Spent an interesting afternoon listening and occasionally watching the Children Schools and Families Bill Committee meeting on parliament tv.

Watch the recorded version here

I had to listen with headphones, as it upsets Buzz, and I missed much of it helping with lego and games and such, but I heard enough.

Democracy in action. What a sad sight.

If you still think you are being adequately represented in parliament, you need to listen to the debate.

If you have children in school, you should really listen to all of the committee meetings, or read the transcript in Hansard. I haven't listened to the others, but apparently they're not good.

Home Education was fantastically defended by Graham Stuart MP. He clearly and eloquently raised every point about HE and against the Bill that we have been arguing since last January.

He referred to various submissions, the actual evidence, the difference in DCSF data and data compiled from FOI requests, lots of research that has been done on home education, the problem with the NEETs figures, and on and on.

I can't think of anything he missed out.

He shot down Diana Johnson MP with her attempt  to discredit the research. She claimed it was based on small self-selecting samples.

Admirably, he contained himself, although he looked as though he wished to swear loudly and volubly at her pitiful attempt to disarm him. He retaliated with a magnificent blow, referring laughingly to the data gathered by Badman from the self-selecting 74 (out of 150) LA's.

[I believe much of Badman's final submission was dependent on only 22 (self-selecting) LA responses to his second questionnaire, but I could be wrong].

Still, despite this eloquence, and other MP's who "get it" - at least partly, the Bill carries on with it's stately progression.

Labour MPs continue to follow party line - even after they have convincingly pointed out many flaws in the Bill and the evidence it was based on.

And that's our democratic system.

As Grit says - breaking the law is a simple step.

POTD - 2nd February

Off to the local HE group



Playing the DS on the train.

It rained on the way, but by the time we got there it had stopped, and then later on it was even sunny! So we managed to spend some time outside in the park too. (Left the camera inside of course!)

This was Squirt's favourite bit - so much so, he asked if we were going again today! Picture me trying not to jump up and down for joy. Poor Squirt hasn't wanted to join in the last few times we've been, but suddenly he's returning to the mad, running around and laughing play that he used to do.



Yay!

Now I just need some kind of energy boost to get me there and back and then dinner and normal life, without collapsing in a heap the next day :(

POTD - 1st February

Things are growing in my garden...


I believe they're bluebell shoots and they started appearing a couple of weeks ago. I remember getting very excited about them this time last year, thinking flowers were imminent, but they took *ages* to actually appear.

A trip to the garden centre is planned for some instant gratification, but hopefully we'll also build on last year's gardening successes. Onward and upward.

They're having giveaways...

Sunnydaytodaymama is offering a beautiful Batik Frog wallhanging giveaway. And Debs of Pipistrelle Crochet Design is offering a beautiful lavender stuffed crochet heart giveaway.

You'll find more of the lavender stuffed hearts in the Pipistrelle Crochet Design Folksy shop - definitely worth a visit.

Shop Update - Artfire and Folksy

I've added new items to my Artfire shop Artfire - A Simple Melody, and I've stocked up my Folksy shop now too Folksy - A Simple Melody







They are ideal for valentine's day, so please do pop along and have a browse :-)

POTD - January 2010 review

POTD : 23rd - 31st January - and a bit of an update

My little netbook/laptop has decided it doesn't want to connect to the internet anymore :(
The big computer crashes A LOT, and I have to queue to get on it, so I'm a little behind.

Ho hum...

23rd January - Game of Life, found in a charity shop



I used to play this all the time with my best friend when I was about 10. We loved it.
It's still good!

24th January - a trip to a different beach



We were going for a coastal cliff walk, but it was so muddy - literally sucking our shoes and boots off! Eew! Instead the boys played in this stream that was rushing down to join the sea, and then daring the waves to soak them. (Squirt lost!)  More photos on Flickr, if you're interested.


25th January - lemon honey frosted cookies


I've just realised I didn't even post about the lovely cookies/biscuits we made for the Home Baked Challenge! (I had a whole post written in my head - would help to actually type it, perhaps.) Although there were initial comments like - "too much lemon", they were all gone before I could sit down with my cup of tea.

26th January


Walking back from the library, Squirt and I were transfixed by the sight of the sun rapidly sinking behind the clouds. Squirt was wondering if it was like a light switching off when it finally set, and was intrigued that it was still light.

27th January - Lego Robots game


We've played so many games this month - it's been brilliant. (I love games, can you tell?) The boys like this one, because it's robots. In the game you are trying to build 3 particular robots, but the boys are keen to add their own designs into the mix.

28th January - Rainbow bears


These are part of the "maths tub", as they're three different sizes, three different weights and six different colours. Squirt likes using the 3D solids to build houses for them, and then he was grouping then into various combinations of families. Buzz never liked these, so it's a relief that someone is finally playing with them ;-)

29th January


A walk and scooter along by the waterfront, and watching the digger do it's stuff.

30th January - watercolour painting


The boys saw me painting a hand mandala I had drawn, and they decided to join in. So finally, just before the end of the month, we did part of the Creative Every Day theme for January - body.

Finally - is anyone still here?

31st January - more clouds


I know, a lot of clouds.

Hopefully back to more regular posting soon. Thanks for reading.

POTD : 19th - 22nd January

Still here *waves*

19th January - Colouring salt



Funny, we also did this almost exactly one year ago!

20th January - playing Mastermind



I used to be very good at this, but my brain is now mush. I'm getting lots and lots of practice though.
It reminded me of a version we used to have when I was little, where you had to work out three coloured shapes. It was about the width of a monopoly board, and you had to guess the shapes on one half of the board, and the colours on the other.
I've googled it, but it obviously wasn't called "Mastermind". Anyone know anything about it? It's driving me mad!

21st January - climbing walls



Buzz whizzed up there! Amazing - I was always useless at things like that, so I'm very impressed.
Squirt was giving it his best, but he's a little short, lol. He needed a boost, and then he was up there like a monkey.

22nd January - Sprouts!



We were playing some paper and pencil games, and I remembered Stephanie posting about Sprouts the other day.

Draw two dots and a line joining them. Then draw a dot somewhere on that line. The next person has to draw a line between two of the dots and place a dot on that new line, and so on.

You can't cross or touch a line, and you can't have more than 3 lines attached to any dot.

Very easy to play, but I found it impossible to win! Everytime I would be groaning as I realised Buzz was going to win, *again*!  Of course, he thought that was hysterically funny, and he wanted to play over and over again.

{disclaimer - I may well have the rules wrong. Best to check for yourself here}

POTD - 18th January

The gruesome twosome? Or my little angels?



Something in between :-)

POTD - 16th and 17th January

16th January



They were running. It was muddy. That says it all, I think. ;-)

17th January
 


The cupboards were bare, the boys (well, and me) were peckish, so we made choc chip muffins. Yum! In fact, the boys did all the work, and they were double yum. So yummy, in fact, that when their friends came round to play, they ATE THEM ALL.

How is that fair? Have to make some more now!

Creative Every Day - week 2

During last week's wander through other CED participants' blogs, I was inspired by for love and idleness to make a start on a "handala" - a mandala on an outline of my hand.

I really like it, but I haven't picked it up since, probably because I'm scared I'll ruin it when I try to colour it in ;-)
I thought the boys might like to have a go at some body outlines, but they haven't been interested this week. Not even Squirt "the body mad".

To carry on with the "what I haven't done" thread, I also haven't played anymore with the digital template photo thingy (technical term). However, wonderfully, Shimelle posted up a tutorial for using layered templates with Photoshop and suggested that they could also be used in Paint Shop Pro. I had a quick rummage, and I think I can get it to work. Maybe a return to scrapbooking is on the cards for this year?

So, what *did* I do?

I made an ice bowl, thanks to all the cold weather.


I made it a bit deep, so it only froze the top layer, but it still looked pretty. All gone now :(

And, despite my crochet afghan needed to be finished, I started work on a "Mystery" crochet-a-long that I stumbled across at Gourmet Crochet. The squares are small, quick and easy - I managed three in one day, and my cheap acrylic wool satisfies my need for colour.



I've also made a few loaves of bread and some pizza (from scratch). Being housebound because of icy pavements has it's uses ;-)

Squirt loved the Halloween tealight jars so much, he decided to make another one - this time definitely for sweets ;-) Just realised I don't have a photo of the finished result! It's very pretty and sparkly, but we're saving it for Christmas, apparently.


We played a shapes challenge, inspired by Stephanie - each player has to create an image with the shapes to match the word, eg. Robot. It was good fun and very interesting to see the different interpretations.






Buzz got a "Make a Morph" kit for Christmas, and they got it out to have a play. When they brought over their efforts, Buzz was saying "It's not very good...". I knew I'd like whatever they'd come up with, but I was bowled over with this. (ooh, pun!)

By Buzz (with props!) :


By Squirt -Morph's brother :

Wonderful!

POTD - 13th, 14th and 15th January

Oh dear, slacking again. I blame...erm, me?

13th January
Evidence of cats in our garden (nicer than their normal "evidence!)


14th January
Evidence of rabbits in our garden???


Last February, in the snow, it seemed we had a rabbit visitor. I didn't believe it at first, but then I had a gruesome find in the alley behind our house - a rabbit foot :-(
I assumed the rabbit was an escapee that had perished in the cold. But here we are again. Reverse Houdini - how does it get in?

Compare and contrast - take notes and pass to me ;-)


15th January - Expedition to the Antartic Research Station.

Otherwise known as a snow melt "lake" in the park, with useful patches of ice to balance on and fall off of.

What is the attraction to cold water? Everytime I looked at Squirt, he had his foot hovering over, or in, the water. They were very happy!