Today I was very lucky to get a lovely lie in. It was so welcome after my chilly night out – social distanced in my friend’s garden on the coldest night for weeks! I swear it took hours for my feet to thaw out last night.
Once I was awake, I was then given the time to have a run. I managed 6km but it was harder than I hoped and definitely not closer to my sub 30min 5km target. Oh well. Better luck next time. But I did get to try my new toy – my pink AfterShokz headphones! Yeay! And I stopped to check in on the friendly neighbourhood monkey, too.
While I was out, Stephen had coaxed Genevieve in to completing drawings of a narwhal, giraffe and the two together for her non-fiction book creation. James had joined in to with pictures for his pirate book.
After showering and tagging in with Stephen, the kids had decided to get the wooden train track out. I helped them to clear the floor so they could build a track that spanned the whole room. Then I headed into Orpington to pay in some cheques. It was strangely both quiet and busy. There were queues for most of the shops open – including all the banks. Thankfully, our bank wasn’t as bad as others so the task was soon done and dusted.
Once I got home it was time for lunch. The kids and Stephen were all tucking into theirs already, so I started to prepare mine when I discovered that, by washing my hands in the sink, I had flooded the cupboard and floor below. Stephen had disconnected our dishwasher in preparation for a new one being delivered later in the day. He hadn’t realised that pipe the dishwasher used to outflow in to would overflow if the sink was used. Whoops! Cue me getting on my hands and knees to dry and remove all products from the cupboard. It was all sorted pretty quickly but we have now been second guessing ourselves all day with the sink.
I had to join a quick work call before rejoining the kids down stairs for play. They were watching Astrokid (the film of the day) and building more train tracks. I tagged in with Stephen again so he could go have another nap.
The kids had been so good for Stephen that I decided to treat them to indoor ice creams. They were certainly happy!
However, the fun was short lived. It was time for Genevieve to do her school work. Dun dun duuuuuuun! Now, if you’re a regular reader, you will know this has become a bit of a battle. However, today we were lucky. She only had to write the title on the book cover and complete the contents page list. Then her English was complete for the week. It took a little persuasion but was thankfully completed relatively painlessly.
Next was maths. This was much easier to get her to do and she sailed through it. She’s so like Stephen!
Stephen woke up with just enough time to join us on a family walk up to the friendly neighbourhood monkey. The children were very excited to see the ducks, and it took all of our combined parenting to prevent them touching the bright yellow aquatic birds.
Once we got back home, there was just enough time to get the kids sorted with Grandma Lindsey chat time before the new dishwasher arrived.
So the saga of our dishwasher: basically it started to leak last October. It was supposedly fixed (after it had already ruined the relatively new floor), but then continued to leak in small amounts into this year. After several call outs to replace various elements, it was finally decreed beyond economic repair. Those of you who know us know that our dishwasher is not a normal under the counter appliance, but a beautiful retro, shiny, bright red Smeg dishwasher. It was purchased before we bought our house and, therefore, even impacted the house search. We were very sad when we were told we had to get a new one, but thankfully the insurance covered a like-for-like replacement. Alas, more twists in the tail, all this happened as lockdown began and Smeg, being an Italian company, were closed before the UK. Thus, today we were most excited to welcome our brand new shiny black (as the company now only make black or white ones – boo) retro Smeg dishwasher. Woo hoo!!!!
Then it was time for dinner, bath and bed for the kids. They insisted on brushing my hair before they went to bed. They need a lot of practice – it wasn’t the nicest of experiences!
But it was worth the pain and discomfort to see their smile afterwards.
With the kids in bed it was time for a can of lager and glass of Buck’s Fizz. Happy Thursday!
The Smiths Family Blog 