Why I think John and Edward should win...

Or at least get to the semi-finals. I had my head in my hands last night as the twins (or trolls as many are calling them) were announced as being in the bottom two and having to take part in the 'sing-off' against Lucy. "Well that's it, then!" I said to Honor who I had got up out of bed to watch X-Factor with me. "Vote again, Mummy!" she pleaded. "It's too late". I sighed, heavily. "What, are the lines closed, then?" "Yes...", I snapped, "..and those judges are going to kick 'em out!"
Hurrah! Simon hit the nail on the head when he said he didn't think Lucy could win and he'd rather see John and Edward again and so gave up the decision to the public vote.

I read lots of angry comments on Facebook this morning. And many people exasperated that this is a singing competition. Well, sure it is. But these contestants, in my opinion have already won in the singing stakes. By getting into the final 12 they have proved they are all brilliant singers. But that's not the point. It can't be the point because we've seen so many excellent singers, like Laura last year, leave the competition early on. Why? Because they have to do more than just sing. They have to be likeable, fun, entertain. I really thought the game was up for JEdward because they don't stand on the stage with their eyes closed, reaching down into the pits of their stomachs like they're in some kind of agony to belt out the whopping notes that most of the others do. No. They leapt around the stage, catapaulting themselves into the audience and cartwheeling back again while managing to keep the tune to Rock DJ fairly recognisable! And they didn't stand simpering and whining as they awaited their fate. Not only did they stay cheerful but they managed to put a smile back on Lucy's face, bless 'em, who, incidentally commented that SHE thought they deserved to go on because they worked harder than anyone. And this is where I think they deserve credit. Because in spite of all the negativity, they appear to focus entirely on putting on the best performance they can. I'll be interested to see whether next week, they'll behave like Danyl did, all broken or wounded or will they get on with enjoying the gig for what it is... after all, they are all so priviledged to be there.

Rock on, John and Edward, Rock on!

This weekend has been mostly preparing for Hubby to go off to South Africa. (He went this afternoon). But we had time to get this new rug for the study which Hope is enjoying rolling around on and Honor practised converting fractions into decimals with the base 10 on it this afternoon. Henry has been mostly charging around the house with his new plastic swords that he got as a prize for helping Grandma look after the baby on Wednesday.
And this morning Honor took part in the Rememberance Sunday parade with the Brownies at church.

Gratitude

A few of my favourite blogs regularly focus on gratitude. There's a 'gratitude Friday' theme and a 'November gratitude challenge' that I've been reading about. Well, today is Friday and it is November so I'm going to post about what I'm grateful for. (In no particular order...)
1.) That beautiful baby asleep upstairs.
2.) My husband, sitting in the back room in his Superman T-Shirt and pants, working hard so that I get to stay home to look after the kids and that he helped me clean up the house ready for some visitors that were going to come this morning (but didn't turn up!)
3.) My friend Lee (LTG!) who makes me laugh.
4.) My good friends Lisa and Glenn who treat our kids like they they are family.
5.) A comfortable bed (I was sleeping on a broken one for about a year and was able to get it replaced just before the baby was born).
6.) A-Ha - well, why shouldn't they be on the list?
7.) My Mum and Dad
8.) Hubby's Mum and Dad.
9.) John and Edward (hee hee). Well they put the fun factor into X-Factor and it's rubbish that they wouldn't be able to make a decent, listenable record... they can do wonders with technology, nowadays.
10.) The sun shining through the window.
11.) The lillies on the sideboard.
12.) The cup of tea in my hand.
13.) Our tracker mortgage! (And low interest rates)

Funny thing is, on this gratitude Friday, I took a look at what my friends on Facebook have to say this morning and a lot of them are grumbling about something or other. Well, why not. Of course we should reflect more often than not about what is good in our lives but I reckon a good 'ol grumble now and again is healthy so my last one, for today anyway is...
14.) The right to grumble!

Hubby has just been showing me some of the clips from the concert that he filmed on his phone last night. They're surprisingly good quality. (And in the light of my recent 'techno babe' post -will, no doubt, look back on THIS post in 10 years and laugh).

I remember the first concert I EVER went to. Fleetwood Mac - Behind the Mask. I was struck by the image of Stevie Nicks, lit up like a goddess, with so many audience members holding up their cigarette lighters as she sang. Well, this time, it looked similar, only it was the lights of all the mobile phones being held up to record the action.

I said I was going to bed, didn't I? Well, can I just watch Peter Andre first?

The Sun Always Shines....

Last night Hubby, Honor and I went to the O2 in London to see A-Ha. We had a really fabulous evening. Straight after school, my Mum came to babysit the younger ones and we had an easy, straightforward journey up there with plenty of time to look around and have a nice meal which was in a Chinese restaurant. But it was nicer than the usual chinese food and not too expensive either. I had tempura seabass in a lime sauce.
Mmmmmmmm!

Honor really enjoyed herself. She got a bit tired and fidgety through the support act - Donkey Boy (hur, hur!) but the atmosphere building up after that, with the chanting and mexican wave
in the crowd got us going again. A-Ha were absolutely BRILLIANT! I think they should go on X-Factor instead of the likes of Britney and Whitney and show everyone how to hold onto those big long notes! And Mags has such a good sense of humour, really milking the audience appreciation of his xylophone solo!!!

We didn't get home 'til midnight. Honor, though, didn't seem at all tired today. In fact they're all out to the local bonfire on the lees, but I am too shattered to go. Gonna have a bath and early night. I've promised Henry a little prize. Mum said he was excellent at helping her look after the baby last night.

All sorts and out of sorts.

Poor Henry. He was definitely out of sorts today. Right from the moment he got up he was behaving very silly which got him into a fight with his big sister and got me irritated too. After some stern words, the two of them sat at opposite ends of the table to eat their rice pops, glaring at each other, in silence. I was sure I could hear the theme tune from The Good, the Bad and the Ugly in the background, somewhere. It was like that all day from what I could gather. He was told off at school for jumping on the benches in the playground. He couldn't focus on his Kumon when he got home and bedtime ended in screaming (him, not me... oh no. I stayed very cool and left him to it. Well, I had a baby to feed and homework to do with Honor.) So Daddy sorted that out when he got in. Hopefully, he'll get a good nights sleep and be more agreeable in the morning. On reflection though, often when he has a day like this, he goes down with a virus shortly afterwards so I'll keep an eye out for that.

I went into the school office this morning to hand over all our hard earned cash... swimming, a trip to Leeds Castle and a trip to Canterbury Cathedral, so far this term we've been asked for £98 and it's only November! I had a little grumble about that. I also took in my documents for the CRB check so that I can help in school, but had to come back later as I forgot the NI number.

I've been doing some stuff in the kitchen too, trying to make good use of leftovers. I made a chicken and veg soup (which took a lot of cajoling to get the kids to eat) and a kind of homemade ice-cream out of very ripe bananas and a mango. I gave some of the puree to Hope and whizzed up the rest with some double cream and put it in the freezer for the kids pudding. And as the photo shows, they thought it was great! Hope and I popped over to Dunelm Mill this afternoon to get some nice fabric to cover up the cubby holes in the kitchen.

So, to finish off, Honor is studying measurement at school so we practised weighing some things and learning what all the markings on the scales represent. She found it more difficult to
understand a quarter or 25% of a kg, so we'll just keep on practising!

Tomorrow we are going to see A-Ha in concert!!!!!! Can't wait!!!!!!

Sugar and spice...

It's been a dreadful day, weather-wise. But right now I'm cosied up beside the log burner. Baby is asleep and everyone else is out.

This morning Honor and I examined the contents of our goodie bag and after trying out a few with breakfast, we put them into the green bowl. I took a piccie of them as well as our other little sweetie who was rolling around on the floor in her pink, striped 'no added sugar' romper suit. Later on, Hubby took us on a shopping spree. He knows how to keep his ladies happy! Honor had enough pocket money saved to buy this lovely white fur jacket. I don't mind getting older and fatter, except maybe a bit when I see the fab stuff she gets to wear. And she does look great. I couldn't help feel disappointed every time I caught sight of myself in the mirror - so I chucked some concealer and face masks into the trolley.

Hubby has managed to fit in a bit of painting and decorating over the last few weeks. We moved into this house nearly 3 years ago and, it would seem, nothing had been done for about 30 years! So, it has been hard work trying to smarten the place up a bit on top of everything else and we appreciate his efforts. He'll be off to South Africa soon and then it'll be Christmas so it looks as though we'll have to leave decorating any further 'til next year and concentrate on the kids and having some fun as a family.

I need to go and put the chicken in the oven, now. We'll have a roast dinner and watch the results of the X-Factor.