We've had a lovely quiet week just pottering around at home for our second week of school holidays. Nick has been off since Wednesday too. That meant that Tom could come for a run with me. We set off on Wednesday morning to do my 4 miler (hadn't been out for almost 2 weeks) and I was concerned that Tom wouldn't be able to do it, having never run that distance before. Pah, no worries there. Tom was like a playful puppy gamboling about while I slowly plodded along in the wind and rain...how to make your mum feel inadequate in one easy step. I can't say I really enjoyed it, Tom definitely takes after his father and not his mother in his athleticism. I am trying to turn it around in my head so instead of feeling defeated and a failure Tom should be inspiring me and pushing me to get better. Hmm, we'll see how that goes.
Anyway, today Tom is off to Grangemouth to compete in the SSAA Primary Road Relay Championships. He is competing in the P7 group as he is one of the fastest in the school, so he is competing against boys a year older than he is. We are just about to head over there to cheer him on. Then tomorrow is the Madrascals Rugby Home tournament which he is playing in, so a big sporting weekend for Tom before going back to school on Monday.

Nick & I went out for dinner last night to the Vine Leaf having finally managed to sort out a babysitter. We had a lovely time out together and are looking forward to doing it again sometime soon.
I just finished re-reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows in preparation for the film coming out in a few weeks time, I think it's fair to say I am the most excited about it and keep watching the trailer on the internet..Sad or what?

October Holidays

Friday 15th finally arrived and Tom & Lily started their school holidays so I packed them into the car and we started our holiday. I drove until around 8pm and then we pulled into services and booked into a hotel for the night. Saturday so us complete the first part of our journey as we arrived in Bournemouth around lunchtime to catch up with John. I haven't seen my brother for 3 years so it was good to catch up with him. We also got the chance to see Gary & Jack in Bournemouth for a quick catch up as they were playing a gig in one of the pubs in town. On Sunday we spent the day with John, Conor & Nathan which was great fun. The children all got on well even after not having seen each other for 3 years.
After dropping the boys off home and having a very quick catch up with Lisa it was back to our hotel for bed before setting off on to the camping part of our holiday. Yes, you heard right, Tom, Lily and I were going camping...in October...in England! Alabama it was definitely not and our holiday coincided with an unfortunate cold snap and by god it was cold.

Thankfully my parents arrived on Tuesday afternoon with extra blankets and firewood (having been forewarned by me in the morning about how cold it was). The worst part was in the morning before we got the stove warmed up and blazing away. Apart from that we all had a fine time and went for nice walks in and around Church Stretton and Ludlow, including Ludlow Castle.

A scenic view from atop Ludlow Castle.

Tom and I braved the cold and had a shower, this is me pulling a barrel filled with toasty hot water back to our little camp where I hooked it up to a hosepipe and pump system and stood under a tin bucket with holes in it.

All great fun, but perhaps better in warmer weather. It was back in the car on Friday to drive home. At our first stop it felt like such a luxury washing my hands in warm water. We got home around 4pm and found Nick at home with the heating on and the fire roaring in the fireplace, food in the fridge and no laundry to catch up with. It was a lovely surprise as I hadn't realised Nick had organised to take the Friday off work and I had been preparing myself to come back to a bit of a bachelor pad. 3 loads of our dirty laundry later and I am all caught up with our clothes too.

Meant to post this before I went away for a holiday, when I went out for a run I remembered to cut my toenails so I didn't get a bloody foot and all went well until the next time when I went out this happened...
obviously forgot to cut one of my toenails, it looks worse than it felt thankfully.

Big surprise - I didn't get the job, and I haven't got interviews for any of the other jobs I have applied for so I'm a bit fed up again, although that might have something to do with the weather as it's a crappy day here today.
On a more upbeat note, I did go out for a run this morning, first time in just over a month (naughty girl) and have agreed to do a 10 mile run on 7 November so I have something to aim for and progress towards. Hopefully that will motivate me sufficiently to get up off my arse 3 times a week and go out for a run!
Kids about to get home from school so I'm off now, sorry it's such a short post.