Visitors in Al Ain

We have K's brother and family staying with us right now. The kids are on easter hols and we are chillin out together. We have been to the park and the pool and chatted and read books and generally relaxed. It's been wonderful. I have a tma due; when do I not? and I am supposed to be taking today to write it while they visit Dubai but I have stalled again and am really too tired after a lousy night's sleep last night. Poor K is working and has not been able to hang out with us much. He is working really hard right now and I can't wait for the inspections to be over and us to finally get a little time together.

Kiki just asked me how to spell Alex as she was drawing a picture of Lexy and she wrote it beautifully. Her drawings are great too. She is such a little cutie but she is so bossy and manages to have everyone running to her beck and call. She now has mastered the DVD remote and pauses at will while she goes to get things, that is of course if she has not commanded someone else to get her things for her. If you ask any of the other kids why they give into her they just claim it's easier that way. She even had her cousins under her spell this week. TJ sticks up to her sometimes but even he gives in a lot. Apparently she is so compliant and lovely at school and never bosses her friends around. It's reassuring to know she can be nice when seh wants to.

Amateur

I'm such an amatuer when it comes to blogging. I need to learn so much. I'm not linked anywhere. I can't understand how to get badges and such like on my page. Everyone else has such pretty templates, do they make them? I can't even get my pictures how I want them. I am terrified of anything called 'code'. Is it easy to put up a video? What is twitter all about?

Do I have the time to learn all this? Do real bloggers write their posts in an exercise pad before typing them up? (I've only done this once but even so).

Why am I having a crisis about the state of my blog a couple of months ago I didn't even have one?

I was inspired by Caroline as I thought what great memories she is recording for herself writing about the kids education. It seems I'm not that good about talking about the children. Some mummy blogger. I'm not much of an expat blogger either as I don't give any useful or interesting info on living in the UAE. I am thinking of a series of blogs about my desire to become a writer and about writing in general. An author blog by someone who rarely writes on their blog and has a writing career of half a novel, 8 poems and a few staus updates on facebook. Hmmm!

Watch this space... alternatively this flurry of activity ould be just more TMA Avoidance (it's due 1st of April) and all will go quiet again.

Finally relaxing

This year Eid- al Adha and National Day coincided to give us a week long break. K has been working non stop since Sept and was glad of the break. We mainly chilled out and did nothing but we chilled out and did nothing on the beach in Dubai one day and chilled out and did nothing at the zoo another. We took the kids to the Hilton a couple of times where we chilled out and did nothing. I say nothing but now when I am reading I am no longer doing nothing but am intently studying as I have signed up for another course with the OU for feb. The best thing is reading for "work" feels much the same as reading for chillin'. Yet I get to feel like I am using my time wisley instead of wasting it.
My first assignment recieved a gobsmacking 94% leaving me only one way to go from there. I have submitted my second assignment and we will see how that goes.

The next course I have signed up for is Approaching Literature (A210), so in order to get a head start I am reading Great Expectations atm. It was all going well until yesterday while I was sitting in the car waiting to pick the kids up from school I read that Mr Jaggers lived in Little Britain. I realised that I had read the next two pages with that bit of the brain that reads things without having a clue what they have just read while my imagination was off thinking about the TV show little Britain and if the writers were Dickens fan and was it the modern take on Dickensian style satire of the state of our nation but mostly do those guys just really like dressing as women.
I have know idea if Little Britain was a real part of London in Victorian days or not but am glad I am finally reading great expectations as like most people I am vaguely aware of the plot but have never got round to reading the book.

I was really tied between taking the Philosophy course or the Lit. one but opted for Lit this time round plenty of time to pursue philosopy in my spare time. I have been getting into philosophy bites podcasts. they are little 15 minute interviews with various philosophers discussing a particular area of philosophy. Really accessible - I even understand what my brother was babbling about that night a few Christmasses ago when he was drunkenly trying to explain Plato's cave.