I have just looked at my last blog and was shocked to see that it was done just before Christmas! Where has the time gone? I know that Christmas is a hectic time of year but I really can't believe how busy life is at the moment. Now that the kids have gone back to school I am now catching up on all the jobs that I was unable to do over the holidays, especially since just before Christmas the entire family were off work and school with the flu except me. (On that note, I would fully recommend the flu jab which you are entitled to as a carer as I was the only one who escaped. The down side however is that you end up being nurse to everyone else!)

We are having quite major building work done on our house starting this week, which combined with the recent cavity wall insulation work (see Warmfront) to require a complete clear out of the garage, utility room and loft. Compound this with the fact that we can't start anything until the kids are asleep - unlike my friends who seem to be able to paint a room in an afternoon whilst their children amuse themselves - and that this can be as late as 9 o'clock thanks to Elise's inability to shut off! The alternative is to sort out whilst the kids are awake but somehow our carefully organised piles end up looking as though a tornado has swept through them. At the moment, the only room in the whole house which is not full of boxes or in a complete state of disarray is the downstairs toilet and even that is hit and miss if Elise gets to the toilet paper first! What really frustrates me too is the fact that we never seem to be able to tick things off our list. We just had our fridge freezer delivered and in the process a 3 foot long groove has appeared in the middle of the newly laid floor. Grrr! Now I have to sort out quotes and the insurance claim as well as builders, new kitchens and the usual array of DLA forms etc. I know that our life is pretty chaotic due to the nature of our kids but it does sometimes feel that everyone else is conspiring to make things even harder!!