Month: October 2016

So we go in the morning! I am totally in prepared but tbh there’s not too much to do! 

Bit of a crisis bank  money wise, my bloody back card was pushed through the cheese grater ( don’t ask) so of course it won’t scan and I need to get a new one . This takes 5 days and I go tomorrow! 

So it looks like I’m carrying cash! Fingers crossed it’s all ok! I’m sure I can use some of dads techniques for distributing it.

I’ll be spending the time ironing, packing and tidying today. Hopefully I’ll get a good nights sleep as I need to drag the kids up and out to set off at 4am ! 

So guess where we are going on Tuesday! Yup, the clue is in the title… we are going to Rome. But that’s not all we will be meeting the pope! A personal meeting no less! 

William has been invited to attend with other children from across Europe with ED, the condition he and his sister both have.

So we fly Tuesday morning and meet the big man on Wednesday morning. We have a lunch and a couple of trips all thrown in and on Thursday we intend to hop on a tour bus and do Rome in a day.. no matter what they say! 

It’s a funny thing telling people you are meeting the pope. Some get totally excited and say ‘wow’ while others just shrug it off. It’s a funny old thing.

So we have our list of things we need to remember, what to call him, what not to say and what you should wear.

I’m not allowed to wear trousers and my dress must cover my shoulders, boobs and knees! This was harder that I thought to find! Although I have something sorted and when I tried it on the kids agreed it was suitable but also agreed I looked boring and a bit like a Victorian nanny! 

Kitty needs to wear white so that’s easy as she has a pretty white dress. William needs to be in a dark suit which is proving to be tough! He’s not the most compliant of formal dressers! We are trying on tonight! 

The most worrying thing of all is that I’ve been nominated to provide the gift from the English families! Cripes! What does one buy the pope???? 

I asked my friends on Facebook and I had a wide range of ideas, some of my favourites were a ‘pope on a rope’ soap and ‘pope designed cupcakes’ although I’m not sure one of the most powerful men on the planet will be allowed to sample my baking! 

So after much deliberation I have decided to create a painting, he took the name ‘Francis’ who was a lover of animals, environment and children. So that needs to be my subject matter.. still stumped as yet and I only have a two hour window to make this happen tomorrow night! So I’m trying to decide what to use as my subject matter. 

My other concern is how I will cope travelling on my own with a three year old and eleven year old on my own. I’m sure it’ll be fine, but I have a limited budget and  limited Italian ! So we will see… any advise appreciated! 

So that’s it.. I’ve not packed or anything yet as I’m working all weekend.. it’s gonna be tight but it’s nothing new for us! 

Will keep you informed! 

We are currently dealing with three insurance claims! 3!!!! I can’t quite believe how unlucky we are or how desperate we are for them to pay up! 

We are still waiting to hear if the insurers will pay for our caravan, ( four months on from the accident) Also we have a huge hole in our kitchen that we are waiting for a plumber and builder to give us quotes ( they came out to inspect it yesterday) and then mr O had to get them out to replace his windscreen after a stone hit and cracked it! 

• I’m praying they all pay up as all together there is about 12k of monies needed! This is a lot! 

It concerns me how quickly insurers take money from us when we join up but then take weeks and weeks to decide if they pay out or not.. our Christmas budget is hanging in the Balance right now so fingers crossed!!!!