It's half-term holiday here, so no school for the kids this next week, and no work for me.

A week where I am not ruled by the clock - bliss!

And a week where I can catch up on all chores that we haven't had time for these past six weeks.

The car, for instance. It's been making a ghastly screeching noise, so embarrassingly loud that heads turn on the street when I drive by. I'm pretty sure that its fan-belt needs re-tensioning, and it's still under warranty, so no big deal - now that we have the time to get it sorted out.

And my hair. Can't wait to get it cut, it's got to the dreaded straggly inbetween stage where it looks awful no matter what I do with it.

And chasing up various on-going issues - Em's endocrinologist, Stephen's college admission - all of which are easily done, if one has time to make long phone calls during office hours.

Oh, and finding out what kind of mortgage we're eligible for. We're starting to think about buying a house; the amount of money we're throwing away on rent every month is ludicrous.

So I'm looking forward to whipping my way through that lot. And, on a more relaxing note, my parents will be spending a couple of days with us later in the week, on their way home from a week in Portugal.

So it should be a nice week.