In the midst of this we had this lovely Saturday evening at our friends’ beach hut and then slept over in another beach hut.  So we woke up on Sunday morning to fantastic view over fields and the sea.

Being us we didn’t have the whole morning to ourselves, Martin was going off to work at the Wolverton Manor Show and we were going to join him later.  But we didn’t have to rush to get up and the kids all stayed asleep and we experienced a moment of peace and tranquillity that had a profound effect on me.  Why didn’t I have more mornings when I felt like this, why were we always rushing about on a Sunday instead of relaxing and feeling peaceful and having enough time to enjoy each other company?

The peace and tranquillity is obviously enhanced by cups of tea

So having established that this was my best Sunday morning for months (even if after these pics Martin went off to WMS and I was left cleaning the tent that a load of smelly teenagers had been sleeping in for a week) did we do anything to change our lives?  No of course we didn’t we carried on regardless.

Stress carried on building up.

Then shortly afterwards I read an article in the New Wine magazine (I don’t usually read it as I find it too charisimaticly evangelical for my tastes these days, but it was free so hey!) while sitting on the loo (all the best reading goes on there.  I usually even read Martin’s Third Sector magazine which is seriously boring – although this month pictured an almost nude picture of Mark Forster who used to swim at Copthall where I used to teach swimming – and the BBC focus Magazine is the overall preferred magazine by most people in the house).

I picked out an article by Michele Guinness who is really interesting.  She was writing about the sabbatical that she was having in France with her husband and how they were going to do up a house in France.  The content of the article was mostly focused on the fact that they had decided to not work on the house on Sunday’s but to have a day of rest instead. She wasn’t happy with this decision at first as she felt it was just shirking on the DIY but says that as Sundays were spent cycling through countryside and having leisurely meals she came round to the idea very quickly.

Now I know it’s not rocket science but it suddenly struck me that this was just what we needed.  One day a week to be a day for resting, for playing , for fun and not for work.  A day to be different than the rest.  You’d think as a Christian with the heritage of  a Sabbath day I could have twigged a bit earlier.  So I pointed Martin in the direction of the magazine article and he agreed.

So how were we going to keep Sunday’s different?

Well they needed to be fun – when the girls were younger we wanted to make Sunday’s the best day in the week and we used to have gisbit day (biscuit day -but Rebekah couldn’t say it), when we could have tea and biscuits for breakfast before church – now we go to a fabulous church that has tea (and rather nice filter coffee) and biscuits (or cakes, sausage rolls, bacon rolls etc – depending on who is doing the teas) before church  so we don’t need to do that any more.

Also we had memories of friends who hadn’t been allowed to play with anything other than a Noah’s Ark toy on a Sunday which all sounded a bit grim.

So we decided to ban the computer (with an exception for the iPlayer if we are watching together and music) mostly to stop me and Martin from disappearing into facebook land and to make it time when we could all do what we wanted but with a focus generally on being together.  No DIY or general housework (cooking and dished excepting).  No Work!  But always remembering that “the Sabbath was made for man not man for the Sabbath”.  So these are not rules but guidelines to help us to have a proper day of rest

So what have we done since deciding this?

We’ve gone on a fungal foray with friends, where we surprised ourselves by actually finding something other than little brown jobbies.

c

We’ve gone on walks, long and short and all together and in smaller groups.

We have watched videos and played games.

We’ve napped in bed and on the slouch (mostly that’s just me).

But mostly we just have a proper day off, we don’t go shopping and we don’t work and we do spend time doing what we feel like doing and doing things together.  Last week we all gardened except Rebekah who made scones instead – everyone was happy.  Then she went off to a recorder concert while I napped and read chick-lit on the sofa and martin and Jonathan played carcassone.   Oh and we usually watch Top Gear when it’s on too!

I can’t begin to describe what a difference this simple change has made in our lives, I look forward to Sundays hugely now – sometimes things don’t work out perfectly, when we are on some sort of duty at church we don’t have quite such a relaxed start  (I can be known to be yelling at everyone to find every pair of scissors in the house and the packet of  split-pins which surely must be in the blue box in the cupboard as I haven’t fully prepared for Sunday funday), but not starting church until 11am means we don’t have to rush too much – but overall everyone looks forward to Sundays and it seems to  give everyone permission to just chill out and have a day off.

We think Sundays are super

]]> http://wightweirdos.co.uk/ww/2010/03/our-super-sundays/feed/ 0 http://wightweirdos.co.uk/ww/2010/03/our-lovely-slouch/ http://wightweirdos.co.uk/ww/2010/03/our-lovely-slouch/#comments Wed, 10 Mar 2010 13:36:10 +0000 Susan http://wightweirdos.co.uk/ww/?p=736 When we moved into our new house we decided rather than have the huge sofa bed upright we would flatten it and have a bed in our living room.

We added a duvet and some pillows and a throw and it became, in the words of my friend, a slouch.

We love having it in our living room and use it for all sorts of things:

Lounging around and reading

fitting in lots of people on family occasions

Doing jigsaws on.

Doing maths

And more lounging around and reading on

Went of to auditions for “wind in the willows musical version” with a friend this morning. Wasn’t actually auditioning as I did on Friday. Was just their to pick something up. A big group of us played cards in the end age ranging from 5 to 14!

Then came home made brioche (an experiment we haven’t tried before) Banana cake with some manky bananas Mum bought cheap on the mainland and lemon cake to use up oven space.

Then played Harry Potter game with Jonathan (7) and friend to deal with technical things like money and making sure people aren’t sneaking extra goes in! I did try to give them a chance but somehow still managed to win….

Then made tea and cake for Mum and friend talking up stairs (back to Cinderella duties)

Then did some music, fiddled about with Ruth’s keyboard which I am allowed to borrow while she is in Andorra skiing! Tried to fit music and chords to Badman protest poem, without much luck. AM7 just didn’t quite fit!

So had a “proper” home ed sort of day. Really enjoyed it!

Presentation/speech planning for home ed “What’s next” evening. Then a trip to the coastal visitors centre in the afternoon, looking at coastal erosion (cliffs basically!)

Anyway onto my minor muttering.

Tomorrow on the ferry while I am going through the wonders of factorisation with the girls Martin will not be playing Shut the Box with Jonathan as I had planned.  Rather he will probably be busy blogging a rant and writing to our MP  about the consequences of the latest attacks on HE.

So once more we are campaigning for the right to continue to HE how we want rather than actually spending the time HEing how we want. And playing maths games on the ferry is what I want to do!

First he prepared as much as possible in advance.

Here is Jonathan cooking the mushrooms and keeping an eye on the rice.

Jonathan has two pots (one with no onions, peas or mushrooms) nearly ready to be served up.

We had some left over mashed potatoes and decided we’d make fish cakes as well.

First you choose the colours you want and gently pull off fine bits of wool.

Make piles of wool about the same size.

Some people do this more neatly than others!

Then you need to make a neat ball with out any rough edges (these become deep crevices if you leave them).  this is easier said than done.

Then you dip them in warm soapy water (I made mine too soapy at first and it turned into a thick gloop as it cooled down).   Get them really wet and then ring them out a fair bit.  Next roll them around in your hands just like making playdough balls when you were small.  They shrink a lot at this stage but not as much as I thought!

Then I added on some patterns with needle felting (still got Sam’s needles – whoops).  Yes I did prick my finger – I do every-time I try needle felting!

Then You’ve got some lovely felt balls.

Unfortunately they didn’t shrink as much as I had remembered so Ruth now has giant beads.  Not sure quite how useful that is going to be for her.

]]> http://wightweirdos.co.uk/ww/2010/02/felt-beads/feed/ 0 http://wightweirdos.co.uk/ww/2010/02/lenten-pretzels/ http://wightweirdos.co.uk/ww/2010/02/lenten-pretzels/#comments Thu, 25 Feb 2010 08:12:46 +0000 Susan http://wightweirdos.co.uk/ww/?p=696 We have learnt that pretzels are traditionally made during Lent. Apparently some monks used to pray by putting their hands on their shoulders, left hand to right shoulder and vice versa.  They made pretzels to remind them of the shape the arms made and hence to be a reminder to pray more during Lent.

You make the pretzels by mixing warm water yeast and sugar.

Then you mix in the flour.

Then you kneed the dough.

Next you make the dough into long snake shapes and shape it into pretzels

Brush the tops with egg and sprinkle on a little salt.

Then bake them.

Then scoff them quickly before the others come home.

Answer: Lots

Here goes

5 – 1 =4  (we start with Ruth at a friends having had a sleepover)

4-1 = 3 (I go to my numeracy course – luckily it’s only equivalent fractions there not algebraic fractions)

3+3 =6 (three Ds arrive)

6-3=3 (2 Ds and a Gibson go to English workshop – 1 Gibson works at home 1 D and a Gibson play card games)

3+1-1 =3  (I arrive home from work and Martin leaves for a meeting passing the keys like a baton in a relay race)

3+3 = 6 (Ruth and a D and a H arrive here for felting – After Ruth has TIDIED HER ROOM!!!!  Rebekah has gone to Ryde for a singing lesson and to deliver Beacons with another D)

I am now expecting the following to happen

6+1= 7 (Martin arrives home)

7+1=8  (a H Mum  arrives to pick up the H)

8-2= 6 (Hs leave)

6-1 = 5 (a D leaves)

5+3= 8 (an O, B and Gibson arrive – it’s ECDL night)

8+1=9 (a D dad arrives)

9-2=7 (all Ds are now gone)

7-1=6 (this is the end point for the night – B has gone and we have gained one O for the night)

Phew!

And people worry about socialisation!

When we moved to the isle of Wight we were amused by some of the activities here.  We were very sarcastic about the enjoyment to be had at a Hedge laying competition.

Last year we were a little more interested as we had a friend who entered and whose team came 3rd in the team class.

But this years the girls are positively upset that we are going to be on the mainland while this rural extravaganza takes place.

Throughout the winter on almost invariably wet Tuesday’s they have  been doing a woodland skills course with Rick and Nick the rangers at various copses around the island.  They have been coppicing, loppering, thinning, clearing brambles and making lots of fires. For the last few weeks they have been having a go at Hedge-laying at Golden Hill Fort.

They have been cutting  pleachers

And  learning about hethering.

And still using lots of sharp tools.

using a bow saw

they love loppers

So here he is enjoying the snow last month in the back garden.