Connections...

Most especially, the internet ones!

After three weeks of absolutely no home broadband, we are officially connected again. It feels like freedom!

So that was the highlight of the week, for the whole family. But it hasn't been a great week. Here's why:

Saturday, Dylan was allowed to "play out" (possibly the most useful British phrase since "How do you feel in yourself" and "I can't be bothered") with instructions to be home in half an hour. Nearly an hour later, when he still hadn't showed up at home, I went to collect him from one of the two places he was supposed to be. Imagine my surprise when I discovered he wasn't there!

I wandered the neighbourhood for the next half an hour, searching for my missing eight year old son. Had to leave poor Edith at home alone to do it, as well, in case he showed up at home whilst I was out searchng!

He wasn't in any of the usual spots, and I was nearly panicking when Edith called me to tell me he was home. I rushed back, and that kid got the spanking of his life, as well as properly shouted at for the first time ever. He was, in addition, grounded from all tech for a week, and grounded from playing out indefinitely. And when I told him all that and he was still being defiant and indifferent, I hit him where it REALLY hurts. I took away his Barcelona football kit. That drove the message home, obviously, since he sobbed for the next 30 minutes. And I can tell you one thing--that kid will NEVER do that again!

Sunday was the Primary Sacrament meeting presentation. It went well, with few mistakes and lots of brilliant moments. Mostly, I am just glad it's over. Not my favourite thing to do in the whole world!

Monday was when it all started to go a bit wrong. I drove to Scunthorpe to give Gill her weekly massage, but she was having one of her long (read 3-4 day) sleeps, so we decided to give it a miss. I did my weekly shop, grabbed some lunch, and headed for home. When I got back to Barton, I realised that my house key was locked inside the house. We have no spare key. So I had to drive over to our estate agent's office to borrow their copy. As I was rounding the corner to go to their office, the EPC light came on in the car and the engine died. I couldn't get it restarted, so had to call work to come and bail me out. Which they did. Which was awesome.

My lovely boss, Chris, gave me (and my groceries) a ride home. Then I found my own keys, returned the estate agent's keys, and was home just in time for the kids to get back from school. And Chris told me it was most likely the cambelt. Ouch! It will cost more than we paid for the car to get it fixed. Time to shop for a new-to-us car.

Tuesday was great, actually. I unpacked all of the boxes in the dining room, and it is looking really nice. That was also when the BT engineer came out and sorted our internet. It took 3 1/2 hours, but the man was tenacious, and got it fixed.

The rest of the week has just been, for lack of a better word, blah! I haven't felt this way for a long time, and really need something to pull me out of this funk. It totally sucks! The kids are going for a sleepover at their Auntie Cathy's house tonight, and they are super excited for that. Martin and I are going on a hot date, so maybe that will shake things up enough to snap me out of it. Oh, and we hope to buy a car tomorrow. That should help as well.