hobbies. Cross-stitching used to be one of them! I don't seem to have the same concentration levels these days nor the time! So I've overhauled my collection of cross-stitching magazines and scrapbook/card making magazines and offloaded them to Freecycle. Got lots of takers for the Scrapbooking mags/books so I mix and bundled them up with a little complimentary pack of my handcrafted mini gift tags as shown below. Sadly the cross-stitching mags have not drawn ANY interest whatsoever. I may have to drop some of those off in the waiting room at work and disperse the others elsewhere LOL!!

Busy times again

I am trying - honestly I am - in aiming to keep this blog updated LOL!!

I just have so much on the go that time seems to have whittled away from me recently. I am still taking driving lessons - I have come a long way to give them up [and way too expensive!]. I am determined I want to be able to drive by the time I am 40 - something to score off my list!

Took the kids to see the new Hannah Montana movie which was only released a couple of days before hands - gosh that was about 2 weekends ago! Alwynne loves Hannah Montana so needless to say it's never of the telly when she watches it and there are some episodes I have seen so many times they just 'grate' on me now lol! The actual movie was really good I have to say. A couple of tracks I enjoyed most "The Climb" and "Butterfly Fly Away" being 2 of them. I bought the album last night to download them - for some reason the album won't transfer over to my Ipod - the Ipod library tell me the tracks are there but I cannot find them on my actual Ipod. Strange though as I also bought and downloaded U2's new album and Lady GaGa's fine! Another track you should listen to [search on You Tube] "Ready, Set, Don't Go" sung by both Miley and Billy Ray Cyrus - the lyrics are just well, meaningful.

Last week I brought my lesson forward an hour taking it at 8.30 am to 10.30 am. OMG!! I felt shell shocked - no idea why I felt different having the lesson 1 hr earlier! I felt as if I had forgotten everything. I seem have moments like that - just hope they won't occur too often - scary feeling LOL!! Donna my instructor said I did okay. I didn't do anything that Donna had said she had planned to do at the lesson as per what she said the lesson before. I'll be honest, I am kinda panicking about the hazard perception part of the test. There 3 parts of the driving test nowadays. 1st test is the theory - you get asked multiple choice questions related to the highway code with some first aid perhaps thrown in. 2nd part of the test follows the theory. There are 14 film clips of real street scenes with traffic such as cars, pedestrians, cyclists etc. We have to be aware of what is developing on the road ahead - that is problems that could lead to an accident. As soon as we notice a hazard developing, we've got to click the mouse. The sooner you notice the hazard, you get more points. This is the part I am concerned about - will I be able to react quickly enough and not too quick to be clicking needlessly?! You have to pass the theory/hazard tests in order to sit the actual practical test - ie driving the car.

On Saturday I joined Weight Watchers again. Let's just say I am working my way to losing 5% of my current weight as my 1st goal. So this week I have been actually eating MORE food believe it or not and making time to prepare and cook. It's made more difficult that Stewart works night shift cos sometimes I just can't be bothered to prepare and cook a meal if you get my meaning. 1st week of weight loss will be recorded tomorrow! I want to have lost at least 2½ stones by the time I celebrate my 40th!

I am still a parent volunteer at the kids' school doing 3 sessions of paired reading. Helping out in the P1 class on a Wed morning. On and off over the last few weeks I have been helping the P6 classes design an 'aural sculpture' for the exceptional needs kids to go in the courtyard of the school. It is some undertaking and the artist Susheila must have the 'dream job'. I had a go at actual carving on Wednesday afternoon which was pretty cool! That was unfortunately the last session/involvement that the kids have with the sculpture. We'll look forward to it being put in place at some time.

I've managed to get a couple of card making sessions in this week having cleared the living room and other areas of the house the week before. I can tell you the living room never looks tidy whenever I've got the table up. This where I wished I had my own craft studio/shed :o(

I'll pop some images in another post.

I've got another 2 hr driving lesson today at 12 midday - in the hope that I can get some time to swot on my highway code etc. and also in the hope that I won't be quite as shell shocked as I felt last Friday lol!! Once I am back from the lesson, I've got to make another card for my chum Denise's 40th birthday in which we are all meeting up for a meal tomorrow evening which I am looking forward to. Apparently there are quite a few of us going!

Karen's Suprise 30th Birthday Party

Apparently this is typical of Karen when she is on holiday - sunbathing with a good book and a wee drink!

Cake details close-up:

Karen and Christine:

A group of Karen's chums including myself have been planning Karen's surprise 30th birthday for a good few weeks! We all chipped in towards the cost and a role to fulfill regards catering- I did the invites. Anyways, Karen had absolutely no inkling what was planned and therefore shocked that her friends had kinda 'deceived' her [albeit in a good way!]. It was a fabby night - I always say its been a good night if the deejay plays some Northern Soul/Motown/Uptown Festival - I was a very happy bunny these tunes were played and I got up and moved my wee legs and big butt LOL!!

School Sports Day

The 3-legged race - it was a hoot watching the kids try this - no-one seemed to know how to do it so there were a few 'almost' casualty moments!

The throwing item at a target:

The 'angel' race:

The 'sack' race was a hoot too!

Look at the 'chariots of fire' concentrated look!

Yes I know, it's a wee bit early to be holding a school sports day is it not? Usually our school sports day is held in June but its had to be brought forward due to the demolition of the old school building and the fact that the remaining earth is to be turned over and grass seed to be planted. This is schuled to happen some time in June when we would normally have sports day etc. hence the reason to bring forward sports day in May.

Well, in the past, sports day held in June has never been a warm afair - usually I have to say to the kids to keep on their jerseys whilst doing sports because all you can see are kiddies in shorts and tee shirts chittering away in the cold!!

Our sports day last week wasn't any better! It was blowing a gale, pretty overcast with the threat of rainfall. To make matters worse, the demolition was still going on throughout sports day. Not a good combination of stoor, debris blowing in the wind across the school field where sports was taking place. I am sure they partially demolished or hit the toilet area as the pong was intense! poo-eeee!!

Unfortunately during the holiday weekend, wee Stewart complained of having a sore throat again - an iminent rash appeared - again!! A wee trip to the doc's who diagnosed tonsilitis [4th bout in around 8 weeks] PLUS Scarlet Fever!!! Signed off school for the week [luckily it was only for the remaining 3 days] and a prescription of a 10-day course anti-biotics. You can guess he was gutted he couldn't go to school - NOT!! hee hee. So due to him being off school last week, he obviously couldn't attend his final school sports day!

Driving Lesson - update

Sorry folks for being a naughty blogger of late - I just haven't had much time recently!!

I've had 2 x 2hr driving lessons since my last driving lesson update. I am thoroughly enjoying them! the 2nd last lesson wasn't any different to the one prior to that hence my not really updating on that lesson. Friday's lesson was good. I've been practising the reversing round the corner manoeuvre! I was chuffed to bits with doing that and didn't make a 'hash' of it. Donna [instructor] thought that accomplishing that manoeuvre might help me with my parallel parking. Only real error I made that day was turning into the slip road in 4th gear! LOL!!! Heck I'll not be doing that one again. The weather was really *pants* - 3 seasons in 1 day. One minute it was drizzling, next chucking it down with rain and other times glorious sunshine!! Was good experience though driving and breaking in time due to the weather and road conditions. Donna took me to a narrow street in Musselburgh to do my 'turn in the road' manoeuvre. Again, did that with no probs :o)

Donna had asked how I have been getting on with the highway code and hazard perception. I replied that I had been swatting up using the new fandangled CD rom version and wasn't sure I'd covered hazard perception. It turns out I have unknowingly been revising that but it's known as 'Hazard Awareness'. The CD rom has mock tests which you can save your progress on. Any area you think you need to revise more on is apparent as time goes on with use of the CD rom. ON the actual theory test, peeps need to score 43 out of 50 in under 1 hr to pass! It is interesting as regularly I was scoring 47/48 points only to go back into doing the mock test and scoring 41/43 - you can see where you are going wrong. Any self doubt or query you have you can press 'flag' button so you can see what the anwer/definition is at the end of the revision.

Donna is positive that she'll get me practising a wee bit more and involve some hazard perception to see if I understand the dangers etc. I've pointed out that I want more sessions practising the parallel parking and bay parking. She muttered something about putting in for the theory and perhaps she'll get me to do a mock test! :o)

I think Stewart's secretly 'kacking' himself as to what he will do regards me having access to a car if and when I pass my test!! I really cannot see him allowing me to drive our recently purchased Mondeo somehow LOL!!! Still, I don't want to be one of those peeps who pass their test then don't drive for ages following their test pass. I'd probs become disheartened that I can't use my new found skills!

STEWART - start getting that car ready!!!