Just some words next to each other

Last week, I was mostly...at work. Last weekend, I was mostly...recovering. must be the weather that has made it so hard. Saturday, retail therapy was needed. So off we went to Ikea, not sure why we thought this was a good idea on the first Saturday of half term, but we went anyway. Using our highly honed parking karma skills, we found a boss park near the door.

First stop, the cafe for a fuel stop. There’s nothing quite like Ikea meat balls to fortify one for a busy Ikea on the first day of half term. (We must be mad)

We made the required purchases, and the obligatory impulse buys which included a plant. 

These snowdrops were under 3 inches of snow a week earlier

Yes, that’s right a plant. Maisie said “but you will just kill it Mum.” But I had a plan for the plant, take it to work. It will make a lovely green addition to my desk. So green, Leanne called it Kermit. And, I’m happy to report that after one week of ownership, Kermit is still alive. 

We have been making plans for our kitchen, and wanted to check out Ikea sinks and things. Leanne also made an appointment for a kitchen designer to come measure our tiny kitchen and see how many units would fit in, and if we could manage to have a dishwasher. The kids do the dishes at the moment (after a little ‘persuading’) but I think our immunity system has now built up enough to warrant getting a dishwasher.

The guy arrived, the dog was excited, the kittens were meh. Their excitement will come I guess when more work surfaces arrive for them to leave muddy footprints all over. The dog kept coming to say hello to kitchen man, and when you are sat on the sofa, conveniently your face is at dog height. Dog came up, kitchen man pats dogs head, dog does a massive burp in man’s face....awkward! Fortunately he saw the funny side, but it must have been through blurred eyes as the dog has the worst breath.

The White Stuff

Well, we waited and we waited and three came along at once! Three inches of snow that is or thereabouts! There was great excitement as the snow kept falling on Saturday, not enough for any recreational activities until about 8pm, guess what, there was a knock at the door, and a snowy rosy cheeked child asking if Maisie wanted to come sledging! They went off and sledged down the road, mad, I stayed with the dog in front of the fire. 

Up early for a dog walk though on Sunday, unusually Maisie is keen to join me and t’dog. It was so lovely in the early morning light. The dog wasn't that impressed unfortunately. 

After breakfast, Maisie was out the door and down the road to meet up with mates for sledging in the daylight. At a rather more leisurely pace Leanne and I followed. The dog was hiding in a bedroom, fearful we might drag him out again. Walking through the village, it felt fairly paganistic  as various villagers, their children and thin bits of plastic (sledges) were being drawn towards the same hill.

We were greeted with the shrieks and/or wails of delighted and/or slightly injured, wet children sliding down the hill at various speeds of fast, whilst dogs ran around between them unsure who to chase or what to do. We spotted Maisie and her mates, four of them appeared to be on the same sledge attempting to slide down in a big lump.

There were a few hardy parents having a go, and there were parents resolutely stood behind the gate. After watching for a while, I thought how bad can it be. I traipsed up the hill, hard enough in itself, it was much steeper than anticipated. I foolishly went to the top before looking back. What faced me was a very huge downward view with only one way to get down with my pride intact. 

On the sledge I get, and set off - at great speed which didn’t seem to be altered whether I had my feet up or not. All I was aware of was Maisie’s friends shouting “put your feet up you’ll go faster” as if it was a desirable thing. I arrive at the bottom, still with the sledge firmly wedged to my bottom, not really designed for the wider bodied middle aged figure. In addition to the awareness that I’d shrieked like a girl for the entire slide, I was covered in snow from attempting to slow myself down. Fortunately I had left some snow on the hill for other sledgers. I got back to Leanne and Maisie who was in charge of photography. Maisie said - “Mum, you’ll have to do it again, I missed it!”

So, please take my word for it, I did slide down the hill honest! I’ll do it again ...next year!

Back home for a hot chocolate and the fire, from now on I’m sticking with the dog’s idea of how to deal with the snow.