Mamma Mia!

Have been so busy with everything, well mainly business stuff that blogging really has gone to pot. Now that I finally have an employee of my very own though I am determined to start attempting to make some time for this blog. After all, with the speed that my 4.5 months-away-from-turning-11-year old is growing up, I need to make more effort.

And not just more effort to blog, but to actually spend time with him that isn't just a few hours on a Saturday and Sunday or a snatched hour at 2 or 3am when I finally crawl into bed and he is sometimes woken up. As lovely as that time is, it isn't enough and it isn't fair. As well as the usual obstacles faced by single parents the businesses add many more and there certainly isn't anyone else to cook,clean, HE, shop etc!

My lovely employee (hmmm don't like using that word) only started last week but as far as I can see she is going to be amazing. Towards the end of September I hope to be able to take my planned week off to go away and so she will be left in charge for a week. If all goes well then once October arrives I will be able to leave her twice a week at least and actually go out with Charlie during the week! It will be a luxury I haven't had for 14 months since B left. I am very much looking forward to it and I think Charlie will benefit hugely from actually having some time with me.

My new website is very close to being ready for launch although it is being redesigned in October as well.

I am also getting a cleaner or cleaning agency soon, just need to finish having the interviews/visits and choose someone and we're all set.

HE wise Charlie has powered through SL core 2 and finished it a week ago so at the moment he is doing a load of workbooks we have hanging around, normally science, english,spelling,non verbal reasoning, verbal reasoning, times tables, maths, DWN and some history questions from Galore Park every day.

Having got rid of his very old pc, pc work station and desk last weekend we have now taken delivered of an aptly named Charlie desk and which B kindly assembled this weekend. I had bought him a laptop to replace his pc but its no good so is being sent back. Seeing as I now have a rather gorgeous Mac Book and will soon be getting a MAC desktop I am considering getting him a Mac laptop too and ridding the house of evil Windows once and for all. I will have to install Bootcamp or Parallel though to enable me to print out my orders, but as long as that works ok I will be ecstatic to say goodbye to Windows for good. With the arrival of my iPhone tomorrow this will be a true Mac house.

We had a fantastic time in London during our yearly June weekend there. As usual we did a lot, including going out to see the new Terminal 5, Harrods, Covent Garden, Chinatown, Soho, Picadilly, Trafalfar Square, Leicester Square, West End Live festival, saw Grease at the theatre, walked all the way from Green Park down to Buckingham Palace through St James Park over to Westminster and then all the way along South Bank and on to St Pauls, in one go, in the blazing heat. It was lovely though but exhausting.

I spent the whole of bank holiday weekend working in way or another from two trips to the tip to clearing out the stock room and rearranging the house so it works better for having someone in the house working. Charlie was a star as always and helped hump stock all over the house and out to the garage. Finished the last of the reogranising of the garge stock room yesterday.

We had a lovely visit from the Puddles since I last blogged and enjoyed a picnic in the park and Prince Caspian.

I made the difficult decision last week to stop allowing him to attend Scouts. I reached the end of my tether with his behaviour after he had been and the 3 week enforced absence due to Scout Camp, PL holiday and one week of me just saying no, really proved that it is 100% not him! He was fine during those 3 weeks, went back in the fourth week and the behaviour the next morning was just horrible. Ugh.

He attended his Stagecoach summer workshop at the start of August and loved it but was totally exhausted after dancing, singing and acting from 10-4 every day. The show at the end of the week was fantastic, amazing what can be achieved in that time frame considering the children are aged from 6-17. Everyone had two parts and it was just such good fun. Charlie got one of the biggest laughs for his delivery of his last line as Cliff Barnes in the Dallas segment which he was thrilled with.

He loves Stagecoach so much, it is really good for him, only two more weeks until the next term starts.

Charlie has also made a lovely new friend. A few weeks ago new neighbours moved in next door, a family from America and they have a daughter who is 11. After playing together all day on Friday they are now best friends. She is a lovely little girl and parents really nice too. The mum is coming round this week for coffee. We all went for a walk around the Lakes on Friday afternoon to feed the ducks, it was a welcome respite from work.

Tomorrow is my helper's third day and I am letting Charlie off work for most of the day as Anna is starting school on Wednesday so they need more time to hang out. She has been harassing her parents to let her be home schooled though all of a sudden - rofl!