5 things
Last week I was busy with usual mum stuff and with the data analysis for my dissertation, neither of which is particularly exiting to write about. It was a good week with many little nice moments and a few not so great ones, too. So here are the highlights and low points of this nice and normal week.
- One evening after scouts Annie and Sam sat down with me in the dining room, chatting happily whilst I was sewing purple ballet tutus. The two fight all the time and it was really really nice to have a simple friendly conversation for a change.
- Watching Alistair kicking the football against the "trench" wall in the garden, with great concentration and determination, completely lost to the world around him.
- The silence on Tuesday morning, when all 4 children went back to school. It was a relieve to have the house to myself for a few hours.
- Seeing the sensible mature side of Sam this week. I sent him to the optician to get his eyes tested on his own because I had to take the little boys to football at the same time. When I returned to the optician afterwards I found Sam happily choosing a pair of glasses, considering the price of each pair he tried carefully.
- Meeting with friends and their children at the local bowling club bar for a few drinks and take away pizza. The evening included a impromptu performance of a friend peeling and eating a banana with his feet and watching James play happily with a little Jack Russell terrier for the better part of the evening. I was told that we are getting a dog.
- Planning our first camping trip of the season with said friends.
- Finishing the sewing of rainbow tutus and for Annie's ballet class.
- An unexpected opportunity to go and see Romeo and Juliet in the Kings Theatre, performed by the Royal Scottish Ballet. My friend works backstage (how cool is that!) and got me 4 tickets for £10 each (normal price £33), seats in the Grand Circle. I took Annie and two of her friends. The dying at the end was quite spectacular and the whole performance was breath taking.
All is not perfect of course and here are the 5 things that annoyed me most during the past week:
- Finding out that Alistair is yet again getting a new speech therapist. The third in as many months.
- Lupin (the cat) using my flower bed as a litter tray. How dare she?
- Sam and Annie not peeling their underwear out of their denims and school trousers before they throw them in the laundry basket.
- Finding a hole in my beloved granny square blanket.
- Raising to the constant bait and engage in arguments with my older children.
I am not sure yet what next week will bring. The front end will be busy with more mum stuff and my dissertation and I have to finish a job application for a maternity cover, which will be stressful. I am hoping to spend the back end of the week on the shores of Loch Leven huddled around a campfire with a glass of wine firmly attached to my (frozen) hand and a hot water bottle tucked into my windproof jacket. This means of course countless trips to Aldi for supplies, digging out the blankets and hot water bottles, counting the sleeping bags, stock up missing essentials in the first aid kit etc etc but I am so looking forward to the new camping season that I am nearly hopping with excitement as I write. I hope the weather will be acceptable enough to go. I will probably check the forecast on an hourly basis from Wednesday onwards. Wish me luck!
And that's all I have to say for now. I hope you all have a wonderful week ahead. Cx
The shores of Loch Lomond sound wonderful, I do hope the weather is good enough for you to go. My middle boy is obsessed with camping at the moment, although he's never been. I think I need to remedy that! You had some good moments last week, as well as usual life hiccups. I love the image of Annie and Sam sitting with you and chatting nicely. Moments like that are golden indeed. I hope next week is good to you Christina. CJ xx
ReplyDeleteCamping is fab, particularly if you go with friends who also have children! I don't know if your middle boy is a Cub Scout? They go camping and my children loved this adventurous experience. Have a good week, too. Cx
DeleteCamping sounds like fun but the planning is certainly stressful. I have the same problem with the underwear inside the pants and it makes me so annoyed. I'm glad you had lots of good in your week to balance the less-good. :)
ReplyDeleteThe good things usually outweigh the not so pleasant moments. I will keep nagging my children to separate their clothes until they are so fed up with it that they do it without being nagged :-)
DeleteI like the way you looked back over your week, I'm finding life very mundane.
ReplyDeleteI like it when my life is mundane. It means I am more or less in control :-)
DeleteHello I love the refreshing honesty of your 5 bad things! sounds familiar!
ReplyDeletebestest daisy x
Teenagers are interchangeable I think! I know that my older ones have my blog bookmarked and being honest on the blog is a good way to get the message across to them....x
DeleteIt sound as if things leaned more to the good side than the bad, and when you are parenting young children that's the most you can hope for. :-)
ReplyDeleteYes, mostly we stay on the positive side of the balance (although today was a rare exception of this). The things on the "bad" list are usually quite trivial and weigh less. Cx
DeleteOh my goodness, I know what you mean about the underwear in trousers and had the very same experience today (well, it happens most days actually!) :) I hope the third speech therapist sticks around this time as it can be very frustrating. We had a similar experience and every time we had an appointment, it would be with a different person and we had to repeat everything. I hope the weather is kind Christina and you get to go away camping! :)
ReplyDeleteI have been promised today that the new therapist is not only a permanent member of staff but also the lead therapist and will stay with Alistair for a while. There is hope. So far the forecast is compatible with camping :-)
DeleteI adore the Ballet, that would have been a beautiful trip out with the girls :-) Yes, what is it with the pants in the trousers thing, often with a grotty pair of socks stuck in the legs too! How's the forecast looking? Hope you get to go on your camping trip, any place that has the word 'Loch" in it sounds utterly magical to me....Mel x
ReplyDeleteWe have the washing shenanigans too with the tangled pants in trousers/leggings Also inside out socks from nursery containing all the sand/mud/leaves/grass from the gardent here!! It sounds a good week with a few ups and downs. I'm sure your dissertation is really interesting...hope the analysis is coming along. I was alwyas told I needed to be more critical in my understanding of the data....'arrgghhhh' was all I could manage to that!!!
ReplyDeleteHey Christina,
ReplyDeleteI missed this post somehow. I can't wait for our camping to begin in earnest. We have a French adventure planned as well as UK destinations. Mostly local. It must have been lovely to have your eldest two sit and chatter instead of argue. Mine do this very occasionally, but more often than not it's guns at dawn here. It gets very wearing after a while. Best of British with applications and dissertations. My brain is mostly fudge these days, so I admire anyone else's academic pursuits.
Leanne xx
I do hope the weather cooperated and you got to camp. You made me laugh with the peeling underwear out of trousers (or not) - I am forever peeling Bella's knickers out of her leggings, it drives me crazy. I ask her every day... x
ReplyDelete