A week (or so) in review and a word to the ABC

Tim asked me today (via facebook, of course) why my blog has derailed. I'm not really sure why. It's a combination of things I suppose. I'm busier than I ought to be and just want to blob when I am free in the evenings, there are so many books I want to read, DVDs I want to (and do) watch and I have a lot of uni work to do. I think I have to admit that somethings I'd probably blog about, I just tweet..... you know, it's so quick.

Still, for those who do like to keep up with our doings I'll review. It was so much fun having Mum here, I wish she'd move in :) I had the Friday and Saturday off, before she left, and we went out for coffee on the Friday morning. We parked behind Myer and it took us an hour to get through Myer to the café across the road as we came across too many bargains. Poor Toby. All he wanted was a hot chocolate and I kept finding things to try on. Facebook friends will have seen all of these photos before and they are from my phone, sorry about that. This is the dress I bought on super special. Bethany was concerned that I couldn't breathe with the belt on....

On Saturday we had the Halbisches over for lunch which was lovely. Not satisfied with the black forest cake I made for Liz' birthday, Mum and I made a Jamie Oliver black forest roulade. I overheated the chocolate while melting it and made a right mess of the rolling but I'd have to say it was still pretty good. I don't always love Jamie's recipes but this this was pretty good.

We said goodbye to Mum on Sunday afternoon and we were very sorry to watch the final episode of Little Dorrit without her. Despite the fact that after the big secret was revealed I was none the wiser, it really was a wonderful production. We taped the last episode for Mum, as she'll be back for a night in a week, and I can't wait to watch it with her.

Andrew was going to a course in Sydney on Thursday but, seeing as winter mornings are so very foggy here, he flew up on Wednesday afternoon. It would have been a waste of a trip if he hadn't stayed a bit longer so he booked his return flight for Sunday. Single parenting isn't an awful lot of fun but it did give me a chance to watch DVDs Andrew might not be so keen on. I watched the first episode of North and South (only for the second time) on Thursday night, knowing that I had another two nights to watch the other three hours. On Friday, however, Young Victoria came back to the library and I had reserved it. Friday afternoon was quite frantic with soccer practice, a birthday party and kids' club. Bethany and I went on a 'date' while Joss and Tobes were at kids' club. She chose the destination, McDonalds, and Narelle and her kids came too. She and I had coffee while the kids had happy meals and played in the playground. By the time I dragged the older two away from the fires they made at the camp fire night and popped their smoky little selves into bed, it was after nine but I watched the movie and absolutely loved it.

This is Jossie in her new beret and earrings. She didn't wear this to netball on Saturday but still looked very stylish with a side pony tail. So important to look good on the court :) This was my first Saturday doing the double sport thing all by myself. Toby was thrilled to be back at soccer having been devastated  when Mama hadn't been able to see him play the week before. Mum sent him a message saying that she hoped he a) scored a goal and b) won the game. He did indeed score a goal and raced over to ask me to text Mum saying that he had dealt with a) and that b) was looking very likely. They did win the game and we rushed over to Jossie's netball game. Jossie's team has, um, not done very well thus far so it was a fabulous experience for everyone when they won the game 25 - 10! We celebrated a successful sporting morning with fish and chips for lunch. I celebrated with the last three hours of North and South after the kids were in bed :)

I finished reading Victoria Hislop's The Island (loved it) and Don't Call me Ishmael (so much fun) and am reading Gilead by Marilynne Robinson. I have Jo Brand's It's Different for Girls, Neil Gaiman's The Graveyard Book, Jeffrey Eugenides' The Virgin Suicides, Natasha Solomons' Mr Rosenblum's List and Ben Okri's The Famished Road on my bedside table - working at the library is so difficult. Andrew and I are watching Simon Schama's A History of Britain and Andrew brought  Little Dorrit back from Sydney! This is where I need to have a word with the ABC. I love the ABC, you know that I do, but I want to know why we had to wait two years to see Little Dorrit. I also think it's about time we saw the third and final series of Ashes to Ashes which will wrap up Ashes to Ashes and Life on Mars, and what about the eight series of Spooks? Will I have to buy them on Amazon.co.uk? Actually, I'll be doing that anyway.....