how the proposed new age limit of 18 for schooling would affect homeschoolers. Not that it will affect you guys because it wouldn't come in for a while - I remember thinking that DD will be 17 and DS would be 15 if it does get introduced when they're talking about it.

High school here is the September they're 11 (going on 12) until age 16. In Singapore DD would still have 2 full years of primary school to go (partly because of the different academic year, Jan-Dec) but she's going up this September, much to her bemusement when I told her earlier this month what year her friends in Singapore were just starting! DD will only turn 11 on Aug 19 so she'll likely be the youngest again. In Singapore DS was the youngest because his birthday is in December!

Lenora - I was trying to look at the paint shade and can't quite decide whether I have the right colour. The name sounds like something that might be a soft yellow, but the colour I see looks more like a flesh colour - is that right? I have to say I'm an absolute convert to yellow walls. The kids' room in Singapore was my favourite by far - everywhere else was too dull. When we moved here we found lots of strong colours rather than the cowardly choices most people like me go for. We have a strong yellow in the kitchen, office and master bedroom and I'm still not sick of it. I convinced my mother to use yellow in my old bedroom too because it's north-facing, and I made the mistake of going with white many years ago. The yellow is lovely and so much warmer in that long dark room. Sorry, monologue on yellow wall paint! The colour I saw for Butter Up was similar to one we had as an accent colour in Singapore and it worked really well for the alcove and feature wall we had it on - a bit darker I think, and then the other walls were the paler shade.

have you ever noticed how many times we talk about establishing some kind of routine?? We know it's the secret to making life easier but it always seems so hard. DD's having a judo grading in another 10 days and if she gets the level we expect she'll be moving into the later Friday class while DS stays in the earlier one. What that means is I'll have to get my act together on meals and feed them something early in the evening. It will also mess up my previously brilliant grocery shopping slot! I think we probably have more routines than we realise, because they are the bits that fit naturally into our lives without needing to be forced in with a shoehorn. I guess all routines and habits have to start with a little positive activity though, so I'm going to get the kids to talk about meal ideas for the week and especially for Fridays when they'll need something a bit lighter.

I heard Sweet Home Alabama on the way home today and remembered why I love to play bouncy music. Must be time to break out the Ally McBeal record or something and find my smile again!

Kerri.