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Raisie Bay

Word of the Week 31 – It’s Been Manic

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Hello and welcome to the home of Word of the Week. A nice and simple weekly linky, with everyone welcome to pop by and share. The idea of the linky is to reflect back on your past week and share it with us. It’s great if you can sum it up in a word or phrase, hence giving us your Word of the Week. My word this week is ‘manic’ and you can read more about that below.

I’m not totally strict on using just a word or phrase. But please try to stick to the theme of summing up your week. There are not too many rules with this linky, just remember to read at least another couple of posts in the link up after adding your link. I will read and comment on all posts and tweet them out for you. I also have a Pinterest board devoted to Word of the Week and I will add posts to Mix Please add the badge below to your post so that others may find us and join in. If you comment or tweet then please use the hashtag #WotW

Word of the Week is open from 6am on Friday Morning to 12 noon on Monday. Plenty of time to join in!

If you are unfamiliar with the Word of the Week linky then please feel free to ask any questions. New linkers are always welcome, we love to hear what you have been up to in the past week.

MY WORD OF THE WEEK – MANIC

marbled background in blue and pink with large purple word 'manic' in the middle

This week has been so busy and certainly a little manic at times…and I don’t do manic. But no worries because things are going to get much calmer for next week.

The weekend was okay and relatively quiet. I thought that maybe all the neighbours had gone on holiday, but they came back again pretty quick. I live on a housing estate and there is always someone making a noise. If it’s not kids screaming, it’s electric scooters. Or maybe neighbours seeing who can play there music the loudest. There are constant lawnmowers or strimmers, like they are in competition with who can have the shortest grass. The kids around here scream so much, I really don’t remember any of my kids being so constantly noisy or maybe I just blocked it out, like the parents around here must do! Just to add to the manic mayhem, they are working on a block of flats in the next street and are using a circular saw for hours and hours at a time. I wouldn’t mind sitting in my garden and chilling with a drink and book… what a joke!

Then there are the manic bugs. Leave the door or window open and you don’t even have to go outside to get bitten. On the hottest days I managed to gain six bites which all became swollen to the size of small dinner plates.

On Tuesday it was Boo’s birthday and were were able to invite her best friend and Star’s boyfriend and his brother. I did them a lovely lunch and we had the obligatory birthday cake. Too old for party games they just played on the Switch. Even that was manic, I could only manage a couple of hours before I announced it was time for everyone to go. I’m sure they had a good time though, and Boo enjoyed her birthday. She had some lovely presents, and I bought her a drawing tablet so she can do some more graphic designs.

That’s my manic week over. I’m so looking forward to peace and quiet next week. We are off on holiday today! It’s okay, I can announce it because the two eldest will be staying home so I’m not leaving an empty house behind. I was only thinking the other day, the last time we went on holiday with the two eldest they were just a year older than Star and Boo. I guess our family holidays are coming to an end. But that makes this one even more special.

Now it’s over to you. What word or phrase sums up your week this week?

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

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Happy 14th Birthday Boo

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My sweet little girl has had her 14th birthday, she’s growing fast. And she has that wonderful teenage attitude 🙂

She loves telling people how she nearly died twice, she wasn’t breathing when she was born due to being a meconium baby. But they soon sorted her, it seemed a lifetime but it was a matter of seconds before she was breathing and then minutes before she was in my arms. The second time was when she was about three years old and she just stopped breathing. I panicked because she’d fallen off her bike and hurt her head just a little while before. She had seemed alright, but then as I was getting her ready for bed she just stopped breathing and flopped into my arms. Graham breathed on her (not resuscitation, just gentle breaths) and I called an ambulance. She began breathing again but didn’t gain consciousness for a while. They took her to hospital to make sure and check out her head. But she was fine.

mantage of photos of Boo, baby picture, one of her in her pushchair, one in a princess dress and one on the beach.

Boo was an adorable baby. We called her Boo before she was born but had already decided on her real name even though we didn’t know if she was going to be a girl. When she was a toddler she loved the film Monsters Inc. and the little girl in that was called Boo. She was the sweetest baby, and adorable toddler. She’s never been any trouble. In the photo above we were on a school trip to the beach when she was in Reception year. The year before we’d been to the same beach and the weather was dismal. I had an awful day with Boo and we spent most of it sitting in a cafe while she coloured in a book. She wasn’t well, and when we got home I had to get an emergency GP to see her. She was sent to hospital as she had pneumonia. It was lovely to go back to the same place a year later and have a totally wonderful day.

a montage of photos of Boo, one on her 9th birthday in a pink dress, one as a bridesmaid being a bit silly, one in her school uniform and one with her baking a cake

On Boo’s 8th birthday I took her to London for a cookery class. She loved baking and was in her element. I thought it was great too because the kitchen was massive and there was someone standing behind us who constantly cleaned up on the way…so all the baking without the mess and washing up! The worst part was carrying all the cakes back home from London!

In 2016 Boo was a bridesmaid at mine and her Dad’s wedding. I’d always said I wouldn’t marry again, but changed my mind and proposed to Graham on February 29th 2016. We got married the same year and it was a very small but wonderful wedding. Boo chose her own dress and you can see it in the top right photo of the montage.

Boo has always worked really hard at school. She has found it difficult at times but has never given up. She went to an all through school so didn’t have the change from year 6 to year 7 at a different school. I think it helped a lot because she doesn’t deal with change very well. She’s now entering her GCSE years and I’m hoping that she can get through them without any more Covid disruptions.

Boo has always been my little trouper, ready with a smile and a hug and sweet as her name. Lately she’s become more withdrawn with anxiety but has found a way of dealing with it by listening to music. You’ll be lucky to find her without her headphones on. She’s always had a tendency of being in her own little world and that’s even more so now.

When she was small she was really small and we used to call her Little Legs, but the last year or so she’s really shot up and is now almost as tall as me. She will be as tall as her sister in no time I’m sure.

Happy 14th Birthday Boo

Here is Boo with her birthday cake….I hadn’t realised that I’d made it the exact same colour as her dress!

Boo with her birthday cake

Boo loves Blue!

Happy 14th birthday my sweet, caring, adorable little girl. I hope your future is as bright as you are. Keep sparkling and don’t lose that smile. I love you loads xx

My Sunday Snapshot – Class of 2021

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And that’s it, my Little Man’s primary school days are over. He is from the class of 2021 and my last child of five to finish primary school. Here he is sporting his Class of 2021 t-shirt which his Dad had to pick up from the school. It has all the names of the year six children within the 2021 on the back.

class 2021, my little man with his special school tshirt celebrating the end of his time at primary school

It’s been a time like no other. When the schools broke up early last year and they spent the last term learning at home, we thought that come September all would be well again. But it wasn’t to be, Covid was still around and the school took extra special measures to keep the kids safe. I take my hats off to them because they did incredibly well and the Little Man only had to self isolate once. The very last week of school. It was heart breaking to have got so far and then miss out on all the fun stuff planned for him and his class mates, most of who he will not see again.

During lockdown the Little Man was the only one of my three children who worked really well at home, but even he got a little fed up of it towards the end. The last week of Primary was spent in online lessons and it was bitter sweet. The kids had their cameras on, whereas before they hadn’t bothered. They knew it was the only way they would see each other for the last time. The teacher was at home, also self-isolating but she made the lessons as fun as possible. They didn’t really work, they did quizzes and played games. The last day they spent telling each child what they thought about them. They were kind, considerate, caring and they made my Little Man weep when their time was over. It was the saddest end of term I’ve ever known.

I know we are not alone, so many other children missed their final weeks at school. My son’s school, which had done so well, went from 0 to 2 to 167 self isolating in a couple of weeks. The Little Man sat next the the boy who tested positive in his class and we worried when he started coughing. Then he developed a fever and I made him do a PCR test. It came back negative and we were so relieved.

It’s the end of the school year and the end of an era. In September my youngest child will be going to secondary school and Star will be starting college. I’m hoping this Covid situation gets better for their sakes.

It’s Summer!

RachelSwirl

Word of the Week 30 – It’s Summer

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Hello and welcome to the home of Word of the Week. A nice and simple weekly linky, with everyone welcome to pop by and share. The idea of the linky is to reflect back on your past week and share it with us. It’s great if you can sum it up in a word or phrase, hence giving us your Word of the Week. My word this week is ‘Summer’ and you can read more about that below.

I’m not totally strict on using just a word or phrase. But please try to stick to the theme of summing up your week. There are not too many rules with this linky, just remember to read at least another couple of posts in the link up after adding your link. I will read and comment on all posts and tweet them out for you. I also have a Pinterest board devoted to Word of the Week and I will add posts to Mix Please add the badge below to your post so that others may find us and join in. If you comment or tweet then please use the hashtag #WotW

Word of the Week is open from 6am on Friday Morning to 12 noon on Monday. Plenty of time to join in!

If you are unfamiliar with the Word of the Week linky then please feel free to ask any questions. New linkers are always welcome, we love to hear what you have been up to in the past week.

MY WORD OF THE WEEK – Summer

Summer, black text on image of a jug of lemonade with fresh lemons and the sun shining in the backgroun.

Last week I was worried about the neighbours getting ready to party, but even though they were loud they stopped before midnight. Yay! But sleep has still been difficult because of the heat…phew! This weekend it’s supposed to be cooler, I’m looking forward to that, but I also hope it’s not the end of the hot weather as the summer holidays begin.

We had a sad start to the holidays with the Little Man in self isolation when his bubble broke. First up he was heartbroken that he was going to miss all the fun things they had planned. Then he got sick, a dry cough and a raging temperature. I was so worried I got him tested with a PCR covid test. The boy who has tested positive for Covid is the Little Man’s best friend who he sat next to at school. Thankfully, the test came back quickly and he was given the all clear. Phew, it was like we had dodged a bullet.

His last few days of the summer term were done online but they had loads of interaction and he enjoyed seeing his teacher and friends on the screen. The end of term party was heart breaking though and the Little Man ended up in tears. He couldn’t go to school but his Dad fetched his school leavers t-shirt and yearbook. He also had an autograph book with no way of collecting autographs.

Summer break has now begun and soon we will be going to the seaside. I want to keep everyone home so we can stay healthy enough to go. If we get pinged now we will be heartbroken. What a strange situation to be in. We are only going to Dorset and have arranged to meet up with family members we’ve not seen for a couple of years now. Other than that we will be keeping to ourselves and just enjoying a change of scenery.

I’ve a million and one things to worry about at home but I’m hoping I can put them to one side just for one week. Fingers crossed.

I’m also hoping we can get the pool filled today. I know we are supposed to be saving water, but if there is rain on the way this weekend then we best get a day or two out of it.

What are your plans this summer?

Now it’s over to you, what word or phrase sums up your week this week?

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

My Sunday Snapshot a Broken Butterfly

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This week I have seen so many butterflies in my garden, most of them have been small white butterflies, My Mom used to call them Cabbage Butterflies. One day I spotted this little broken butterfly on my washing line. His wings were damaged and he didn’t seem to be in a hurry to fly off. I though maybe he couldn’t fly, but he proved me wrong and flew off into the trees. I looked him up and I think he is a Dingy Skipper Butterfly.

broken butterfly, a dingy butterfly with broken wings sitting on my washing line

I love butterflies and I’ve been thrilled to see so many in my garden. I’m sure it’s because of all the nature by the canal at the side of my house. We see all sorts of birds, bats and can hear woodpeckers and owls in the trees. We also get squirrels and so many hedgehogs. We had a hedgehog wander into our house one evening!

I was sad to see the sorry state of this broken butterfly, but despite his condition he was still able to fly off. I wish I could fly and not worry about being so broken.

I always believed that butterflies only lived for a day, but my friend Google assures me it can be a week or two. Some, like the Painted Lady can live for up to twelve months.

If you look at the header on my blog you will spot seven butterflies, one for every member of my family. There is one for each of my five children, one for my husband and one for me. One day we will all fly free.

RachelSwirl

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