Bad cook book and stupid shop.

Two links.
Worst. Book. Name. Ever.

This is just plain funny. I wonder how many they sold before they were with-drawn.

Easter break

We headed down to Enniskillen for three nights over Easter.

It didn't start too well. Going through Cookstown the car started to chug and a warning light went on. Julie looked at the book to see what it meant and it said to consult the local renault dealer. Fortunatly we came to one on the way into Omagh. The man in the service desk said we shouldn't drive the car, and, being Easter, they had no mechanics to fix it. This is the point Julie came in with screaming kids, and the man took pity (and the keys) and fixed the car himself. The rest of the break was great.

I read, the girls played in various styles of parks, fed ducks etc,

and Julie knitted. The cottage was very good.

Warm, clean and comfortable. The owners had left us a large basket with loads of goodies, including bread and milk. Really nice of them.

The weather was good, as it raind at night and (mostly) dry during the day. But Katherine wasn't convinced...

Car troubles

I was driving home from my course in Antrim last night in the Cleo. I was happily listening to a Dr Who book when I lost power to the engine. I pulled over to the side of the road and tried unsuccessfully to start the engine. I hate that feeling when you know you can do nothing, but phone for the RAC (which we are members).
A very nice lady tried to find me on the map, being well aware that we in Northern Ireland give roads names, not numbers. While i was on the phone, a break down man came, and offered me help. I told him I was calling the RAC, and he said "I'm an RAC contractor, let me speak to them." In stead of a 30 minute wait, I was on the back of his lorry within minutes. It did mean trying to find a way out of a homophobic rant, as i didn't want to challenge his view and walk home pushing the car.
The car has a broken timing belt, which means that the engine is probably badly damaged. Our friendly car fixer man tells us anything between £300 and £600 to fix. The car is 10 years old, and we have been humming and ha-ing about getting it replaced, so this brings that forward.
Today i went out to see the price range. A lot of garages didn't have people to come and talk to me, but a couple did, and we are in a good position without a trade-in. It can knock up to £1000 off the seen price. Also went to Peugeot, who, when I told him i was replacing a Cleo, asked if it was for my son or daughter. How posh.
It means that we now only have one car to get me to work, Charlotte to Nursery, and Julie to her groups (and take the kids out to stop them going ga ga). It will be fun until we get a replacement.

tell me why (I don't like Mondays)

In work we have a porch light. It costs £10.50 to replace. I know this because that's how much it cost to replace 6 months ago when someone put a lighter to the cover and blew the bulb. It has happened once since until today. To day it was smashed twice. Of course no-one saw it, but i persisted in investigating. Th three main suspects were C, G and J.
I waited for each to cone in again. The first was C and he had an air tight alibi, his mother.
J was the main suspect, he has been a lot of trouble to us and it is his style. But some one came in and was an alibi for him. This younger YP told us that they were sailing around a car together, and he noticed that the light was on when J got in the car, and the light was off when J got out of the car. That struck me as unusual. You do not notice the usual (the light being on) but the unusual (the light being off). I needed more info.
I did get to talk to J and he confirmed he was not there, but that he got in the car just before G hit the light. This was confirmed by others, and G never came back into the drop-in all night.
I am really disappointed it G, a good kid, but is easy to be talked into bad stuff. It pains me to loose confidence in the honesty of him.
The question now is what do we do about it. Of course he will have to pay for the bulbs, and he will be barred for a time, but that is just part of it, the punishment,; but what about the rehabilitation?

Scenic, done it.

Over the week end i had to change a break light in the Scenic. This is the first time i have had to change any of the bulbs in the car, and i found it a bit complicated. You need a screwdriver and a bit of force. The Astra just had a hand turned plastic nut. But there you go.
Today, Julie noticed a front bulb gone. So i looked at the book to see how to change it. Then I looked under the bonnet, then I looked in the book again. I went on line. I looked at the car again. The problem is that the recommended way of changing a head light is to drop the wheel arch, which involves putting the car on a ramp. The odd person has taken the battery out. You basically have to put the car into the dealers and get them to do it. What was the design team doing the day that they thought that would be a good idea. It is only one wee bulb, and it is costing me £20 and half a morning. And i know that another bulb will go in a short time...

Christmas '07

It's been a long road to Christmas the past couple of weeks. Last week saw the finish of my course for this term, and the completion of the first sixth of it. Two projects, two Journals and a presentation and we are stopped. It is emotionally draining.
In work we made a behavioural contract with a young person, who then broke it the second time he was in after it. We did the high school assembly and i spoke at the staff lunch. We finished with our now annual challenge night. We were under staffed for it so decided that if there was any trouble down stars, we would ignore it (unless anyone was getting hurt). The challenges went well with a different young person winning each challenge, and we were rewarded with the main door down stars having chewing gum over the handle, chewed chocolate over the door and in the lock with added 5p's. Glad of the time off.
Sunday was the nativity play in church, and Charlotte as a sheep. Monday we went car-less and I walked into town for the turkey and we all walked round to the corner shop. We had the treat of the Rountrees round for some festive cheer (i don't know either) and we cut the christmas cake wot we baked. Pretty good stuff.

Today it was Julie that woke excitedly and had to wake everyone else. Charlotte enjoyed the unwrapping, and Katherine just wanted to connect with one or two things. We went to Church and Charlotte was able to show off some stuff to her friends, and Katherine was able to show how much she can squirm.

Just for John, lunch was:-

• Turkey and stuffing
• wee sausages
• Boiled potatoes
• boiled sprouts
• mashed carrots and parsnips
• roast potatoes
• roast parsnip
• Yorkshire pudding (for Charlotte)
• 

and for pudding', Julies microwave chocolate sponge. We did go for a walk after lunch. it was nice to See the girls enjoy Christmas, and Charlotte understood it better now. They did play nice together most of the time.

After the girls went to bed we enjoyed Dr Who (loved the queen) and Harry hill. As well as a few snacks.

In serious need of an update

So here it is.
Charlotte turned 4 last weekend. We had a party for her and some of her friends. The thing to do is to take 20 of her closest friend to an indoor soft play area. But we decided to run it ourselves here. We had a pink party. Really scary having to entertain half a dozen 4 year olds. They all had fun. Julie did her e-bay buying for pink stuff and each kid left with a wealth of pinkness. I even bought a pink t-shirt for the event.


Sunday was her birthday. We bought her a bicycle. When she saw it she was speechless and hugged us both. Happy child. Unfortunately she has only been out on it once, because of a combination of foul weather and a bout of coughing in the house. Julie, Charlotte and Katherine have all a bad cough for the past week or so, and in the middle of the night you can hear it from each room. It's getting so bad i am thinking of putting lambs blood on the front door.



The course hit high gear this month with EVERYTHING due in a few weeks. The last piece of work needs to be handed in next week, so i am well on course for it. I have enjoyed it so far, but it does tend to take over your whole thinking. We are off until the end of January;-)

Work is interesting. We have barred one lad for a month, and he will only bne allowed in next week if he meets to make a contract of behaviour. He has been at the door most times we have been open the last few weeks with questions like "when am i allowed back in?", "what's a contract?" and "what did i do?". Don't get me wrong, but if he felt that you needed to know the answers to these questions, you would think he would remember it for half an hour, instead of asking me a couple of times a night. He also keeps telling me he hates the drop-in.

We also got the TV books yeaterday, he, he.