Busy Days

Well, Emily only has 19 days of being seven left - quite scary where this year's gone, really. December is turning into a bit of a blur - we're working so hard, business wise, and trying to fit a lot else in too. There hasn't been an awful lot of education going on here this last week (month!), hand on heart, but hey, we'll make up for it in the New Year. I'm consoling myself with the knowledge that when we DO work, Emily does far more than she would be doing in school, so we can afford to take it easy every now and then.

Today we've been out to York for the day. Came home exhausted, lol. Jon's barely getting any sleep at the moment and even though Emily and I are, we feel as if we're not. Anyway, we went for a return visit to York Dungeons, which was excellent and had changed a bit from when we were there earlier in the year. We particularly liked the Christmassy theme with "Satan's Grotto", featuring the big bloke in red and white himself....with horns and an attitude. We also LOVED the Labyrinth of the Lost which was a maze with completely mirrored walls - could have spent ages in there, it was fabulously well done. In other parts of the dungeon, Emily had to have her neck inspected for vampire bites and narrowly avoided becoming a resident of the torture chamber, while Jon had thumbscrews applied and was put in the dock in the courtroom, like Emily was last time we went.

After the Dungeons we had a fabulous lunch in pizza hut and then went to the extremely huge York Castle Museum - we spent hours in there! Emily being Emily, she adored "Kirkgate", the reconstruction of a Victorian street and immediately christened it Diagon Alley after......well, you can probably guess after what. It was very Diagon Alley-ish indeed, and great fun. Here's Emily with the horse and carriage: and the closest she's been to school for over 2 years, lol:
and with her nose eagerly pressed up against the front window of - what else - "Honeydukes"!
The Clifford Tower car park had an ice rink in it - we were going to go, since it was right outside the museum, but we spent so long in the museum it was very late and we were worn out by the time we got out. We finally got home even more worn out, thanks to my superb navigation skills which managed to get me half way back to the Humber Bridge, where I most definitely didn't want to be, instead of headed towards Selby and the M62. Ho hum.

So that was today. Yesterday was Emily's last yoga before the New Year. I was invited to the party too (none of the other parents stay to wait, so they missed out on cake, lol) and we all made some fabulous mandala Christmas cards and generally had fun.

Also yesterday was Merlin's return visit to the vet. They took a bladder sample and some x-rays. The x-rays show that parts of his intestines are enlarged, so he's going back again on Monday, bless him, for exploratory surgery to see exactly what's going on in there and for some biopsy samples to be taken if necessary. We were worried whether he'd be strong enough to cope with the surgery, but according to the vet he's not at any increased risk over and above the normal risk levels because despite being so desperately thin he's still very active and alert, eating well and they can't detect any issues with his heart, so they're assuring us he'll be fine. Feel rotten putting him through that, but it looks like it's the only chance we're going to get of *possibly* being able to make him a little better, or at least find out what we're facing. They're being very upbeat about it probably being something treatable. We'll be nervous wrecks on Monday, but have decided to go to the cinema to see Eragon straight from dropping Merlin off, to try and take Emily's mind off it a little.

Monday....what happened on Monday....um. Yes. Emily spent most of the day "crafting"; Jon and I spent most of the day working. Jon had his psychic circle on Monday night and spent time doing angel card readings. A lady he told to buy a lottery ticket after his last meeting did so, and won something, so that was interesting. Jon also had a long chat with George's wife about the way they're home educating their children - turns out they have much the same opinions and views as we do, which is refreshing.

The weekend was extremely manic; Jon and I between us listed well over 100 ebay items and I completed work for three different deadlines. Emily went to Karate and learnt something very complicated (!). It's her first grading on Sunday, so she's very excited about that. On Saturday Emily had been due to go to Flamingoland with my Mum and Dad, but Dad was really poorly so they didn't go. Emily and Nana had a right old day instead, baking cakes and playing trivial pursuit and catopoly for hours.

Friday, Jon and Emily went to the library and Emily took out the audio version of Northern Lights, the first one in the His Dark Materials trilogy by Philip Pulman. Good grief it's complicated! Or maybe it's just me! She's also reading Diamond Girls and Cat Mummy by Jacqueline Wilson and has been sent a new book to review for the EO magazine. And she and Daddy bought Warriors: The New Prophecy Book 5 - Twilight and are busy devouring that. The news that Book 6, Sunset will be released at the end of December caused great excitement, and the news that a new series, Warriors: Power of Three, is coming next year, caused even more excitement. Meanwhile, Mr Potter and his assorted friends, allies and enemies are still reigning supreme in my dear daughter's affections. Emily's been busy writing lots of HP stories and plots and is in the middle of composing a Harry Potter version of the 12 Days of Christmas......

Tomorrow Emily's out at tai chi and ballet and I'm out taking Grandad to hospital. On Friday Kate is coming to play/tea, then it's Saturday and the last ballet before Christmas followed swiftly by the Christmas Karate party, then it's Sunday and the karate grading, then it's Monday and Merlin to the vets, then it's Tuesday and another Grandad hospital appointment, then it's Wednesday with a friend round all day for Xmas crafts, then it's Thursday and our Yule celebrations, then it's Friday with another friend round to play all day, then it's a brief rest on Saturday before Christmas Eve and the carol sevice at Lincoln Cathedral. And I may get time to breathe at some point, or even to write pieces for the next four deadlines looming next week. You never know.