Week Commencing 16th January.

Monday:
Monthly Forest School.  The day starts at 5am.  No day should start at 5am, it's simply rude.
The journey is OK, bit faffy with a replacement bus, but manageable.  Rye is excited we are going on an adventure together; the knee has kept me mostly housebound.  I've invited Rose Howey's Canadian guest to come with us too, and it's nice to have another adult present.

While walking from the train station to the centre, I feel a tearing sensation in my calf, which hurts like the beejeebus.

Forest School starts, I hobble to the cafe, feeling sorry for myself and  I buy a slice of cake.  Raw eating be damned.   J follows one of the walks around the forest, while she's gone I crochet, drink coffee and slowly eat the massive slice of  Red Velvet cake.  It's ok, nothing to write home about.

At lunch time I arrange with a fellow home edding mum to get a lift to the station, which eases the worry about trying to walk back.

Rye is happy as Larry.  Friends, both old and new to play with, and at Forest School they are building bird feeders, and using tools.  The fresh air, seeing different people, the adventure is clearly doing him good.  We have been rather like hermits because of my injured knee.

Tuesday:
Quiet day.  Yesterday was exhausting and we both sleep way longer than normal.  My calf is wince inducing painful, and it feels like it can't take my full weight.  I'm hobbling worst than ever.  Much later in the evening I realise I forgot about taking Rye to the Black-e for Circus Skills.

Wednesday:
Today we are going to Manchester Science and Technology Museum for an explosions workshop.  The workshop is shorter than I imagined, nonetheless, Rye enjoys it.  A friend gave us a lift into Manchester and because she has to leave, we do not stay long.

 Thursday:
Ah, creative writing, I'm thankful we host this activity.  My calf is feeling much stronger, still I'm nervous of going too far.  Today in creative writing the kids are drawing and describing the characters for a story.   Rye is being obtuse, he wants to do his own thing.  I feel frustrated and annoyed, he's been attending creative writing long enough now, to know the deal - and I'm tired of his need to show off and try and be clever with me in front of his peers.  I'm also exasperated by how much he allows H to wind him up.  She's critiquing his drawings and he's whining at her to stop looking.  Eventually, he does the task - it's a bit like trying to bleed a stone and I can't decide if he's truly not understood what describing the character means or if he's being extra obtuse.

After creative writing, our friend gives us a lift to Trampolining.  Rye, when I suggested the activity was hardly enthusiastic.  "I know how to trampoline, we have one in the garden." he cockily says to me.  I insist, and clearly, mother does know best, because he has a whale of a time and wants to go again.

Friday:
Lots of playing and hanging out with our new members.  K is a young father as well as enjoying video games, electronics etc.  He and Rye have hit it off, and Rye spends most of his time talking about what he and K are going to do, and the robot they are going to build.   Electronic appliances are suddenly not safe in the house as Rye is desperate to take them all to pieces for parts for his robot.
The evening comes and we go out, with our guest to the World Museum.  There's a stargazing and astronomy event on - the sky is beautifully clear and we are looking forward to it.  When we arrive, there is a long queue.  After about ten minutes, staff from the museum begin to come outside, they are clearly looking at the long queue which is getting longer and longer.  Eventually, the director of the museum comes out and apologies profusely but suggests people go home because interest has far exceeded their expectations and inside there are really long queues too for each of the activities.   Reluctantly we leave, I physically can't stand in queues all evening on the off chance we might get to use the telescopes, so we go home.

At home my American housemate is making pizza and the Presidential Inauguration is being projected.   I don't really want to watch it.  I cannot fathom how on earth he managed to win, and it all leaves a very bad taste in my mouth.  I quietly leave after showing my face for a wee while.

Saturday:
Early start, I'm babysitting for a friend.  Rye is grumpy and being controlling.  I suspect he's still processing the altercation we had last night which resulted in me sending him to bed.  I make a mental note to talk to him about it, once the girls are picked up by their dad at lunch time.

Irritatingly, the short amount of walking I did last night, for the aborted World Museum visit has caused my calf to be exceedingly painful and tight again.  I guess I really have hurt the calf after all.

Feeling sorry for myself I make microwave flourless brownie (quite tasty) and share it with Rye, adding black cherry pie filling and custard too.  Later I allow Rye to talk me into a takeaway, which I thoroughly regret after stuffing my face.  Oh well, on wards and up wards.

Sunday:
Chilled day  mooching around doing very little.  It is also very, very cold.  Rye is pestering his new friend, a young dad who has moved into the house with his small family.  Its a case of instant hero worship, Rye of course doesn't know when to back off, so we have a wee chat.  Honestly, I'm not sure he's really taken on board the conversation - probably one of those that has to be repeated very often before it sinks in.
Once it's dark, I project  a couple of episodes of Librarians for us to watch, and then bed for Rye; hilariously, he tries to order me to let him watch another episode.  It's ten to ten though, so not a chance in hell.

9th January 2017

The knee continues to hamper movement.
Hope restored with almost hobble free walking, then dashed when the tendon? ligament? muscle? at the back and to the side (outer), of the knee begins to hurt again and exaggerated hobbling resumes.  At least my bum is reacquainted with the sofa, it's lowness no longer a barrier.

Plans to visit the skate park are saved by my housemate, who takes Rye and her children there this afternoon.  The sun even shone its benediction on the outing.  I'm bored, these four walls are beginning to press in on me.  To distract myself, I nosey in my wip basket; there's crochet flower motifs ready for hanging into bunting, granny triangles needing blocking, a half finished freeform baby jumper, the base of a gnome house, random scrumbles, and my grotty falling apart red slippers I began covering with scrumbles several months ago.

Cold toes nudge me about the slippers, and I pull them out and decide today is the day.  I find my sheet of faux leather and cut out soles.  I've no idea how to add them properly - in my mind's eye I keep seeing the stitching on Dr Martins boots, and have a vague idea of doing something like that.
I start by gluing the soles to the slippers.  One of the slippers has scrumbles already attached and it occurs to me this could make hiding the edges of the sole difficult.

I work on the slipper without any scrumbles first.  Using a running stitch, I sew the sole onto the bottom on the slipper, my idea being, I will cover the raw edges of the sole with scrumbles as I attache them.  It's not as easy as I imagined, and at some point it occurs to me that folding the edge over and whip stitching it to the slipper is probably the best plan.  I use No.8 Anchor pearlised cotton, reading later online, I discover that waxed thread is probably the better option as it's longer lasting.  I make a mental note to buy some.

The second sole I glue to the bottom of the slipper - it holds the sole in place, and I suspect it will put less pressure on sewed sides. The blanket stitch is trialed...nah.  Whip stitch it is.  It' rather awkward to sew the sole on.  I'm pleased with the second sole, I prefer the sole whip stitch, despite the lack of consistency in the stitches.
I consider the mechanics of creating a slipper from scratch with faux leather soles.   Wee ideasbegin to formulate.

My index finger is sore from the sewing - my toes are thankful.  so warm and toasty.
I love my new slippers!

Oooh I took some better photos:

Playing with designs and mechanics of construction for slippers made from scratch now too, I'm also thinking of offering a service where I will repair and breath new life into old favourite slippers - re-use rather than throwing away!!  

What do you think?  Would it be a service you'd be interested in?

Ran Away.

Humdrumness had infected me badly, very badly, so I ran away to my wonderful friend, D for a much needed reboot...and wow, it was an amazing 2 weeks.  Rye was in 7th heaven.  D's son and Rye were inseparable; when we weren't out at home ed events/activities they were engaged in the most intense playmobil and lego games, building and imagining for hours and hours.  Warmed the old cockles to see Rye so accepted for who is he and to have found a friend who just "gets" who Rye is.

There was lots of crafting - his fine motor skills are not as refined as they could be, so I thought he did a stonking job here!

I rather like his black pumpkin.  This was part of a craft session at Relax Kids.  It was a lovely session, though Rye was a little unsure at first.

He made a stomp rocket - and OMG it was bloody brilliant!  I will so be doing this activity my science club group!

Rye carved the pumpkin on the right...and he did much of it himself!

I was nervous at first about letting Rye lose with a craft knife,  look at that concentration!  Paper cutting is definitely another craft we will do again!

On mornings at home, the kids would do some table work.  A bit of writing and math mostly.  Including, drawing and writing post cards.  Rye sent one to Rose Howey and to his dad.

Until the 1st November, it was unseasonably warm in Lincolnshire.  D drove us all to the beach, and D and me sat and knitted and crocheted while the boys played, and played, and played.  Oh, the beach was wonderful, missed it so much.  I know we aren't far from the sea here in Liverpool, I just need to find a more accessible beach - Formby beach while beautiful is accessed by sand dunes, Ok going down, trying to get back up...oh my!

Deer safari with Rye's friend O, and his new friend J.  Rye has met O and J before, but they were all toddlers, so none of them seem to remember.   The stag there is called Boris - phooey he was a pongy boy.  Rye loved this, and I have to say it was bloody good, plus the fresh crisp air, and the views.  Lincolnshire, of course, is very flat - and wow the views - amazing!

I'm proud of this.  Rye writes pretty well these days, but oh.my.god he's slow... I mean half dead snail slow!  It winds me up, but this day I had a brainwave, and told Rye I bet I could write 10 of the words he was writing in his spellings book, by the time he'd written one.  Challenge enthusiastically accepted...he thought it was brilliant, and he started to write faster to stop me being able to write so many words to his one!  Yay!

I love this photo, I know it looks like he's got makeup on, but he doesn't - it's just the light.  He loves this costume and looked fab, and he wore it to go trick or treating and to a few halloween parties we attended.

More sewing!  I really must pick up some of these little sewing kits from the pound shop!

Hehehe, this is a Knights Templar Tower, kids loved the activities that were put on, and play fighting around the tower with all the other kids, with those cardboard swords and shields.  It took D and me a wee while to find this place - the signage is confusing to say the least!

Highlight!  D booked tickets for us all to see Chris Peckham at Lincoln Uni giving a talk on Owl and Bats.  It was brilliant, at first I thought it might be a bit too much info for Rye, but no, he loved it...and to my utter pride and joy, he put up his hand and was picked to ask Chris a question.  He asked how many owls species there are in the UK.  Rye was so chuffed with himself too - he spoke clearly and articulately, no shyness or anxiety.  It was a beautiful moment for this mama!

 We went to a home ed halloween party, which was really well decorated, and the food was pretty darn good too.  Kids had a fab time :D

Tyre swing in the front garden...big hit.
Fabulous 2 weeks for Rye, especially as my humdrumness has meant I'd become a bit of a hermit and we were rarely leaving the co-op - mostly it was my housemate taking Rye out for me.  Rose Howey life does tend to mean Rye is off doing his own thing a lot...but it also hit me, that its made me very lazy too.  All the crafting, the trips out etc this was life pre Rose Howey; living in a co-op with friends we live with, activities that go on in the house, a large, very large garden, backing onto a park...naturally changed our routine and dynamic, and while it is good that Rye has more independence and such a large space to play and be free in - a park he can now go to on his own (with his friends)...it has made me lazy.

Once back at Rose Howey, I had resolved we would go out to home ed activities more, just the two of us would go out on trips too, I'd have quick crafts that we can do together some evenings and so forth.  It did start that way, then I was hit with a virus and was bed bound with fever and horrendous headache, feeling sick and achy for 2 weeks, then I caught Rye's cold...we've also been slowly shifting our rooms around to make them more functional and peaceful to be in.  It's December now though, so our usual Yule crafting will commence, and I'll arrange some trips out too (swallowing my hatred of crowds lol),

The visit wasn't all about Rye of course.  D and I sat and talked, she took me to some private woods, and while Rye was engaged with the home ed event there, she took me to the spiral, which I walked, it was grounding and uplifting at the same time.  We also spent the day at a Samhain event with other likeminded women, which was wonderful.  Dancing, singing, crafting, sharing of good food, meditation, cleansing.  Wonderful stuff.  I also went to a yoga session.

I'm sad my mobility has decreased so much, but hopeful I can reclaim movement back.  To that end I've purchased myself a yoga mat, my wonderful housemates have freed the gate to the park - in the winter, the path through the copse gets too muddy and slippy for me to traverse.  However, we do have a gate that opens into the park, bypassing the path.

I'm already enjoying slightly increased mobility and reduced back pain.  I'm looking forward to 2017 seeing me being back to the level of fitness I had BEFORE I bought the Zafira, when I lived in Folkestone and use to walk everywhere!

And a big Thank you to D and her family for welcoming Rye and me into their home and being such wonderful friends :D

I love my tribe.

Tuesday.

A gentle day enjoying the Autumn sunshine, soaking up vitamin D.  I am still very weak from the flu and tire easily.

Literacy Planet continues to be popular, I've popped Rye back a level so he is practicing listening to letter sounds in words- his progress in this area is wonderful and exciting because this is a skill that will enable real progress towards reading fluently.

We socialised with friends, and Rye spotted the large brown fungus that is so prevalent at this time of the year, and tend to grown in clusters on grass, and hedges.  So we are going to go out with our mushroom guidebooks and see if we can identify what we find.

The Singapore math books almost arrived.  I say "almost" because the envelope was split and only the 3B books were in there.  Maths No Problem said that Parcel Force is investigating - I'm not happy, because without the 3A books, I only have half a math curriculum - and it wasn't cheap either! "Investigating" to me sounds like stonewalling.

Pre dinner - Rye spent ages making rockets and space ships to play in from various boxes; it was wonderful to watch him being so creative, and problem solving.  He was so sweet with the 3yr old, and included her in the play, let her be the pilot and consulted her on design improvements.

After dinner Rye read to me, and then I read another chapter of the Goblet of Fire to him.  I will be very glad when we've finished that book, really want to read the Frost Giants, Wild Fang and other stories to him.

An upside of the Autumn nights is my boy comes back to the flat earlier and we can enjoy lots of snuggles, reading  books to each other and chatting.