This week's blog is dedicated to the man who makes such a wonderful father to Michael and husband to me. As a stepfather for the very first time he has thrown himself into the role and makes our son feel special and loved. It isn't easy getting a ready made family, yet Neil does so with grace. I can not say how important this is to us, but he should be very proud of the fantastic job he has done.
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On Thursday evening I took my first outing from the guys. I drove to the train station and took a train to Hayward's Heath, where a fellow knitter picked me up and we drove to a local pub to have a knit night and swap. I had nothing to swap, but I did receive a few fantastic items and I am looking forward to creating some crocheted jewelry with the things I received. The four other women that attended were very friendly and fun, and I worked on the beginnings of a capelet that I had found on Ravelry.com to make for myself. I didn't get home until 11pm and I was surprised out how delighted I felt to walk through the door having done something of my own and have my wonderful family to come home to.
The capelet is exactly what I wanted. I am so happy with it, and will soon be starting one for my mother. They stitch up very quickly, so I hope to have it done for her when she arrives for her visit on 14 July.
Michael attended his second session of karate at the Milton Mount location. This time he was given his white belt, which proved to be a tad distracting and he spent a good amount of time playing with the belt. Still, he did very well. We also brought along Mike's classmate, Harry. We walk with Harry to school in the mornings and Harry's mom and dad bring Mike and Harry home in the afternoons because we live a few doors from each other and they are in the same class. Lucky us! Harry enjoyed karate as well. On Wednesday Michael attended Karate at the Three Bridges location.
Thursday evening we Michael attended another karate class and was awarded his first stripe! He was so proud of his accomplishment, and we are as well.
Tonight we went to the Milton Mount class and to our utter amazement.....
Michael got his SECOND stripe!!!!! Congratulations Michael!!!!
Michael got his SECOND stripe!!!!! Congratulations Michael!!!!
Last Friday evening we baked and decorated a cake for the fun fair at the school. It was home made vanilla cake with chocolate icing and green piping with sugar flowers and coloured balls. Mike did all of the finish work himself, and we dropped it off in the morning on Saturday before we headed over to the K2 for swimming and gymming. (I do the gym while Neil and Mike swim). Afterwards we hustled home, wolfed down some sandwiches made on the new sandwich presser, and headed off to the fun fair. We played raffles, coconut throwing, and Mike did the blow up obsticle course. He played on the fire truck and talked to the West Sussex police. We bought some games from the toy table..Rummikub, Switch 16, and Top Trumps Incredibles, as well as a dictionary and nursery rhyme book. A steal for 3 pounds total!!!
When we got home I made a whipped icing and improvised a "healthy" cake. I reduced the sugar, used only egg whites and no yokes (do you know that each egg yoke contains 5 grams of fat!!!), and substituted a low fat butter substitute for the good stuff. This became our Happy Father's Day cake and it was mightily tasty.
I weeded the garden and added some blood and bone because it seems like the garden is stunted. It is not growing as fast or as lushly as I expect, and next weekend we will be adding some additional nutrient to the soil and see if we can pick things back up. We havent lost any plants, they just don't look that happy. We will soon be revamping the stump garden as well, to include some pebble for a grasses bed.
On Sunday morning we drove down to Brighton to see the Wiggle show. The show was loads of fun and I made sure to keep busy with my projects for Worldwide knit in public weekend. I am a bit embarrased to admit that I cried at the end of the show. My baby is grown up now. :(
Afterwards we met Rod to go for a Father's Day meal. We were very excited about trying a steakhouse called Taurus. I had done a lot of research on places to eat in Brighton, so I was especially invested in this turning out well. Unfortunately, when we arrived at the address, it was no longer there. Rod then decided we go to Woody's Diner in Hove, so we drove down there, hunger pangs gnawing away at us, only to find that it had a long line, was incredibly stuffy hot, and that they would only sit us in a section for children because Michael was along. Well, call me what you will, snob...entitled..whathaveyou...I don't sit in children's sections because most people never teach their children how to behave in a restaurant. My child can behave, and I have no qualms at sitting near adults with him because him is very rarely disruptive. In fact, I imagine I am more annoying to sit near than my son is. Also, I am especially sensitive to seeing parents who are completely inept at handling their children, and I imagine there would be loads of them at the childrens section in a diner. This decision was made easier by an inept waiter who could not even offer a guestimate of the waiting time for a table.
We left Woody's to get back in the car and go to the Marina, where we decided on Frank and Benny's which is always a crowd pleaser.
We had a lovely Father's day meal, and followed it up with a walk along the marina wall, to watch the boats and the fishermen.
I have been driving quite a bit more lately, and I am feeling very comfortable with the side of the road I am driving on, and the way the car handles. I get nervous about traveling the routes I am unfamiliar with, and I suppose I am lucky that I have spent most of my life in two areas that I am familiar enough with to know like the back of my hand for a 20 mile radius, and 50 mile radius (NJ and VA respectively). Luckily, I have Sally to guide me where ever I go, and Sally really knows her stuff! Sally Garmin is our Sat Nav, and we love her.
We had the unfortunate to have the washer/dryer conk out on us. It had water pouring out of the top and onto the floor, followed by a very disconcerting new noise in the spin cycle. After much research we bought a new Hotpoint Washer/dryer. With rave reviews in the 8.2 range, a woolmark and dryer sensor cycle, a one hour wash/dry cycle and loads more, we are very happy with the new addition to the family.
We have had an estimate done for the kitchen to fix damage due to the fire over the winter, and to prepare for a larger space for the new refrigerator. This work is estimated to be done in the second week of July, and we will post pictures of the completed project then.
I had an appointment with a specialist regarding my back and after reviewing my MRI results from two years ago he said that surgery was not an option for me because I have multiple disk damage. Though, if one were causing me significant pain that they could pinpoint to the specific disk, then I could have surgery on that disk, but there was no guarantee of it being successful. From this point on, the first step is to get another current MRI in 4-6 weeks and to begin a pain management program.
We have been pushing Michael to eating his 5 a day fruits and vegetables and he has been really good at reaching that goal every day, even if it means a bunch of grapes before bedtime. Eating healthy has become a forefront issue here, and we have been working on portion control and fat, sugar, and calorie intake, as well as daily exercise. Whilst the past few months have been decadantly rich in cakes, pies, and various other indulgent cuisine, the honeymoon is over and it is time to make the permanant lifestyle changes that we had looked forward to when we first began planning to live together. I think we are all pleased with our more active, less online, style of living.
We have had a few meetings at the school. The first one seemed mainly to be for us to be chastened for our discipline techniques, which we followed up with a letter to the school, and the letter was followed up with another, much more amicable and informative meeting. Michael seems happier with school for the moment, and we are working on getting the documents filled out that are necessary to do volunteer work in the school, which we both feel is important for Michael to feel fully integrated in the school. This will not be complete until September though, but that is really not so much an issue as school will be over for Michael in less than 3 weeks.
We also have some super secret fun things happening, which I will post about next week (it doesn't involve pets, babies, or moving), so tune in next time!
